Free Darkest Hour (New Adult Paranormal Romance) by Catherine Bullard

in far more danger than she deserved to be in. He opened his mouth, a
compelling argument on the tip of his tongue that would make her stay, but all
that came out was, “Are you sure?”
    She lifted her chin. “I’m coming
with you, and nothing you can say or do is going to stop me.”
    Thomas lifted a brow. “Do you
have an idea of where we should go?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do.”
     
    * * *
    They headed out immediately, and
Thomas was thankful that tonight was a new moon—it not only meant that
the Lyrians would not be at full strength, but it would also provide them more cover,
as they would be harder to spot in their dark clothing. They traveled at a dead
run with Elsbeth in the lead, knowing they had only but a handful of hours
until first light. They stuck to the paths on the outskirts of the forest when
they could, and traveled on the dirt road when they couldn’t. Thomas wasn’t
sure which was more dangerous—sticking to the forest, where the
werewolves lived, or traveling on the open road where anyone could spot them.
Elsbeth insisted that they were far from werewolf territory, but Thomas wasn’t
sure that guaranteed their safety. From what she had told him, it didn’t seem
like the werewolves would wait very long before sending out a manhunt of their
own for him.
    Elsbeth told him that some miles
from here, in mountain country, lived an old vampire named Xander who had
served as a mentor to her when she was first turned, before her maker had come
to claim her. He had taught her the basics, had introduced her to life as a
vampire, and even after she went to live with her maker she still came to him
often for advice or simple companionship.
    Thomas was leery of going to
another vampire for help after the way he’d been treated so far by the others.
But the way Elsbeth’s face had lit up when she was talking about Xander made
him think that perhaps this vampire was different than the others. The feelings
he saw in her for this Xander went beyond the respect she had for the Seethe
Mistress to affection, perhaps even love.
    In any case, Thomas was in no
position to refuse the only option that seemed available to them. He had no
allies of his own, after all.
    They traveled for hours without
seeing anyone, but their luck did not hold. Shortly after they’d started one of
their forays into the forest, Elsbeth came to a dead stop, and Thomas nearly
ran into her.
    “What—” he started to ask,
but she whirled and clapped a hand over his mouth, her entire body stiff with
tension.
    “Not a word,” she breathed into
his ear, so quietly that he didn’t so much as hear the words as he felt them
against the shell of his ear. He became utterly still, just as she had taught
him during their many hunting ventures, and as she turned back a slight rustle
came to his ears, followed by the sound of a booted foot being carefully placed
on the ground. The thick scent of male human wafted on the air towards Thomas’s
nostrils, and he had to fight to keep from inhaling sharply through his nose.
Despite Elsbeth’s praise of his self-control, Thomas did have his moments. It
sickened him whenever he lusted for human blood, but there was nothing to be
done. He could only take comfort in the fact that he was still revolted,
because if the day ever came where he found it appealing, he would know he was
lost.
    Another rustle sounded, and then
the human stepped from the bushes—a hunter, if the skins he wore and the
quiver of arrows on his back were any indication. He held a bow loosely in one
hand, half bent over as he studied a set of what Thomas recognized as deer
tracks littering the forest floor.
    Another scent crept up on him
then, and Thomas stiffened—vampire. No, not one vampire. Several. He sorted through the different nuances and counted five. Were they a group?
    No.
    He lunged forward but Elsbeth
caught his arm in an iron grip and dragged him down behind the bushes, where
they could see and not be seen. She