Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,97

wounds soaked his clothes and splashed across the ground. Still, he didn’t stop.

When one of them sank its fangs into his throat, the pain didn’t immobilize him or bring him to his knees. Instead, it fueled him.

Gripping the Savage by its nape, he squeezed until bone popped and cartilage shredded. He tore the bastard’s head from its shoulders, and hooking his fingers into its open neck, he used it to bash in the head of another one clinging to him.

He had to get to her!

If he could get to her, he could give her his blood and save her. But with every second, he felt that possibility slipping further away. She didn’t have much time left; she might not have any left already.

That thought spurred him onward even as a blow to his right knee caused his leg to bend in a way it should never go. He didn’t feel it when his knee went backward, but he did stagger beneath the weight of the bodies on him.

No! The word reverberated through his mind as his hands hit the ground, and he pushed himself back up.

But as he rose, more Savages piled on top of him. Buried beneath the pile of foul-smelling creatures, Lucien’s fingers remained hooked into the skull of the one he decapitated as he spun and used it to smash them in their faces. They fell back as cheeks and jaws shattered.

Hands jerked at Callie and flipped her over. She tried to blink the face hovering over her into focus, but she couldn’t blink anymore. Instead, her eyes remained half-open as they stared at the night sky.

She’d always loved the stars. Often, she and her dad would sit beneath them while he pointed out the constellations. She spotted the Big Dipper and thought she smiled, but she couldn’t be sure.

At least the pain was fading as coldness seeped in to replace it. She couldn’t feel her extremities anymore; she was floating. Maybe she was already dead and this was heaven.

Soon, she would see her dad again, or at least she hoped she would. She didn’t want to leave Lucien, she couldn’t think about what would become of him without her, but she would like to see her dad again.

“Callie. Callie, look at me,” a frantic voice commanded.

She couldn’t look at anything but the stars shining within the thick, black sky. They held endless possibilities as they shifted above her. They were beautiful, and she was glad they would be the last things she saw.

A hand gripped her face and turned it away from the beauty of the heavens. Something warm pressed against her mouth, and liquid pooled in her throat until she swallowed.

She couldn’t place what the liquid was. The taste was unfamiliar, and the thickness was unusual, but it didn’t matter. She was dying. It would all be over soon.

Her eyes drifted closed as the cold hand of death encased her.

Chapter Forty-One

Willow swung the blade out and sank it into the shoulder of a Savage. At a diagonal angle, the sword cleaved through the body like a warm knife through butter. The two pieces of the monster fell to the ground before it burst into ash.

Blood soaked the earth as, at her sides, Saber and Declan took down more of the monsters. Asher and Logan were fighting their way toward Lucien, but she didn’t know if it would be enough to save him from the horde of Savages piling onto him.

They had to save him. Lucien sacrificed himself to make sure she escaped the Savages. She wouldn’t let him go down like this.

Then she looked to where Killean was fighting off more Savages while Simone knelt beside Callie. She winced as she recalled the blade sinking into Callie’s chest. There was no doubt it was a mortal wound.

If Simone couldn’t save her, it would be best for Lucien if he didn’t survive this. However, she was still going to do everything she could to save him.

From the woods next to the rest area, a distant light started burning through the night. At first, she was so intent on hacking her way through the Savages she didn’t notice it. However, Saber’s words drew her attention to it.

“What is that?” Saber asked.

Willow dared to tear her gaze away from the Savages dancing out of range of her sword. Something stepped out of the woods and paused at the edge of the tree line. Because of the heavy cloak covering it and the hood pulled over its head, she