Page 76 of Rejected Exile

All at once the clearing fills with the sound of battle. But it's not the clang of weapons or the clash of armies. Instead, it's just the near-silent, low rumble of flesh against flesh as vampire after vampire throws themselves at the wolf.

He tears, rips, and claws at each of them. But there are too many. One by one they descend in a horde, until he's overwhelmed, and his darkly furred form is buried by pale limbs.

I stumble back in horror—or I'm pushed back. There are claws on my shoulders suddenly, hands on my arms. I feel something scratch at my neck and twist around, shuddering, eyes darting for vampiric forms that move too fast in the darkness. They're blurs of white flesh and snatches of snarls.

"Get back!"

I know I should be faster than them.Stronger.I reach inside me for the wolf, but she's gone—a tiny shrunken thing inside me, cowering in fear. Or maybe that's just my imagination. All I know is that I don't feel her strength.

Hands tear and grasp at me.

"Stop it! Get away!"

There's a dark chuckle near my neck. I shudder. Something sharp and pointed rakes at my sleeve. I cry out as it tears my skin—

There's a roar from the darkness. A grey form with yellow eyes pounces. I'm thrown to the ground as snapping jaws rip the vampires away from me, tearing at flesh and provoking hisses of anger.

Kieran stands over me, his yellow eyes glowing, panting heavily. I bury my fingers in his fur and gasp as my hand comes back covered in glistening dark red blood. His tongue lolls out of a wide-open mouth, pain crinkling the corners of his feral eyes.

"Go," I whisper to him. "Run. Get help."

He shakes his shaggy head, pinning his ears back. Then, with a bravery I didn't knowanyonepossessed, he leaps into the fray, moving with barely a hitch. I watch him tear vampires away from Roarke's dark form. Kieran snarls as he uncovers his friend, crouched in the darkness, tail lashing and blood seeping from countless wounds.

Together they stand, curved forms bundled with tension, down and grievously wounded but not out. They won't last for long, though.Someonehas to go get help.

Getting to my feet, I move to do just that—and strong, sinuous arms grab tightly to my shoulders, pinning me in place.

"My sweet precious." A feminine voice curls in my ear, and I smell Kieran's blood on fetid breath. "You are quite a treat, aren't you? So valuable to provoke such bravery in males. Not to worry—the fight will be over with soon, and we will get you to safety."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I snarl.

"Oh, but I think you are." Her left hand lifts as her right drags me back against her cold body, and I feel thesnickof steel against my neck. She's raised a long knife up to my skin and pressed its tip against my pounding pulse too quickly to evade. "We only need a drop, you see, but more will do. Your kind are known to recover from even grave injuries... and a werewolf drained of most of her blood tends not to fight back."

As the blade nicks my skin, my eyes dart to the two werewolves fighting back-to-back in the clearing. Vampires surround them, darting in here and there for a slash of claws and a peal of laughter, but they still stand—for now. It's obvious that the vamps are just playing with them, and at any moment they could choose to end this whole thing.

Terror thrums through me. I wish the she-wolf inside my blood would rise to the occasion. It figures she was hot and hasty when it came to getting laid, but is nowhere to be found now that I want her teeth and claws.

"I'll go with you," I tell the stinky female vampire, even as the thought fills me with revulsion. "Just leave them alone. Let them go."

"An interesting bargain."

"And one you should be eager for. You've fed from Kieran plenty." The admission makes me want to turn around and bite her in the face. "There's no reason to kill your easiest prey."

"That is true enough. But the decision does not lie with me." There are footsteps in the leaf litter, and a familiar figure stalks in front of me. Mr. Fancy-vamp. "Demetri, what do you have to say to our precious she-wolf?"

"An interesting proposition. But I would be a fool to accept it." He gives me a kind, patient smile that rings false and makes me fantasize ripping his face off like it's taffeta. "You see, those wolves both smell likeyou,delicious darling. Which means they'll keep looking for you long after you've been taken from here. We cannot accept the risk."

No.There has to be a way. "I'll tell them I'm going willingly." I struggle against the vampire's arms, but she grabs me tighter, the blade nearly cutting into my skin. "They'll let me go, please, just don't kill them."

I hear a yelp and nearly start to cry. Rumbling starts as the vampires growl and snarl. Bloodlust lingers in the air, along with the scent of the werewolf blood that stimulates it.

Any minute now the vampires will start to feed, and they won't stop until there are no beating pulses left.

"Please," I beg one last time, even as I imagine stretching Demetri's skin out and turning him into a hairless rug. "Save them."

"I'm afraid that even I can't stop what's about to happen," he says as another yelp splits the air. "Sometimes, even a well-heeled coven must feed, with or without its master's approval."

"Those werewolves won't follow me," I whisper, twisting futilely in the hands that hold me. "I promise."

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