Page 84 of Chased

He didn’t throw that away. He fingered it thoughtfully. Then he grabbed her hair again, and gestured to the mercenary to step back.

He did. Henri got down on his knees behind her, his dick pressing into her ass. “Should I mate with you first?” he murmured. “Or should I mark you?” He ran the flat of the knife blade across her face, across her neck.

His cousin said uneasily, “We agree she’s yours. But you’re not supposed to mate her like this. You’re supposed to do it when she’s an animal.”

“Shut up,” Henri snarled at him. “She’s my mate, I and I do as I like with her.”

Henri was really losing it. She said, “You’re seriously going to whip it out right here? In front of everyone? I mean, I know it will only take a few seconds, but still…”

Her aunt had always told her that her smart mouth would get her in trouble. And this time it did.

Henri didn’t cut her face. He said, “You’ll have to do it wherever and whenever I want it, bitch. Because you’ll never run again.” And he reached down and sliced through the hamstrings on her right leg.

Madison screamed. The back of her thigh felt like it was on fire, and she could feel the blood pouring down her leg.

“Now the face,” he said. “And then the mating.”

But through her pain, Madison heard the sounds she’d been waiting for. Far-off shots, and wolves baying. And then a furious, feral howl that could belong only to one person.

Sanchez. Somehow, some way, he’d come for her.

He tore down the slope to the mouth of the cave, so fast he was almost a blur. The mercenary fired at him and hit his vest, but it didn’t even slow him down. Sanchez barreled into the two stupefied Renards standing there, knocking them in different directions, then whirled and took on the mercenary.

A flurry of blows and a roundhouse kick later, and the mercenary was out cold.

Henri rose to his feet, firing Madison’s gun at Sanchez. He missed, and Sanchez leaped at him with a terrifying roar, slamming him on the head with his gun butt. The he picked Henri up and threw him at his Renard relatives, who were just struggling to their feet. They all went down in a heap.

Sanchez squatted down by Madison, his arm around her. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”

“I can’t,” Madison gasped. “My leg. Hamstrings. He cut me.”

Sanchez froze. Then he lifted his head, very slowly, and gave Henri a look to freeze his blood. “Then I guess I’ll have to shoot them all and carry you out.”

Madison panted, “Backup?”

“They ran into some problems. It may take a few minutes, but they’ll be here.”

Henri rose to his feet, blood trickling down his face and a gun in his hands. “Not before you’re dead, Wolf. Or she is.”

Sanchez said, “Get out of my way before I rip you apart. I’m taking Madison out of here.”

“But what’s the point?” Henri said. “I have video of evidence of hunting my mate, and of marking her. She’s legally mine.”

“Over my dead body, Renard. She’s mine.”

Madison, clinging on to Sanchez’s leg, saw Henri’s face contort with shock. Then he started laughing. “You have to be joking.”

Sanchez said, “Well, we can stand here and argue about it while she bleeds out, or I can go back to Plan A and rip you apart, and then you’ll legally be dead and we won’t have this problem. Plus, I’d get to rip out your intestines and strangle you with them, which I’d really love to do. Your call.”

The mercenary, who hadn’t moved since Sanchez knocked him out, suddenly rolled over and aimed his gun at Sanchez from the ground. “There will be two bullets in you before you get that far.”

Sanchez flicked him a glance. “I’ve withstood more than that. I’m not worried.”

But Madison could feel his hand tightening on her shoulder. The baying of the other wolves wasn’t getting closer. “Where’s the backup?” she murmured.

“Word spread about the Hunt,” he muttered. “We ran into other Renards in the woods, with their own mercenaries. It’s a pitched battle out there.”

“Sanchez?” she said. “I’m getting cold.” She knew that meant she was either losing too much blood, or going into shock. Or both. Her hands started to shake.