Page 88 of Wicked Allure
The scent of Solomon’s blood led her forward. She took in the last drop and cursed. She turned down the slim alleyway between two buildings where the blood trail had led her. It was a long area, a trash receptacle placed near the middle. She stepped into the alley and inhaled. She immediately wished she hadn’t. The strong aroma of waste hit her. She scowled and crept forward slowly.
A broken window caught her attention, its jagged edges stained dark. She stepped closer and narrowed her gaze on it. A growl rumbled low in her chest. He was attempting to hide like the coward he’d become. She had to catch him before he escaped and vanished once again.
The wind shifted, and she picked up the scent of his blood. He was close by. A door had been left ajar. She slipped her serrated blade from her waist sheath and silently stalked to the door. She wouldn’t attempt to go through the window. She’d bust the damn door in if she had to in order to search for him. The moment she rested her hand on the handle, it flew open.
Solomon lunged toward her with his fangs bared. The once highly decorated warrior was gone, and what faced her now was a cornered beast. The force of his body slamming into hers carried them across the alley and into the wall of the neighboring brick building. The air escaped her lungs, but she ignored it. She drew in a ragged breath and forced him off her.
“You should have died,” she snapped.
He brought up his blade, but she deflected it with her own.
Steel clashed in the tight area as they fought. In his current state he was no match for Dru. There was desperation in his eyes, but Dru ignored it. He slashed at her but missed. She landed a hard kick to his abdomen, sending him flying into the building behind him. He crashed into it and fell to his knees. His weapon clattered to the ground a short distance away.
“You think killing me will stop the lycans?” he bit out around his fangs. “You think the king and queen won’t turn on you?”
“Your path was chosen the day you betrayed our king,” Dru sneered. She was different than him. She was loyal to her king and queen—to their kind.
“He’s no king of mine. He had my mate and her family killed,” Solomon spat. Blood dripped from his mouth. The wound of his abdomen must have reopened from their fight. There was now a large pool accumulating on the ground underneath his knee. “Because she was a lycan!”
“So you’re a traitor not once, but twice.” Dru stalked toward him with her blade gripped in her hand. It mattered not what he tried to tell her. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—trust a word he said. He’d betrayed them all and he must pay.
“Her name was Darda. She was beautiful and kind. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. She was killed just because she was a lycan who loved me.” He knelt on both knees before her, weakened, but he held his head up high and met her gaze.
For a brief moment she almost pitied him—the high-ranking warrior he once was; the respect he’d once earned was now gone. But pity had no place here.
His loyalty had shifted. He’d betrayed their kind. He sent those lycans to the town to attack her and her men.
He’d almost had her mate killed.
She struck.
Her blade slid through his neck with a clean, decisive sound, ending the argument in silence. He fell back against the wall, his eyes dimming as the light left them. Blood flowed in twin rivers from the wound. She’d ensured she’d severed both major arteries on each side of his neck for a quick death. He’d bleed out in minutes.
She stood over him, waiting until the final beat of his heart ceased. Dru reached up and tapped on her communicator in her ear.
“I have the traitor,” she announced quietly.
“I’m headed your way now,” Orenda replied.
Dru’s hand fell away from the piece, and she eyed the dying male before her. His pallor became pale. What was left of his blood trickled from him. Fat raindrops hit the pavement around them as the clouds opened. It was fitting that the gods would see fit to wash away the atrocity of the vampire who lay dying. The rain picked up into a heavy pour.
“May the gods decide your fate, Solomon Winterborne,” she whispered.
The last agonal breath escaped him, and his heart pounded no more.
Tomesha clutched her hands together. The vehicle that carried her from the attack site moved fast. The warriors with her remained silent as they drove. She didn’t mind the silence. She actually welcomed it after what had just happened. The sight of the lycans showing up, the fighting, all of the blood, and then there was Dru.
She’d faced down that larger man—a vampire. Tomesha wasn’t sure how she knew he was a vampire, but all she knew was that he hadn’t shifted into the form of a lycan beast. He’d been strong and hadn’t hesitated in facing Dru. Her vampire was certainly a bad-ass warrior. She hadn’t backed down from the man who’d wanted to do her bodily harm.
She hadn’t wanted to leave Dru, but she knew she had to. At that moment it wasn’t safe, and she understood Dru had to hunt down that man. When he’d gotten up and disappeared, Tomesha didn’t know where. She hadn’t heard anything, and apparently, Dru hadn’t either.
She bit her trembling lip to try to help rein in her feelings. She’d never been so scared in her life. The growls of those lycans still echoed in her head. The screeching sound of metal being clawed at by the beasts and the shattering of the windshield had Tomesha praying to every god she could think of. She wasn’t ready to die and certainly not at the hands of a lycan.
It brought back so many memories of her past that she didn’t want to think of.
The night her father went missing was the same night the lycans had attacked their town two years ago. He’d gone out to purchase another bottle of his favorite whiskey. Tomesha had tried to talk him out of leaving. He’d been drinking heavily, more than his usual. But nothing she, Tarek, nor her grandmother said would change his mind.
He’d gone out a little before supper. An hour later, the town had come under attack. The sirens blared, signaling for all to take cover and hide. Tarek had hesitated to secure the house in hopes that Maynard would be arriving home in time.
