23. Chapter Twenty-Three

Ileapt forward as Heath jumped to the side to get out of my way. My target was the leader who reached for Heath, so she couldn't get away. I slammed into the leader, who screamed as my fangs met their mark in her upper arm. With a yank, I heard bones break and dislocated her arm. While she screamed, I shook my head viciously, trying to tear the limb off. Something slammed into my head, causing black spots to appear in my vision. I let go of her and felt someone kick me in the side, and nails ran across my hide. I swiped at the second attacker, scoring flesh and earning a scream in return.

"Jacky! Above!" Heath yelled.

I looked up as best I could and saw the leader had climbed up onto the ceiling, hissing. I jumped aside as she fell for me, trying to get on my back. She couldn't make a grab, and I spun, putting my back end to the wall, so I could see them all in front of me.

Toward the mouth of the cavern, Jabari was snapping and snarling as he tangled with the older man and the young woman. That left me with the leading female and the mute, both enraged and staring directly at me. That was good. It meant Heath could back off and stay safe while we worked on the vampires, weakening them to run or capture.

And if I killed one or two in the process, no one was going to be mad.

I snarled, my hackles rising as I lowered my head. I didn't wait for them to make the first move, pouncing forward. They both dodged, and I spun around to meet them again. The mute tried to grab for me, and I slammed my body into the wall, shaking him off. The leader slashed her wicked nails at my left flank. Since I wasn't a horse, kicking backward wasn't a very effective move. I tried to snap back at her, but she jumped away, hissing.

Before I could go after her again, arms wrapped around my neck. I snarled, shaking, and trying to get them off as they began to squeeze. I had no idea how Jabari was doing or where Heath was. The arms grew tighter, and my head began to spin. Where I had been hit began to throb painfully.

Then they relaxed as something screamed. I jerked away and found the mute with a silver knife in his back, trying to grab it. Silver wasn't special to killing vampires; sunlight and fire were best. Draining them completely only put them to sleep until someone gave them blood.

But a knife still fucking hurt, and I could see Heath reaching for it to go for another attack. The mute noticed him, but I wasn't able to intervene before the leader attacked, jumping onto my back.

I ducked my head down, trying to keep her nails from clawing out my eyes as she raged at me. I bucked wildly, hoping her grip with her legs would loosen as I made it to a wall. I jumped into the wall, letting my side slam into it with full force. It knocked the air out of me, and I heard more bone crunch as the vampire's leg was nearly crushed between me and the stone. She slid off me, screaming, but when I turned to get a bite, aiming to rip her head off, the mute was back on me. He held my jaw open, refusing to let me clamp down. And I was trying.

Then he started to push my mouth open, and I struggled, trying to pull away. When he dug his heels in, I couldn't move him. I tried pushing him next, but he moved with me, directing me with his grip on my jaw. He had one hand digging into my nose and pulling up and the other pushing my lower jaw down. I couldn't swipe him because of the angle he had, standing beside me.

For a second, I knew I was going to die if I couldn't figure out what to do. The best idea I had?

"HELP!"I screamed in my head to everyone, knowing my jaw was about to break. There was a chance the vampire was going to rip my entire snout off.

"BUCK HIM OFF, JACKY!" Heath roared over the commotion. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing, but I hoped he was fucking alive after everything because I wanted to thank him.

I reared up onto my hind legs, an unnatural stance for a werecat, bringing the little vampire up with me, his feet leaving the ground. Because he lost his ability to plant them, he couldn't hold my jaw open anymore. I snapped it closed, taking off several of his fingers from the hand holding my bottom jaw. His inhuman scream didn't bother me as I dropped back to my front feet, swinging my head to send him flying.

At the same time, a woman screamed near me. I turned my head to find the leader reeling back from Heath, who had deep punctures in his neck, openly bleeding. The leader was staring at her left hand, and it took me a full second to figure out what was wrong with it.

Heath had broken her wrist so effectively, her hand was backward on her arm and useless. He snarled, fur beginning to show on his face. He lunged for her, stabbing a silver knife into her chest. Her eyes went wide as he pulled it out. The blood loss would counteract whatever she had gotten from him.

I rushed for them, barreling into her. Something connected with my side and knocked me and her to the wall away from Heath.

"Run, Heath. Go for the shelter!"I screamed. "Go!"

I don't know if he listened as I rolled around with two vampires, each trying for my most vulnerable places. The mute was slower and weaker than he had been, trying to rip my head open, but his attacks on my abdomen were furious. The leader was still trying for my eyes. I pulled my back legs in and swiped out with them, mimicking a move one saw house cats do often. I tore someone open, and by the style of the scream, I figured it was the mute.

"No!" the leader screamed. "No!"

I continued to kick, shredding flesh and muscle and organs under my back claws until the vampire stopped trying to attack me, and there was only whimpering left from the body next to me.

"Retreat!" the leader screamed, jumping away from me. "Run!"

I heard screams toward the entrance and turned to follow the running woman. Jabari latched onto her, growling. The other two were already gone. He yanked hard onto the arm I already mangled, and I heard the tearing and popping of it being torn off. She screamed and slashed out at his face, scoring several lines over his snout and nose. She was already disappearing into the darkness by the time I made it to the mouth. Jabari stepped in front of me, shaking his big head, the arm still in his mouth.

I panted heavily, looking back to see what we had. The mute. Damn. He wouldn't be able to give us any information. I backed away from the mouth of the cavern, Jabari with me after he dropped the arm.

I looked around the cavern, blood everywhere. When I looked at Heath, my stomach dropped, and I began to Change back into my human form.

He had wrapped his shirt around his neck, blood trickling down his chest. There were nearly a dozen scratch marks over his chest and shallower bites on his arms. He busied himself with slowly tying up the vampire left behind by his companions, the mute with the ruined midsection.

"Heath, let me check your injuries," I said, my jaw aching more than I expected. "Jabari, are we safe for now?"

He must have Changed while I did because he was a man when he walked over to the vampire. "Yes. They won't risk attacking with the injuries they sustained. I was able to have the other two severely bleeding by the time they ran. They will lose energy and power throughout the night until they feed again.

"They have one of the wolves left alive," Heath whispered weakly. I didn't like how shallow and pale his face looked.

"Heath, please let me check your injuries," I begged softly. "Please."

"I got a few hits in. The stupid bitch got the jump on me and took a mean bite, but it's the worst of it," he informed me, keeping his eyes focused on his slow task. I reached out and took the ropes from him, and he growled pitifully at me. "I broke a few of her bones, and that hand will be useless or weak the next time we see her."

"That's good, but I think you're about to drop," I said gently. Looking down, I realized I might drop too. My abdomen was already bruising and there were long thin lacerations running across it. Blood was everywhere.

"Let her tend you," Jabari ordered. "I will handle this." He reached down and picked up the vampire who hissed before giving a pained whimper. "You have no tongue, but that's okay. I don't need you to have one."

That nearly made me sick from the implications.

"It's just some blood loss," Heath bit out. "I'll take a fucking nap and be fine."

"Yeah, but…" I felt awful. He would have never been up in these mountains if it weren't for me. He had a family to go home to—a loving one, one he should have already been back with.

"We can clean off in the stream together, but please don't coddle me," Heath said, moving to stand. When I tried to help him, swaying on my own feet, he growled softly. "They hit you in the head with a fucking big stone, Jacky. You need to be careful yourself."

I touched my head and felt the blood. I remembered being hit, but I hadn't paid attention to any bleeding.

"And your jaw," he murmured, reaching out to touch it with bloody hands. "It's going to be swollen and bruised by dawn."

"Yeah, it hurts like a bitch." Looking down, I saw scores and scores of cuts and bruises on my body again, taking them in further. "Fuck."

"Yup." Heath looked over me, wobbling as he did. "Jabari—"

"You'll both clean up and rest while I keep watch," my brother said, not unkindly. "We leave to hunt them down at dawn."

"We need to go sooner," Heath growled. "The last wolf will be dead if—"

"If they intend on draining him to heal, they will be done with it by the time we get there," Jabari growled back, baring his bloody teeth. "Let me handle this one. I didn't take as much abuse as you two did." He jerked his head, obviously annoyed, his jaw clenched. "And good job tonight. We took one out of the fight, and the others are going to be very weak and easy to track."

"So, we're still going to hit their hideout during the day?" I asked, fighting to see him clearly.

"If you two get enough rest, yes."

I grabbed Heath's elbow weakly and tried to guide him away. He pulled away, but when my hand dropped, he wrapped his arm around my waist, and we walked together to the stream at the back of the cavern. Before washing off, I drank. I wasn't worried about ingesting the blood because it would do nothing to me. It wasn't the case for humans, but Heath and I would be fine.

I was just thirsty.

Heath leaned into me as he tried to wash off. I touched his hands to stop him before taking some water into my hands and rinsing off his face. The stream was cold because it was snow melt, but that didn't bother me and didn't appear to bother Heath. I worried, though. Vampire bites had the tendency to heal slowly due to something in their saliva. Pulling the shirt back to see the bite, I watched blood push out of the punctures with each of Heath's heartbeats, which were steadily getting faster. For the first time since I had met him, something leaked into his scent he probably didn't want anyone noticing.

I ignored it and pressed the shirt back to the wound. I could ponder what it was later. It wasn't important. The lack of control was interesting from him but considering his injuries and the last two nights we'd had, I was honestly impressed he still had so much control.

"Hold it," I ordered softly. He reached out and pressed it down. "It's slow, but it hit something because it's not clotting yet. It might take time, and we might have to wrap it. Let me find my shirt—"

"Clean mine off," he said huskily, pulling it back off his neck.

"It won't dry if I dump it into the stream," I explained. "We need dry bandages for your neck. The rest will heal without a problem. Same for me."

"None of it will scar," he added to my explanation. "None of it was caused by silver, so none of it should scar."

"Yeah, I know. Are you worried about going home with battle wounds?"

"No. You." His eyes drifted down to the older gunshot scars I had. Scars I had gotten in the line of Duty protecting Carey. Scars that showed the frightening story of how I died once.

"You have some scars of your own," I pointed out softly. It was so faded, I had missed it when I first saw him shirtless. The bite mark on his shoulder and neck from the vampire was right next to the bite mark from a werewolf. "When you were human?"

"The bite that Changed me," he explained. "Fatal in most cases, a werewolf needs to bite down on and puncture the jugular or very close to the heart, so as much of our saliva gets into the wound as possible."

"Same for werecats," I said softly. "And yes, fatal in most cases, but when it's not, the bite closes up immediately as the body accepts the curse. I've just never seen it scar."

"I was unlucky, I guess," he said, chuckling softly. "Fuck, my head is spinning."

"Let's get back to the fire." Mine just ached but I could function. My injuries weren't bleeding, but everything ached. I helped him to his feet, knowing he was right about sleeping, but I still worried so much. It was funny because I had more of a chance of problems going to sleep than he did. I knew better than to try to sleep after being hit over the head, but I wanted the nap as much as he did. Blood loss, his problem, generally made someone a bit out of it, weaker, and tired.

I got us to the fire and leaned him against the wall. His eyes drifted closed immediately, and I went to steal Jabari's extra shirt, remembering he had it at the last minute. My brother looked up and saw me but made no comment when I used it to wrap Heath's neck.

I touched my own after, glad to feel scabs where I was injured the first night. They would be gone by the end of the week as long as no silver got into my system.

"Thank you," I whispered to Jabari.

He just nodded, sitting in the mouth of the cave. I caught him looking back at me for a moment and saw a frown on his face I didn't want to deal with. I sat down with my back to the same wall as Heath, letting my body's need to heal take over.

"You…"

My eyes were closed, and I was fast asleep before he finished.