Forever (Fallen 3)

* * *

“From here we go by foot,” Gabriel announced, turning onto a nonexistent road, and parking the car on the outskirts of a forest.

We slipped from the car, all of us on edge.

“I’m going to speak with the Coven,” Gabriel informed us. “They need to know the way, because we’ll,” he pointed to the vampires gathered and the shifters, “be much faster than them.”

I watched him stalk off, my hands shaking with adrenaline—did vampires have adrenaline?

“Calm down,” Jonathon rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “You’re not going to be able to think straight if you’re wound this tight, principessa.”

I knew he was right. “I’ll try,” I told him, counting to one hundred in my head.

Gabriel returned a few minutes later. His only words to us were, “Follow me.”

He took off like a bullet out of a gun and we hurried after him.

I stretched my legs as far as they would go, the green of the forest blurring around me. At any other time, I would have thought it was beautiful. But not now.

Jonathon ran be

side me. The rest of our family ran to the left and right of us.

We were all together, and I realized that this might be the last time we were ever united like this. When we left the house yesterday, I had refused to hug or say anything to the people coming with us, because if I said goodbye, it made the fact that someone could die even more real.

After about twenty minutes of running, Gabriel came to a stop.

“We need a report,” Gabriel spoke to the falcon balanced on a nearby tree branch. It took off into the sky, circling around.

Suddenly, the other falcon transformed in front of us. I resisted the urge to cover my eyes at the man’s nakedness. I glanced down at the ground, toeing the dirt, as he spoke to Gabriel.

“There’s three Guarde about a mile from us, they’re spread out in a triangle formation around the compound.”

Gabriel rubbed his jaw and turned to all of us. “We need to split up into three groups. All three Guarde need to be taken down before they can signal that we’re here. We have to move fast,” he eyed each of us. “This is not the time to fool around,” he glared at Mason.

At that moment the Coven broke through the trees, slightly winded from their jog. Gabriel repeated what he’d just said for their benefit.

“We need vampires, shifters, and Coven members, in each group. You all have to work together. Taking these three out will be relatively easy compared to what’s waiting for us inside. Don’t get cocky,” with that, Gabriel went about separating us into three groups. He purposely separated the couples.

“What?!” Jonathon glared. “No way! I’m staying with Kylie!” He reached for my hand, entwining our fingers together.

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t make this difficult, Jonathon.”

“I’m not leaving Kylie,” his jaw was set.

“Fine,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time to argue with you.”

“Jonathon-” I started.

“No,” he looked down at me. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Okay,” I whispered, giving his hand a slight squeeze. I wasn’t going to argue with him…if we died, I didn’t want an argument to be the last thing we remembered.

Gabriel gave us further direction on where we needed to head. After a pause, he said, “Ready?”

“Ready,” we echoed.

“Let’s take down these suckers—no pun intended,” Mason grinned, trying to lighten the mood. It worked.