Lucien broke free of the Savages tearing at him and sprinted toward Simone as more of them raced toward her and Killean. Lucien didn’t acknowledge the discomfort of his twisted leg as he ran. Asher tackled one who was about to plunge a blade into Simone’s back. They tumbled across the ground as another Savage gripped Simone’s hair and ripped her backward.
Killean bellowed when she was yanked away from Callie. Using his legs, Killean rolled and wedged his feet between himself and Yannis. With a mighty shove, he heaved Yannis over his head before leaping to his feet and racing toward Simone.
Callie remained unmoving as he arrived at her side. Her hands lay out at her sides with her palms up, and her open eyes focused on the sky. No color remained in her naturally olive skin, and her striking, cognac-colored eyes were unblinking.
Blood stained her lips and trailed down her chin to soak her shirt. There was so much of it, too much. The scent of it filled his nose, and he recalled the ecstasy of it on his tongue while its strength flooded his veins. Now, it coated the ground.
He barely detected a heartbeat as he fell at her side, lifted a discarded knife from the earth, and sliced the blade across his wrist. Blood spilled free, and he rested his arm against her mouth as he willed her to live.
Because if she didn’t live, he would go on a rampage the likes of which this earth had never seen before. It would take an army to destroy him.
The sound of footsteps crunching on the dirt alerted him to someone coming at them a second before Yannis launched onto his back and plunged a blade into the spot between Lucien’s shoulder blades. The fiery burn of the blade tearing through flesh and sinew before erupting out the front of his chest was nothing compared to the fury boiling inside him.
With his free hand, he grabbed for his brother over his shoulder, but the coward was already leaping away. Lucien grasped the hilt of the blade Yannis stabbed Callie with and tore it free. He twisted toward his brother, but Yannis danced beyond the reach of the sword.
Lucien bared his teeth and snarled at the man who shared his DNA. Yannis grinned at him, and Lucien was dying to go after him, but he didn’t dare take his wrist away from Callie’s mouth.
“One of our creators is here, brother. Your time is almost over,” Yannis said.
Lucien’s gaze darted to the cloak-enshrouded creature that emerged from the woods. Lucien sensed its power as it raised its hand and closed it into a fist. And then, it released a sound not entirely of this earth.
It was a guttural, primeval sound that made the hair on Lucien’s arms rise. Nothing like that should exist on this planet, and if he had his way, it wouldn’t exist for much longer.
Asher regained his feet as Logan rose behind Yannis and delivered a bone-crushing blow to the side of his face. Yannis’s right cheekbone gave way as he staggered to the side.
Keeping his wrist against Callie’s mouth, Lucien lunged forward and grasped his brother’s ankle. Jerking up, he ripped Yannis off the ground. His brother hit the dirt with a thud, and an oomph of air exploded from his lungs.
Lucien twisted Yannis’s ankle to the left and rejoiced in the resounding crack that echoed through the night. His brother’s howl was music to his ears as he jerked him forward. He brought his fist down on Yannis’s knee until it bent back much as Lucien’s had earlier.
Yannis howled again, but this time he retained enough of his thought processes to roll to the side and pull himself free of Lucien’s grasp. Unwilling to move away from Callie, Lucien watched his brother stagger to his feet.
Yannis’s eyes burned red when he spun toward Lucien. He braced himself for Yannis’s attack as Logan lifted an abandoned sword from the ground. He didn’t get the chance to use the weapon as another Savage tackled him from behind.
Declan, Willow, and Saber were only twenty feet away and closing in, but that thing kept its focus on Willow. Lucien felt the hate radiating from the creature’s white-blue eyes as it stalked her every move.
Possessing the sword had made her a target, but Lucien sensed something more happening as he recalled the creature lifting its hand. It had expected the sword to return to it. Whatever that weapon was, it was powerful, and the demon believed it would respond to him.
It wanted the weapon back, but it didn’t seem willing to confront Willow to get it as it didn’t go after her. Did that mean the blade would work against the demons like it worked on Savages? Lucien was eager to learn the answer, but he didn’t know if they would get the opportunity to find out.
His attention shifted back to Yannis as his brother came at them again. This time, he didn’t try to avoid Lucien but hobbled as he ran at him with his fangs bared while snarling like an irate lion.
Lucien braced himself for the attack, but he still didn’t dare remove his wrist from Callie’s mouth. He gripped the blade and shifted it as he grinned at his brother.
He didn’t want Yannis anywhere near Callie. Yannis lunged at him, but at the last second, he spun toward the right to avoid the sword Lucien swung at him.
Yannis came down near Callie’s head, and clasping his hands together, he lifted them over his head as he prepared to hammer them into Callie’s face. Lucien threw himself forward to take the blow. The blow cracked a rib and caused his breath to erupt out of his lungs. He was trying to draw in more air when he plunged the sword into Yannis’s thigh.
Lucien twisted the blade and dragged it down to slice open flesh and rend muscle as it scraped against Yannis’s bone. Yannis lashed out with a punch that connected with the side of Lucien’s face. The blow shot his head back as blood rushed into his mouth.
Before Lucien could fully recover, Yannis lurched forward and, enclosing his fingers around Lucien’s neck, squeezed as they tumbled back. Lucien’s wrist almost fell away from Callie’s mouth, but he somehow managed to keep it in place as Yannis landed on top of him.
Lucien lifted his free arm and pressed it against the side of Yannis’s face to push it away. Yannis twisted his head and sank his fangs into Lucien’s arm; Lucien welcomed the rush of pain as he shoved his brother back and smashed him into the ground.
Sprawled out on his back, he hooked one of his legs around Yannis’s as he strained to keep his brother pinned to the ground. Yannis wasn’t having it as he squirmed until he broke free of Lucien’s hold.
When Lucien twisted to the side, he felt a blade slicing open his skin. Yannis had pulled the sword free and was seeking to embed it inside him. Then he changed tactics and lunged for Callie.
No!
The word exploded inside his head as cold terror suffused him. Nothing would save her if Yannis severed her head from her shoulders or hacked out her heart. Lucien didn’t care what he had to do; he would stop that from happening.
Unable to keep his wrist against her mouth while defending her from Yannis, Lucien threw up his forearm. His arm crashed against Yannis’s. As he stopped his brother from stabbing her, he yanked his wrist free and punched Yannis in the temple. The blow threw his brother back a few feet, and Lucien scrambled up.
Gathering Callie in his arms, he tried to keep her protected while searching for the blade he’d used to slice his wrist, but it was missing. Giving up on locating the weapon, he bit deep into his wrist.
Red and black color swirled through his flesh as his blood spilled free. He cradled her in his arms as he pressed his wrist to her mouth again. Looking around, he saw the same red and black color swirling through Killean, Declan, and Willow as they continued to battle the Savages.
Simone had broken free of her captors and was sprinting toward them. She fell in front of him and reached for Callie. When he jerked Callie away from her, Simone’s hand remained hanging in the air between them.
“Let me help,” Simone said. “She already has my blood, Lucien. Let me help her.”
Lucien almost told her to get away from them, but he couldn’t say that to Killean’s mate, and Yannis was already regaining his feet. He couldn’t protect Callie while fending off his brother, especially as more Savages approached and that demon was still tracking Willow’s every move.
Lucien reluctantly released Callie to her. This was not the way his love was supposed to have turned. It was supposed to be a private moment between them. One in which he made sure she felt safe and loved while he claimed her. And now he wasn’t sure if she would ever wake again.
His fangs throbbed as his skin pulsed and swirled with color. This was never supposed to happen to Callie, but he couldn’t change it. He could, however, ensure the one who did this to her never lived to see another day.