wasn’t able to see any weapons, that didn’t mean they weren’t hidden in their jackets. Whatever their intent, someone was going to get hurt. “I’ll have a nice friendly chat with our visitors here.”
She retreated, her gaze shifting in my direction, the headlights allowing me to see a single glimpse of fear. “All right. Come on, Zorro. Let’s get back inside.”
“We just came to have a friendly chat ourselves with the doctor,” the first guy said. “We need to help her to understand that she needs to mind her own business. Nothing more than that, at least unless you get in the way, cowboy.”
From what I could tell, it was apparent he was the leader of the motley group, standing a solid foot in front of the others. The tension was intense. One false move and Danni could be killed, although I doubted that’s what they had in mind. They simply wanted to reinforce their earlier warning. What the hell had she done this time to get them this riled?
When one of them barked like a dog, Zorro lunged forward, toward the leader.
“Zorro!” she screamed, unable to hold onto his collar. “No. No!”
I rushed forward, trying to stop him from attacking when one of the assholes punched Zorro in the side of the head, a second following with a hard kick to his gut. As he yelped in pain, the pup’s body was pummeled back several feet.
“That’s it!” I snapped. “Get out of here now.”
“You motherfucker.” Raising her gun, she walked to the edge of the porch as the others began to laugh.
Everything became a blur when one of them aimed a pistol at Zorro, I lost it, letting off an intense roar and racing forward.
Then all hell seemed to break loose.
An intense rumble could be heard from behind me, enough so the earth began to shake. I threw a punch, hitting the man square in the jaw, the force enough he dropped his weapon as he tumbled to the ground. Twisting in a full circle, I kicked out, catching the second off guard, my foot firmly planting in his gut. Then I went after the third just as headlights lit up the rear of the property. Doors were opened then slammed shut, several people approaching.
When the leader wrapped his arm around Danni’s neck, jerking her off the porch and close to his body, the weapon flew out of her hand. Within a split second, Zorro lunged again, another one of the jerks kicking him a second time.
“Zorro. Come!” I yelled, still storming forward. “If anyone of you touch that dog again, you are going to die.”
“Leave him alone!” Danni bellowed, struggling to get out of the man’s hold. “You fucking asshole!”
There was the sound of several doors being slammed, people racing toward us. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed at least two of the intruders had backed away, obviously unprepared for this level of retaliation.
“What the hell do we have here?” Hawk bellowed. “Surround them, boys.”
I’d never been happier to hear Hawk’s voice as he flanked my side, leering down at the asshole who was trying to scramble to his feet.
“A few assholes who find this a good day to die,” I said as I crouched down, rubbing Zorro’s neck. The pup wasn’t moving, but he was breathing, studying me intently.
“Zorro,” she wailed, the sound of her voice strangled.
I shot her a look, trying to curtail my rage as the asshole holding her backed further into the shadows.
“Nowhere for you to go, buddy,” Hawk called to the jerk.
“My friend is right. You’re not getting off this property unless you back down right now,” I hissed as several of our ranch hands surrounded the group, every one of them armed. I didn’t have to ask, Tanner and another ranch hand racing to my side, prepared to protect the dog.
The other five intruders backed away, two of them holding up their arms.
“We didn’t want any trouble,” one of them managed.
“Yeah, well, you found it, you fuck,” I snapped.
“They were just leaving. Weren’t you, boys?” Hawk growled.
“They damn well better,” Tanner added as he raised his rifle.
The leader laughed from behind the mask, dragging Danni even further away from the group of vehicles, the falling snow impeding his progress.
I took long strides toward the leader, daring any of the others to fuck with me. When I was only two feet away, I pointed my weapon directly between the asshole’s eyes.