Zarina murmured something in her sleep, cuddling closer to him. Tanner was about to snag one of the blankets they’d pushed around on the bed, sure she was cold, but then her eyes fluttered open, and the look she gave him took his breath away. Her blue eyes were so captivating, it felt like they could take possession of his soul with a single glance. He was more than okay with that.
“Ready for round two?” she asked, pressing her lips to his chest and making him shiver. She’d been doing a lot of that over the past few hours, but he was sure he’d never get tired of it.
He grinned. “Technically, it would be at least round four. Or five if you count that thing you did with your mouth.”
Zarina smiled, pushing herself up on her elbow and putting her beautiful breasts on display. His cock immediately went hard at the sight of all those curves.
“Only if we count by the number of orgasms we’ve had, which I don’t,” she said. “I prefer to go with how many times I pass out from pleasure, which has only happened once. So, in my mind, we’ve just gotten started.”
He chuckled. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”
She slipped a warm thigh across his hips, gracefully climbing on top of him. “Yes, but feel free to keep telling me. I promise I won’t get tired of hearing it.”
Tanner shook his head as he grabbed her hips, getting her settled carefully on his shaft. “I’m never going to stop letting you know how amazing you are or how much I love you. I can promise you that.”
Zarina leaned forward, pressing her breasts against his chest as she kissed him. “It’s a promise, then. We never stop saying I love you, no matter how crazy things get in the future.”
He slid his hands down and cupped her ass. “Deal.”
Tanner had just leaned in to nuzzle Zarina’s neck when a pair of familiar scents reached his nose. It took him a moment to place them, but when he finally did, they had him flipping over so fast, he almost spilled Zarina onto the floor.
“The camp is under attack,” he said. He jumped off the bed, scrambling for his jeans and boots as he strained his ears for the sound of gunfire. Spencer and Peter were out on the perimeter somewhere. If he was smelling the assholes, they should have, too.
As Zarina hurriedly put on her clothes, Tanner had to clamp down on the impulse to tell her to hide under the bed until the fighting was over. But he couldn’t do that, no matter how loudly his instincts demanded he do so.
Not wanting to take the time to bother with looking for his shirt, he snatched up the AR-15 he’d leaned against the wall last night. “I’m picking up the scents of at least two of the men who hit the camp up north. I have no idea why Spencer and Peter haven’t raised the alarm yet, and that scares the hell out of me.”
Zarina stepped in front of him as he started for the door. She already had her shirt, jeans, and boots on. The sight of the revolver on her belt stopped him cold. It was terrifying to think Zarina might have to shoot someone, mostly because he wasn’t sure she had it in her. But he had to respect her right to protect herself and others.
“Be careful out there,” she said, going up on tiptoe to kiss him. “And don’t get so wrapped up in worrying about other people that you don’t watch out for yourself.”
He kissed her back, closing his eyes for a second as worry almost overwhelmed him. Then he nodded and reached past her to grab the doorknob. “The same goes for you. Focus on protecting people, not going after the men attacking the camp.”
Then he was out the door and running for the north side of the camp, letting the scents of the men attacking the camp lead him. There were at least half a dozen men moving in from the north, and they were already well within the perimeter of the camp. That meant there was a good chance they’d already taken out Spencer and Peter.
He pointed his weapon skyward and popped off three rounds. “The camp is under attack!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Inbound from the north!”
Wishing he could do more to get the camp’s residents moving but knowing he’d already done as much as he could, Tanner turned his attention to the men intent on taking them by surprise, using his nose to pin down their location. They must have regrouped long enough to get reinforcements so they could hit Chad’s camp right before dawn, when the people who lived there would be caught unaware.
Around him, the camp came to life. Tanner prayed it wasn’t too late.
His first instinct was to go after the four men circling around the camp from the west. But then he picked up Spencer’s and Peter’s scents the other way, along with those of two men. He veered that way, remembering how he’d seen the men trying to kidnap the tranquilized preppers up north. He had to make sure they weren’t doing that to the hybrids.
Tanner’s body shifted as he ran. No shock there. He always lost a little bit of control when the battle adrenaline started flowing. However, he was surprised that this time, even though he was worried as hell about Spencer and Peter, not to mention Zarina, he was able to
