Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,82

went one way, August and Will came into view. She let out a startled cry at their sudden appearance. Will rushed forward, taking out one of the men closest to them and August fired, injuring one of the two remaining, but the shot did not take the man down.

“Oh lord,” Seylah groaned, settling back down and lining up take aim. At her shot, the man August injured dropped. She would have liked nothing more than to move on to the next of the three, but the rest of the McCarron men plus her father Forrest in tow rushed onto the scene making it impossible to discern which man was friendly and which was not.

She grit her teeth in frustration as every shot available became a risk to the men now engaging in fisticuffs. Each time, just as she meant to fire, one her fathers or August was thrown into her sights and that would not do.

She had to get closer. This was getting them nowhere.

Seylah pushed herself up from her hiding spot and hurried forward following the same path August had taken on his journey down. Rocks slid loose under foot due to her lack of care. Seylah didn’t much care where she stepped or how much noise she made so long as she reached the bottom in time to be helpful.

She skidded to a stop at the bottom before she took off at a sprint towards the fray that she could hear now. Shouts and swearing, cries of pain reached her ears. She dropped to a knee when she came around the corner and lined up a sight, firing upon the first of the gang that came into view. The man went down instantly, arms flying out as he fell forward.

A man with dark hair and a bloody nose whirled towards her. “They’ve got a shooter! Get her!”

Seylah fought the urge to recoil and fired again, this time at the man who was sprinting towards her. The shot went wide and she swore under her breath. Now was not the time for nerves. If he reached her, he would kill her, she knew it. Could see the murder in his eyes and Seylah fired, this time her bullet flew true and he fell in a heap a few feet away from her. She looked back to the men who were still fighting and her blood ran cold at the sight of Forrest pinned to the ground, a man on his chest, hands reaching for the gun at his hip. It all happened in a flash and Seylah shot again knocking the man off of her father.

A wave of relief hit her when Forrest sat up and looked towards her with a bewildered look on his face. “Seylah?”

She gave him a quick nod and rose to her feet stalking forward to where August and Will were wrestling with the remaining three men. Their guns had been knocked free she saw and she kicked a pistol to Forrest.

“Freeze!” she yelled cocking her rifle and raising it to show she meant to fire. The men froze and turned towards her. One of the McCarron men gave her a confused look.

“Who’s the bitch?” He asked, blood trickling from his mouth.

“Hands up,” she ordered, ignoring his slight. When no one raised their hands, Seylah sighed and raised her gun firing into the space just above the men’s heads. “I said,” she cocked her gun once more, “hands up.”

Five pairs of hands shot into the air and she sighed giving August and her Daddy a roll of her eyes. “I meant the McCarrons.”

Will spit out a mouthful of blood and grinned at her. “Not takin’ any chances with you, sweetheart.” He looked at her with admiration, she saw it, he now knew she could do as she had pleaded. That she was meant for more than a desk position.

Seylah smiled in spite of the circumstances. As far as shootouts went she supposed her first had gone as well as could be expected.

“Tie ‘em up,” Forrest ordered, throwing a length of rope towards August. “We’ll take ‘em in with the wagon they brought us here in.”

Will glared at the remaining three men. “Make sure the ropes are tight.”

“You’ll pay for this,” a man close to Will said and then he looked at Seylah, “gonna enjoy making your girl pay the most for it though. Ain’t she pretty boys?” Seylah’s blood ran cold, her thoughts flying to Ruth and she did her best to remain stoic despite