“You going to tell me which way to go?” she demanded, sounding adorably annoyed by my lack of directions.
I kissed her again, just because. My lip was still bleeding from her earlier bite, reminding me of her yanking me back to a proper frame of mind.
She’d grounded me in a way no one ever had. And I was pretty sure I gave her my heart in that moment for safekeeping. Or perhaps she already owned it. I couldn’t really say, but she absolutely had it now.
“It’s one block down through there,” I said softly, gesturing at the road. “You can just make out that hideous floral display Silvano installed as a driveway entrance.”
She followed my gaze to see what I meant, her nose curling. “I can smell it.”
“Yeah. It’s awful.”
Her eyes slowly returned to mine. “I’m glad you’re you again. This Ryder I understand.”
“Do you?” I asked, slightly amused. “Because I seem to recall you once saying you would never understand me.”
“That was human Willow,” she replied. “Wolf Willow understands you just fine.”
My lips quirked. “Then it must have been your wolf I met that first day when you tried to fight me even while dying.”
“Seems like something she would do,” Willow admitted.
I smiled. “She’s your warrior half.”
“Then what does that make my vampire half?”
“Your logical side,” I replied. “Which is why I’m speaking to that side now when I say move your sweet ass because I’m tired of Lilith’s little game.”
I intended to end it tonight.
Willow nodded. “You’d better know what you’re doing.” She took off before I could reply, forcing me into action. I went around the building beside me to the nearby alley, then ran down it to the end, beating her to the other side. With age came speed, and her human legs weren’t nearly as fast as her lycan ones.
Well, they might be faster right now. She was still pretty clumsy on four legs.
I watched from the shadows as she did exactly what I told her, running across the road and screaming at me to reconsider.
While she made a scene, I observed the main entrance.
Several Vigils stood outside, all watching her. They held machine guns, thwarting my earlier expectations, but they didn’t aim at her. Instead, they watched for me.
I leaned against the wall, observing their behaviors, noting their shifting positions. They were nervous, not because of Willow’s approach but because of my inevitable one.
Well, they wouldn’t have to worry about that much longer. The second Willow was within throwing range, she did exactly as I told her.
I pushed off the wall, slinking through the shadows created by the buildings. The Vigils didn’t have supernatural eyesight, marking them as inferior. They needed the moon to illuminate me before they knew where to aim.
Three.
Two.
I stepped out from my hiding spot, the Vigils drawing their weapons, and smiled when the grenades went off just in time.
Then I did exactly what I told Willow I would do—I ran right for the glass windows of the front lobby.
Two bullets took out the windowpane, granting me entry with one leap over the flower bed.
Then I wasted no time taking out everyone who stood inside, raining down bullets on a series of unprepared vampires who had stupidly expected a row of Vigils to take me down.
I blamed Lilith for their ignorance as I dove behind the receptionist counter, just in case a Vigil had survived, then peeked out beside it to take down those who remained standing.
It happened in a few blinks, my vampiric age and speed aiding in my attempt. My experience with weapons helped, too.
When I finally came up for air, it was to find over a dozen bodies on the ground, some of whom had been taken out by the blast. The others all had one or two bullets in them. None of them were truly dead yet, just wounded enough to stay down.
I rolled my neck, looking for the source of my problems. No electricity meant no video footage, which meant she had to be nearby to witness my approach.
Had it been me, I wouldn’t have cut the power and I’d have remained high up in the tower to watch the feeds below, thereby allowing myself enough time to plan a counterattack.
I also wouldn’t have turned off the resource my human Vigils required to do their job.
No light equaled minimal sight clearance—a weakness I’d exploited beautifully with the help of my pet.
If I wasn’t already pissed off by Lilith’s antics with Damien, I would have