Page 128 of Illusory

Granted, I’d heard enough rumors about the werewolves and their penchant for fighting, sex and general debauchery but this was just insane. These people were insane. I needed to get out of here.

Also, it was really killing my buzz.

Bracing my hands on the floor, I rolled onto my stomach and began crawling under the shelter of the massive pool table. I needed to regroup for a second and get away from all the stomping feet and the bone crunching blows that were flying around me like wasps. At least for long enough to find my damn sister and map ourselves a viable exit strategy out of this nuthouse, knowing the guys would follow us soon after, considering we were the whole reason they were here to begin with.

A hand came down around my ankle and then tugged me backward, dragging me out from my hiding spot and landingme under Dominic’s protective body as he hovered above me with a swollen cheek and busted lip, yet somehow still looking like the sexy god that he was.

“Going somewhere, angel?” he asked with a smirk and then winced as the cut on his bottom lip strained.

“Oh, no! You’re hurt,” I said dimly, my hand reaching up to cradle his face as chaos and destruction poured down all around us like rain. Even in this hellscape of madness, all I could see was him.

“Yes. I’m extremely wounded,” he said as another crooked smile twisted the corners of his lips. “But you can make it up to me later,” he informed and then pulled us up in one fluid motion before tossing me over his shoulder and blurring us through the crowd toward the front entrance.

Thunderous snarls and excited howls filled my ears from every direction as Dominic dodged bodies and rogue fists and weaved us through the tavern that had erupted into absolute mayhem.

“Looks like we’ve overstayed our welcome,” he mused as he set me back on my feet and then whistled over my shoulder, his hand gripping my elbow and stopping me from swaying into a face-plant.

Curious, I turned to look at the aftermath of our little night out just as Gabriel barreled through the crowd with my wasted sister cradled in his arms. “Car. Now.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” said Dominic as he attempted to scoop me back up again.

“Wait! No!” My palms slapped against his chest to stop him from picking me up. “Where’s Trace? We can’t leave without Trace!” I said as my wide, panicked gaze flew back to the rowdy crowd, unable to spot him amongst the bedlam.

There were too many fights going on, too many fists being thrown. And why did it look like the wolves were fightingamongst themselves then too?

“I’ll get him. Go with Gabriel and wait in the car for me,” ordered Dominic, drawing my attention back to him.

“What? No!” I said, shaking my head violently. “You’re crazy if you think I’m leaving you in this—”

“I cannot get Romeo out of here in one piece if I’m worried about you,” he cut in before I could finish my protest. “Go with Gabriel. We’ll be right behind you, angel. Ipromise.”

I hesitated for a moment, not feeling right about any of this but then finally nodded, knowing in my heart that Dominic would keep his promise to me. Hewouldreturn to me with Trace as promised…

Even if he had to kill everyone in there to do it.

* * *

It felt like an eternity before Dominic and Trace finally burst out of Bad Moon Rising and zipped across the parking lot to Gabriel’s waiting SUV. I couldn’t help but notice that despite the absolute shit-show that had broken loose in the tavern, we’d all managed to make it out of there relatively unscathed, save for a few bumps and scratches that were already well on their way to healing.

It was strange, considering the amount of testosterone and bone-crushing fists that had been flying around back there. Something told me there was a lot more than just ‘dumb luck’ at play.

“Um, so…is anyone going to explain to me what just happened?” I asked as Gabriel peeled out of the parking lot and onto the desolate stretch of road that would take us out of Avalon territory and back toward Hollow Hills.

I was sitting in the back seat, smack in the middle of Dominic and Trace while Tessa sat up front beside Gabriel, though her head was slumped against the cracked passengerwindow, making it hard to decipher whether she was trying not to throw up or just passed out entirely. Judging by her ill-fated undertaking to prove that she could outdrink me, I was betting on the latter.

“What the hell do you think happened?” snapped Gabriel, not even bothering to meet my eyes through the rearview mirror. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard, I thought his knuckles might pop out of his skin from the tension.

Apparently, he was still very upset about usopting outof his direct order to stay home.

“I asked you to do one simple thing—to give me one goddamn courtesy—and what do you do instead?” he went on angrily as I shrunk back in my seat, cursing myself for even opening my big fat mouth. “You marched on down to the first werewolf bar you could find. It’s a miracle we even made it out of there in one piece!”

Itwaskind of a miracle, and I definitely still had questions, though now probably wasn’t the best time to ask them. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. We didn’t think there was any harm in going—”

“No, you didn’tthink. You didn’t think at all. That’s the problem with the two of you. You never think!”

Ouch. That felt a tad harsh.

Then again, hewasn’texactlywrong. Neither one of us bothered to give a thought past the point of what we wanted to do at that moment—what we felt we had earned. There was no sense in trying to deny it to him.

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