been taken away. I’d never force wending on her if I could help it.
“I’m on my way. Stay exactly where you are.” I pointed at Lachlan and Ransom, who both nodded. Hawke would only scare the shit out of Avianna, so that introduction would have to wait. Besides, there was no one better to leave behind to protect the compound.
“You’re overreacting, Alek. I’m fine! We’re just enjoying some of this delicious blue fluff the man with the cart sold us—”
“Us?” Cotton candy cart. I knew exactly where she was.
“I have Olivia, of course. I’m not completely naïve.”
She had her bodyguard. At least there was that.
“Just stay there.” I looked to Hawke. “Call Xavier now. Tell him if a demon puts a finger on my sister, I’ll—”
“You’re being ridiculous, but I’ll wait right here, as ordered.” She muttered, “jackass,” before the line went dead.
“Fuck!” I shoved the phone in my back pocket, then reached under my leather jacket and unholstered my Glock as I looked at Lachlan and Ransom. “We go now.”
I focused on the trees just behind the cotton candy cart in Briarwood Park and wended. My skin embraced the ice of the between in the seconds it took to shift places, and then the scent of sticky sugar and a hundred subtle variations of human blood filled my nose.
The park was in the center of Edgemont City, and of the three million humans that lived here, there were less than a few hundred that knew of our existence, all of whom were compelled to keep their mouths shut. The Opera House was at the center of it all, and she was on the wrong side of it.
I took a deep breath, sorting through the scents in an instant. Citrus, iron, cannabis, and apples. Vanilla and cinnamon hit me especially hard. My fangs descended despite having fed only a few hours ago. I pushed past that tantalizing warmth I knew had to be a human and caught the light hint of freesia that was Avianna.
“There.” I started down the path at a normal walking pace. The Covenant’s first commandment was to never expose the world of immortals that dwelled alongside the humans. Besides, it would have taken precious time to compel any human to forget they’d seen us if we did anything that brought undue attention.
“Son of a bitch.” There was a demon just ahead, moving in the same direction as Avi’s scent, passing an oblivious human jogger.
I wasn’t surprised the jogger looked unbothered by the set of horns that had just blown by. Demons wore permanent glamours. Their supernatural features were invisible to the human eye.
My pulse galloped at the thought of Avi in demon hands, and I increased my pace. We came around the corner of the curved path to see the blue-horned demon shove a human woman out of his path, revealing a dagger in the moonlight.
My heart fucking stopped, as if the scent of vanilla and cinnamon was a physical fist around the blood-pumping organ. The blonde hit the pavement with a sharp cry, a stack of books skittering around her.
Avianna was only a hundred feet away, just beyond the next curve. I could smell her from here, and yet I was powerless against the overwhelming, unbreakable urge to make sure the demon hadn’t killed the human. The cleanup was a pain in the ass.
I didn’t have time to stop, and in the seconds it took to reach her, I battled the primal, base instinct that called me to the human…and I lost.
I fucking lost.
“Go,” I ordered Ransom and Lachlan, pointing to the path ahead.
They didn’t question the command—they valued their lives more than that. Lachlan would grumble at me privately, but never in front of anyone else.
I stopped suddenly in front of the human woman, dropping to my haunches and running my gaze over her frame in less time than it took my heart to beat. The scent of her blood made my mouth water, and I gritted my teeth against the craving. I ordered my fangs and my cock to stand down. Damn, I hadn’t even seen the woman yet, and I was hard—she smelled that good.
“Asshole!” she shouted down the path where the demon had run.
Obviously, it hadn’t been a death blow.
“Are you okay?” I growled, annoyed as fuck at myself for checking on a human when my sister was in danger.
She shoved her mass of blonde hair out of her face and looked up at me with widening green eyes.