“You’re the one who’s going to need a doctor.” The man rose to his feet, taking her with him. The red taillights on her car didn’t illuminate his features, but she could see he was tall.
“Blue, there’s one more in the woods,” Niko said coolly.
It was then she realized that this was a trap. Niko climbed onto the roof of her car, scanning the area. He could see what others couldn’t in the cloak of darkness.
“I thought falcons were smarter than you,” the man said, jerking her wrist. “Walking around unarmed, especially in wolf territory?”
Wolf.They weren’t in wolf territory. Wyatt had given her the specs of all the places she planned to visit, and outside of the Freeman pride was a whole bunch of unused land owned by the higher authority.
She squinted, trying to make out his face. “Do I know you?”
“You stupid cunt.” He grabbed a fistful of her hair and shoved her toward the vehicle. “Tell your blind friend to get back in the car.”
Blind.Yep. This guy knew them. And as many cases as they’d worked together, there was no telling what the hell this was about. Every blue moon, they ran into a thug they’d busted or roughed up, and all these jerks wanted was revenge.
Something moved within the tree line. Blue expected to see this guy’s buddy, but instead, a wolf trotted up to the car, sniffed, and barked. Not a ferocious bark she’d heard from Viktor on the attack, but one to call attention.
“They’re alone,” Niko said. “What do you want to do?”
“Give us what we came for,” the man gripping her hair snarled.
She stopped short and gave him a steely glare over her shoulder. “An ass kicking?”
Blue struck him in the chest with her elbow, then twisted around and punched him until her knuckles throbbed. Bloodied his nose, knocked out a tooth, and then she went for the windpipe. Despite her best efforts, he didn’t drop to the ground but swung his arms as he gasped to breathe. Hand-to-hand combat wasn’t her style. She could throw a mean punch, but this guy must have been twice her weight.
Niko jumped off the car and hustled toward the wolf. With outstretched hands and webs of light dancing at his fingertips, he addressed the animal. “Leave us, and I won’t kill you.”
Blue’s adversary simultaneously hacked out a cough and a laugh. “You blind motherfucker. You couldn’t kill an elephant. Get him!”
The second the wolf lunged. Niko ran a step and somersaulted over him, his fighting techniques pure magic.
Blue looked down when the man punched her in the leg. No, that was no punch. It took a second to feel the knife piercing bone, and she lost her balance, dropping to her knees.
In that moment, Blue had what could only be called an out-of-body experience. She punched him in the groin with immense power and did it repeatedly until he crumpled to the ground, gasping as he clutched his testicles. Then she yanked the knife from her leg and crawled over him, her pain no longer existent. As she raised the knife, something tickled her memory, filling her with so much rage that she drove it straight through his heart.
Again and again.
“Blue, stop.” Niko grasped her hands, forcing the knife out.
Blue mechanically rose to face him. By the car, the wolf lay motionless. “Are you okay?”
He reached out until his hand found her temple. “I should ask you the same.”
She limped toward the car. “What the hell do they think we have?”
Niko touched the trunk lid and bent down low. “I didn’t sense it before. Open the trunk.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t have a model with the button on the trunk lid itself, so Blue dragged her leg behind her as she reached inside the car and activated the trunk release.
“Blue, quick!”
Her leg dull with pain, she hobbled to the rear. The trunk light Shepherd had installed revealed a child curled up in a fetal position. She couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven.
“Fates,” Blue whispered. “How long has she been in there?”
“Her light is weak. Does she look familiar to you?”
Blue reached in and swept back the girl’s long brown hair. “Yeah. The Donner pack.”
