take a chance he wasn’t evil, she walked to the French doors and cracked one open.
“Hi. Cyrus isn’t feeling well, but I’ll tell him you stopped by.”
Movement from behind Thomas caught Stella’s eye, but it was too late. Bradley hit Thomas over the head with the butt of a handgun, dropping the man to the deck. Stella tried to shut the door, but she was too slow. Coffee sloshed over the side of the cup, burning her hand. Thank goddess for the milk, or she might have been hurt. Bradley grabbed Stella’s wrist, pulling her outside, causing Stella to drop the mug on the kitchen floor.
“Let me go!” Stella tried to jerk away, but his grip was too strong.
“You’re a whole lot of trouble. Sometimes I wonder if your worth it, then all I have to do is look at your beautiful face.” Bradley grabbed her small frame and tossed her over his shoulder.
“Zeke!” Stella yelled as she beat her fists against Bradley’s back. His hold on her was too tight for her to wiggle loose. “Zeke, help!”
“Shut up. He can’t help you now, and if he tries, I’ll kill him.”
“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” Stella wasn’t worried about Zeke. Unless Bradley had a sword or certain poisons, he couldn’t harm Zeke.
Bradley didn’t respond. He trudged as quickly as he could through the dense sand with her on his shoulder. That particular stretch of beach was dark this late at night. The moon was shrouded behind clouds, and the only light was from a lamp outside one of the houses. Stella’s fists did no good, so she raised his shirt and dug her nails into his back hard enough to draw blood.
“Gah! You bitch!” Bradley dropped Stella onto the sand and drew back to hit her.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” Zeke’s low tone sent shivers up Stella’s spine. Bradley spun around and pulled Stella in front of him, using her as a shield. He pointed the gun at Zeke and fired. Stella cried out, waiting for blood to appear, but it didn’t. Bradley fired the gun in rapid succession as Zeke closed in on them.
“What the fuck?” When Zeke was within striking distance, Bradley swung the pistol at Zeke’s head, but Zeke grabbed Bradley’s wrist, bones popping as he crushed it, sending the man to his knees.
“Stella, go call 911.” Zeke twisted Bradley’s arm behind his back, keeping him on the sand. “You fucked up, you fucking psycho,” Stella heard Zeke curse as she tried to run back to the house.
“But I shot you! Six times!”
Trudging through sand wasn’t easy nor quick, but she pushed her short legs as hard as they’d go. When she reached the back door, Thomas was no longer on the deck. Stella glanced around the house as she hurried for her phone. He was nowhere in sight, but she figured he’d gone back to his sister’s home. Stella placed the call, and when they asked for the address, she stuttered, “Uh, I have no idea. Can you trace my phone?” How embarrassing. She didn’t even know the street name.
“You’ll need to stay on the line,” the operator explained at the same time Cyrus yelled, “Get out of here!”
“Oh, shit,” Stella whispered.
“What was that?” the operator asked.
“Nothing, just feeling kind of dizzy.” Stella had no idea how long she had until the cops showed up, but she had more pressing matters. Praying they were able to access her location in the few minutes they’d been on the phone, she disconnected, then ran up the stairs. Cyrus was standing in the middle of the room, fangs bared, claws out, and wings spread behind him. The bedroom wasn’t small, but his imposing figure took up most of it. Thomas was on his ass with his hands out in front of him.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the older man begged.
“He won’t hurt you,” Stella said, stepping in front of Cyrus. “You won’t hurt him, Cyrus. Thomas is your mate.”
“I know that, but fuck! I don’t want him to see me like this.”
“Tell your Goyle to stand down. You can do it. Tell him he’s scaring your mate.” Stella hoped she was saying the right thing. Zeke spoke to his shifter like they were buddies. “Cyrus, you can do this.”
Cyrus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Stella stepped back toward the door, holding her hand out to Thomas. “Come on, we need to go downstairs.”
Thomas scrambled to his feet, not looking back as he rushed from the