“They’d have to get through us,” announced Ava as she and the rest of her squad—including Maya in her jaguar form—appeared.

At Paige’s signal, the females all formed a protective circle around us. “Go, we’ll protect her. You’re needed over there.”

She was right. Only a few vampires were left standing—one of whom could be the teleporter—and Lazarus was slicing at Marco with a glimmering blade that seemed to be sucking the life-force out of him. Fuck.

“Listen to me a sec,” said Paige. Her next words tumbled out of her in a rush. “I know you want to beat the fuck out of Lazarus but don’t make this into a fight. Marco’s his vampire, so the moment he kills him their blood-bond will break and Lazarus will be in so much agony he’ll be vulnerable. He’ll have someone teleport him away before anyone can leap on that vulnerability. Your attack has to be quick and fatal. You’ll have sheer milliseconds to make that happen. You’re the fastest of all of us; you can do this.”

Again, she was right. My grip flexed on Imani. “I’m trusting you with her.”

Paige inclined her head. “Go!”

Relinquishing Imani, I turned…just in time to watch Marco drop to his knees, speared by a long spiral blade. He was laughing.

Pulling out the blade, Lazarus huffed at him. “Only you would laugh as you lay on death’s door.”

Well, the guy didn’t feel pain and he was mostly insane, so...

“I did what I came here to do. I saved Imani from you.” Marco shot to his feet and blurred to my side.

I instinctively brought up my shield, but what I saw in his eyes told me this wasn’t an attack. I lowered the shield, certain I could take the fucker if he was playing me.

“He needs to suffer.” Marco slapped something into my hand. “An eye for an eye, right?” Curling my fist around the object, I nodded. He looked at an unconscious Imani. “Take care, sweetheart.” His legs failed him again, and he collapsed on his back, but he wasn’t yet dead.

“Butch!”

I knew what Paige’s warning meant; knew that Lazarus was about to leave before Marco could burst into ashes. Shield back up, I dived at Lazarus and his two vampires, knocking them so hard with my shield that they all toppled over. Then I dropped the shield, bent over Lazarus, and stabbed him in the throat with the object that Marco had given me.

His vampires lunged for me, but I’d already instinctively pulled my shield once again.

I backed away, giving Lazarus the room to stand. It didn’t matter now if he teleported away. The damage was done. Marco knew that, which was probably why he was again laughing; the sound was weak now.

Hand to his throat, Lazarus swayed. “What have you done?”

I held up the syringe. “As Marco said, an eye for an eye.” And I was cruel enough to carry through with this plan.

A tremor ran through Lazarus. “No,” he breathed. Eyes beginning to glaze over, he turned to his vampires. “Kill me. Kill—” A sudden force pulled him backwards at least ten feet…and right into Harvey’s waiting arms.

Surrounded by my squad and with Jared at her side, Sam looked at Lazarus in disgust. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. You’re going to suffer exactly the way you deserve. You’re going to suffer the way all those other vampires suffered before you. But not in the name of science, in the name of vengeance.”

Marco smiled at her. “I might actually like you now.” His head slowly turned to face Imani as I took her from Paige and brushed a kiss over her forehead. “You’re a lucky bastard, you know,” he said, his voice fading fast. “You kept her safe, in the end. Keep doing that.” He burst into ashes.

Lazarus instantly doubled over in pain, which made grim satisfaction settle deep in my gut. If that made me sick, whatever. He’d hurt Imani, he’d started this war, and he was the cause of too many deaths. He’d had this coming for a long time.

“She all right?” Sam asked me, though her eyes were on Imani.

I nodded. “Calling Lazarus’ blood when she was already tired sapped her of what energy she had left.” But she’d done it, confident that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her while she was vulnerable.

“So we have Imani to thank for the force-field falling?” asked Jared.

Again, I nodded. “Battle over?”

Sam took a cleansing breath. “Battle’s over, The Order’s no longer an issue, Lazarus is in custody…and I seriously want Imani’s ability to call blood.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “Does that surprise anyone here?”

Everyone shook their heads, smiling. Sam just snorted.

CHAPTER TWENTY

(Butch)

One hand braced against the tiled wall, I fisted the other in Imani’s hair as she sucked my cock like it was covered in cream or something. She knew exactly how to use her tongue, knew exactly what I liked and how I liked it. And she gave it to me every time.

The hot spray of the shower pounded on my skin as she hummed and moaned around me, bobbing her head up and down while raking her nails down the backs of my thighs. And when she swallowed around my cock, taking me even deeper, I felt my balls tighten. “Stop.”

She did, smiling as I pulled out of her mouth. She looked damn pleased with herself.

“Up.” I helped her stand, hoisted her up, and pressed her against the wall. She locked her legs around my waist, arching into me. “Ready?” I knew the answer to that, because I could smell how ready she was; knew that if I slid my finger between her folds, I’d find her dripping wet.

At her nod, I dropped her hard on my cock. She gasped, head falling back against the wall as her slick muscles squeezed me so hard I was surprised I didn’t see spots. She was so tight it should have hurt, so hot it should have burned. But nothing felt better than being balls-deep in Imani.

“Eyes,” I growled. They opened as I pinned her hands above her head, wanting to look at the Binding knot on her third finger while I fucked in and out of her. It was something I often did. “Don’t make a sound until I say you can.” Not because I didn’t love hearing her little moans and gasps, but because having no outlet always made her wind tighter.

Her eyes narrowed, even though I knew she loved the challenge. “Just fuck me already.”