“Fuck!” Aiden began to fire toward the front window as he jerked one of the automatic rifles from the
gun shelf beside him.
Charity.Fuck. She hadn’t made a sound and the bullets whizzing through the house were coming through the window directly behind the bar. He rolled across the floor, the automatic rifle returning fire as he fought to get back to the other room and pull her to safety.Son of a bitch. What happened to bulletproof windows?
As he neared the doorway, gunfire erupted from the arched opening into the bedroom. Cursing, feeling the heat of the bullets whining around him as he heard the compound sirens go off, he returned the fire as he scrambled behind the dubious protection of the end of the couch.
“Charity!”He screamed her name out as the house seemed to rock on its foundations. He heard her scream his name as gunfire seemed to erupt everywhere. Smoke and dust filled the room, obscuring his vision, but not his senses as he heard the scuffle going on in the other room. He was pinned down by the gunfire from the bedroom, firing back wildly as he fought to find any opening to throw himself into the kitchen.
“Fucking bitch.”The dark male curse sounded from Charity’s location. It sizzled in the air as Aiden threw himself from the protection of the couch, firing wildly into the bedroom and living room as he rushed to the kitchen.
A pain filled cry echoed from the direction of the bedroom doorway as he slid into the kitchen. And then he saw it.The large male scuffling with Charity as another came through the shattered window. He aimed and fired seeing the flash of steel as it moved at Charity’s side. An agonized scream echoed through the kitchen as Aiden moved to pull her from the clutches of her would-be assailant. She was moving fast, ducking then disappearing as he fired at the injured man. She was too f**king fast. Like a whirlwind moving about the room as the shadowed figured began to twist within the dim, dust filled confines of the rooms. Such quick reaction and steady coordination could have only come from years of training. Who or what had trained her?
“Bastards,” she screamed as he saw her rise, a gun in her hand, firing behind him. The grunt of pain he heard as he ducked and rushed for her assured him she had hit whatever she was firing at. He pulled her quickly to him, then behind him as he watched the window, training the gun at the now empty hole.
“Damn it, I don’t need a shield Aiden,” she cursed as he backed her against the counter. The howling of the wolves, the gunfire outside, and the sudden silence through the cabin assured him the danger had moved and the Enforcers had made record time getting to the cabin. Unfortunately, the cabin appeared a little worse for wear.
“Aiden.”The door burst open as Stygian’s rough voice called out his name. Lights speared into the room as he slowly relaxed his guard and stood up carefully among the shattered glass that littered the floor.
“Stygian, get a blanket for Charity and my pants and shoes from the bedroom.The room is filled with glass.” His feet already smarted from the nicks and cuts inflicted on them. As Stygian rushed for the other room, battery powered lights lit up the cabin as it slowly filled with Enforcers.
“This one’s still breathing,” Styx called out as he found the Coyote Charity had shot. The sudden sound of a gunshot assured Aiden the Coyote wasn’t breathing any longer. Aiden grimaced. He had hoped to keep at least one of them alive. Behind him, Charity held to him weakly, her head lying against his back, her breathing rough.
“You okay?” he questioned her over his shoulder.
“Alive,” she bit out.
Aiden grunted. “Beats dead any day of the week, huh?”
She chuckled weakly as he felt her shake her head slowly against his back.
“Blanket.”Stygian rushed back into the room. He threw the blanket to Aiden, though he carried the jeans and sneakers Aiden would need.
Catching the covering, he turned and wrapped Charity in it quickly. She was pale, her eyes wide and dark, but she appeared relatively unharmed.
“Let me get dressed and I’ll get you on the couch.” He turned and grabbed his jeans and shoes from Stygian and quickly donned them.
Making certain the blanket was tucked aroundher, he picked Charity up and moved swiftly to the couch. First things first. He had to check her out, make certain she was okay, then he would find out just how the hell the Council’s mongrels had made it past the perimeter alarms, Enforcers and Wolves. He knew what they were after, now he had to figure out how to stop them. And figure out why the hell there had been no sign of them in town.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You underestimated your enemy,” she muttered as he sat her on the couch in another cabin and straightened away from her. “Coyotes aren’t stupid, Aiden.Soulless, but not stupid. The very fact that you aren’t being watched should alarm you.”
He grunted, which did little to assure her he had taken the point.
“Where did you get your training?” he asked her then, ignoring her warning.
“Does it matter?” she bit out, chafing under his possessive attitude. He stared down at her, his eyes flat and hard. “Do you want to answer me?”
“Army,” she finally answered him bitterly. “That’s where I received my scientific training as well. My foster parents were Army.Killed during a terrorist strike while they were overseas.”
Her upbringing as well as her training had been unorthodox. Her foster parents had been part of a unique group of scientists working in the Biological Warfare Studies group designed, supposedly, to find cures for some of the unique viral contagions that had cropped up at the time. But he knew all this. Aiden wasn’t a stupid man, she thought. He would know all there was to know about her past. His next words confirmed that.
“They were good people. There was no mention of your training, though.”
She sighed wearily.
“They won’t stop trying to take me, Aiden. You know that,” she warned him again, unwilling to allow him to change the subject.