Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
They started to move, jostled around as their cover closed in tightly.
“What are you doing with her?” the guy at my head said.
I opened my eyes to find Nessa draped over a wide shoulder. Bald Man glanced at the man who spoke. “Taking her. Spoils of war. She’ll be mighty fun to play with.”
My stomach twisted for what he’d do to her. For what they’d do to me. I struggled within my captors’ grasp, desperate to break free, to use my hands.
“Whoops, here she goes. Hold her!” the guy at my feet said.
Nessa’s hands hung limply down Bald Man’s back as they jogged, knives gone. Her head, upside down, shook slowly.
“This isn’t going to end well for you, my friend,” she said, making no move to struggle. “Maybe it’ll be fun for a while, but in the end, you’ll think back to this exact moment and wish you’d made an entirely different decision.”
There was such confidence in her words, such promise, such laughter, that I couldn’t help stilling for a moment. If she held even an ounce of fear, she didn’t show it.
“That right, lovely?” He laughed at her. “I think it’ll be very fun for a while. Until I tire of you. Then I’ll give you to the others to use.”
A roar of rage from Austin followed our plight.
Another sounded, surprisingly close, an anguished cry of vehemence.
Nessa was exactly right—I just had no clue how she’d known. I should’ve, but I hadn’t been paying attention to anyone else’s location but hers and Austin’s.
Now I did…and smiled.
A shiver of fear went through my captors right before a huge silverback gorilla burst through their ranks ahead of us. Two guys went flying. Guns were lifted to fire, but Broken Sue rushed forward, his big arms swinging. He grabbed two more guys and bashed them together before throwing them away. He rose onto his hind legs and beat his chest with his fists, roaring his challenge.
The enemy froze for a moment in fear. Wolves used the opportunity to dart in on all sides, sending the clustered group of mercenaries into chaos. And then he came. The biggest of them all. The alpha leading this organized strike.
I could barely see the huge maw coming down, aiming for the man at my head. Austin’s teeth fitted over the man’s cranium, crunching and ripping away. My body fell, caught by one of Austin’s huge paws and lowered quickly to the ground. He reached over me, snatching up the frozen man at my feet and ending him in a blink.
Broken Sue pushed forward again, smashing people out of his way, his focus solely on Nessa. A gun blast struck his chest, but he didn’t so much as flinch. He swung his mighty arm. It crunched the upper body of the gun bearer.
Austin pushed forward until he was standing over me, protecting me with his body. The wolves darted in, taking fire now. But so were the enemy. The guns weren’t meant for these close quarters, and their frail bodies couldn’t handle the blasts like the powerful shifters could.
Broken Sue reached Nessa with a snarl. Bald Man held on to her as he lifted his gun, probably not even thinking about the hand clutching her.
He should’ve.
The sight clearly enraged the gorilla. Broken Sue took another blast as he moved, spittle flying from his open mouth, showing his large canines. He slapped the gun away like it was nothing and grabbed Bald Man by the face. With a wrench, he ended the scuffle.
Bald Man tumbled to the ground, but not before Broken Sue quickly leaned in to grab the falling Nessa. He cradled her to his chest with one great arm as he used the other to quickly move him toward Austin. It was impossible not to think of King Kong. Once to Austin, he gently deposited Nessa on the ground next to me.
“Too bad he didn’t have the opportunity to prolong the grisly death, huh?” Nessa said to me, breathing heavy. She pushed herself up onto her hands and looked up at him. “Thank you, hero,” she said, and even through the laughter in her voice, I could tell she meant it with everything in her person.
He held her shimmering gaze for a moment before huffing and turning away. His job wasn’t done.
Neither was mine.
Austin and his shifters had cut a line to us, but there was no way they could’ve killed a whole battlefield of enemy to do it. If we weren’t surrounded now, we would be soon. And with me beneath him, he couldn’t fight as he needed to.
“I have to find the darkness,” I meant to say, but the words came out of my gargoyle maw a garbled mess. “I have to allow my gargoyle to rule.”
Nessa crawled closer to me, under the shadow and protection of Austin.