Broken Nightmare

Chapter 30

  By now, Nathan is inches from the vampire, looking at something behind me as if his life depended on it. I turned to see Liam dragging me towards the rest of the pack, all of them changed into wolves just as Nathan is. The deadly intent was only coming from Nathan, but the others had a protective stance.

Dimitri looked angry as he glanced between the pack, Nathan, and me. Although Liam wasn't a supernatural like the others, he still held his ground and shoved me behind him. "Well, it looks like my job got a bit harder."

Dimitri lunged at us, but Claire intercepted him, snapping at his leg. He moved in a flash, grabbing Claire's exposed neck and threw her across the forest, colliding hard with a solid pine tree. The long roots were revealed as the pine couldn't hold the power and collapsed to the ground.

Hyene launched herself at him while his back was turned, sinking her long teeth into his shoulder. Dimitri roared in anger and grabbed at her head in a desperate attempt to shake her off. Hyene only sunk her bite deeper, yanking her head back with a large chunk of flesh. Dimitri let out another pain-filled screech as he placed some distance between Hyene and himself.

Without noticing it, Dimitri backed himself right into another Shifter. An unfamiliar wolf I assumed was Blake snapped at his feet, making him jump back in surprise.

Dimitri quickly recovered and grabbed at Blake. The youngest shifter avoided his swift hands and twisted around, trying at his calves. This time, Dimitri was too fast for him and he managed to get hold of some thick fur on his back and toss him in a similar manner as Claire.

Liam spun around to face me. "Are you alright?" He demanded, searching over my body for any damage. I grabbed my bare arms, rubbing at the cold I could feel now that my body wasn't trying to turn itself inside-out. I could only imagine what the bottom of my feet looked like now that I was running bare-footed on sharp rocks and pine needles.

"She better be," Nathan boomed from behind me before I would answer. Nathan wore his normal gray sweats I had seen many times before, but I couldn't tear my eyes from his bare chest. His perfectly sculpted muscles made my heart flutter in anticipation, despite our current circumstances. I looked closer when my eyes rested on a dark patch on the left of his stomach. As he came closer, I noticed two small puncture wounds at the top of the steady blood flow coming from his left abdomen.

He sauntered to me in two long strides, his eyes looking over my body in inspection. He reached me and grabbed my arms roughly, looking me over as if he was searching for something. "My gosh, you're so cold." Nathan handed me a long-sleeved shirt I assumed was for himself. "Did he touch you?"

How else did I get here? Flying? I caught that Nathan wasn't in the mood for my sarcasm, so I shut my mouth and just shook my head in response. His grip on my arms lessened and for the first time, I saw raw emotions in his eyes. Need, regret, protectiveness, determination. "I'm so sorry."

His exposed voice caught my off-guard. Every time I spoke with him, he was careful to hide his emotions and speak with some sort of void of authority. Seeing him this exposed made me feel like I was seeing the real Nathan for the first time.

I reached out to touch his wound, but he snagged my wrist before I could make contact. "Don't. I'm fine."

I felt a frown stretch on my face. "No, you're not. Please let me look."

Something crashed behind me and I turned to see the fight still going on. Dimitri was still struggling against the Shifters. Someone had finally succeeded biting into his right calf, taking most of the muscle with it. Blood flowed steadily from his shoulder where Hyene bit him earlier. I started to get dizzy from the overabundance of blood.