Page 40 of Firedrake Betrayal
Her expression is somber. “We all know about Atticus Chira, and he’s always been content to leave us alone. If he suspects you are here…”
“He will track us down,” Dominik says, disapproval hardening his voice. “Easily. This town is small.”
I don’t want him to be right, but he is. Wilkerson is too small to hide for long.
Dominik didn’t want to come back here at all, yet despite knowing it wasn’t smart, I couldn’t just leave Dad, Shep, Patten, and Isaiah here.
I had to come back.
“But he’s safe for now, right?” I ask Meliah as I dart a rapid glance at the late-morning sunlight streaming in through the window. There’s no sign of trouble. Yet. “Won’t it be dangerous to move him while he’s still this weak?”
Glass shatters in the next room, a sharp sound followed by a grunt of pain.
11
ISAIAH
Patten threatens to choke Dominik, and as Shep tries to remind him it isn’t what Jade wants, I wander over to the window, tuning out their argument. The sound of rushing blood fills my head, reminding me of my growing, gnawing hunger.
I need to feed. And soon.
Wilkerson doesn’t have a hospital. Which means no blood from that quarter.
“Isaiah, will you tell this idiot that we need to kill dragon guy as soon as fucking possible?” Patten snarls. “I’m sure she won’t mind once he’s dead.”
“And I bit Jade when I promised I wouldn’t,” I say, briefly silencing him.
“That was different.This”—Patten stabs a finger toward the bedroom ‘dragon guy’ wandered into moments before—“deserves a neck snapping. Or a face clawing.”
I look away. Dominik might deserve to die for what he did, but Jade was clear about what she wanted and what she didn’t. “Shep is right. We?—”
Glass smashes.
I throw myself to the right, grunting as hot, sharp pain rakes my belly.
As I straighten from my near fall, something thumps into the wall opposite.
I take in the blood seeping through my shirt. Any higher and it would have been heart’s blood.
“What happened?” Jade darts out of the room, out of breath. Her eyes are wide as they bounce between me, my shirt, and the hole in the wall.
“Someone tried to take out Isaiah,” Patten says.
“Someone did not intend to take me out,” I deny, angling my body away from her. She’s been through enough already. She doesn’t need to see the blood coating the front of my gray silk shirt.
Patten stalks across the room and yanks something out of the wall before holding it up.
A wooden stake.
His brows knit together. “So launching stakes at vampires is a sign of friendship, is it?”
Everyone stares at the stake, then, in unison, swivels their heads toward me.
I feel my skin knitting itself together, the wound closing as blood clots and my bleeding stops. I’m healing much slower than I usually would, and it’s taking more energy. Too much for such a small wound.
Tiny bright lights bounce here and there.
I blink them away, only for them to return seconds later. My stomach churns, and rushing blood fills my head, all alarming signs warning I’ve gone far too long without feeding. I need to sit down and regain my composure.
