31. Chapter Thirty-One

Icouldn't think. This was my second time in a flipping vehicle, and even as a werecat, it wasn't a pleasant sensation, fear pumping through my veins. My head hit the ceiling, the door, and other parts of the car, rattling painfully as it still remembered being hit with a rock only a couple of nights prior. I heard the crunch of metal and the groans and yells of pain from the men in the car with me.

I couldn't think. I barely registered that I needed to protect my head, finally trying to wrap my arms around it, hoping I broke an arm before I cracked my skull.

It was all too similar, all too much.

It settled after three rolls, rocking as it rested upside down, skidding a little further.

I couldn't think.

Outside the car, other sounds could be heard—rustling in the bushes and trees, a wind blowing hard.

A small part of me wasn't in rainy Washington anymore. Part of me was on that little tropical island with the rain coming down, hoping I would be able to get out of the car.

"Shane?" I whispered. "Shane, are you okay?" He had to be okay.

A groan was all I heard in response.

Not again. No. This can't happen again. Not this. Anything but this.

I fought to free my legs from between the seat and the dashboard. The airbag had gone off, and I fought against it as well. I snarled as I finally freed my first leg.

"Shane?" I called again, my voice not as loud as I wanted it to be. Then my brain started to function again, thanks to my nose. Werewolf and werecat, both male and bleeding. Not Shane. This wasn't Shane. He was dead already. Dread made my throat grow tight. Not Shane, but two other very important people. "Heath? Jabari?"

A louder groan.

More rustling outside the car. Something or someone trying to pry one of the doors open. Talking, but my ears were ringing, and I couldn't make out any words. Something about that made me desperate to get moving. The impact had been on the driver's side, where Jabari and Heath were, which meant I had more space. I didn't take the brunt of the accident, which meant I had to get moving. They could be dying for all I knew. Desperation made me fumble with the seat belt, finally getting it to release as the door behind me flew open.

I fell to the ceiling and growled, trying to turn to see what was in the back.

I could barely think, but I could feel. I could feel the pain of the accident, the need to defend the others, and the need to figure out what had just happened.

A blur was all I saw in the backseat, and I tried to grab for it, fumbling as my vision spun, and my coordination made me fall onto my belly. Something dripped down on me, and I looked up slowly to see Heath's grey-blue eyes. He was conscious, and I was in the way. Blood was dripping off his left arm, but I didn't see any other injuries.

"Who's Shane?" someone asked. I turned to the open door and saw red eyes in a pale face.

"My dead fiancé," I answered, not sure why I even wanted to answer. "He died in an accident like this one. Almost killed me too."

"You should have died with him. Divine retribution, then." The vampire smiled. "No one threatens our nest and Master."

I grinned back, knowing there was blood in my mouth because I could taste the rusty thickness of it. I probably bit my inner cheek or tongue during the accident.

"I'm not going to die tonight," I promised. Reaching up, I tore out Heath's buckle, then dodged as he fell to the ceiling. I didn't look back at him as I scrambled out of the open door and tackled the vampire who hadn't thought to get away. I snarled as I got my hands on its head and twisted as hard as I could, listening to the clear and perfect snap of its neck breaking.

"Don't stop," Heath growled as he climbed out after me. "Tear its fucking head off and finish it."

I obliged, using my weight to hold the limp vampire down and continued to twist. Muscles tore, blood poured, and slowly, I broke all the connecting tissue and threw the head aside. Heath stood over me, looking out into the darkness. I followed his gaze and saw red eyes growing larger.

"Fuck. He was supposed to report us dead, wasn't he?" I asked softly.

"Yes, and this is probably the clean-up if we weren't," Heath muttered back. "Jabari?"

"Alive when I got a whiff of him, but I don't know what sort of state he's in. Can we do this?" I swallowed, hearing the running vampires speeding toward us. They wouldn't be as strong as the ones in the park, but they were healthy. We weren't.

"We're going to try," he growled. "Jacky—"

I didn't get to hear what he said as a vampire landed on the SUV behind us. I turned and met it as it jumped for me. I landed squarely on my back and tried to roll backward, kicking up at the same time, sending the vampire flying. I went all the way over and tried to stand. One barreled into me, and I felt ribs crack. I roared and grabbed its arms and slowly pulled them off my waist, my muscles straining. I didn't stop once I was free, breaking one of the arms at the elbow, listening to the resounding scream of pain in response.

I didn't really have time to think. Going on instinct, I tossed that vampire to the ground and swung around, lifting an elbow to slam another in the jaw. When I saw one trying to crawl into the car, I reached out and grabbed it by the ankles as another jumped onto my back. I pulled with all my might, letting it drag over the broken glass and threw it away from the SUV.

I screamed as teeth hit my shoulder, and I reached up, grabbing a handful of hair. I ripped the locked jaw off my body, tearing open my shoulder, flipped the vampire over my shoulder with a roar of rage, and stomped down on its face twice.

It felt like a street fight, something I had never been a part of but had seen enough in the movies to get the gist. They wanted to dogpile me, and I kept having to toss them off, trying to keep them off me. I took a punch to the face, making my head throb, and stumbled for a second. Two tackled me together, and again, a set of fangs sank into me, this time on my arm. The second went for my neck, and I grabbed its neck before it could land the strike. I put my medical knowledge to use and squeezed tightly, putting all my werecat power into it. Everything beneath my hand crushed, and when I pulled, it all came with me. The vampire wasn't dead, but it was completely incapacitated by the action. I threw aside the pieces of vampire in my hand, grabbed its bottom jaw, dropped open from the pain, and pulled it down further, breaking bones and causing more blood to rush out of the vampire's mouth. It covered my face, neck, and chest now, putrid and stale, pumping out of veins it didn't originate from.

Once that one was dead, I shoved the body away and grabbed the hair of the one chewing on my arm, taking long swallows of my blood. Pulling it off with a scream, I wrestled it to its back in the mud. Before it could attack me, I tore out a clump of its hair. While it screamed in pain, I grabbed its neck and tore it open like the previous one. I reached into its mouth and ripped out its fangs.

I was feeling particularly vicious. I could barely think, but I could feel.

Rage. Pain. Insult.

Sorrow.

"Jacky! We've got them retreating!" Heath called. My head snapped up, and I snarled angrily.

I didn't want them retreating. I wanted them to fight me and meet their fucking maker. I wanted them to pay. The callousness of their Master got innocent people killed. Their need to hide their crimes nearly got me killed…nearly got Heath and Jabari killed.

They didn't get to run away.

I stood up slowly, kicking away the vampire's body.

"Where?" I demanded in a growl.

"We need to check on Jabari," he reminded me quickly, reaching for me as I went to find a blood trail. I shook him off hard, but he latched back on. "Jacky. We need to check on your brother."

I stopped, letting the words sink in. Jabari. Yes. He was in the SUV. I protected him. I needed to see if he was alive.

If he wasn't, there was going to be a purge the likes of which the world had never seen. I would personally ask Hasan to have every vampire nest in the country raided and exterminated.

I could only nod at Heath, though. He relaxed just a little and stepped away from me, not going into the SUV, leaving the space for me to try.

I crawled in and found my older brother breathing slowly.

"Jabari?" I asked softly, finally finding my voice. The entire left side of his face was cut open from the glass, and bruises were already beginning to form. There was no smell of silver in the air, a blessing.

"Sister," he murmured, a raspy attempt at speaking. "Vampires?"

"Yes. Heath and I protected you from the clean-up crew. We need to get help. More could always come."

"They will," he said, gasping. "My chest."

I cursed and put my hand up to his chest, gently feeling. Sure enough, every rib on the left side was broken. I couldn't tell if one punctured a lung or not, but I was guessing none had because he wasn't coughing up blood while upside down.

"I need to get you down. Does your back hurt? Can you feel your legs?"

"Hurts...not broken," he answered, groaning. I reached up and braced myself for him to fall on me. When the seatbelt released, the fall wasn't pretty, but my body kept his head from taking the brunt of the impact. He fired off something in a language I had no hope of ever learning and moved so I could get out from underneath him. "Help coming?"

"No idea. Let's get out of the death trap first." I crawled out of the SUV, then helped him out. He staggered as he tried to stand up. "Heath, do you think someone is going to come to help?"

"I was on the phone with Geoffrey when we were shoved off the road," he said, stepping closer. "There's a chance he's coming. There's a chance he just thinks the call dropped."

"Let me find your phone. You protect Jabari. He's got several broken ribs and probably more problems I can't see. Right, Jabari?"

Her brother only groaned and sank down to the earth. My gut twisted. This was the great General, and a car accident nearly did him in.

I crawled back into the car, searching around for any of our cellphones. I found Jabari's in the center console and nearly cried in relief when I saw it wasn't in pieces. Where mine and Heath's had gone, I had no idea, but one phone was better than none.

I crawled back out, showing off the phone.

"Do you remember Geoffrey's number?"

"Not by heart," Heath answered softly, frowning. "Who could we call…"

"Hasan," I answered, already looking for the contact. If I couldn't get someone close by to save us, I was going to call the biggest, baddest mother fucker to avenge us.

"Jabari, how did—"

"Hi, Hasan. We were run off the road and attacked by the nest. I'm certain more are on the way. I'm calling to tell you everything, so I need you to not interrupt me at all. I don't know how much time we have."

"Talk fast."

I gave him the rundown about the Seattle vampire nest, listening to him hum and scratch notes down. I explained the crash and the attack. Jabari's injuries. Mine. Hell, I even gave him the injuries I could see on Heath, whether or not he cared about those.

"What do you need?" he asked when I paused.

"I need you to find some way to contact the local wolf pack. Go through the Tribunal or whatever, I don't know or care. They might be the only ones who can keep us alive tonight, but we can't reach them. If…if we don't make it, I promised this motherfucker that the family would destroy him. We would raze his home to the ground and claim his land as spoils of war. I want you to make sure they don't get away with this."

"They won't," Hasan promised softly. "Stay on the line. Please."

"You might have to listen to me die," I whispered.

"I know. I have other phones to make calls."

I looked at the two men with me and saw they were staring back at me.

"I want to kill them," I growled softly. "I want to kill all of them for this."

"I've got one of the werewolf Tribunal members on video conference," Hasan said quickly. "Hold on, my children. We're going to get you help. Jacky, put the phone down and Change. Be ready."

"Yes, sir." I handed the phone to Jabari and nodded at Heath. I wanted him at my back. Needed it. I wanted to know we were both in our most powerful forms to defend ourselves.

We Changed at the same time with me finishing first.

"Father…she Changes so fast," Jabari mumbled into the phone. "You told me, but every time I see it, I'm proud."

"I know," Hasan whispered. "Hold on, Jabari. We're getting help."

"She's good…" Jabari said softly, groaning. Then he coughed, and I looked over, whining as I saw blood begin to go down his chin. He was deteriorating faster than he could heal, and his lung must have been punctured. I had missed it. He shook his head at me. "Stay focused. Tend to the wounded…after…the fight."

"Fine. You're going to heal at my place, though. You're not leaving until I know you're fully healed."I was just beginning to find common ground with my brother. I wasn't going to lose him now.

Heath growled deeply, staring off into the woods. I followed his line of sight and saw the problem.

The vampires were coming. We had Changed just in time.