Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
If she shot again, it was possible they could get a fix on her direction. She was certain they had come across the bodies of their companions, one who had died with two holes in his neck. She was certain Draden had retrieved the darts, so for all she knew, they thought a vampire was on the loose. She wanted to laugh, but the air was charging once again. She’d reloaded immediately and was ready for the next display of lightning.
Once again, it lit up the sky and the dark clouds. Rain fell in silvery sheets, obscuring the vision of the members of the MSS, but Shylah was ready and had already marked her target. She shot just as the first streak spread across the sky in broken, jagged veins. She shot a second member and then got off a third shot, hitting her last target twice before he went down.
She saw that Draden had been busy as well. He managed to get two more. She thought she saw him in the trees directly above the members of the MSS, but then the shadow was gone, and the night shook with the boom of thunder.
The two remaining soldiers went back-to-back and began to creep back into the forest. She didn’t take the bait and remained perfectly still. Sure enough, they backtracked, coming in from a different angle. Shylah didn’t wait for the lightning strike. Both faced her, straight on. Very slowly, she removed the short dart and replaced it with one of the few longer ones she carried. Holding the gun steady between her teeth, she loaded it.
Her target abruptly stepped forward, his automatic in his arms, looking up at the tree above him. She shot him, this time hitting him square in the chest, right over his heart. It might not be an instant kill shot, but it put him down. The other one spun to face the cabin and then he went down.
Draden jumped from the branches above them, landed in a crouch and she saw his knife gleam for a moment in the silvery rain when lightning once again lit up the sky. The storm had moved past the cabin, but the light was bright, almost shocking.
I’m going to backtrack to see if they killed the guards, or if they got through them. You need to radio Joe and tell him we were under attack.
Give me the difficult job, she groused.
His soft laughter slid into her mind and she found herself as warm on the inside as she was on the outside. She knew he wasn’t a man who laughed much. She liked that he laughed with her.
Not a chance, baby.
Fine. But sex is out. You had your shot at it and now it’s off the table.
Sounds like a challenge to me. I’m going to think up a million ways to get you to change your mind and you’re going to love every single one of them.
Now the laughter was completely and deliberately sensual. It stroked over her skin like the touch of fingers. She felt it deep, where she didn’t want him. Where she’d made up her mind to keep him out. She felt completely vulnerable to him all over again.
Big talker.
I can see I have my work cut out for me to change your mind.
She got to her feet and jogged around to the front of the cabin. She had set spiderwebs radiating out from the trees, just a few trip lines. She bent automatically to check one anchored to the funnel web in the ground, just a few feet between the forest and the front porch. As she touched it, it shivered. She froze. The wind could be shaking it. The rain could be tearing it down, but it felt like something hit it. Something not of nature.
Draden. I think we’ve got more company. They came at us from more than one direction. Where are the soldiers? Did you find any of them dead?
I think they’re gone. I haven’t found a single body.
Her breath caught in her throat. Were we set up?
Looks like it. If there aren’t any bodies, either the soldiers were called back, in which case, we’re genuinely in trouble, or they were given orders to let the MSS through, in which case we’re still in trouble. Pick your poison, sweetheart. Wait there. I’m making my way back to you. Can you get into a position where you can get eyes on them?
What kind of question is that? Of course I can.
Shylah looked around her. The closest tree to the house was a distance away. The rangers didn’t want trees coming down on top of the structure. The road leading in to the ranger’s cabin was drivable only partway. All materials and supplies had to be brought in by another method, usually domestic ox or horse. She could crawl across the open clearing and hope no one spotted her, but the storm was passing and with it, the dark clouds. Already light was spilling around the cabin.