“You were going to kill me!” Elsa screamed, backing away even more. Her elbows bumped into the big, stained glass window. “I saw it!”
Allison shook her head. That small move had the room spinning. Blood soaked her clothes.
“I tried to change it…” Elsa glanced around the room with bright, almost feverish eyes. “I have to change it.” Then she glanced over her shoulder, back through the stained glass, and the witch started to laugh. “The moon’s not full…it’s not time yet! You can’t kill me!”
Watch me. Full moon or no full moon, Elsa was dying. Allison wasn’t gonna give the witch another chance to attack.
Behind her, Allison heard bones snapping and popping. Cade. Shifting. Healing. Her breath eased out slowly. He’ll be all right.
Elsa wouldn’t be. “I am going to kill you,” Allison told her quietly, hands fisting. “You won’t get out of this house alive tonight.” She wouldn’t give Elsa a chance to come at her again or to come at Cade.
“I had to save myself!” Elsa’s face flushed bright red as they faced off. “The mirror—I saw what you’d do! I saw—”
Screw the mirror. “You made this happen. You started it all. But I’ll end it.” Then, using every bit of strength that she had left—which wasn’t a hell of a lot—Allison jumped forward, diving right for Elsa. She shoved the stake at Elsa’s chest. “My turn.” The stake sank into Elsa’s flesh. Then Allison grabbed the witch, and she shoved her back into that stained glass window as hard as she could.
The glass shattered, raining down to the ground, and as Elsa fell, Allison yanked her hands back.
But the witch didn’t let her go. Elsa’s hands had clamped around her, and Allison was too weak then to break free. She’d used her last bit of strength in the attack and—
Elsa pulled her through that broken glass. The shards sliced into Allison’s skin. They fell, glass covering them, surrounding them, and the wind whipped past Allison’s body.
Then they hit the ground.
***
When Allison went through that window, Cade leapt after her. He’d just shifted back to human form, and he rushed for the window as quickly as he could, bellowing her name.
Not fast enough.
So when the witch pulled her through, Cade followed them right down to the ground below. Their bodies hit the earth with a sickening thud, and he leapt down just behind them, his knees barely buckling when he landed on his feet.
Glass littered the ground. Blood stained the earth. “Allison?”
She was face-down, half on top of the witch. His heart froze in his chest. He stepped closer. “Allison?”
At his voice, her head rose slightly, and his heart started to race in his chest. He could see the blood on her cheek. The scratches. She pushed up slowly as she stared down at the still form of Elsa.
The witch hadn’t survived the fall. Maybe it was the stake in her chest that had killed her. Or the twisted angle of her neck. Either way, Elsa wouldn’t be hurting them or anyone else ever again.
He reached for Allison and lifted her gently into his arms. He noticed that, hell, yes, dammit, his hands were shaking. Fear. “Don’t ever f**king do that to me again.” He’d seen the stake go into her chest. Had thought for one lost, desperate moment that she’d been dying.
Won’t lose her.
He pulled her closer. Held her tight. He’d seen what waited in the mirror. What the future held for him and—
“Werewolf.”
And the f**king vampires were back. Could no one just leave them the hell alone?
Snarling, Cade pushed Allison behind him. He’d deal with these jackasses and then get her some place safe. Warm.
Then he’d make love to her all night long. Until he forgot what it was like to fear that death could steal her from him while he was helpless to do anything but just watch her die.
One leap forward, and Cade had his claws at the big, blond vampire’s throat. Cade knew the lead ass**le when he saw him. “Ready to lose that head?” One swipe, just one, and he’d be rid of the bastard.
“I’m not here…” The vampire didn’t seem particularly afraid. Obviously a dumbass. “To hurt her…or you.”
Bullshit.
“Elsa said…” The vampire swallowed and Cade sliced his throat, a small, warning slice. More would come. “She said you were the threat…that you were sent to kill Allison.”
Plans had f**king changed. Everything had changed for him from that first moment in the alley, when he’d looked into bright blue eyes and realized that he still had part of his soul left.
A soul and a heart. He should have killed her, but Cade had only come alive when he met her.
Allison slid her small hand over his shoulder. Cade forced himself to take a breath. The urge to strike was so strong that he trembled but…
But the vampire wasn’t making any move to attack.
“You got your Intel wrong,” Cade snapped. Okay, f**k, he had been hired to kill Allison, but that plan had changed day one. He’d become the man who’d stand between her and any threat that might be out there.
Kill her? Hell, no. He wouldn’t even so much as bruise her skin. Right then, all he wanted to do was take her away, give her his blood, let her heal—
Then make love to her until he stopped being afraid that she’d slip away from him.
Death, you can’t have her. So f**k off.
“No one takes her from me,” he said, the words a vow. He hadn’t found her just to lose her. Wouldn’t happen. If he had to behead this vamp to prove it…
He was ready to slice.
“I mean her no harm.” Blood dripped down the vampire’s throat. “I thought…that night in the alley, I thought you were the threat.”
“He wasn’t,” Allison said as her fingers pressed against Cade’s shoulder.
Her voice was weak. She needs blood. His blood. But as much as he wanted to turn and scoop her into his arms, he didn’t move. Not yet.
Cade kept his hold on his prey.
The only good vamp…
“I have no quarrel with you, werewolf,” the vampire told him. The guy’s cronies had come outside, but they stood just in front of the house, wisely deciding not to interrupt right then.
Smart. They might keep their heads.
“I know who you are,” the guy went on. “And I know what you did to that nest in Oregon who made the mistake of f**king with your pack.”