Beauty and the Beastmaster - Linda Winstead Jones Page 0,68

how often had Springers made an attempt to change their situation?

Apparently leave well enough alone was not the town motto.

Judge ran toward the front door of the deceptively charming white house. He barked, not once or twice but frantically. Silas tried to call the dog back to his side, but for the first time Judge did not obey. The bloodhound actively fought and defied the order.

The front door opened, and a man stepped onto the porch. Jenna was beside him, Mia in her arms. The child appeared to be half asleep, but she was stirring.

A charging Judge was a fearsome sight, but Blake Pierce just smiled as he lifted one hand in the dog’s direction.

Chapter 18

The world spun beneath Gabi’s feet; the weight of the air around her changed, charged, grew heavier.

Mia was alive and seemed to be unhurt. She squirmed in the woman’s arms, turned her head and looked at the crowd gathered before her. She smiled and reached out with chubby baby hands. Her smile faded as she called out a sad and very loud, “Mama.” Gabi ran, even as others tried to call her back. The voices mingled together, some soft, others frantic. She didn’t listen to any of them; she looked her daughter in the eye and ran.

Blake winked at her. He winked, as he pointed at Judge.

Everything Silas had told her about this town and the people in it, about Mia being a Springer, suddenly clicked into place. She couldn’t quite make sense of it all, but somehow she knew that Blake was going to hurt Judge.

The bastard had taken enough from her; he wasn’t going to hurt her child or her dog. “I’m the one you want!” she screamed, doing her best to draw Blake’s attention. “Leave Mia and our dog alone!”

Blake hesitated, looked at her quizzically. Of course he didn’t understand. He didn’t love anyone or anything, and he never had. He would never sacrifice for someone else, not even in the smallest way.

He waved his hand in an almost mindless manner and Judge went down, rolling to the side and across the grass, whimpering but appearing to be unhurt. The focus of Blake’s anger had turned to Gabi, otherwise it might’ve been worse for Judge.

Her ex-husband was like them, he was one of them. Everyone was different in Mystic Springs. What could he do?

She was about to find out. He held out one hand and made a fist. She felt it, as if he’d reached inside her chest, as if he was strangling her from the inside. Gabi held her breath and kept running, but it became more difficult as the seconds ticked past. She stumbled. The world started to go gray at the edges. She was almost there. Mia reached for her mother. Gabi reached out for her daughter with one hand. The world was almost entirely gray.

She’d lost. Her worst fears were coming true.

The birds came out of nowhere, or so it seemed. Blake hadn’t been expecting the attack, so the beak that caught his cheek and drew blood took him by surprise. The hand he’d been threatening Gabi with came up to his damaged cheek, and suddenly she could breathe again. Color returned to the world.

She reached the stairs, ran up them, and took her daughter from Jenna, who seemed willing enough to let Mia go. As Gabi held her daughter close, protecting her child as best she could, and ran back down the steps, more birds came. They didn’t bother her, or Mia, or Jenna, but focused on Blake. They pecked at his face, his hands, low on his legs. He couldn’t fight them off, and if he had a magical way of protecting himself, he didn’t use it.

Gabi had almost reached Silas when Jenna sprinted past her. “Stop it!” she ordered. “You’re going to kill him!”

Silas didn’t seem at all concerned. The bird attack didn’t let up.

Gabi held Mia’s head to her shoulder as she caught Silas’s eye and said, “He’s deathly afraid of spiders.”

Jenna gave her a glare, and Gabi couldn’t help but wonder if that glare alone held any power that could hurt her.

“He’s an evil man,” Gabi said, in way of a warning.

The blonde rolled her eyes. “I know that, you idiot. But he’s a useful evil man.”

A split second later, Blake screamed and ran off the porch. He brushed frantically at his arms and his legs. Most of the spiders were small, but there were a couple of big ones. The B&B was