It also made the most sense for him to go. Saxon and Killean were mated, Lucien could be a hothead, and no one else had been here long enough to trust them with the seriousness of this mission. Plus, the vamps wouldn’t trust a hunter.
Alejandro, the hunter leader in Mexico, already knew him from a visit he made there a couple of years ago with Nathan, Asher, Logan, and Ronan, so he was comfortable working together. Even though he was a vampire now, he was also a hunter, and having Logan there helped to ease the hostility between the hunters and vamps in the region.
It made sense for him to go, but he knew he’d also gone to get away from the temptation Willow offered. There were too many times he found himself watching her as she ran around the compound and trained with the others.
And too many times, he found himself imagining her while stroking his cock at night. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d ever been so fascinated by a woman, and it threatened to undo all the discipline and grueling work he’d endured for centuries.
When Ronan asked him about going, he’d said it was purely volunteer, but Declan knew he wanted him to go. He’d been with Ronan the longest and was the most diplomatic. However, it was also more than that; Ronan wanted him to go because of his ability. Ronan had never asked him what he could do, but he suspected some of Declan’s capabilities.
He could never know it all, because after six hundred years, Declan still didn’t know everything he was capable of doing. Most times, it seemed he possessed a simple empathic ability. But, at other times, his ability took on a life of its own and transformed into something he could barely control.
Sometimes it energized him, and on a few occasions, it was a debilitating disaster that almost knocked him to his knees. And then there were times when the emotions of others, or the intensity of a battle, caused it to border on becoming something more.
What that more was, he didn’t know, and he’d prefer not to find out.
Setting his bag on the bed, he removed his bag of toiletries but didn’t bother to unpack it. Instead, he removed a smaller bag from his armoire and shoved in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and his toiletries. There was still plenty of room left in the bag afterward, but he would fill it with weapons.
Chapter Seven
Willow’s head shot up when she startled awake. Blinking against the sun, she gazed at her green surroundings in confusion until she recalled where she was and why. Her shoulders drooped, and she rested her head against the tree.
She didn’t know how much time she spent asleep, but judging by the sun filtering through the trees, it was afternoon. Shifting on the branch, she winced when the movement jarred her ankle. Bones no longer ground together inside her boot, but it remained swollen and throbbed like a son of a bitch.
Her fangs throbbed too as hunger burned her veins. When was the last time she fed? Lowering her head into her hands, she rubbed at her temples until she remembered it was two days ago.
That wasn’t much time to go between feedings, but after the events of yesterday, and with her body trying to heal itself, she required more sustenance. If she’d been able to hunt an animal to feed, her ankle would have healed by now, but she couldn’t leave the tree until her ankle healed.
Untying her belt from the tree, she freed herself before leaning over to peer into the shadows below. She’d managed to stay awake until daybreak, but she lost the battle when the Savages who couldn’t tolerate sun retreated into the bowels of the earth where they belonged.
Now it was her and the birds flitting through the branches while they sang their songs. When a blue jay landed a few feet away, its head turned to the side as it studied her from blackened eyes. With a loud caw, it spread its wings and flew away.
Willow had the insane urge to snatch it back and make it stay with her. The bird wasn’t exactly the best company, but it was better than nothing.
Wiggling the toes of her bad foot, she winced when it felt like knives jabbed her from her big toe to her hip. She could probably limp on it if she climbed down. The limp would make catching her dinner more difficult, but if she could get some blood, she’d heal within the next hour or two.
However, there were probably still some Savages who could tolerate small doses of the sun’s rays out there. If she got down and ran into them before she healed, she didn’t know if she could fight them off.
Tipping her head back, she stared through the needles shading her to the pristine, blue sky. The color reminded her of her brother Ian’s eyes. She ignored the twinge of longing that tugged at her heart. She would see them again.
Closing her eyes, she rubbed at them before opening them. At most, she only had two hours before the sun set. Even if there weren’t other Savages out there, it wasn’t enough time to hunt and heal before those assholes started tracking again.
Maybe she’d get lucky and they would call it quits, but she wasn’t feeling all that lucky. Or maybe she was the luckiest vampire alive. She could be dead or in the hands of the Savages. Sitting in a tree with a busted ankle and a rumbling stomach was a lot more fun when she looked at it that way.
Was anyone else alive?
She may never know the answer, and it was such a depressing thought that she pushed it away. However, thinking was the only thing there was to do in a tree.
To avoid getting bogged down in despair, she started singing a rousing rendition of the ants go marching in her head. As she sang, she tried to recall all the silly verses she and her sister Cassidy would make up when they were kids. Instead of the ant stopping to suck his thumb, they would sing about him stopping to play the drum or dying from boredom, kind of like she was right now.
She was on verse number eight, and instead of checking the gate, she was running late, or dropping the plate, or finding her mate. And then a twig snapped below, and she stopped being bored as the words of the song abruptly stopped.
Every muscle in her body tensed; she didn’t breathe as footsteps approached. Was it friend or foe?
She leaned over to see through the branches as voices floated to her. The fact there was more than one made her believe it wasn’t a friend. She didn’t have many friends, if any, left alive in these woods. Still, hope pulsed through her with every beat of her heart.
That hope vanished when two vampires she didn’t recognize walked under her tree. They were her enemy, but if they were out in the day, then they couldn’t be lost entirely to their Savage nature. However, there wasn’t a whole lot of direct sunlight in these woods.
Willow’s heart sank as they walked out of view. What if these woods were so thick all the Savages could stay out during the day?
Even with her ankle healed, these woods were so vast, and there were so many of them, she didn’t know how she’d avoid them.
By running, that was how. As soon as possible, she would run again, and she wouldn’t stop until free of this forest.
Declan studied the fresh blood splattered across the ground. It had dried overnight, but patches of it still darkened the forest floor. Lucien had spilled enough blood over the years that Declan could recognize its scent, but no hint of who spilled this blood remained on the air. There weren’t any bodies, but he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I’ve got some ashes over here,” Logan said and waved at a pile on the ground.