Hadley’s stomach twisted at that image and the cavalier way he treated human life.
Praying Carter was okay and that he’d catch up to them in time, Hadley stopped resisting, allowing Strickland to yank her faster through the hallways. She tried to keep track of all the twists and turns, telling herself that if she could get free, she’d run back to Carter. But unfortunately, she’d been lost within a minute of leaving the pool area. Making her way back there would be impossible. She couldn’t even hazard a guess how far they’d even traveled, much less what direction. All she could say for sure was this place seemed endless.
Just when it seemed that they’d keep making turns forever, they reached a heavy wooden door, which Strickland promptly kicked open as if the thing had been made out of papier-mache. The moment he shoved her through it, Hadley saw they were outside. It was pitch dark, with trees and thickets everywhere.
“Where are you taking me?” Hadley demanded.
She had no idea where they were, but if Strickland succeeded in dragging her into the woods before Carter found her, it would be over.
“To the SUV,” Strickland said, continuing to roughly tow her to the left side of the house and the woods beyond. “We’ll head to the safe house I set up for just such a situation. It will delay my plans by a couple weeks, but on the bright side for you, it’ll extend your life because I’ll be too busy creating new spawn to take the time to eat you properly.”
“Thank goodness for little favors,” Hadley muttered.
She craned her neck, trying to get a look behind them, praying she’d see Carter coming through the door they’d just exited. Unfortunately, there was no one back there.
Hadley was so focused on what was behind them that she didn’t realize there was something in front of them until Strickland came to a sudden halt, causing her to tumble to her knees.
“What the hell?” Strickland said.
Hadley looked up to see Kat, Lydia, and Kamden kneeling in a cleared section of the overgrown yard. The latter was positioned on his back in the middle of a glowing green circle dug into the ground around him. To Kamden’s side was a large pile of dirt, also glowing with the same green light.
Kat was positioned outside the circle, a small shovel in one hand, mumbling softly to herself. It was clear she was so focused on whatever she was doing that she probably didn’t realize she and Strickland were there.
But Lydia did.
Jumping to her feet, she frantically shook Kat’s shoulder, but she was too deep into the spell to notice.
“What do we have here?” Strickland murmured, taking several steps forward, dragging Hadley across the ground behind him until she was able to get back to her feet. “A skinwalker—one of Aguilar’s spawn based on your scent. What are you doing here? Or maybe I should ask, what is this witch doing to you?”
But Kamden, still as a statute inside the circle, didn’t respond, making it pretty obvious that he hadn’t heard anything Strickland said. Kamden’s silence seemed to infuriate Strickland, and the skinwalker ended up shoving Hadley aside so hard she fell.
Lydia nervously moved to put herself between Strickland and Kat, lifting her hands and crossing them in front of her chest like a shield, mumbling something softly.
Strickland hesitated as a soft green glow began to build at the junction of those crossed arms, flinching back. The green glow exploded outward with a thump that could be felt as much as heard. The wave of color rushed forward, wind and raindrops appearing out of nowhere, mixing with dirt, rocks, and chunks of weeds from the ground to pelt the skinwalker like a mini hurricane.
Strickland visibly braced himself as the debris slammed into him. But when the small storm finally passed, the skinwalker was still standing there. Wet and dirty, but undamaged.
Chuckling, he started forward again with a menacing look on his face. “You’re a witch and all you can do is rain on me? I’m almost disappointed.”
Hadley pushed herself upright even as Lydia tried to call up more of that green glow she’d created before. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be working.
Hadley got to her feet, running toward Lydia, already knowing that there was no way she could get there in time. And having no idea how she would stop Strickland if she did.
Strickland was only a yard from Lydia when a blur surged past Hadley, a low rumbling growl reaching her ears as Carter slammed into Strickland.
The skinwalker hit the ground hard, tumbling through the weeds and brush until he came to a stop with Carter on top of him, growling ferociously as he punched Strickland in the face again and again. Hadley raced to Lydia’s side in case she needed help, but while she was clearly shaken, she seemed fine.
Hadley was sure the fight between Carter and the skinwalker was over when Strickland’s head bounced off the ground several times. The was no way a person could remain conscious after getting hit like that.
But then she remembered Strickland wasn’t human.
He somehow managed to slip in what looked like a lazy backhanded swing, hitting Carter across the face. The blow struck with way more force than Hadley would have thought possible, flinging Carter backward a half dozen feet. He and Strickland were back on their feet in an instant, circling each other like feral animals. She wasn’t stunned that Carter’s eyes weren’t glowing blue, but he seemed to be firmly in control of his omega. Hadley wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. Strickland seemed like he was going to be hard to handle.
Even as Hadley watched, the skinwalker’s bruised and bloody face began to heal, like Carter had never even punched him. Okay, that couldn’t be good. Carter was carrying a weapon on his hip, but how was that going to help with a creature as strong as Strickland, who could apparently heal from any wound?
Strickland must have been thinking the same thing if the smirk on his face was any indication. “You’re not strong enough to beat me, werewolf. I can only imagine how much it’s going to pain your mate when I kill you. Though it might make the pain easier to accept knowing that she’ll be dead relatively soon as well.”
Carter stepped forward with a growl, his hand reaching for the gun on his hip. But before he could draw the weapon, a burst of green light erupted from Kat’s warding circle with a boom like distant thunder.
