Free Dawnbreaker by Jocelynn Drake Page B

Coven wanted me dead, and the third member simply wanted to control my every move and thought. The naturi were hounding my every step. I had more enemies than I cared to count, and too few allies.
    “Leave here, Mira. Find some other place to hide and take the damned naturi with you,” Barrett bit out. His hands once again tightened on my arms, bruising my pale flesh.
    “You can’t force me out,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is my home and my people are here. I have a right to protect them.”
    “As much as I have a right to protect my people from you and the naturi. You have the power to save both my people and your own—leave here,” he argued, anger growing in his voice, thickening his beautiful southern accent so that the vowels collided with one another.
    “I can’t leave yet. The naturi have a member of my family. I won’t leave her in their hands to be tortured. I have to at least try to get her back.” It was a suicide mission, but I had to try. I owed Amanda that much. I had offered her a place in my family, waved my so-called protection in her face.
    “Then do it without killing another one of my people. We’ve died enough for you. Why don’t you try getting rid of the naturi instead of hiding from them?”
    “I’m no coward, if that’s what you’re implying, werewolf,” I snarled, shoving him off of me. Barrett stumbled backward a few steps before turning and curling his upper lip so that I could see his elongated canines. “I’ve fought the naturi more times than I’d care to remember. I’ve fought them and suffered. My people have died protecting your kind and humans.”
    “So now you’re looking for my gratitude?” he incredulously demanded.
    “No, I’m looking for a little patience.”
    “My patience ran out when my brothers started dying. Find your missing vampire. Kill all the naturi. Leave here and never return. I don’t care what you have to do, but if another one of my pack dies, the naturi won’t have to call us any longer. It will be open season on you and all nightwalkers within Savannah.”
    Barrett then stalked out of the morgue without looking back at me and his dead brethren.
    I slid down the wall until I sat on the cold linoleum floor. Wrapping my arms around my bent legs, I rest my forehead on my knees. He was right. I was as much responsible for the dead bodies surrounding me at that moment as the naturi. I should never have come back. I should have found another way to deal with the naturi while we waited for the next sacrifice and hunted for Rowe. I had just been afraid that if I went to the Coven, they would have been happy to use me as bait in an effort to draw out the one-eyed naturi.
    Barrett wanted me to leave, and I planned to abide by his wishes. I had no choice. The next sacrifice was only a few nights away. But I couldn’t leave my beloved Savannah yet. I had to find Amanda first. If I could save her and exterminate the naturi in just one quick foray, I could leave my city with a small feeling of peace. However, I still had to first convince Danaus to help me.

Seven
    A sigh escaped me as I slipped out of the taxi and walked to the Dark Room. Sunrise was growing close and I was tired. Fortunately, this was my last stop of the night, and then I could go home for some rest.
    The line to get in the Dark Room was gone, and the nightwalker bouncer was seated on a black bar stool outside the entrance, with a handheld game system gripped between his two meaty fists. The Dark Room had become a quiet place during the past couple of months. The lycanthropes had stopped attending and fewer nightwalkers appeared, fearful of being trapped in one place should the naturi suddenly show up. When the bouncer finally saw me, he jerked to his feet and shoved the game into the back pocket of his jeans. I only smiled and patted him on the shoulder as I walked by.
    In the entrance, between the two coat checks on either side of the room, there was a splatter of blood