I sprint towards my bag and pull out one of my ornate dragon blades, trusting the guys to cover me. I ignore their shouts, not because I’m stupid and want to run headfirst into danger, but because I see three steps ahead to what the strangers are doing. By herding us into a group, all they need to do is surround us until our projectile ammo runs out and we’ll be sitting ducks with no escape. I’m not just going to crouch down and let the guys be living shields, just to lose the fight anyway.
A shot hits my thigh, making it clear they aren’t aiming to kill me, just capture. I use that to my advantage, ignoring the pain and running straight towards a group of four men that no doubt think they’ll be able to overpower me. When I get within striking distance I jump, slashing my blade through the thin branch on my way. It’s not large enough to hurt a soul, but it’s big enough to knock them off balance and lose their aim for a second.
I lash out, cutting straight through the bone of a man’s wrist as he screams in agony, dropping his weapon. I scoop it up a second later, putting bullets in each of their heads successfully. I’m a flurry of movement, never once slowing as I cut a path back towards camp. Bodies litter the ground, and Soren has his hand pressed to his arm to staunch the bleeding as he did the first time I ever saw him.
Cai storms over, but never once does he yell or get in my face. He just puts his hands on my shoulders as he spins me to check me for wounds, mentally noting every scratch. I’m glad, because if he was stupid enough to try and scold me, I would have broken his nose on principle alone.
I’m a lady after all, and nice ladies don’t take kindly to arrogant men telling them what they can or cannot do. He may have a nice dick, but that doesn’t give him an excuse to be one; I expect more from a mate than that.
I teased Yri before about men only worrying about fucking or fighting, but it sounds like I was a bit of a hypocrite because I’ve had both in the span of an hour and feel fantastic. You know, if I ignore the screaming in my thigh from the bullet still embedded inside.
The adrenaline is keeping the pain at bay, but I know soon enough it will fade and it’ll hurt like a bitch. He growls, spinning me to check for an exit wound and finding none.
“We should probably move home base before playing operation,” I kindly point out, reaching for my bag.
He snatches it from me and spits on the nearest corpse. “Yri, you mind? I’ll get the stuff, but with Ren’s arm, he shouldn’t.”
“I can walk,” I protest, but Yri is already crouching in front of me.
“Come on, angel, don’t leave me out in the cold. Take me for a ride too, see how you like it,” he teases easily, so I roll my eyes and climb on.
He puts his hands under my thighs and I cringe, but bite my tongue. We head off, leaving a trail of bodies behind and making the unpleasant decision of detouring. It’s likely clear that someone’s figured out we’re headed towards a sanctuary and is going to intercept us on the most direct route. It will put us a day behind schedule, but better off that than imprisoned.
Chapter 18
Soren
––––––––
Cai takes point diggingthe bullet out of Ezra’s thigh and to give her credit, she never once cries out. She bites down on her wrist, breathing through her nose as he digs around in the wound with a dagger. When he finally gets it out, she audibly sighs her relief, until I’m forced to pour antiseptic on it.Thatgets her cussing me out, but I let her vent through the pain as I get it bandaged.
“And you calledmea pincushion.”
She narrows her eyes at me as I smirk in response, helping her back up onto Yri’s back. We don’t risk stopping again until we’re all at the point we could collapse and agree to rotate shifts so we can all get a little sleep at least. After being ambushed at camp, none of us want to risk that again.
Fuck, they could have killed her. How are we ever going to be able to keep her safe when she attracts danger as much as she does men?
