Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) by Joann I. Martin Sowles Page B

He paced again, his grayish-lavender eyes on mine, the knife lowered at his hip. Another blow to the door and it groaned. The top hinge gave way.
    Zane lunged at me again, knowing his chances to complete our connection were coming to an end, and fast. The middle hinge was barely hanging on. I swung the pan once more, but I missed and he knocked me to the ground. The knife pierced my shoulder. It hurt like hell! I cried out, screaming in pain as he sat on top of me, pulling the knife free of my shoulder and tossing it just out of reach. He then proceeded to attack me, clawing and pulling at my clothes as I struggled.
    Oliver roared my name then hit the door one last time. The hinges gave, the frame splintered, and the door fell inward, hitting the wall and then the floor.
    I have to say, Oliver looked more frightening at that moment than the demonic angel who was suddenly wielding the kitchen knife, yet again.
    “Mine,” Oliver snarled. He tackled Zane, knocking him right off of me.
    I scrambled to sit up and move away.
    In the next second, Oliver had Zane pinned to the floor beside me. Oliver was so enraged that he didn’t see the knife in Zane’s hand. I screamed when the angel plunged it into Oliver’s side. The knife slipped between his ribs, and Oliver let out an awful bellow, but he didn’t loosen his grip on Zane. If anything, his grip around the angel’s neck tightened.
    “Laney, pull it out,” Oliver growled. I hesitated. His dark eyes met mine. “Do it now!”
    I moved closer and gripped the knife with both hands and yanked. It made this sick, wet sound, and I thought I might throw up.
    Oliver cringed and a pained sound escaped him. However, in a flash of movement, he jerked the knife from my hand and plunged it into Zane’s heart. I shrieked in surprise, covering my mouth with both hands to stop myself.
    Zane screeched and grasped at the knife, unable to get ahold of the handle. He couldn’t seem to control his limbs.
    Oliver rolled off of the angel and onto the floor beside him. He lay on the floor and held his hand over the wound in his side. Blood was trickling between his fingers, darker and thicker than regular blood.
    I scrambled over the suddenly still body of Zane… My angel. My crazed and demonic, dead, guardian angel.
    Little did I know, the angel was not dead— angels weren’t so easy to kill.
    “What do I do?” I frantically asked, putting my hands over Oliver’s.
    “Call Felix,” he groaned.
    I pulled his phone from his front pocket and found myself touched when I discovered a picture he had taken of me on the beach was his new background. I mentally shook myself and called Felix. It was not the time to get all mushy.
    Felix was quick to answer. I rushed through an explanation of what had happened.
    “Oliver needs blood to heal. If there is none, he will need yours. Assuming you two have bonded, it will be safe for him to feed from you. It will also help him heal faster,” Felix’s booming voice said from the other end of the line.
    My face burned. I knew everyone would know that we had bonded, but I didn’t think anyone would be so blunt as to point it out. Maybe Zoey.
    “Zane is not dead,” Felix continued. He is only immobilized.”
    I glanced at the still angel beside us, dark blood soaking the front of his shirt. With terror consuming me once again, I scooted closer to Oliver.
    “I am on my way, Delaney. It will take me a couple of hours to get there. In the meantime, I will send a local team to collect the angel.”
    “‘K,” I quietly responded, my eyes fixed on Zane’s motionless body. I was afraid he would just sit up and come after me again.
    “It is okay, Delaney. Help will soon be there.”
    While keeping a watchful eye on Zane, I locked Oliver’s phone and put it in my sweatshirt pocket. I tried to help Oliver, but he refused to take my blood. I didn’t understand his refusal, and he wasn’t offering an explanation. The only blood he took was from my