Page 7 of Wonder
I made quick work of separating Ciorsdan’s head from her body, then I wiped the mek’leth and Tormod’s knife off on her t-shirt. The mountain lion licked their paw and swiped it over their face.
“Thank you for your help. I’m Simon. I need to go find my—Reno. There are two vampires left. I wouldn’t mind some company if you don’t have anything better to do?”
The cat nodded and stood, flexing their big claws into the grass and dirt and swishing their tail back and forth. Their ears pricked up and they moved swiftly through the trees toward the edge of the woods. I followed, mek’leth held ready.
It wasn’t the other vampires running toward us, but Reno. My heart lifted to see him unharmed. His face relaxed with relief when he saw the mountain lion, but he didn’t stop running until he reached us, whirling around to see if he’d been followed. No one was visible. “Everything okay?” He reached out a hand to rub the mountain lion’s ears, and they brushed their head along his hip.
I stifled my jealousy. The connection between them was a blend of familial and friend. The shifter was no threat to my mating. “Sure is. There are only two vampires left.” Merely saying those words was a dream come true, but I didn't have time to dwell on my elation.
“Yeah, I heard them in the house. The van isn’t going anywhere, by the way. How’s your injury?” He made a face at the barely healed wound in my stomach.
I shrugged one shoulder. “Good as new.” Of course I didn’t have a ton of energy left, but I wasn’t about to tell Reno that.
He raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. “Uh huh. Oh, this is Shirley.” He gestured at the mountain lion shifter. “She’s a friend of mine.”
I smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, Shirley.” She made a little chirrup sound I interpreted as agreement before turning around and vanishing into the trees. “Um, should we follow her?”
“No, she would’ve made that clear. She’ll be back. I asked her for her help when I knew I was coming here.” He waved a hand toward the house. “The two of them have been shouting, but I haven’t seen them outside.”
I nodded. “It’d be easier if we could ambush them when they’re packing the van, but they’ll probably be carrying at least one captive, and I don’t want to deal with a hostage situation.” I took a deep breath. “Not to mention they might kill the captives they can’t take with them.”
Shirley reappeared, holding Reno’s backpack in her teeth. “Shit. Thanks, Shirley.” He took it from her, then dug inside and handed me a bottle of water. He opened one for Shirley andtook another for himself. “So we need to move fast. How many captives do you think they have?”
I frowned at the farmhouse. “Anywhere between four and eight. I vote we see if we can sneak in through the back door.”
Reno pointed at the fence. “Okay. We can use this for cover like I did before and climb over when we’re even with it.” He ran his hand through his hair. I couldn’t wait to find out how soft it was. “We’ll still be pretty exposed for a hundred feet or so as we run across the yard.”
I smiled approvingly. My mate was quite intelligent. He gave me an odd look, but I ignored it. “I agree. It’s the best plan we have.”
We put the empty water bottles in Reno’s backpack, then we crept as swiftly and carefully as we could across the open space to the neighbor’s fence. Reno and I ducked down as we ran along the fence toward the house.
When we were even with the back porch, we climbed over the fence. I pulled out the mek’leth and Tormod’s knife again, and Reno gripped a gun with both hands.
We eased onto the porch as silently as we could, but the boards still creaked and groaned. I held up a finger. I could hear Roibeart saying, “We don’t have time for that. Let’s go!” He sounded like he was on the ground floor.
I barely used any breath to whisper, “They’re both still inside but they’re getting ready to leave.”
Shirley crouched down, and Reno gave me a sharp nod. I tested the door handle, but it didn’t turn, dammit.
The time for stealth was over. I stood up and kicked the door right next to the handle, putting all of my strength into it. Itcrashed inward, taking some of the doorframe with it. I rushed through.
Roibeart was directly across from us, shouting as he ran for the front door. I dodged around the kitchen table and jumped over the tattered couch in the living room to get to him. Shirley broke off and ran for the stairs.
“Go with Shirley!” I pointed Tormod’s knife in her direction, hoping Reno would comply. I was used to fightingluchd-òl fola, but the other two were not.
Roibeart opened the front door and ran to the left, toward the van. I was only seconds behind him when I got outside.
Multiple voices shouted from upstairs, and there was a banging sound, like Reno and Shirley were trying to break down a door. Roibeart hesitated near the van, looking up as a person fell out of the open window above him and landed with a thump, unmoving and with their limbs splayed out.
This was not someone who had jumped under their own power. They hadn’t tried to land on their feet or even hold their arms out for balance.
Marcas followed, though he leaped through the window intentionally, landing gracefully beside the unconscious person. I forced myself to keep my attention on theluchd-òl folainstead of checking to see whether it was Prince Nicol on the ground as I suspected. He’d be the one they took with them over any Wonder or magic carrier. Please let him have survived the fall.
Roibeart and Marcas stood next to the van, claws out, with several feet between them. Of course it was just my luck to face the onlyluchd-òl folawho remembered their training when I wasn’t in any shape to win against two of them.
I waved my mek’leth in their direction. “It’s over. You might as well surrender.” Hey, it could work.
Marcas scoffed. “You can’t take both of us.” Shit.
