Sterling swallowed, but nodded, clutching Bacon to his chest. Riley smiled and reached down to ruffle Bacon’s head. “Take good care of Bacon. We’ll be back soon.”
Riley had a very hard time concentrating on anything as he watched Max and Chey walk away with his mate. He knew Sterling needed to be somewhere safe. The man was not a fighter. But not having Sterling under his watchful eyes was agonizing.
“Come.”
Riley tore his eyes away from the doorway Sterling had disappeared through and turned to face Eagle. The man was already hurrying away into the darkness, his moves stealthy and quiet. Riley hurried to catch up. They were headed to the south end of the village, the direction the screams came from.
But, now, it was eerily quiet, almost too quiet. Granted, it was dark out, but there had been people out and about just moments before. Now, the path that wove between dwellings was totally vacant. Riley found it rather strange that no one ran in the direction of the screams or even peeked out of the doorways in curiosity.
Everyone was curious, weren’t they?
Who didn’t look when chaos could be heard?
He thought it was a normal reaction, but apparently these elves didn’t think so.
Unless the fey here knew more about what was going on than they were telling, which Riley was strongly beginning to think was the case. He had been met only with resistance since the moment he arrived. Maybe there was just a bit more going on here than anyone really knew.
Riley stepped everywhere that Eagle stepped, ensuring his moves were just as quiet. He wasn’t sure who or what was out there, but he wasn’t going to announce their arrival by snapping any twigs or rustling any leaves.
The darkness felt like a black veil of evil had settled over them, and the only thing lighting their way was the sliver of a moon that illuminated parts of the forest around them. It was so quiet that Riley couldn’t even hear the crickets. There was something out there. He could feel the chill deep in his bones. A twinge, a twang, a niggle, whatever it was, settled in the back of Riley’s neck, making him ultra-aware that he and Eagle were not the only ones in the woods.
Riley had roamed around in his bear form at night, but he had never been a soldier and wasn’t used to creeping up on the bad guy. The Lakelands had their fair share of fighting, but he had never gone covert like this before.
Eagle raised his hand, signaling Riley to stop.
Riley stilled, holding his breath as he looked past Eagle’s shoulder and felt ice fill his veins. There were two men standing by an oak tree, and they had a fey pinned to it. The fey’s eyes were rolled to the back of his head as one of the men leaned forward and bit into the fey’s shoulder.
Riley’s lip pulled back into a growl. He was not going to stand by and watch the fey be drained by two vampires. Not while he still held air in his lungs. He rushed forward, taking the men by surprise and knocking the one drinking from the fey on his ass.
And then things went south.
“Riley, no!” Eagle shouted from behind him. “They’re not vampires!”
Riley glanced over his shoulder and thought better of taking his eyes off of the men a little too late. He was backhanded so hard that he flew off of his feet and landed a good five feet away. His head hit the ground and his saw a burst of stars before his eyes.
Riley rolled to his hands and knees, shaking it off, and then he was kicked in the gut. His breath whooshed from his body as he rolled through the forest, his hands scraping against rocks and twigs.
Just what in the fuck were these things?
“Stay down, bear!” the intruder warned in a lecherous tone that made Riley want to obey. But, he was Riley. That wasn’t going to happen. He was stubborn if nothing else.
Riley chuckled and it was dry and cynical as he pushed to his feet. He could see Eagle fighting the other man, and the grey wolf wasn’t winning. He was pinned to the tree, fighting to get the other man off of him.
“Behind their ear!” Eagle shouted as he head-butted the guy. “Stab them in the mark behind their ear, Riley.”
“Yeah, Riley,” the creature said mockingly as his fingers waved toward the palm of his hand in a challenge. “Come stab me behind my ear…if you can.”
“They’re hellhounds. Don’t let them bite you,” Eagle shouted before shoving his elbow into the creature’s face. Riley could hear the crack from where he was standing. Eagle had broken the man’s nose.
Riley thought quickly as the man in front of him started to circle around Riley. He didn’t have anything on him to stab the man with. As he crouched and circled, a feeling of total misery washed over him. He felt like he would never be happy again.