Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
She put one hand on the rail and leapt, jumping to the tree limb just off the lower deck. “Can I help?”
The fire was hot and spreading fast. It licked at the wood hungrily. She backed away from the heat.
“No, stay back. I’ll take you to your house as soon as possible. Just stay out of the way.”
The men worked frantically. In the distance was the sound of sirens. She didn’t like it any more than Gray did. Nikita could sneak his men in, acting as firemen. She had the sudden urge to call Joshua. She didn’t even know where he was. She looked around.
“Is Joshua still in the house?” she asked Gray.
“Sorry, sweetheart, he left earlier. Had an errand.”
She stiffened. “What kind of errand?”
“I’m a little busy here, Sonia,” he said.
“Was his errand Sasha?” Now her heart was pounding. Joshua wouldn’t kill Sasha, would he? He had believed her, that Sasha was only trying to save her life, hadn’t he? She tried to recall his face when she’d told him.
He’d been still. Frozen almost. He hadn’t looked away once, watching her with the focused stare only a leopard could give. She shivered in spite of the heat, wrapping her arms around her middle. She thought she knew Joshua, but there was a side of him she didn’t know at all. He’d warned her. He’d been fair. He’d said he had a monster inside him, but she still thought he’d be fair.
She started back up the tree, deciding to call him, before she remembered she didn’t have a cell phone. He’d smashed hers. She couldn’t call him. She had a second one in her “go” bag, but she didn’t know where it had been stashed. Someone, probably Kai, had taken it from her in the swamp. Flames burst into the sky on the far side of the house and the men went running in hopes of saving the hundreds-year-old structure.
She jumped to the ground and backed away, trying to get a better look without getting close. She ran into someone and started to step aside. Hot breath hit her neck and Gatita reacted, clawing toward the surface. Something exploded against the side of her face and she felt her knees give out. She’d been looking straight ahead, right toward Gray. He turned as her knees buckled. She tried to say something to him. Call out. There was no voice. No way to say a word because the world was going fuzzy. Dark. Grimly she hung on.
Gatita, don’t let me pass out. Stay hidden. He can’t see you yet.
Her head felt like a bomb had gone off, her insides mushy. Liquid. She was boneless and slumped to the ground. A shot rang out. Someone grabbed her shirt and yanked. Her body slid forward an inch or two. Deliberately she dropped her heels into the rotting vegetation and dug deep, hoping in the darkness no one could see.
There was more gunfire. Bullets spat into the leaves close to her and thunked into tree trunks. The man trying to drag her was forced to return fire. He tried to lift her one-armed, to use her as a shield. She sagged, keeping her weight as heavy as possible, pretending she was completely unconscious. The smoke drifted through the trees, heavy in the air, so that she had to fight to keep from coughing. If she did, her attacker would know she wasn’t out.
Gray and three others abandoned the fire and came running at them, utilizing their abilities as leopards, each leap covering twenty feet or more. They stayed in their human forms but called up their leopards for assistance. Her vision was a little fuzzy, but she saw them coming, and just as her attacker took aim, she dug her heels deep and shoved back, spoiling his aim.
Cursing, the man threw her to the ground and aimed at her head. A bullet took him backward away from her, and then Gray was crouching over her, looking around him, steady as ever. “You do live an exciting life, Sonia,” he said. “Can you get up?”
She nodded. The action made her head want to explode. Clenching her teeth, she made it into a sitting position and then stopped for a moment. “He hit me pretty hard with something.”
“I think he wore brass knuckles. You must have a pretty hard head to still be awake.”
There was a trace of amusement in his voice and she couldn’t help but respond. She sent him a small smile. “Are they going to be able to put the fire out?”
“We need to worry about you. Let’s get you out of here. I’ll take you to your house and send word to Joshua that you’re there. Too many strangers showing up on the pretense of fighting the fire. Let’s go. Can you make it through the swamp or should we take a car?”