Page 68 of Act of Passion

Malik grabbed Corbin’s arm. “Go with him. Protect mydaughter.”

Corbin nodded. “Yes, ofcourse.”

Striker came up and over the fence with Edee in his arms. He landed and bent, trying to hold on to a very pissed-offredhead.

She grabbed his beard andyanked.

He cringed. “She-devil!”

“Go back! They have Brooke!” she said, jerking free from Striker andstanding.

“Aunt Edee!” yelled Bethany, halting the redhead before she inflicted more pain onStriker.

Edee spun around and yanked open the back door of the SUV, hugging Bethany toher.

Malik looked at her. “Go with them. We’ll getBrooke.”

Edeenodded.

Striker threw his hands in the air. “Sure, listen tohim!”

Malik turned and ran down the side street, heading in the direction of the burning house. He hoped to catch Brooke’s scent and track her. He made it to the main street and Garth sped up in one of the enemy’s vehicles. “Get in! You’ll never get to her in time onfoot.”

“Auberi?” heasked.

“Rurik has him. He’s getting him toPSI.”

He listened and before he even had the door closed, Garth had the pedal to the floor. The Viking zipped around the abandoned vehicles and drove over a number of bad guys. He turned down another street and floored it again. Garth maneuvered around a car that was turningright.

Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes just as Brooke ran out into the center of the street, bleeding heavily, the bottom of her short nightgowntorn.

Garth managed to avoid hitting her as Malik jumped out and ran to Brooke, catching her and holding her against hisbody.

She was bleeding but he didn’t know where the blood was comingfrom.

He felt around and nearly threw up when he realized she’d been clawed multiple times. She collapsed in his arms and he swept her up, loading her into the SUV. He moved onto the backseat next to her, as he tried to stop thebleeding.

Garth wasted no time as he sped away from the area, glancing back in the rearview mirror. “Malik?”

“Drive!”

Chapter Twenty-One

Brooke came awake,unsure where she was. Looking around, she found herself in a giant bedroom. It was quite possibly the biggest one she’d ever seen. The walls were a golden yellow and the bed she was on was bigger than a king-size one. It had red sheets and bedding. A white canopy was aboveher.

She stared around the room, still unsure where shewas.

As she concentrated on the last thing she remembered, she tensed. Elm and a team of around fifteen hybrids had come at Brooke and Auberi. Auberi had killed three of the hybrids before Elm threw enough power at him to send him flying into a huge tree. The man had gotten up and tried to go at Elm again, only to find himself being hit with a bolt of power so strong that he gone downhard.

Brooke had done her best to fight against the hybrids while Elm watched, but she’d used far too much power at the club. She’d not replenished her system yet. So much so that the men were able to get too many licks in and her body couldn’t heal them quickly. She’d thrust what little power she’d had left at the men to hold them back and then she got to Auberi, trying to lift his deadweight.

Rurik had burst through the tree line and grabbed Auberi with ease. He’d demanded she run while yelling at the men who hurt her that they were going to pay for hurting the little Americangirl.

Brooke had run and found herself on a street as a vehicle sped ather.

Then she’d seen Malik’s face a second before darkness overtookher.

The huge walnut door in the bedroom opened slowly and Edee peeked her head in, smiling wide when she saw Brooke was awake. The redhead hurried into the room, wearing a long blue dress that Brooke had never seen her inbefore.

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