Wings swishing more frantically than ever, Gwen scooped up the sleeping child Cameo had taken down—don’t hurt, don’t hurt, don’t hurt—and carted his motionless body with her as she swooped through the masses and chop-blocked Hunters, fractured their kneecaps so they couldn’t stand and slammed the hilt of her blade into their temples.
Should have brought the SUV, after all, she thought as she gathered one of the unconscious Hunters in her other arm and headed toward the fortress. She deposited her cargo in one of the dungeon cells and rejoined the fray. The total journey took five minutes. She repeated the action sixteen times before realizing she was shaking, slowing a little. The crowd, at least, was thinning.
Sabin was still on his feet and Cameo was at his back, each dispatching threats from a different direction. Kane still had his weapon trained on the van.
Aeron and Paris, she thought, working her way toward them. She had to remove them from the area. They were clearly injured and in dire need of help. But a Hunter stepped into her path and she slammed into him, losing her breath as she soared backward. When she landed, broken pieces of concrete jabbed into her back, cutting.
Sabin dispatched him and was at her side a moment later, as if he’d known exactly where she was the entire time despite her speed, and jerking her to her feet. “Torin texted me, told me you were here. You okay?” he rasped.
The feel of his hand on her…divine. Momentarily made her forget where she was and what she was doing. The sweat and blood glistening off him reminded her. “Yes,” she rasped. She was panting, tired, overheated, aching and trembling. “I’m fine.”
He swayed, scrubbing a hand down his face as if to clear his line of vision. Never had she seen the fierce, vibrant warrior so near the end of his tolerance. “Can you get Aeron and Paris to safety?”
At least he wasn’t trying to send her away. “Yes.” She hoped. But just then she wanted to take Sabin to safety, rather than his friends.
Sabin grabbed the semiautomatic from the back of her waist and removed the safety. “You mind?”
“Not at all.”
“I’ll get you to the van,” he said before she could grab him, and off he went. A rapid boom, boom, boom followed.
Even with the blocks her ears were sensitive and the sound of that gunfire had her cringing. In fact, she felt warm liquid trickle from her eardrums. Thankfully, the blood somehow muted the volume.
Once again bodies began falling around him. Gwen moved forward, noticing that only one child remained among the masses. The little girl keeping the townspeople at bay. Gwen had several kids locked up, but thought the Hunters must have taken some of the others and run. What kind of monsters brought children into war?
When she reached the van, Sabin continued to fire, even though there were no longer any Hunters around the vehicle, the last few having taken off to hide. Or maybe they’d been nailed by Kane. She hefted a warrior on each shoulder, nearly toppling under their weight. No way she’d be able to cart them both at the same time.
She placed Aeron on the seat as gently as she could and tightened her grip on Paris. He wore the most blood. “Have to come back,” she said, hoping Sabin heard her, and sprinted for the trees. This journey took a little longer, her sprint slowing. Finally, though, she reached her destination.
Huffing, she deposited the hulking warrior in the foyer of the fortress. Torin must have seen her coming and alerted Maddox and William, because the men had let the women out of hiding. When Ashlyn and Danika spotted Paris, they rushed forward.
Fear gleamed in Danika’s dark green eyes. “Is he…”
“No. He’s breathing.”
“What’s going—” Ashlyn began.
“No time. Have to go back for the others.” Gwen didn’t wait for a reply but rushed back to the city.
Sabin was still at the van, a group of Hunters now holding shields and pushing their way toward him. Clearly they’d come prepared for anything. Still trembling, and fatigued beyond imagining, Gwen lifted Aeron and took off at a run.
Before she reached the forest’s edge, a bullet pierced her left thigh.
She cried out, dropped to the ground. Aeron grunted, but didn’t wake, and blood gushed from her. Damn it! An artery had been hit. The trembling became almost violent, but she pushed to her feet. Black winked in and out of her vision. Keep going. You can do it. She surged ahead. Took her ten minutes this time, but reaching the finish line had never been sweeter.
Again, both Danika and Ashlyn were waiting for her, doctoring Paris there in the foyer while Maddox and William rushed to get them whatever they needed.
Gwen dropped Aeron beside his friend, too weak to be gentle this time. When she stumbled to the door, Danika grabbed her arm.
“You can’t go back. You can barely stand.”
She jerked loose. “Have to.”
“You won’t make it. You’ll faint on the hill.”
“Then I’ll drive.” ’Cause there was no way she was staying here. Sabin was out there, needed her.
“No.” There was steel in Danika’s tone. “I’ll drive you. Just let me get the keys.”
“William,” Maddox called.
The warrior sighed. “I know what that means. I’m supposed to do the driving.”
Still Danika rushed off. Ashlyn stepped up and placed two fingertips at the base of Gwen’s neck. “Your pulse is too fast,” she said on a sigh. “Breathe slower. That’s the way. In. Out. Good girl.”
She must have closed her eyes because the next thing she knew, her leg was bandaged and William was at her side, grabbing her hand and ushering her toward the door.
“Danni gave me the keys. If we’re gonna do this, let’s do it.”
“Be careful,” Ashlyn called.
Once they were settled in the SUV, William peeled out, burning rubber through the forest. Gwen was thrown against the door, and her temple slapped into the window. That’s gonna leave a mark, she thought dizzily.
“You holding on?”
“Yes,” she said, the word weak, even to her own ears.
“Hey, listen. Thank you for bringing Aeron and Paris home. Anya loves them and would have been devastated if they’d been killed. Much as she irritates me, I want her happy.”
“My pleasure.” And pain.
When they reached their destination, the battle had already wound down. Sabin, Kane and Cameo were bleeding profusely, cut up and nearly broken, but they continued fighting the stragglers.
Seeing the SUV, they jumped back, out of the way. Gwen braced herself as William hit the gas and ran over the humans. “Gods, this is fun,” he said on a laugh. The vehicle bounced once, twice. Before it stopped, Gwen threw open her door. Sabin sprinted to her side and dove in. The others claimed the backseat just as swiftly.
“Go, go, go,” Sabin commanded, and William once again burned rubber. Sabin’s arm wound around Gwen’s waist, squeezing tight.
Now that he was with her, alive, what little energy she possessed drained away completely. Weakness consumed her, overshadowing all else. Even the Harpy was eerily silent.
“Gwen,” Sabin said, concern drenching his tone. “Gwen, can you hear me?”
She tried to respond, but no words would form. No sound would push past the sudden lump in her throat. She didn’t know what to say, anyway. She was still furious with him, still wanted to hurt him for what he’d done to her, still wanted to cry for the way he’d doubted her.
“Gwen! Stay with me, darling. Okay? Just stay with me.”
William must have hit another body because Gwen bounced back and forth again. Or maybe Sabin was shaking her. There were two white-hot bands wrapped around her forearms.
“Stay with me! That’s an order.”
She’d just saved his life, and he thought to order her around? “Go to…hell…” she managed, then darkness claimed her and she knew nothing more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SABIN PRESSED HIS WRIST into Gwen’s mouth, her teeth sinking deep into his vein. The feel of those soft lips…that hot suction…He was so hard his cock could be considered a dangerous weapon. This was Gwen’s second feeding, and she was healing nicely. She had flat-out refused to take his neck, even though she would have received a better flow of blood and thereby healed much faster. Worse, she refused to talk to him.
So he talked for both of them. He told her the kids she’d captured were still contained, but comfortable and safe. He told her that her sisters had escaped the dungeon about an hour ago and had once again taken up residence in the chamber beside his. Despite the anger they had to feel, they’d been strangely quiet.So had Doubt, for that matter.
He’d known the demon feared the Harpies. He’d known the little shit retreated deep inside his mind every time Gwen became riled. But now the fiend remained silent even if she wasn’t. Striking distance was all that was required now. Almost seemed as if Doubt, well, doubted itself and its ability to take her in a battle of wills. Poetic justice, if you asked Sabin.
The demon turned on Sabin every time he ventured away from Gwen, of course, and still sought other victims constantly. But not Gwen, not any longer, and it never dared say anything about Gwen. After the way she’d ripped through those Hunters…The demon had also stopped trying to convince Sabin that he couldn’t have her, too afraid to piss Gwen off.
A little anger from her wouldn’t have been a bad thing, though. Anything was preferable to the silent treatment.
Sabin sighed. So badly he wanted to hop a plane and search for the missing warriors. But first, he had to recover from yesterday’s battle. He and the others were no good to anyone right now. What’s more, he knew he couldn’t divide their forces more than they already were. Hunters were still in Buda, and those Hunters had to be dealt with before the fortress fell or the women were injured.
This morning Torin had pegged one of the new captured with a tracking dye and “accidentally” let him escape, following his every move from his computer and waiting for the bastard to lead the warriors to their hiding place.
