Chapter 23 · The Wedding Goes Dark

"Everyone stays in this room." Kane's voice cut through the chapel before the officiant finished his line. "No one leaves until I say."

The lights died. All of them. The chandeliers, the exit signs, the photographer's strobe. Someone screamed. I grabbed the edge of the altar table, felt Kane's hand lock around my wrist.

"Power's out across the whole block," Nora said from somewhere in the dark. "That's not an accident."

"No." Kane's grip tightened. "It's not."

I heard the chapel doors slam shut. Heavy. Final. Then the sound of a bolt sliding home.

"Kane." I kept my voice low. "What the hell is happening?"

"Hunters." He pulled me closer. I felt the heat coming off him, the tension in his shoulders. "They waited for this. For everyone in one place."

"You knew?"

"I suspected." His breath was warm against my temple. "I didn't think they'd be this bold."

Footsteps echoed from the back of the chapel. Multiple sets. Moving fast.

"How many?" someone called out.

"Six," Kane said. "Maybe eight."

"How can you—"

"I can smell them." His hand moved from my wrist to my waist. "Stay behind me."

"Hell with that." I twisted free. "Where's the emergency exit?"