Once in a Blue Moon (Silver Society Book 7)

Chapter Twenty-Five

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The scent of blood hung thick in the air. Jesse suddenly wished he'd thought to feed his vampire side before he went running in blind to rescue the lion pride.

     "Are you alright?" Kwame asked in concern.

    "Yeah," Jesse lied. He couldn't exactly tell the wolf Alpha he was a vampire. Lycanthropes who got turned were at the top of everyone's hit list, and even if he and Kwame respected each other, Jesse couldn't take the risk of him finding out he had fangs. "There's just a lot of blood... We need to brace ourselves for what we're about to discover in there."

     "Do we have a plan?" Ava asked.

     "You're staying human," Jesse replied. "We have wounded werelions in there who might mistake your raven for a snack. Besides, you're of more use to us as a witch right now. Logan..." He hesitated.

    "I'm up for whatever needs to be done, Jesse," Logan promised.

     "Take your rat form and run ahead. Don't let anyone see you, and try not to get eaten by starving kitties. Report back to us as fast as you can so we know what we're walking into."

"Got it," Logan replied. He shifted form immediately and made his way into the building.

"Kwame, Belinda, Kurt, and I will be the muscle. We're here to kick ass and get as many lions out as we can. Evan... Shoot anything that moves and isn't on our side."

      Evan smirked. "Not a problem," he replied.

     Jesse turned to the other leaders who'd come to help. "Nick, Eddie, and Lexie, you guys stay hidden out here and cover us. On my signal, come in as our secret weapon. Otherwise, tend to the wounded as we get them out."

Nicholas Sawyer nodded stoically. "We'll do whatever you need," the coyote replied. Like Evan, Nick was a doctor, but Jesse suspected his reasons were much more noble than the hitman's.

"I'd rather fight than babysit, but sure, Jesse," Nick's younger brother, Edmond, added. Although Nick had been born a coyote, Eddie was a bear. Their souls were both royal lycanthropes.

"I've got medical supplies," Alexandra Cho said. She was the leader of the jaguars. She held up a backpack that Jesse could tell had been filled to capacity. She was a surgical intern at the local hospital, and Jesse knew she'd serve them better as a doctor than another warrior. Lexie was fierce, but she preferred healing to harming people. She'd work well under Nick's guidance.

Logan returned. As he turned human, his eyes looked haunted. "Most of the pride that didn't escape with Timmy is dead," he said. "I found Tracy and Tina's bodies... He's right, they didn't make it."

"What about Thea?" Jesse asked. If the pride had lost all three of the triplets, they'd expect Timmy to take over, and Jesse knew he wasn't dominant enough. Someone would kill the kid, royal lion or not.

"She's alive, but seriously injured. Thea's tough. If we get her out soon, she'll survive."

"How many others are there?"

"As far as I could tell, about a dozen or so. We have a problem, guys. The warlock girl has a following. Several other warlocks are in there. They've been helping her and the hunters torture the pride. That's probably how they were able to capture them... It's not just her, Jean, Bo, and the pyromaniac. There are at least ten other warlocks in there."

"I guess I should have called Arthur, but it's too late now," Jesse replied. "We need to go rescue them before we lose any more lions. Logan, stay here."