Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Ignoring the burning pain in her cheek, she followed the white tiger across the parking lot and into the small wooded area beyond it. Adrenaline pounded through her and kickstarted her heartbeat.
The big cat was far faster than her as they rocketed through the maze of trees, following the noise and scent—human, she sensed—of the shooter, so the tiger was soon out of her sight.
Her pulse leaped as she heard a guttural roar followed by a cry of such pain up ahead of her. Bailey tracked the sounds, skidding to a halt moments later. A male dressed in black lay flat on his front, claw marks spanning his back and tearing through cloth and skin, screaming as the tiger ragged him backwards with the jaws he’d clamped around the shooter’s leg. Well, ow.
The male was desperately reaching toward the rifle on the ground mere inches away from him, but the tiger kept on hauling him back. The human twisted onto his side, pulling a handgun out of seemingly nowhere, and aimed it at the tiger.
Bailey was on him fast, snatching the firearm. As he stared up at her, his face a mask of sheer agony, she whacked his head hard with the butt of the gun. He slumped to the ground, his eyes closed.
Panting, she looked at the tiger. “You can let him go now.” She wasn’t entirely surprised when the big cat did no such thing. “We need to get him back to the center. It’ll be faster if one of us carries him than if you’re dragging him.”
The tiger dropped the leg with a put-out snarl. Bones snapped and popped as his body shifted shape, and then a naked Camden stood there glaring down at the human. He fisted the fucker’s torn sweater and, without a word, began none-too-gently hauling him toward the center. Bailey grabbed the rifle and then followed Camden.
When they stalked into Corbin’s office soon after and dumped the human on the floor, Havana, Aspen, and Corbin sharply turned their way. They stiffened. Gaped. Spluttered. And then they jumped into action. Havana crossed to Bailey, Aspen went straight to her mate, and Corbin crouched down beside the human.
“What in the hell happened?” asked the Alpha female.
Rage a hum in her blood, Bailey replied, “To sum up … that asshole shot at me while I was in the tennis court, me and Camden sprinted after him, Camden’s cat took him down, and then we brought him here after I knocked him unconscious with this.” She held up the handgun, wanting to hit him with it all over again. Her snake was leaning more toward fucking his system up with her venom.
“Bastard,” Corbin growled, searching the human’s pockets. “No ID or phone. There’s a set of car keys, though.”
Camden flexed his fingers, his expression blank in a way that told Bailey he was seething inside. “I didn’t see a vehicle,” he clipped. “He must have parked it somewhere in or near the woods.”
“I’ll go see if I can find it,” said Aspen, all business.
“I’ll go with you.” Camden shifted again and then preceded her as the pair prowled out of the office.
Pacing, her face flushed with anger, Havana looked at Bailey. “I’ll call Tate.” A deadly calmed laced her voice. “You should call Deke. He’ll want to hear about this from you.”
After setting down both the rifle and the handgun on Corbin’s desk, Bailey took a long breath, doing her best to suck in her fury. She could lose her shit later, when they had the answers they needed. For now, she needed to adopt some of Havana’s icy composure.
She also needed to do as Havana said and call Deke.
He answered the call after only a few rings. “Hey. I’m almost at the center. You ready to leave?”
She hadn’t known he would be one of the enforcers who would follow her car home today. “Uh, I need you to not go AWOL.”
A pause. “What happened?”
She scratched her uninjured cheek. “Well … someone might have shot at me while I was at the tennis court outside the rec center.”
“What?”
“I said shot at, not shot,” she quickly added. “Their aim was a load of my ass. Apart from a graze on my cheek, I have zero wounds.”
“Not the fucking point, Bailey.” There was a loud rumble in the background, like he’d slammed his foot on the pedal. “I’ll be there within minutes. Did you see the shooter?”
“He was hiding in the woods, but me and Camden caught up to him and brought him to the center.”
“You pursued someone who was armed?” he asked, the words jagged with a pissed-off snarl.
“Of course I did. You would have pursued him.”
Another pause, and then Deke cursed. “Do you recognize him?”
“No. He has no ID on him. He’s human—that’s all I know for sure at this point.” She frowned on hearing the screech of tires coming down the phone. “Don’t drive too fast, we don’t need you crashing.”