Blue struck him in the chest with her elbow, then twisted around and punched him until her knuckles throbbed. Bloodied his nose, knocked out a tooth, and then she went for the windpipe. Despite her best efforts, he didn’t drop to the ground but swung his arms as he gasped to breathe. Hand-to-hand combat wasn’t her style. She could throw a mean punch, but this guy must have been twice her weight.
Niko jumped off the car and hustled toward the wolf. With outstretched hands and webs of light dancing at his fingertips, he addressed the animal. “Leave us, and I won’t kill you.”
Blue’s adversary simultaneously hacked out a cough and a laugh. “You blind motherfucker. You couldn’t kill an elephant. Get him!”
The second the wolf lunged. Niko ran a step and somersaulted over him, his fighting techniques pure magic.
Blue looked down when the man punched her in the leg. No, that was no punch. It took a second to feel the knife piercing bone, and she lost her balance, dropping to her knees.
In that moment, Blue had what could only be called an out-of-body experience. She punched him in the groin with immense power and did it repeatedly until he crumpled to the ground, gasping as he clutched his testicles. Then she yanked the knife from her leg and crawled over him, her pain no longer existent. As she raised the knife, something tickled her memory, filling her with so much rage that she drove it straight through his heart.
Again and again.
“Blue, stop.” Niko grasped her hands, forcing the knife out.
Blue mechanically rose to face him. By the car, the wolf lay motionless. “Are you okay?”
He reached out until his hand found her temple. “I should ask you the same.”
She limped toward the car. “What the hell do they think we have?”
Niko touched the trunk lid and bent down low. “I didn’t sense it before. Open the trunk.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a model with the button on the trunk lid itself, so Blue dragged her leg behind her as she reached inside the car and activated the trunk release.
“Blue, quick!”
Her leg dull with pain, she hobbled to the rear. The trunk light Shepherd had installed revealed a child curled up in a fetal position. She couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven.
“Fates,” Blue whispered. “How long has she been in there?”
“Her light is weak. Does she look familiar to you?”
Blue reached in and swept back the girl’s long brown hair. “Yeah. The Donner pack.”
“You mean the one from this afternoon?”
Blue thought about how suspicious the men had behaved and how few women she’d seen. That in itself wasn’t unusual, but it was all the children that raised red flags—mostly girls. This one had been sitting inside the garage when they arrived. She had a hopeful look in her eyes when she saw Blue, but sometimes that was simple curiosity from packs cut off from the outside world.
“She’s been in there for hours,” Blue said, a sinking feeling coming over her as she pulled the girl out. She set her on the ground and patted her cheek. “Wake up, honey. Can you hear me?”
“I’ll get water.” Niko disappeared from sight.
The girl’s eyelids fluttered before she looked up at Blue. “Please don’t send me back,” she rasped. “Please.”
“Okay. Don’t you worry about all that.”
Niko reappeared and held out a bottle.
“Here, you take her,” Blue said.
While Niko cradled the girl, Blue slowly poured water into the girl’s mouth. A few swallows went down before she passed out.
“She’s burning up,” Niko said. “She’ll die if we don’t find help.”
“We can’t take her to a hospital—she’s a Shifter.”
They had a hard-and-fast rule about bringing strangers home for medical care. Blue reached in her pocket and dialed Graham, the only Relic she personally knew. When it went to voicemail, she pulled herself up. “We have no choice but to take her home. Turn on that cooling thing you do and see if you can bring down her temperature.”
Once they were safely inside the vehicle, Blue hit the gas and left the bodies behind. She didn’t have time to call cleaners in, but if these guys were expected back, their packmates would come for them sooner or later.
“You’re injured,” Niko said. “I can heal you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t do two things at once. Focus on her. She’s just a kid.”
“I can’t heal her,” he said remorsefully. “My gift heals wounds, but I can’t fix something like this, especially not a child.”
“Just keep her cool. Shepherd will know what to do.”
The air conditioner combined with Niko’s Thermal ability sent goose bumps up Blue’s arms. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, but it wasn’t from the cold. She sped down every shortcut she knew, trying to get home as quickly as possible.
What were you thinking, kid? Blue wondered why a child would have done something so foolish. She might have chalked it up as an accident, but the girl would have had to get inside the car, pop the trunk, and then quietly lock herself in.
Please don’t send me back. Those haunting words echoed in Blue’s head.
She dialed Shepherd. “Set up the medical room. … I’ll tell you when we get there.”
Thank the fates I bought a fast car. The engine roared as she glanced at the girl’s lifeless body, sand slipping through the hourglass with each passing second. Niko would notice if her light extinguished, but Blue wasn’t going to let that happen. Not on her watch.
When they arrived, the front gate was already open. She sped up the private driveway and screeched to a halt in front of the door. Blue hopped out.
“Is it Niko?” Shepherd approached the vehicle.
She limped around the car to open Niko’s door. “Help us.”
Shepherd’s eyes widened. “Who’s that?”
“A little girl who’s going to die if you don’t get moving.”
Blue snapped her attention to the footfalls rushing toward them. Matteo emerged from the darkness at Chitah speed, his nostrils flaring as he undoubtedly picked up their emotional scent.
“You’re like a stray cat we can’t get rid of,” she muttered.
Shepherd took the girl from Niko’s arms and carried her inside.
When Blue went to follow, Matteo gripped her arm. “Female, you’re bleeding.”
“I don’t have time for this.” She freed her arm from his grasp and gave him a sharp look. “You can’t come inside. That’s the rule, Chitah.”
“You need help,” he insisted, trapping her against the car.
Blue touched his arm, realizing he was close to flipping his switch. “It doesn’t hurt. I’ll be fine.”
He dipped his chin. “Balderdash. Not only can I scent your pain, but I can also scent your lies.”
“My life isn’t what matters here,” she said rapid-fire. “Your tongue isn’t going to fix my wound. That little girl needs me. Let me go unless you want to be responsible for her death.”
Concern bled from his expression, but he finally capitulated and backed off.
Blue brushed by him, hoping it wasn’t too late. She couldn’t have a child’s death on her hands.