Page 89 of Red Boar's Baby

“I had to shift,” Diana explained. Now that she was standing in Jenny’s living room, she was acutely conscious that she was totally naked, with nothing on her except the gun in her hands. “The ranch is under siege.”

“Here.” Jenny reached for a robe thrown across the back of an armchair and handed it to her. “I thought I heard gunshots, but what do you mean, under siege? By whom?”

“Enemies of Quinn’s and mine, we’re pretty sure.” Diana pulled on the offered robe. “Uh ... I’m really sorry about showing up like this.”

Jenny smiled. “Don’t apologize. You’re family. What should I do?”

Diana stared at her briefly. In all this time, it had never really occurred to her that Costa’s family considered her one of them.

But of course they did. It had been evident all along. She was welcome at all their family gatherings. They always asked after her. None of them had thought twice about Diana turning up in the middle of the night with nowhere to go; they just offered her shelter and spare clothes.

She took a quick, shuddering breath. There definitely was no time to have a sudden epiphany and a breakdown.

“Most of them are down at the main gate, but others might be on their way up here,” she told Jenny. “The important thing, the thing I’m here to make sure, is that you and your son are safe. Do you have somewhere in the house that you can lock yourself in, like a basement or a bathroom?”

“There’s a storm cellar,” Jenny said. “Do you think that’s necessary?”

“Just in case. Do you think it’d hold someone off even if they were trying to get in?”

Jenny nodded. “It locks from the inside.”

“Okay. You two get in there, and I’ll make sure someone comes up to let you know when it’s all clear. Hopefully it won’t be too long.”

“What about you?” Jenny asked.

“I need to get back down there and help Quinn.” Diana started to hand Jenny the gun, which she knew she couldn’t carry as a roadrunner—and then realized that she very much could carry it as a roadrunner. In fact, she could probably carry the robe too.

This was going to take some getting used to.

“Is everyone else okay?” Jenny asked anxiously.

“For now, as far as I know. Go ahead and get yourself barricaded inside. There’s no need to alarm your son; just get both of you to safety.”

Jenny nodded. She hesitated, then put the shotgun over her shoulder and squeezed Diana’s arm. “Be careful, and take care of Quinn too. He looks out for everyone else, but he’s always needed someone watching his back.”

“He has someone now,” Diana said. “Lock the door behind me, and put the light out.”

She went out on the porch. Behind her, she heard the lock snick home. An instant later, the light in the window died. She glimpsed a flickering flashlight inside, which quickly disappeared.

Diana stood on the porch with the night wind fluttering the robe around her. She looked down the hill. There was only darkness down there now; the headlights had gone out. Suddenly she jumped at a distant chatter of gunfire.

The fighting had started.

But looking beyond the ranch—far beyond it—Diana saw headlights on the road, distant sparks in the dark.

Someone was on their way. Backup? Police? Or just a rancher returning to some distant spread in this rural back country.

Gunshots crashed again. There was no time to wait.

Diana jumped down to the ground, wincing as her bare feet hit the ground. She shifted, dropping the gun and shedding the robe. Then she picked up the gun in her beak and started down the hill, running with great long strides.

She had always loved running as a roadrunner, but this wasamazing. She wasn’t sure if she was objectively that much faster than she had been at her smaller size, but it certainly felt like it. She felt like a racehorse.

By the time she reached the front gate, all hell was breaking loose.

It looked like the assault team had tried to go around the gate and the bulldozer blocking it. Now there were vehicles off in the sand—one of them was clearly stuck—and a lot of yelling from people encountering Roddy’s various traps.

She heard a loud, rumbling snort, halfway to a snarl, and saw Costa in boar form charging someone. Relief flowed through her.

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