Shaking his head in disappointment, he clears his throat and announces, “As punishment for making the pack look bad in front of our guests, every one of you cheating assholes loses the bet and has to do it.”
A few of them curse, some turn pale, butallof them flicker nervous glances at Dom’s daughter openly staring at them and trying not to laugh. Nameless dick number three whines, “Dom! Tell him he can’t do this. He doesn’t have the authority.”
Sipping a beer, Dominic picks up a stick from the ground and waltzes over to the referee. Tapping him on each shoulder, he loudly announces, “I, Dominic Henley, herby grant Oliver Knight the authority to punish any member of the pack that acts like a jackass.” He takes another sip of his beer. “Failure to follow his orders or any further disrespect shall result in Viktor taking over your punishments.”
Every single one of them shuts up instantly and takes a cup of honey Dom’s mate was benevolently preparing with a shit-eating grin. “Don’t worry boys, I made sure to thin it down juuuuuust enough that it wouldn’t spill too slowly. I know how impatient you all are.”
None of them meet her eye, mumbling a thank you as they go off to take their positions at one end of the beach, Oliver practically skipping along to play warden.
I meet Raiden’s equally amused gaze, and he beats me to the punch by saying, “Whoever Viktor is, you should put him in charge of training your men.”
Dominic sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “I’ve tried, trust me, but he doesn’t have the patience to actually teach them anything.Best I get from him is a demonstrative ass kicking, but he says nothing constructive, and leaves them where they drop unconscious.” Donning a Russian accent, he mimics, “If they do not wish to lose, they will learn to be less terrible.”
“Sounds like my kind of drinking buddy. Where is he?”
Dom sighs. “Hunting down some ghosts from his past, I’m afraid.”
As if he’d summoned one with those words, a sudden chill races down my spine. Immediately seeking out Amara, I exhale a relieved sigh to find her in Stone’s arms right where we left her, happily chatting away. The nagging feeling like we’re being watched fails to dissipate though, and I meticulously scan our surroundings for anything out of place.
By the time I’ve gone full circle, I spot two of Dom’s men dragging a couple of guys out of the woods not twenty feet away from Stone and Amara.
"Hey Dom, caught these guys wandering around the woods claiming they were lost, but figured you'd want to talk to 'em before I pointed them towards town," the younger brother that met us at the border says.
Time moves in slow motion as both of the strangers pull out their guns, but when I extend my senses to crush the barrels before they can fire off a single bullet, nothing happens.
A moment later, two shots echo around the clearing, but no matter how hard I run, it's not fast enough.
I'mnot enough.
ChapterThirteen
AMARA
Cursing, I struggle under the weight pressing me into the ground, but all I get is a mouth full of sand. Shouts erupt as everything goes to hell around me, but I can’t see a damn thing beyond several pairs of ankles running past.
As suddenly as my lungs were crushed, they’re freed to suck down air, grains of sand in my throat sending me into a coughing fit. I’m hauled off the ground, and I slam an elbow back on reflex, but he doesn’t release me.
“Shit, Amara, it’s okay. It’s me,” Raiden grunts, his familiar smoky scent finally snaking past the adrenaline flooding my senses.
“Raiden.” I close my eyes in temporary relief, relaxing against him for a second before reality bitchslaps me in the face. At our feet, a deep groan sounds, and I break out of Raiden’s hold to sink to my knees. “Stone.”
His shoulder isn’t too bad, a thin trail of blood leaking from it, but one of the bullets ripped through his side, slashing through the tribal dragon head tattoo and coating it in blood.
“Can you cauterize the wound? Where’s Kodi, we need to dig the bullet out of his shoulder so his healing will kick in, and-”
“Amara,breathe.” Raiden soothingly smooths a palm over the top of my head, but he doesn’t make a move to help. “It looks worse than it is, otherwise of course I’d step in. But unless he lost a leg and was on the verge of bleeding out, it would do more harm than good.” Another caress, steady and repetitive. Calm and reassuring. “Remember how fast Stone healed after the car bombing? If I give him burns, it'll take that much longer for him to heal those too.”
Staring at his pale, still face, I swallow. “Why isn’t he moving? He should be cursing up a storm and threatening to kill Kodi for not…” I trail off as the sound of shouting draws my attention to a furious Kodiak tearing into the teenager that we met when we first arrived.
“The fuck do you mean, you didn’t think to search them?” Kodi steps on the throat of one of the men bound at his feet. “Strangers are wandering around on your land, and your first thought is to waltz them right where your pack’s women and children arewithout checking if they’re armed?!”
Kodiak’s voice has risen to booming levels that shuts everyone else up, someone wisely turning off the music. All the blood has drained out of the teenager’s face, and he blinks back tears, dropping his gaze to the ground.
In a watery croak, he whispers, “I didn’t want to fuck up again, like I did when you four showed up. No one else was around this time, and I thought it was safer to bring them to Dom, and y- you guys to decide what to do with them.”
Through clenched teeth, Kodiak seethes, “You almost got herkilled.”
“Kodi.” My voice is barely more than a whisper, but he whips his head toward me like I’d screamed. “Take a breath. That boy was the only one that bothered to run the perimetertwicetoday, when other men were too busy trying to get in Lissa’s pants to make sure she was safe.”
