Hunting Tess by Kathryn Summers (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

need every advantage. Leo raced to tell me some kind of good news before I watched as a horde of vampires jump him from the trees. I still remember the ground giving way beneath my paws as I flew to his aid, but couldn’t reach him before he dropped to the ground.

Other minions hover at the edge of the tree line, waiting for their Master’s signal to rush forward and finish the job.

“I have a score to settle, and I’m fresh into the fight. Should I start with you or the other pathetic excuse of a shifter?” A loud growl emanates from my chest as I bare my teeth. I will be dead before he touches Leo. “Perfect.”

He’s fast, I’ll give him credit for that. Every move he makes is precise like he has planned everything three steps ahead and is simply waiting for me to play catch up. I never was patient enough to enjoy the game of chess.

Leo whimpers and I turn just in time to see two vampires sneaking up from the other side. Of course it wouldn’t be a fair fight, but I had deluded myself into thinking otherwise. The first jumps over me where I snap at his heels, too late to dodge the second’s punch directed at my throat.

Coughing from the blow, it feels like something may have collapsed in my throat. Swallowing is impossible with the stinging burn shrouding my airway. He tries to do the same trick twice, but I’m ready and dislodge his head with my teeth. The Master must have given the sign because others come out from their hiding spots.

Clawing and biting provides shallow relief from every broken bone a vampire delivers until I can’t do anymore. Panting as I’m pinned to the ground, a vampire jerks back my head to expose my throat as the Master approaches.

“No!” a small voice cries. The unreserved anguish in her utterance breaks my heart because I know that voice. And I can’t save her.

Tess knocks her way through the vampires blocking her path. From my position all I can see is a figure darting in and out of view until she’s standing closer to the Master than I ever wanted her to be. He grabs her arm and a flash of pain crosses her features before she’s able to smooth it over.

Lighting flashes across the sky, illuminating the tableau of a lost struggle. Attempting to wiggle my way free only increases the pressure pinning me down, but even amid all that commotion I hear a soft sob from Tess.

Breaking a paw loose through sheer strength, I knock the vampire struggling to regain his hold away. A brief glimmer of hope fills Tess’s tear-filled eyes before another vampire tackles my limb, snapping my wrist in two.

Shock reverberates like a wave, spreading out from the broken bone just like it has done with my cracked femur, two broken ribs, and possible punctured lung. Though my body is doing its best to heal, I won’t be able to adequately fight back before the Master rips out my throat.

Severe concentration etches itself onto Tess’s face the same time a sadistic smile spreads across the Master’s features. I can only guess Tess is trying to shift.

Unwilling to close my eyes and leave Tess alone to face the last few seconds before my death, I rivet my attention on her. Every part of her heart shaped face reveals her true beauty that could never be blemished by something as superficial as injuries. I wish I could comfort the sadness in her hazel eyes, hear her sweet laugh one last time before the end. Slowly, a rage begins pulsing through my veins when I think about our fates. Mine will end swiftly, but hers, hers will be unbearable.

Building the last of my energy for one final attempt at fighting off the Master, a soft pounding comes from the woods. It grows into a steady rhythm until the sound of drums echoes across the clearing.

The vampires turn their attention to the noise, but Tess is staring at me. The corner of her mouth turns up into a small smile. Gasps emanate around me, but I can’t see what they’re witnessing.

Using the distraction to her advantage, Tess clocks the Master in the nose with her free hand the same time chaos breaks loose.

“Stay down!” Tess yells as if I had any other choice. Kleidion throws her to the ground, snapping at one of his minions to take care of her without tearing his eyes away from whatever is happening in the trees. Tess hits the ground hard, her ankle rolling underneath her. But the size of the swelling means something else was already wrong with it.

Screams erupt over the torrential downpour, cutting off abruptly as whatever arrived cleans house. The drums persist in the background as I to scoot closer to Tess, the vampires supposedly securing me forgetting their task. Careful of my own injuries, I finally make it to Tess when my jaw nearly drops at green ghostly figures spilling from the woods.

The vampire assigned to take Tess grabs her around the ankle, jerking her backwards before he suddenly vanishes. No, not all of him. His arm is still there. The rest of him is wrapped in the jaws of a sizeable panther with glistening black eyes. A second feline come from behind the first, jumping into the fray with such speed I wonder if it’s enjoying the act of ripping vampires apart.

“Eliza!”

“What?” she says innocently to Tess while stabbing a vampire through the heart. Her night vision goggles are set to the tightest notch yet they still slide down her face. “Why are you looking at me like that? Parker came and you’re not getting mad at him!”

“Parker’s a giant dog!”

“So? It’s not like I had anything better to do, and I’ve never been to Bulgaria.”

“Well from what I’ve seen of it I’m not impressed.”

I argued against Ben and Eliza travelling. Even went so far as to accidently misinform