Crashing into Fate (Maple Grove #25) - Lynn Hagen Page 0,13

risky. He matched them in strength, but their speed would be tricky as hell. It was hard watching both of them while still trying to keep an eye on his mate.

“You’re the one who brought this one, cat,” one of the vampires said. “You know exactly why we’re here.”

Shit. This had been about him, and now he’d dragged Arlan into his mess. He shifted into his human form so he could talk. “The human has nothing to do with this.”

The second vampire gave a deep, nerve-racking chuckle. “He has everything to do with this. It’s called leverage.”

They must have seen Lewis with Arlan last night and this morning in the diner. Lewis had been careless, and now Arlan was on their radar.

All three snapped their head around when a vehicle drove off the road and headed toward them. Lewis shifted back to his tiger form, praying it wasn’t backup for the vampires. He wasn’t sure he could take down both of them and knew for certain adding someone else would seal his fate.

He would die to protect Arlan, but he hoped it didn’t come down to that.

Lewis nearly collapsed with relief when he saw it was a cop car. He recognized Deputy Burrows behind the wheel. The lion shifter eased out of the driver’s seat and looked them over. “Mind telling me what’s going on here?”

Lewis snarled and leaped for one vampire as the other went after the deputy. While he fought to rip the vampire’s throat out, Lewis heard his truck backing up.

Arlan was taking off, but there was nothing Lewis could do about it. His mate would drive to the motel, and Lewis would be there as soon as he killed these clowns.

Lewis sank his sharp teeth into the vampire’s arm, making him scream as he backed away. He clutched his bleeding arm as he glared at Lewis.

“You can kill me, but others will follow. You signed your death warrant when you stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”

Lewis shifted. “And saved lives by doing so.”

The vampire barreled toward him, but Lewis was ready. As soon as the guy was close enough, Lewis plunged his hand into the vampire’s chest and ripped out his heart.

The vampire crumpled as Lewis dropped the heart, snarling at how gross it was. He really hated doing that.

The sound of a gun firing had Lewis spinning around. Deputy Burrows had his claws out, and ripped the second vampire’s heart out as soon as he hit the ground. The deputy’s chest heaved as he looked from the ground to Lewis.

“What the fuck just happened?”

“I found these two chasing my mate,” Lewis said. “They wanted to kill him.”

He didn’t want to go into details. The fewer people who knew what Lewis had done the better. That and the fact that Prince Christian had sworn Lewis to secrecy. The prince didn’t want it advertised that they’d wiped out an entire group of vampires.

Not too long ago they’d had an explosion of newborn vampires, and Christian feared it was happening again. He hadn’t wanted a panic, so Lewis and Christian, along with others, had hunted the newborns down and wiped them out.

The one who had created them had escaped but not before vowing revenge against Lewis and the others. It seemed the guy was trying to make good on his promise. Lewis needed to talk to Christian.

“Do you know why they went after your mate?” Burrows asked.

Lewis shrugged. “Do any of us know why vampires do what they do?”

“I’ll call this in.” Burrows walked to the driver’s side and reached for his radio.

Lewis needed to get to the motel. The guy had said there would be others, and Lewis needed to protect Arlan. “I have to get to my mate.”

Burrows nodded. “Go. I’ll make sure this gets cleaned up. We can talk later.”

“I owe you one.” Lewis shifted and took off, racing toward Maple Inn. His go-bag was in his truck, with a set of clothes and shoes. He needed that bag before he went to his mate to explain what he’d seen.

And if Lewis were lucky, Arlan wouldn’t pull a shotgun on him.

He made it to the motel and saw his truck parked outside Arlan’s room. Lewis found the door unlocked and reached in to grab his bag.

Once he was dressed, he knocked on Arlan’s door. His mate cracked it opened and looked up at Lewis. There was raw fear in his eyes. “Go away.”

“I can’t,” Lewis said. “I’m sure you know why we need to