I struck fast, faster than human eyes could follow. My fingers closed around his throat, and I lifted him off the ground.
His legs kicked, the knife clattering to the floor. His eyes bulged, his mouth opening in a strangled gasp.
“You should’ve run,” I snarled, my voice a low, feral growl.
He tried to speak, to beg, but I squeezed harder, feeling the fragile bones of his neck give way.
He went limp in my grasp, and I let him fall. A broken marionette.
The other hunter, the one I’d released, moaned and tried to crawl away. Pathetic. They always begged when it was too late.
I was beside him in an instant, crouching low. He flinched, tears streaking his grimy cheeks.
“Please,” he whispered.
I leaned in close, my fangs a whisper away from his ear.
“You came back for us,” I hissed. “You should’ve known better.”
His eyes went wide a second before I struck. Quick. Painless. He didn’t deserve mercy, but I couldn’t waste more time.
I let his body drop, the thud echoing through the now-silent warehouse. I could smell the coppery scent of Asher’s blood.Asher.
I turned back to him, my heart, or what was left of it, clenching painfully.
He was still on the ground, his leg at an awkward angle, his face too pale. Blood seeped from his thigh, soaking his jeans.
“Damn it,” I muttered, rushing to his side.
I dropped to my knees, hands hovering over him, unsure where to touch. Why were humans so fragile?
One well-placed bullet and they crumbled. How did they survive at all? His chest rose and fell shallowly. Alive, but slipping.
I pressed my fingers to his cheek, feeling the heat of his skin, the faint flutter of his pulse beneath my thumb.
Something twisted inside me, something I couldn’t name. I should’ve left him.
He was dead weight, a liability. But the thought of abandoning him felt like claws raking across my insides.
I slid my arms beneath him, one around his back, the other under his knees, and lifted him carefully.
He was heavier than he looked, solid muscle and stubbornness wrapped in fragile human skin.
His head lolled against my chest, his breath a warm puff against my neck.
For a moment, I let myself feel it. The way he fit against me, how his presence anchored something inside me I hadn’t realized was drifting.
But there was no time for that.
I scanned the street outside the warehouse. Empty, for now. But it wouldn’t be long before someone found the bodies.
Hunters didn’t work alone for long.
I moved swiftly, Asher a steady weight in my arms. My eyes caught on a faded sign across the street: a vet clinic, long closed for the night.
It’ll have to do.
I kicked the door in, the lock splintering easily under my strength. The scent of antiseptic and stale air greeted me.
