Page 89 of Almost Midnight

The thought brought a visceral panic.

It pushed Nick’s feet faster on the mesh metal walk.

By now, he no longer cared if he made noise.

It didn’t fucking matter now.

He’d just rounded the final corner, a sharp turn where the cave wall jutted out over the metal walk, when the cavern opened up again.

Nick’s vampire eyes picked out the coiled snake about to strike.

Jem hadn’t seen them yet. He hadn’t heard them.

His mate was fucking brilliant and amazing and downright dangerous in his own right, but he still wasn’t a vampire. He didn’t have a vampire’s hearing, or their sense of smell. He didn’t have a vampire’s reflexes, either.

“Jem!” he cried out, unable to help himself.

Brick moved before Nick finished yelling out his mate’s name.

Then Brick had his arms wrapped crushingly around the male seer.

He pinned Jem and trapped him before Jem could writhe free.

Jem let out a gasping, choked, disbelieving cry, already losing most of his breath.

Brick pinned his arms to his sides, pinned the big seer’s back to his stone-like vampire chest. Vampires were stronger than seers, even well-built, muscular, and highly-trained seers like Jem, who could fight so well it was breathtaking.

Brick reinforced his grip, smiling now, or maybe grimacing, Nick couldn’t tell, then yanked Jem so close, the seer’s attempts to head-butt him only met empty air.

Jem wouldn’t be able to break Brick’s face with his skull, anyway.

Brick was more likely to break Jem’s skull with his face than the reverse.

Brick tilted his neck and head, licked his full lips with a shocking red tongue, and sank his fully-extended fangs into the muscle of the seer’s neck.

Nick screamed.

The smell of Jem’s blood reached him instantly. The scent filled his nose, lungs, and head, making him dizzy before Brick completed the full arc of his bite.

That scent, coupled with the sight of his sire feeding on his mate, hit at something so animalistic in Nick, his eyes clouded scarlet mid-leap.

His fangs extended to their full reach so fast, the transition nearly hurt.

A guttural snarl exploded from his throat.

His body didn’t need his mind to know what to do.

He didn’t bother to run to the end of the metal catwalk, but leapt up to the balcony rail and threw himself down towards the cave floor.

He was going to kill that piece of shit bastard for real this time.

He was going to rip out Brick’s fucking throat, tear his head off with the spine still intact, then beat his sire’s inanimate body to a pulp with his own goddamned skull––

* * *

“––Penny for your thoughts, offspring,”a silky voice purred.

Nick’s eyes clicked into focus.

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