Page 100 of Marked By Moonlight
He stumbles back. He’s weak, weaker than I expected from a vampire who has recently been feeding on us. But I won’t stop until he’s dead.
My hind legs squat before I leap into the air, launching the full weight of my wolf form onto him. My front paws hit his chest, knocking him to the ground before my teeth tear apart his neck piece by piece.
I go for his arm next, clamping my teeth down onto his bicep. My head swings hard, ripping his arm from its socket. His second arm comes off even easier than his first.
Draven is lifeless on the floor, but from what I know about vampires, he won’t truly be dead until a stake pierces his heart.
I’m tempted to shift back into my human form to finish the job when I see Ambrose lying still on the floor.
The other vampires and Serenity have fled—the cowards. I run to his side and watch as his chest rises and falls. He’s still alive.
“Ambrose!” I yell through our bond, the connection coming even easier than before now that I’m in my wolf form.
He doesn’t respond, doesn’t so much as twitch a muscle. He doesn’t have much time. He needs blood and a doctor.
I let out a soft whine as I circle him, trying to figure out how to pick him up without shifting into my human form. My wolf strength and speed is the only chance he has at surviving.
I nudge my snout under his body and toss him up in the air just enough to get my neck under his heavy body. Even in thisform, he feels heavy to me. My muscles strain as I gently shift him from my neck and onto my back.
“Hold on,” I tell him, hoping some part of him will listen. Somehow, his fingers tighten ever so slightly into my thick fur.
And then I run.
The stairs are tricky to manage without bouncing him off, but I somehow manage to get downstairs. Thankfully, the front door is open, and I burst through the doorway. My muscles scream at me to slow down and take it easy. They are brand new, after all. But the wolf, she knows—she knows we can’t stop. She knows we have to save our mate. And she knows exactly where to run.
Ambrose told me Rowena and Emeric were coming. We just have to make it to them.
They don’t appear for hours. Ambrose must have been far ahead of them when he came to rescue me. But despite my heavy breathing and aching muscles, I’ve managed to keep running the entire time, until I finally spot Rowena running toward us as she darts between the trees.
“Help! Ambrose lost a lot of blood!” I scream at Rowena before remembering I’m in my wolf form, and she can’t hear anything other than a growl from me.
She’s at my side within seconds, seeing Ambrose’s limp body on my back.
Emeric appears on my other side but barely standing. He looks like he’s on death’s door, which means…Ambrose. Emeric feels Ambrose’s pain.Did I make it in time?
Rowena shifts into her human form before gently rolling Ambrose off my back. His body hits the ground with a loud thud. She immediately starts chanting something over him.
“What happened?” Emeric asks, looking at me in awe.
“Vampires,” I say the word before I remember he can’t hear me.
But Emeric nods, like he completely understands.
“I don’t know how to shift back,” I say, but of course, Emeric doesn’t understand me.
Rowena’s body is blocking my view of Ambrose, but I can see Emeric’s color returning to his face, his pain receding.
“He’s going to be fine,” Emeric says.
He’s going to be okay. He’s going to be okay.
But am I going to be okay?
Suddenly, I feel very weak. The world starts to spin around me as the pain returns in harsh waves and heats my body. The burn is fast this time, like wildfire burning away the fur and leaving human flesh in its wake.
Emeric screams as he takes in my human form. “Rowena! Lumi lost a lot of blood. I’m not sure she’s going to—”
Darkness engulfs me, and I’m pretty sure I saved Ambrose only for his curse to kill me.
