Page 97 of Blood Red Rage

My hand stayed pressed over our baby. “But he's hurt.”

Runa closed her eyes, Sorcha swore under her breath, Layla immediately reached for her phone, probably to call Roman.

I turned back toward the sunrise, Viking was alive. I knew that, I could feel him, but something was wrong, something he was hiding. And as daylight flooded across the grounds, I realized the thing that frightened me most wasn't feeling Viking's rage through our bond. It wasn't the berserker or his fury, It was what I'd felt this morning. For the first time since meeting Viking Dragic, I'd felt the impossible. I'd felt him weakening.

And somewhere beyond those gates, beneath a rising sun that could kill him, my vampire was trying to find his way home.

Chapter 17

I should have known the warehouse was a fucking trap. The place was too quiet, no traffic, there was no guards visible or movement behind the broken windows. No human heartbeat anywhere near the abandoned industrial estate, nothing.

Thirty of our men surrounded the property, spreading through the darkness without a sound. Vampires moved across rooftops and through the surrounding buildings while changelings disappeared into places even my eyes couldn't follow. Draugr stood beside me behind a crumbling concrete wall, staring at the warehouse across the road. Lucien was farther east with twelve men. Volken had taken the western entrance. Roman was back at the mansion coordinating everything from the communications room.

That hadn't been the original plan. Roman had wanted to come, then Layla had looked at him and he'd stayed. Someone had to remain with the women and children, and after what happened at the mansion, none of us were willing to leave them without one of us close enough to tear the fucking world apart if another bullet came through those windows.

My phone vibrated. Roman. I answered.

“Anything?”

“Nothing,” I said.

“That's what worries me.”

“Same.”

Draugr glanced toward me.

Roman continued, “Thermal?”

“Almost nothing.”

“Almost?”

“Three signatures.”

Lucien's voice came through the shared comm. “Four on my side.”

Volken followed. “Two west.”

Nine, there were thirty of us for nine of them. This is bullshit. I stared at the building, every instinct I possessed screamed at me to leave, every other instinct told me Ceasar was inside. And if Ceasar was inside, I wasn't fucking leaving.

I thought of Bryn. She had become remarkably good at pretending she wasn't worried when I went out at night. She was terrible at it but I always knew, I could feel it through the bond.

I had kissed her forehead before leaving, then dropped to my knees and pressed my mouth against her stomach. Our child was still so fucking small, but I could hear the heartbeat now. Fast, steady, perfect.

I still worried every day that something would happen to her, to our child. I'd stood beside the bed one day before going out at night, listening until Bryn had opened one eye. Go before I handcuff you to the headboard myself. She had grumbled and I'd almost stayed, maybe I should have.

Draugr touched my shoulder bringing me back to the present. “Viking.”

“What?”

“You're doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Thinking about her.”

“I'm always fucking thinking about her.”