The man howled in pain and threw himself to the side. He hit the ground rolling as he tried to shake her off. He finally managed it, but not before she’d dealt a lot of damage. When they both came up snarling at each other like rabid animals, the feline shifter took one look at Ashley and apparently decided he had business elsewhere. He turned and hauled ass like his wolf partner had done earlier.
Tate glanced at Ashley, and she snarled at him. He could see why the feline shifter had bailed. Ashley took batshit crazy to a whole new level.
She stared at him for another second, then ran off into the woods, where she stopped and dug down into a thick section of brambles, dragging Mahsood out kicking and screaming. She cuffed him once in the head, then tossed him over her shoulder and disappeared into the trees.
Tate blinked in shock, mostly at the fact that he and Chase were alive, but also at the realization that Ashley had stolen their prisoner.
He climbed to his feet and ran over to check on Chase. The cop waved him away. “I’m fine. We need to go after her. She can’t run as fast while carrying Mahsood.”
Tate nodded and started after the shifter and her prey. Chase kept up with him, cracked ribs be damned.
Tate couldn’t believe they were risking their lives to save a man who’d experimented on dozens of people. Maybe he should just let Ashley have him.
“Would now be a bad time to point out that Ashley didn’t seem to have an issue with carrying Mahsood?” Tate asked as they ran.
“That’s because she’s part animal and I’m not,” Chase said, his breath coming a little labored. “Apparently, she has much more motivation to carry the man than I had. I’m pretty sure she’s planning to drag him off and kill him for all the crap he did to her over the past decade.”
Tate couldn’t argue with that logic. The need for revenge could drive a person to some incredible lengths. He knew that for a fact.
“Your arm is bleeding a lot,” Chase said. “You going to make it?”
“Yeah, I’m good. How about your ribs? You able to breathe okay?”
“I’m good,” the deputy said. “You think we’ve seen the last of those other two shifters and their mercenary buddies?”
“That would be nice, but we need to be ready for them to catch up to us.”
“Great,” Chase said. “Then we can fight them and Ashley at the same time.”
“Exactly. They’ll be all together in one place, so that should make it easier.”
* * *
Zarina screamed as the ground exploded in a hail of bullets a few feet to her left. The sound was purely involuntary, just like her instincts to spin around and throw herself over the three children she and Lillie had been leading to safety. The poor kids were so terrified, they simply froze in place, their faces shoved tight to the ground as if they thought the crazy people shooting at them wouldn’t see them. She and Lillie quickly got the three kids moving, nudging them toward the corner of the nearest cabin as more bullets flew over their heads.
Zarina was surprised and relieved when they reached the safety of the cabin and darted around the side of it. Upon seeing the three heavily armed men in their path, she’d been sure it was over. Even though the morning’s light was already beginning to brighten the eastern sky, somehow, the shooters had missed. So far.
The crazy thing was, she wasn’t scared for herself. She was more worried about the kids. And Tanner. It would tear him apart if she got hurt—or worse.
“Get them to the main building!” Lillie shouted, leaning around the corner of the building and peppering the three men with several shots from her oversized handgun. “I’ll keep these guys busy.”
“I don’t think splitting up is a good idea,” Zarina said, holding her revolver ready in case she had to shoot someone. She prayed it wouldn’t come to that, because it would take a miracle for her to hit anything.
Lillie pulled back from the corner, dropping the ammo clip from her weapon and loading another one so fast, Zarina had a hard time seeing exactly what she was doing. “We don’t have a choice. Someone has to slow them down a little, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting you do it. Take the kids and get them out of here. You can get some help and come back.”
Before Zarina could protest anymore, Lillie slipped around the corner and disappeared. A moment later, Zarina heard the booming of the woman’s weapon and knew Lillie was doing something stupid to give her time to get these little kids to safety.
Damn if Lillie wasn’t just like Tanner!
Zarina turned and gathered the kid closest to her—a red-haired girl with eyes bulging in fear—and urged her forward. “All right, you heard Lillie. Let’s get back to the main building. Fast!”
The trio obediently began moving as fast as their terrified feet could carry them. Zarina did her best to look in every direction at once, praying they didn’t stumble over any more bad guys.
She’d run into Lillie only seconds after Tanner had taken off, and together they had immediately begun passing information to the confused preppers who’d just started sticking their heads out of their cabins, wondering what the hell Tanner had been yelling about.
Then Chad had come running, getting some of the men out to the perimeter while directing everyone else back toward the main building. He’d asked Lillie and Zarina to take care of the youngest of the camp’s children so their parents could focus on defending
