"Stupid son of a bitch,” the second voice shouted.
Now she could see the other guy, standing about twenty-five feet away. He also had a gun in his hand, pointed at her as he ran over.
"Don't move!" he bellowed.
The blood from her knife dripped down to the hilt, covering her hand. She abandoned the phone so she could raise her elbow up to cover her throat. Not that it did much because she'd brought a knife to a gunfight.
"Drop the knife." The guy waved the gun in her direction. He was dressed like Seth and about the same height and weight, but wore a dark green baseball cap. From the resemblance, she guessed he was Seth's father.
"No," she said.
"I mean it."
"So do I." What the hell is wrong with me? Why did it feel so natural to challenge him? She felt the pounding of her pulse against the stitches in her neck. It reminded her that her willingness to die before capture hadn't changed.
Or had it? Outside the gym she had panicked, feeling as if her life was slipping out of her control. She knew better now because Kellen had promised not to hurt her and she believed him. She had to believe him because there was no one else in the world that she could believe. For some reason, he cared, and that meant something.
If this guy shot her, the only thing that would change was that Kellen would have to bury her, right here in the woods. That sounded lovely, finding her eternal peace in this green forest while rain and snow and sunlight fell around her. But she didn’t want Kellen to have to do that. She wanted more time with Kellen. And the fact that this guy hadn't shot her yet said they wanted her alive. As long as she was alive, she could fight.
On the ground, Seth groaned.
"Get up," the other guy said.
"Can't," Seth wined.
"God damn it, boy! All you had to do was grab her! Why don't you ever fucking listen?" The guy in the baseball cap kicked at Seth, but the gun leveled on her never moved.
The pounding stitches in her neck reminded her she had a last resort, but this time it really was a last resort. One she would only take if she had no other choice.
"Get your ass up. I'm not losing fifty grand because of your stupidity." He directed his next words to Samara. "You better be worth the bounty?—"
He never finished because a gray blur slammed into him from out of nowhere. Another blur piled on while a third went after Seth. Wolves. One wolf picked up Seth's body in its enormous jaws and shook it like a rag doll before slamming the body into the tree. Behind him, the other two wolves used the guy in the cap as a rope in a tug of war, one wolf pulling from the head, the other from the feet, both shaking the body ferociously. Blood poured from what was left of the guy's throat so he couldn't even scream as his body stretched, snapped, and his head yanked off with the spine trailing after it.
Then it was over and three bloodied gray wolves stalked over to her and sat on their haunches, not even panting with exertion. One of them—Kellen—judging by the dark eyes, nudged her right hand that still held the knife. She dropped it onto the mess of leaves before she bolted behind the tree and puked up her sandwich. Her water bottle was still there, so she rinsed out her mouth and spat. By the time she returned, the wolves were gone. Well, not gone, exactly. Kellen, Stephen, and Leo had shifted back and stood there, completely naked and comfortable as if ripping apart human beings was something they did on a daily basis.
Maybe it was. They had all been assassins at one point, paratroopers at Normandy, and God knew what else over their long lives.
"Feeling better?" Kellen asked, taking a small step forward.
Samara took a small step back. "Yes. No. I don't know."
"Take a deep breath and let's get you settled on the ground."
"Not here. There's too much blood and I don't want to sit next to the bodies."
Before she could move, Kellen stood next to her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. He guided her deeper into the woods. There was another tree not too far from the carnage where he lowered her onto the ground and then sat next to her, his arm still around her shoulders.
She couldn't talk for a long while and he didn't force her too. The light grew even dimmer, and the sounds of birds and insects grew louder.
"They were bounty hunters." She remembered their words, letting their greed pierce through the horror of their deaths. "One of them said that I'd better be worth the fifty grand they were going to get for me. I think Josiah put out a bounty."
Without moving a muscle, Kellen's whole attitude changed. Samara could sense the cold waves of concern pouring off him. Concern for her.
"What do we do now?" she asked, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
Kellen shifted closer, his warm skin holding the cool breeze tickling her hair at bay. "Stephen and Leo will bury the bodies near the river. They’ll decompose faster in damp soil.”
"What about you?"
