The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(95)

"They let him live to torture me." He trembled beneath Sienna's hand. "To show me the pain they put him through."

Bron, who'd stepped back to the open cottage door, sniffed with his nose in the air. "More of them are coming."

"Good," said Nikolai, his voice a blade of ice as he stood and walked for the door. "Let them come. Let them all come."

Allora was at Bron's side. "I will call upon the clans."

"They may not come." Bron placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You know that."

"They will if they know there are vampires invading the forest for slaughter," she replied. "They'll have to set aside their differences for the good of the wood."

"Yes," he whispered. "Go."

With a sudden crackle of energy and burst of sizzling power, Allora shifted into her wolf form, tearing off out of the cottage and into the woods, a white streak against the white snow, howling as she went.

Nikolai turned to Sienna, gripping her by her upper arms, his face close to hers. "Stay inside, Sienna. Don't come out. No matter what."

"Nikolai. I think I can help." Even now, she felt the stirring of fire within her gut, a swirling tempest of flame urging her to stand beside him. Magic. It was magic that whispered the flames to life.

The others filed out behind them into the yard.

"Sienna." His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as he squeezed her arms. "Stay. Inside. Do not come out. Do you understand?"

There was no arguing with him. She put a hand to his cheek and gave him a compliant nod.

"Let the monster free, Nikolai."

His cold glare-which was not for her-remained in place as she stepped toward the door. Though dread shivered down her spine, knowing the queen would send many troops, her spirit buoyed up when she heard him say before she closed the door, "I plan to."





Chapter Twenty-Nine

The beast he'd kept caged for so long crept from the darkness, craving blood and violence and death. And Nikolai finally planned to feed the creature to its fill. His favorite dagger in hand, long blade sharp and ready, he marched forward in the direction they would come, sensing the three men flanking behind him. The smell of horses was on the wind, lots of them. The hart wolves would sense them, too.

"They'll leave their mounts outside Silvane and come by stealth," offered Nikolai. "Look to the trees, not just the ground."

He sensed the change of energy in the air, knowing two of them had shifted. Nikolai glanced back to see Bron, now his fierce black hart wolf, trotting into the woods ahead of him. Connell was close behind him. Dane still followed behind in human form, a steady snow beginning to fall.

"The queen will have sent an army infected by sanguine furorem. They'll be savage. And thirsty."

"Good," replied Dane, deep voice rough as rock. "Desperation makes men make mistakes."

Nikolai agreed with a tight nod, swiveling to face the quiet woodlands, sensing the presence of his own kind drawing nearer. "I appreciate that you and your brethren are here, even though this isn't your fight."



       
         
       
        

Dane grunted. "Intruders in our woods, coming to harm one of our own. It is our fight."

Nikolai understood by the tenor in his rumbling voice that Sienna was to them one of their pack, a sister. He was suddenly grateful for them, for their protection of her all this time, long before he knew her. They'd kept her safe, a lovely woman living alone in the woods. So vulnerable. He could barely get words past his throat, thick with all the fear and dread of what could have been should she not have had her wolf guardians.

"Thank you," he said gruffly, meeting the gold-eyed gaze of Dane.

"As I said. She is one of us." In a blink, he shifted into the giant beast of a hart wolf, eyes narrowing on the woods as he trotted quickly on silent feet.

Nikolai marched forward, smelling vampire on the wind. "Come, you fucking bastards."

He stopped on the path, standing in plain sight, and closed his eyes. He thought of Sienna-beautiful, loving Sienna-standing on a crate and pouring her heart out for the cause of the Black Lily, lying beneath him with trusting eyes and a more trusting soul, burning at the stake with pain marking every line of her face, dying in his arms and taking his heart with her. And coming back to life …

No way in hell would he let that go without retribution. Vengeance seduced him with the promise of blood and death to his enemies. The beast inside smiled at finally being unleashed to wreak hell and deliver pain.