Page 88 of The Hunted
“I’m not leaving.” Layla stared at Rianne. “She dies, I do too.”
Admirable. But she was getting out if I had to drag her. “Baby doll. Please. I can probably survive an explosion of this magnitude, but you can’t. I can’t lose you.”
Her jaw came unhinged. “Are you high on oil fumes, or are you just trying to coax me into leaving?”
“Whatever works,” I said, although I couldn’t lose her—that much was true.
She sneered and crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
Sawyer returned. “You need to cut both the green and red wires at the same time.”
I pulled out a dagger. “Simple enough.”
“No! Wait.” Sawyer’s voice was high-pitched.
“Man, we have eight minutes.” I tried like a motherfucker to keep my voice calm. “Hurry up.”
Rianne was sweating, crying, and pissing her pants.
I swallowed thickly. I felt more of her terror than my own. I wasn’t frightened of much, but I didn’t exactly want to get blown to smithereens even if I didn’t die.
“Okay,” Sawyer said. “I don’t see a blue wire, which is supposed to diffuse the timer.”
I didn’t either. Before I could respond to him, Layla was cutting all the wires.
Rianne’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.
Mine did too. “What the…? Are you nuts, woman?”
Layla ripped the tape off Rianne, ignoring me.
Rianne choked and gagged. “There’s another bomb.” She pointed to the oil tank.
I stalked over to it, my mind still reeling from what Layla had done. Sure enough, Rianne was right. “One minute. Get out of the house now!”
I ripped Rianne from the chair. “Layla, run!”
Obeying, Layla sprinted up the stairs.
I rushed up as fast as I could. When I turned the corner, the last thing I saw was Layla running out the front door beforeboom!
30
LAYLA
The impact of the explosion threw me forward. I soared over the porch, bushes, and landscape lights. I stretched out my arms and hands, hoping I could break my fall, hoping the snow would cushion me too.
I landed with a thud on the cold, hard ground as another explosion rocked the earth.
My ears rang as pain pierced my body. I tried to get up, but my stomach had other plans. I puked for the umpteenth time it seemed. My head pounded as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Then tears shot out, hot and painful. I had no idea what was happening to me. I wasn’t one to feel sorry for myself, but one bad thing after another had happened. It wasn’t only the explosion or Jordyn getting kidnapped. My body was changing, my mind was a complete and utter mess, and I couldn’t make sense as to why I craved Sam’s blood, something fierce. That was fucked up on all levels.
Stop whining and get your ass up.
I crawled to my feet and stumbled. I opened and closed my mouth to clear the ringing, but it was no use. My hearing was probably damaged.
As I turned around, a muffled voice floated on the wind. Panic clutched my gut like someone had their hand in me, stealing every ounce of breath I had. I searched in all directions but couldn’t see clearly enough with the snow falling, or maybe my vision was going.
I wanted to scream bloody murder. I wanted to rewind back to several weeks ago and tell Dowell or Wyman or whatever the heck his name was to shove the job up his small ass. If we’d never taken the job, Jordyn wouldn’t be in the hands of a shifter who wanted to rip out her throat. Rianne wouldn’t be buried under burning rubble, and I wouldn’t feel like I was turning into the very creature I hated and wanted dead.
