Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,199

her energy into getting to the town square in time to help Virgil.

* * *

* * *

Tobias ducked behind an abandoned car and opened and closed his hand four times.

Twenty men in the parking lot behind the Universal Temple and the community center, ready to move out and join the fight in the town square.

Twenty men. Twenty lives against the fate of two towns—and all the other humans who depended on those towns existing.

Jesse took the flare gun out of her daypack.

“Mom?” Tobias whispered. “What are you … ?”

Her son was a good man. She didn’t want this on his conscience, and she didn’t want him to stop her. This is why they were here. This is what would make the difference.

She popped to her feet, aimed the flare gun at the community center—and fired the red flare that was a call for help.

She dropped to the ground as some of the men started shooting at her. Then they stopped shooting because …

“Get down, Tobias. Get down!”

Jesse pressed herself to the ground and held her son’s hand. She wept as they listened to men scream.

As they listened to men burn.

* * *

* * *

Leaving the car near the stable, Jana raced to the town square. Sporadic gunfire meant either there weren’t many of the outlaws left in the fight or they were hesitating because the drifts of fog that were concentrated in the square made it difficult to tell friend from foe.

Was that a familiar snarl? Drawing her weapon, Jana moved toward the sound.

* * *

* * *

As he ripped and tore the enemies’ flesh, the terrible one caught the scent of that female. A faint scent, but not one he would forget.

Tossing aside the meat, he entered the town square.

* * *

* * *

Finally—finally—he’d cornered the challenger, the reason for all this misery.

Snarling, Virgil shifted to his Wolf form because he wanted this enemy to see what would tear out a throat. He approached Parlan Blackstone, who dropped his guns and backed away.

John approached on Virgil’s right, and the two Wolves focused on pushing the enemy back and back and back.

Then the wind shifted, bringing the scent of an enemy behind them.

Trap! he snarled at John, leaping to one side as Parlan pulled out a little gun and fired.

Virgil circled tight around a tree and ran straight at the short man who had been in the saloon with Blackstone and had howled about giving up his guns. He hit the man with such speed and force, when his jaws closed on an arm and he used his own weight to throw the prey to the ground, he felt the prey’s shoulder tear.

Two guns fired in rapid succession. One bullet hit the ground right next to his right front paw. The other …

He saw another enemy fall, heard Jana shout his name.

And heard another shot.

* * *

* * *

That little derringer could blow the leg off a horse—or a Wolf. Parlan watched the Wolf struggle to get up on its remaining three legs.

He was out of ammunition, but the fight was over. Had to be over.

Then he saw that fucking sheriff bring down Eli Bonney, saw Frank Bonney’s shot miss the Wolf as Frank took a bullet in the chest.

Then he saw the smoke, caught a whiff of something that made him think of country fairs when those huge grills were fired up to cook up loads of meat.

Parlan knew then. He had to get out of this fucking town.

He turned, intending to run to the car rental place next to the train station—and stared into the black eyes of a female with coiling black hair that held thin streaks of red. Then a sudden exhaustion brought him to his knees.

* * *

* * *

Jana saw Virgil knock a man to the ground. Saw another man aim at the Wolf.

As she raised her weapon and fired at the man, she shouted, “Virgil!”

Something hit her in the side, knocked her off her feet. Knocked the gun out of her hand.

She tried to reach for her gun, but her body wouldn’t move right. Gasping, she looked at the man who approached her with a smile on his face and a gun aimed at her heart.

The air behind him shimmered, like heat. Then …

He must have sensed it, tried to turn and fire. But it was too fast—so fast—and it grabbed him by his torso and thighs, lifted him as if a grown man weighed nothing and …

When she was a girl,