Page 119 of Their Property
She screamed, pulling back against the soldier who tried to drag her out of our protective circle. I broke his hold on her and pulled him directly in front of me. My other arm went wide, going around his shield to press the barrel of my gun directly to his soft, unprotected neck.
“Touch her and die,” I said, then pulled the trigger.
His head jerked from the impact before he fell to the ground, dead before he crumpled into a heap. Blood droplets covered my arm as I ushered Kyrie behind me. The death of their fallen comrade only made the soldiers rush forward even more insistently, instead of having the opposite effect as I’d hoped.
Dozens of arms grabbed at us, trying to break up our circle and pull away our weapons. Someone was able to grab Grudge’s shotgun, so he started throwing punches. The motion created more room for the soldiers to reach between us, and someone else grabbed Kyrie’s arm and started pulling her.
“Don’t let them fucking take her!” I roared, rushing toward that mane of blonde hair like a bull after a red flag.
Our protective circle was fucking broken, and now it was just a mad scramble to get her back. The soldiers immediately formed a line of shields to block us, but we jumped and threw our shoulders at those motherfuckers. They must not have expected us to go so hard because we broke through easily.
Get her back. Protect her. Keep her safe.Those were my only thoughts as I fought against a wave of armored bodies, keeping my eyes on her hair, shining like sunlight. She was getting further away. I was moving too slow, I had to pick up the pace.
Something tripped me, and I landed facedown in the dirt. Before I could push up, something heavy and dense landed on my back and knocked the wind from my lungs. More weight fell to my arms and legs, pinning me to the ground.
“We have him secure,” someone said.
I coughed out a mouthful of dust. “Like fuck you do.”
“Should we sedate them?” the same person asked.
“If you’re not a dumbass,” I advised.
“No. We’re to take them to Langley immediately, and they need to be of sound mind. All of them.”
“You’re gonna regret that.” I hissed against the bite of a zip-tie cutting into my wrists.
“Different van then?”
“Nah, same one. If they can see she’s unharmed, maybe they’ll be more cooperative.”
“Fat chance, pencil dick,” I chimed in.
They all ignored me and grabbed my biceps to pull me upright. Ahead of me, I saw a large van painted completely black with the back doors open. Kyrie sat inside, her wrists bound in front of her and her face wrought with worry, but she otherwise looked fine.
“On your feet,” one of the dick wipes ordered me.
I stood, and once I did so, swung a leg out to trip one of my escorts and knock him on his ass. “That’s for tripping me,” I said before spitting out a mouthful of dirt. “Cheap fucking shot.”
He scrambled to his feet, all flustered and embarrassed as he took hold of my bicep again and walked me to the back of the van. The two of them stopped me right at the door and patted me down, taking my extra ammo and knives that I didn’t get to use.
“Fellas, if you wanted to feel me up so badly, you could have just asked,” I said. At their indignant scoffs I added, “The answer would’ve been no, by the way. You dick-chumps wouldn’t know how to please a manora woman if they came with step-by-step instructions.”
“He’s clear, put him in,” muttered the insecure man-baby that I tripped. “And put a gag in his fuckin’ mouth.”
“Oh,nowwe’re talkin’.” I leaned into his face, just to make him even more uncomfortable. “What other kinks you got, fuck boy?”
The other soldier dragged me into the van, and just like that, all my focus shifted to the gorgeous woman fighting back tears on the small bench next to me.
“Little lady—“
“T-Bone,” she whimpered, bringing her bound hands to my face. She touched my eyebrow ridge, and her fingertips came away bloody. I must’ve hit the ground harder than I thought.
“It’s nothing. Are you hurt?”
She shook her head but fuck, her whole body was shaking from fear, and I hated that I could do nothing about it. “Who are these people?”
“Dunno yet, but I know a few things. Hey, come here. Listen to me, Kyrie.” I couldn’t hold her with my hands zip-tied behind me, so I leaned into her, nuzzling her face and kissing her forehead until her eyes met mine. “They want us alive, which is a good thing. Even better, they don’t want us drugged or incapacitated. One of them really wanted to knock my ass out, but his superior nixed that. And third, they’re not trying to keep us separated. So this probably isn’t your typical hostage situation.”
