I let myself go limp, like I'd fainted and he lost his grip on me. I fell to the floor and screamed. "GEO! HELP!"
A heavy boot caught me in the ribs, knocking the air out of my lungs and Josh appeared, grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder as he and Mark headed for the front door. We crunched over broken glass and I realized they'd knocked one of the glass door panels out to reach the lock. The door was still open and Josh carried me out of the house, breaking into a run with Mark close behind.
"Stop!" Mace's voice echoed across the open land. "Let her go." It was an alpha bark, but it didn't affect the alphas stealing me.
I lifted my head in time to see Mace jump out of his second story bedroom window, landing heavily on the grass below. Then he was sprinting for us.
Mace spent time in the gym daily, but I'd never seen him run. And he was running so fast now that he overtook us in seconds, tackling Josh to the ground.
I went flying through the air and for the second time in just a few minutes, the wind was knocked out of me.
"Liora, are you okay?" Finn dropped to his knees beside me. "Breathe, sweetheart, breathe."
"I'm . . . okay." I sucked in air and rolled over to see where Mace was.
He had Josh on the ground and was landing punches to the man's face, fury powering his fists. I scrambled up and Finn helped me.
"Where's . . . Mark?"
"Geo went after him," Finn said, looking in the direction of the driveway.
There was a distant gunshot. Ice slid down my spine.
"Geo!" I took off running in the direction of the sound, ignoring the other alphas calling for me to wait. Geo was hurt or even dead, I couldn't wait.
The dim moonlight illuminated the driveway where a figure lay sprawled on the ground, not moving. My heart seized as I scanned for Mark. He must have run off as soon as he shot Geo.
"Geo, no, no, no." I dropped down beside him in the dirt and laid a hand on his back, feeling the shaky breathing. He was still alive.
"Finn! Help me!" I screamed, pulling on Geo's shoulder to roll him over. He felt heavier like this.
Then I realized that it wasn't Geo on the ground in front of me, it was Mark.
Those cruel eyes stared at the sky unseeing.
"I'm right here, baby." Geo stumbled toward me. "He had a knife. Got me in the leg."
"Shit!" I rushed toward him, realizing suddenly that he was buck naked, with only a gun in his hand.
"What happened?" Finn asked, turning on his phone flashlight and shining it on Geo's leg. "Ouch."
"It's fine. He didn't get me too deeply." Geo jerked his chin at Mark, who was lying on the gravel, his side dark with blood. "But he might not be okay if an ambulance doesn't get here soon."
"I'm calling the cops first," Finn muttered, putting his phone to his ear.
Fifteen minutes later, there were flashing lights all around the place. Geo was bandaged at the scene, with promises to have Dr. Nova take a look as soon as possible. Finn had brought out robes for both of them, since they'd run out of the house without anything on when they'd heard me scream for help.
Mark was still alive when the ambulance showed up, so he was escorted by cops to the hospital and another cop team arrestsd Josh. With the main characters taken care of, we needed to give statements as the police walked around taking photos. They took Geo's gun, but he had a license for it, so they assured him he'd get it back.
"When did you bring a gun into the house?" I asked, shivering a little in the cool morning. The sun was starting to rise and the birds were chirping as we sat on the porch. Mace brought me a blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders, his bleeding knuckles smudging it with blood.
"I've always had it. Part of the job," Geo responded. "I wasn't going to look after you without some kind of protective weapon."
"I want to know about things like that from now on," I told him.
"Of course."
"I think that's all the questions we have for now. If we need anything else, we'll notify you," one of the cops told us. "And if you think of anything else we need to know, please contact us."
