Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,14

my neck and I watched as he licked his lips.

I froze.

Then Callum streaked past us and around a corner, leaving nothing but a flash of white skin and a burst of wind in his wake.

Adrenaline, testosterone, magic—something—spurred all of my crew and they hoofed it even faster. Andros skidded around the same corner that Callum had turned and we found a dead guard in the vamp’s wake.

The man's neck was painted red. That splash of color was all I noticed as Andros charged by him.

Another nightmarish gift from the vampire.

Suddenly, the floor in front of us turned to ice. Andros slid, nearly toppling over and crushing me.

Evan and Malcolm both pointed their palms at the floor. But nothing happened. They were out. We slipped and slid across the ice as more bullets flew our way from a guard on the far side of the room.

I heard Evan grunt and my eyes dashed over to him. He clutched his side. A ripping sound and a roar filled the room as he transformed from a man into a bear, his face lengthening into a snout, his teeth elongating, his entire body growing even larger as magic encased his body, ripped his clothing, and healed his gunshot wound. He turned, prepared, I was certain, to attack the guard who'd shot him.

Out of my peripheral vision, I spotted Callum sinking his fangs into the guard's throat.

Was he helping us or simply sating his bloodlust? I couldn’t tell.

Grayson nearly ripped the exterior door off its hinges. Our crew exploded outside, and poured down the steps of an emergency exit, Evan at the rear, still growling.

As we ran out into the open, heading across a grassy area toward our escape vehicle, a cleaning crew truck that stood idling in front of a building across the street from the Pinnacle, I limply extended my palm. I tried to pull shadows around us and hide us from view—television crews were already parked down the street, reporters standing in front of the shifters who hadn’t yet been rounded up by Pinnacle police. Overhead, there was even a helicopter with a spotlight. Currently, that beam was focused on the shifters.

But any moment, it could turn and catch us.

My magic merely flickered like television static. The shadows came and went as fast as the eye could blink.

I couldn’t hide us.

That alone, was bad enough.

But then Andros lurched to a complete and utter stop—his skin turning a deep, unnatural shade of blue.

6

I tried to wriggle out of his grip, but Andros had frozen like a statue just outside the doors of the Pinnacle. I was trapped in the huge man’s grip under a stone archway. My hand instantly flew to the comm set in my ear. “Help!”

I glanced around to see what immediate threats might affect me, but unless the vampire horde burst through the same door, we were at least a bit away from all the chaos outdoors. We had stormed out through a side door, not the main entrance, so we weren’t in direct line-of-sight of the huge crowds. A pergola with a couple picnic tables shadowed us and kept us hidden from the chaos that was happening just down the road. Past the patio, I could see all the prairie dog holes, but even when I turned on my weakened infrared vision, I didn’t get any heat signatures near us.

Malcolm’s distraction strikes had worked.

The guys all turned back at my call, even though they’d been far ahead of me, streaking across the grass. Even Evan turned back, though he was still in his massive brown grizzly form. He shifted to human again, even though that meant he was naked as he jogged back toward me behind the other guys. For one singular moment, I thanked Coach Lundy for being such a prick. Because we’d run away. We were still running away. And I’d never have been able to do it without that sadistic bastard.

I shoved up against Andros’ frozen shoulders but I couldn’t get enough leverage to lift myself out of his grip. The night air and the fact that damned vampires were behind us both sent shivers down my spine.

“Shit, what the fuck did he get hit with?” Z waved a hand in front of Andros’ frozen face. He chewed his lip, worried for his cousin, brown eyes ricocheting from Andros to us.

“He’s the same color blue as that mist,” I said, while Malcolm cupped his hands under my feet and gave me a boost so I could