Page 51 of Hound

Heads turned to Alek, but my own settled on Lorenzo.

“A toast for those who have brought our kind together and to the one that has gifted me with the greatest act!”

The same hope I felt flashed in Lorenzo’s gaze, but it vanished when murder jabbed into the air and a shattering explosion blasted. Glass speared around us like rain, the dense weight of regret and an impending doom swallowing me whole.

Not again.

Chapter 15

LORENZO DEVON

If I had the choice to be beside rotten human corpses, I’d choose that over drowning in rancid vampire blood.

But that wasn’t the case when bullets speared through the air in echoing waves. Vampires, half-humans, and humans dropped like flies. Royalty and not, reaching death or nearing it in seconds. Regardless of appearance, they all bled red.

Figures covered head to toe in black infiltrated every corner. Fear lined the guests’ faces as they scurried, bodies colliding like ants. Except Christopher. He stood next to me with hands wrapped around mine.

Screams reverberated around us. More rounds fired. If he stayed, I couldn’t ensure anyone’s safety. Because his was my priority.

“Get out.Now!” I gritted as the beast slowly surfaced, inching closer by the second.

“I can’t leave you!” Christopher tried to hide his horror by biting back, but it was all over his trembling voice and intense cold skin.

“You will. There’s danger, and if you don’t leave, my focus will remain on you. This isn’t a fucking request, Doll.Go!”

He hovered by my side, my back shielding us from anything and everything. His lips parted and hesitation hardened his face as fangs glistened underneath the bright white lights. When I thought Christopher would keep resisting, he left. He had no choice but to listen tohisguardian. Because that’s what I’d always been. His to use as a sword.

But I was his shield, too. He was mine to protect.

I fell into motion. Screams diluted in my ears as my main focus remained: get every breathing being in this ballroom out of here.

Nina got into action, too. We both fell into sync as the crammed crowd parted us. It was the first time my cousin and me fought together. Hopefully the last.

The same strain in her muscles lined my body. The same loss of breath from shock. While my offense was coordinated, hers was destructive. Messy. The Hound had gone through these motions countless times. She hadn’t and I wasn’t letting her go down this path. Never. Wherever this attack came from, it needed to be shut down—without the beast, even if he clawed to appear.

A towering body dressed in all-black and a hooded mask turned to me, aiming a gun at me. Before their finger could press the trigger, I dashed forward. My moves were swift but harsh, the gun tumbling out of their grip. They bent and I drove my knee into their face. Their body slumped to the ground, out cold. . .but still breathing.

It was impossible to take over the hordes of attackers. While defensive and offensive guardians flowed through the chaos, it wasn’t enough. With each neutralized attacker, more appeared, all varying in height and size.

But what remained the same were the guns they were relying too fucking much on.

Muscles stretched and expanded as I snapped the guns around me, offensive guardians taking note and following my unspoken plan. They handled those I left weaponless. It was flowing smoothly until guns aimed at my cousin, who had Alek and Kaleb, the third Sephtis kid, beside her shoulders.

Logic didn’t exist in the face of death. Nina couldn’t meet an end, especially not one like this.

I sprinted. My shoulders rammed into a back, guns rattling onto the blood-coated floor. Surrounding figures turned to me. Gunshots fired, but none tore my skin. There was no chance when I took every single fucker in my vicinity.

But they kept multiplying.

This wouldn’t be a problem if you’d let me out.

The beasts crawled on my skin, echoed in my chest, but I bit it back. There were too many witnesses. The only way I’d let it happen is if I met death myself.

Another whisper emerged in the back of my mind.

You’re about to.

Nina glided meters from me, her swift blows on a masked figure taking me by storm. She was way stronger than I thought. Had she always been like this?

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