Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

Adranus and another male vampire tailed her, but it was evident that she meant business when her crimson eyes locked onto his with loathing and the desire to kill.

Where was his backup? [Gunner, what’s your position?]

[About five miles away,] he said. [Hold on as long as you can.]

Carina charged at him, her fangs bared and her nails, sharp as talons, raised up to claw his eyes out.

Bracing himself, he grabbed both of her wrists as she hissed in fury, his feet digging into the earth as he fought to maintain his stance while she pushed with all her strength. She tried to pull away, but he held on tight and kept her talons as far away from him as he could without losing his grip.

“How dare you attack my precious Lily!” she shrieked.

Luckily, Adranus and the second vampire, Stone didn’t know his name, stood back to watch. Neither one looked amused, but they didn’t seem like they would intervene unless pressed to.

“Be thankful that I spared her life,” he replied. “I would have gladly killed her if it weren’t for the fact that I needed her to get to you.”

She hissed at him, twisting in his grasp and using all her strength to try and break free and rip his eyes out.

“Kitten, we don’t have much time,” Adranus said, his eyes glancing at the eastern horizon. “Let us find out what he wants so we can return home before sunrise.”

She shrieked in frustration. Even with heightened strength and rage to fuel her, she was still no match against Stone’s physical might. “No! Not until I make him pay for what he did!”

Stone tried not to laugh at her feeble attempts to over-power him. He projected a mental image of it to Gunner, who chuckled in his head.

“That was payback for what one of your minions did to Aubree.”

The malevolent look on her face twisted into a mean sneer. “And I would’ve gotten her too if it weren’t for those mutts in Wisconsin.”

Growling, he threw her over his shoulder, to which she gracefully flipped and landed like a pixie on her feet. Without hesitation, she lunged at him, but he grabbed her and flipped her onto the earth before slamming his knee into her lower back.

Face in the dirt, she screeched in pain, paralyzed underneath him, as he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back so he could whisper into her ear. “You will answer my questions now, leech, or I’ll break your spine before I rip you apart.”

Hissing was all he got in response.

Adranus and the second vampire moved forward, but he held up his hand to signal them to stop. He glowered at them. “Your cooperation is more important to me right now than the pleasure of taking your life. Understood?”

She managed to hiss out a ‘yes’ before he eased up on her back a touch.

“Are you after the human female named Aubree?”

A choked out laugh, more like a cough, was his response.

“Answer me!” he roared, pulling back on her hair.

Her lips twisted up in a cruel smirk. “She is your mate, is she not?”

He growled in response.

“Then what’s the problem?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Tired of us killing your precious mates?”

“She’s a human,” he said, trying to detach himself from his emotions so Carina couldn’t see how much Aubree meant to him despite that simple fact. “Incapable of breeding more lycans, so why must you target her?”

“She will still bear you pups. Werewolves are just as despicable as lycans and must be eliminated.”

He wanted to smash her face into the ground, break her spine and rip her apart. Roaring in anger, he pried himself off her as Gunner was splashing through the river toward him in his beast form. His hulking form snarled at the vampires before shaking the water from his coat. His nostrils flared as he panted, while Stone stomped ten paces around Carina.

Stone mentally told Gunner to stand down unless he looked like he was in physical distress. He proceeded to pull up his mental barriers and cursed repeatedly in his head.

Cackling laughter met their ears as Carina pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. “Is that all you wanted to know?” She coughed before laughing some more. “Poor, heart-broken, DOGS!”

She pulled herself up to her feet, trembling a little from the effort. “We will never stop until every last one of you is dead. No one will be spared. Even though she is human, she will be no exception.”

“And if I refuse her?” Stone asked through gritted teeth, his heart clenching at the thought. “If I reject her and the matebond, will you let her live?”

The smirk she gave him made his blood run cold with dread and then hot with fury. “Do you take me to be a fool?”

Her eyes burned with hellfire as the wind picked up and twisted her hair wildly around her head. The sun was moments away from breaking on the horizon and she began to creep back, one small step at a time.

“Never,” she spat with venom. “Because I know you won’t be able to resist her.”

“Carina,” Adranus warned, his voice stern and even.

Stone didn’t even hear Adranus. All he could hear was the rush of blood to his head, fueled by his rage as he charged forward with an ear-splitting roar.

Screw Lillian and her desperate plea. The only monster here was Carina and now was his chance to take her out.

She saw him coming and leaped up ten feet into the air and out of his reach, landing softly on the earth behind him.

[Get her!] He mentally shouted to Gunner [I want her dead! I want them all dead!]

With a snarl, Gunner lurched forward for Carina, his long claws reaching out for her, but she swiftly delivered a spinning kick to his head.

Whirling around to face her once more, Stone came face-to-face with Adranus. His fist went flying for Adranus’ face but he caught it smoothly along with the one that followed, locking them into another struggle of might.

“Get out of here, Carina,” Adranus yelled as his red eyes locked onto Stone’s. He lowered his voice. “We were promised a peaceful discussion.”

“The only peace that will exist is when you’re all destroyed,” Stone countered as he used Adranus’ stance as leverage to kick him in the stomach.

Stumbling back, Adranus released Stone’s hands and Stone took this moment to pounce, grabbing him by the throat and using all his weight to throw him to the earth.

“Adran!” Carina screamed as she leaped out of Gunner’s reach while the other vampire took the opportunity to drive his nails into Gunner’s left hind leg.

Turning, Gunner snapped his jaws at the male vampire as he jumped away and grabbed Carina’s arm.

“Mistress, we must go now,” the other vampire urged, but she pulled away and lunged at Stone.

Too late. The first ray of sunlight broke over the horizon. They were out of time.

Snarling ferociously, Gunner charged at them and they scattered. Carina ran toward Adranus, but the sunlight caught in her eyes and she hissed, raising her arms up to block it out. Steam rose off her skin as her male companion snatched her arm and dragged her away despite her protests.

Gunner chased after them as they dove into the Mississippi River while Stone glared into Adranus’ fearful eyes. His hand locked tightly around his throat, preventing him from speaking despite the movement of his lips.

He didn’t want to hear the leech beg. He wanted to feel the satisfaction of finally destroying him after all these centuries of hunting and fighting. He would end his existence now, knowing that he was that much closer to freeing Aubree and himself of the threat preventing them from being together.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he smashed it into Adranus’ skull, right between his soulless red eyes. A delightful little crack met his ears, pulling his lips back into a half sneer, half snarl. He rammed his fist into his skull again and again, as the putrid stench of his blood splattered and oozed out. Bone cracked and broke apart under his knuckles as his fist collided repeatedly with the soft, spongy tissue of the brain.

He was dead but Stone kept pounding away, thinking only of Adelaide and his son and their decapitated heads in his hands.

He thought he would find relief in killing Adranus, but all he felt was more wretched agony.

Killing Carina’s lover wouldn’t bring them back.

And now, he realized, his actions would only fuel Carina to avenge her lover by destroying the one thing that could possibly mean more to him than his own life.

Her motive to kill Aubree just got personal.