Praise for Blind Salvage(2)

I closed my eyes and memories far worse assaulted me, battered at me and forced me to feel them again. Berget’s death rocketed through me, tearing what was left of my heart into pieces, and then the shock with her apparent re-birth as a vampire, her eyes pleading with me to side with her. To turn my back on Liam, Pamela, and Alex. To help her become the Empress in truth, so that she would have control of the vampire nation.

She forced me to make a decision between the family I dreamed of and the family who’d stood by me through thick and thin. And I’d chosen to turn my back on her; I’d left her behind.

Will’s fingers brushed along the back of my neck snapping me back to the present. I stepped away from him and gave him a glare for good measure. He was lucky we were friends or I would have done a hell of a lot more than glare at him.

“No. I have to go. This isn’t my home and I don’t belong here.” I looked around me. My bag of weapons was at my feet, full of all sorts of goodies. Alex splashed at the edge of the pond, near Deanna and Pamela. We were as ready to go as we ever would be.

Deanna hugged Pamela and whispered something in the young witch’s ear. While Deanna had petitioned me to let Pamela stay with her and train to become a druid, Pamela chose to come with me. Unlike her predecessor, Deanna had let it go at that. Good thing too. I would have hated to kill her when she’d helped me get Liam back. Her predecessor though—I would have gladly removed Daniels’ stupid head from the rest of her, but this time around that hadn’t been my job. Nor had I been given the chance.

Even before we made it back from Venice, Daniels had gone ‘missing’, and Deanna was back in charge of the druids. I had to give it to the Beast, he didn’t waste any time making good on his word to clean house with Daniels. One less lunatic in the world was a good thing. Particularly when the lunatic had a serious hate on for yours truly.

Will surprised me again, pulling me out of my thoughts, as he tugged me into his arms. Hugging me tight to his chest, his arms clamped around my upper body as if he would hold me there forever, his heart beating hard against mine. He spoke softly into my ear, his breath tickling my skin, warm and gentle.

“You will always have a place here, Rylee. I need you to know that. No matter what comes, you would be safe here, with me.” He held on too long and I squirmed, more than feeling the overtones of what he wanted, of what I couldn’t reciprocate. Maybe, maybe if Liam hadn’t come back to me this moment would be a different story. But Liam had come back, so there was no guessing about this, about Will, for me. Besides, if he thought he could keep me safe in a world where death and disaster were my constant companions, he didn’t know me as well as he thought he did.

A low growl came from the left of us, and Will let me go. Kinda. He still hung onto my forearms as he glared over at Liam, letting out a low rumbling kitty cat growl of his own. I jerked my arms out of Will’s hands, but it didn’t help. The testosterone and tension in the air grew heavy, broken up only by sheer luck. Alex bolted in between us, slammed into me and then Will, like a freaking ping pong game gone awry, and then knocked us both to our knees.

“Home, home, hooooooooooooome!” His howl quivered in the air, dissipating the two alphas’ staring match. His timing was perfect, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I didn’t want to play referee between the two alphas. I had enough on my hands just trying to keep us all alive.

In the two days since Liam had been back, this was the third time the two alpha shifters had started to lock horns. And it was the third time Alex had interrupted them, essentially keeping them from each others’ throats. Sensitive as the submissive werewolf was, I wondered if he picked up on the combative vibes, didn’t like them, and had realized he had the ability to stop the fights before they even occurred. But was he really that intuitive? As if to confirm my thoughts, he rolled his eyes up to mine as I stood. One long slow wink and he put his index claw to his muzzle.

Smiling, I reached down and scratched him behind his ears. “Alex, you are the best.”

His tongue lolled out, flipping spit as he nodded vigorously. “Alex knows that.”

With a laugh, I stepped away from Will, putting Liam between us, and headed to the car, acting like nothing had happened. One thing I’d learned with supernaturals, you just moved on. No need to point out what could have been, unless you were spoiling for a fight. Particularly with alphas.

A part of me wished Eve was still here, that I could hop on her back and fly the hell away from all of this. But Eve had already left, choosing to hopscotch across Iceland and down the east coast of Canada before banking to the west to North Dakota. The trip would take her a few days, maybe a week depending on her wings, and she’d probably get home not long after us. She knew to take it slow, but even with that, I worried. She was young and wanted to prove herself. I knew what that did to people. The need to prove oneself could make you stupid and encourage stupid decisions. I, of all people, should know that better than most.