A noise behind Ryder made her turn.
Terrier and General Murray had made their way onto the level where Ryder was, General Murray by Terrier’s side.
Ryder thought that her head was screwing with her. Her best friend and the man who’d put her in here together? It can’t be. Ryder thought.
General Finn looked like he’d just shit himself, and rightfully so. Terrier was double the size of General Finn. He landed one punch on Finn’s chin, and he was out cold. The other generals stepped away from Finn. They didn’t want to be associated with him now.
General Murray went for the men around Ryder, and he didn’t even need to touch them. The anger in his eyes said it all. The men backed away as one.
“Who else did this to you!” Terrier demanded as he glared around the level growling like Fluffy at all of the generals.
Ryder was overjoyed to see Terrier. “Come here, you big lump!” She grinned and held her arms out.
Terrier peered at Ryder, and a grin split his face nearly in two. His arms went straight around Ryder, and he had to remember not to squeeze his best friend too hard and injure her further. Ryder rested her head against Terrier’s chest. She’d wanted to hug her best friend for years, but never could. Today she needed that hug more than ever. She let out the biggest sigh of her life. She’d made it.
Terrier examined her bruised face. “You came back.”
“I said I would, didn’t I? And I brought some friends with me.” Ryder looked past Terrier toward the stairs. All of her friends were gathered there with their weapons ready to attack, although they were a bit late to the party.
Terrier looked at all the new faces and then back to the face he’d thought he’d never see again. “I’ve missed you,” Ryder told him.
Terrier had a goofy grin on his face, “I missed you too.”
Leandro let out a groan, and Ryder wiggled her way out of Terrier’s hug to run to him.
Terrier held on to her. “Ryder what are you doing? It’s a wolf!”
“It’s Leandro. He’s my friend.”
Terrier looked at Ryder, confused. “It’s a wild animal.”
“He’s not a wild animal, he’s a werewolf, Terrier. I’ll fill you in later, but he needs me now. Fucking Finn shot him.”
“That jerk.” Terrier kicked Finn for good measure.
Ryder ran to Leandro and dropped to her knees beside him. She stroked his fur on his thigh as she gently explored the wound. The bullet hadn’t gone through. Ryder knew Leandro was a fast healer, but he couldn’t heal while the bullet was in him.
“This is going to hurt,” Ryder told Leandro as she stroked him. She really didn’t want to cut out the bullet, but she knew that she had to. Ryder took a deep breath and slid the knife into Leandro’s thigh muscle, and he whimpered in pain. She couldn’t stop, but maybe there was a less painful way to get the bullet out than fishing around in Leandro’s leg with a knife designed for fighting. She put the knife down and inserted her finger into the cut she’d made. Leandro whined, but she pushed ahead. She felt the bullet with the tips of her fingers, then maneuvered them under it and began to work it out. Is this working? Ryder began to panic. She was in too deep and there was blood everywhere, but the bullet was almost out. She had to continue. Ryder crooked her fingers and the bullet came out a little more, a little spurt of blood preceding it.
“Nearly there,” Ryder told Leandro to reassure him.
Ryder gave one last tug and the bullet popped out along, with more blood. “I need something to press on the wound,” Ryder called. In the meantime, she pressed her hands against the open wound to staunch the bleeding.
Terrier ripped the nearest general’s sleeve from the shoulder seam and passed it to Ryder.
Ryder took the sleeve and tied it around Leandro's thigh. She stroked his head, and he looked up at her. “You’ll be all right.” Ryder was happy that her friends were around her, but they needed to get out of here.
Leandro rubbed his muzzle on Ryder’s chin. He was already feeling better. It was funny how Leandro could show affection when he was a wolf, yet when he’d been human he’d been shy and a little awkward—except for the dance she’d shared with him. Ryder ran her hand through his fur and got to her feet.
Ryder looked at the stairs, where there was a group of pole-wielding women. They looked more threatening than the Merry Men, who were looking more than a little scared. The women only had eyes for two groups of people, the generals and the hunters.
You could cut the tension with a knife. Carter was right in the middle of the two groups, so he gingerly stepped away from them and hid behind Ryder, “I’m with Ryder.” He smiled at them to show he wasn’t a threat.
The women looked at Ryder for confirmation. “He is. My friends are the good guys. They came to free you.” She grinned, then winced at the pain. Her cheekbones had taken a lot of punches over the last few days.
Jasmine looked Ryder over. “I like your upgrade. Being a woman is a way better look on you.” She pointed the metal pole at the generals and hunters. “What are we going to do with them?”
Ryder knew what she wanted to do with them, and also what the other woman wanted to do—make them pay for what they’d done. But that wasn’t the way to move on from what they had suffered. Ryder had waited too long, though, and the women were already heading over to the generals with their poles, ready to attack.
“Stop!” Ryder yelled. “We can’t turn into them.”
Jasmine shook her head firmly. “Ryder, you didn’t have to live down there on Six. You weren’t used whenever one of these,” she waved her pole
