Chapter twenty-two #2
Even though she didn’t see anything that worried her, she sniffed the air anyway.
That turned out to be a waste of time. There were too many scents—werewolves and Roman’s supernaturals alike—swirling on the breeze moving through the trees.
It was impossible to tell how many people were out there, much less whether any were moving this way.
“What are we going to do?” Kal asked, looking around fearfully as the sounds of gunfire continued to fill the air. “Do we stay here or try and get to the house again?”
Lark didn’t answer right away. Mostly because she was praying those supernaturals didn’t possess some unique way to track her and Kal.
Because she only had six more bullets. After that, shifting into her wolf form would be the only way to protect her son.
But if she were in wolf form, she couldn’t talk to Kal and tell him what to do. She hoped it didn’t come to that.
“We stay here another minute, and then try to sneak back into the house,” she finally said, coming back to her son’s question. “I just hope your grandparents and Violet are safe.”
At that, Kal looked even more worried than he had before. Lark mentally kicked herself for reminding him just how much danger his entire family was in right then.
“Okay, let’s go,” Lark said, more to distract Kal than because she thought it was safe to move from their hiding place. Truthfully, she doubted there would ever be a safe time to do this so they might as well go now. “We’ll stick to the woods until we’re as close as possible to the house.”
Holding Kal’s hand tightly, Lark carefully moved forward, looking left and right as they went, her eyes, ears, and nose all on high alert for the first sign of danger.
If they ran into another group of bad guys, she’d have to empty the rest of her gun, then take off running again.
If that didn’t work, she’d have no choice but to shift into her wolf form and attack, praying it gave Kal time to escape.
She only hoped he’d run if she told him to instead of staying to help her.
As they slowly made their way through the woods, Lark began to think they might actually make it to the house safely when she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.
She tugged Kal into a shallow depression behind a thick shrub, then put a finger to her lips when he opened his mouth, almost certainly to ask what was wrong.
“How hard can it be to find a woman and a kid? I know they came this way. They’re probably heading for the house.”
Lark tightened her hold on Kal’s hand as she recognized Roman’s voice, fear making her heart pound so loud she was sure the man could hear it.
“Spread out and set up a perimeter between here and the house,” Roman ordered. “Don’t let them through!”
Lark peeked through gaps in the shrubs they were hiding behind, waiting for Roman to leave, but instead, he stood there scanning the woods, his nose lifted like he was testing the air for their scents. At least the breeze was in their faces instead of behind their backs, or they’d be finished.
She was wondering how long Roman was going to stand there when she felt a gentle vibration in her back pocket. She took her phone out, careful to be extra quiet, almost cheering when she saw it was a text from Mike.
“I’m thirty seconds out. Where are you?”
Lark started to type a reply only to freeze when Roman’s head snapped around, his eyes narrowing as he stared straight at their hiding place. She held her breath, expecting him to find them any second.
To her relief, Roman looked away, scanning the rest of the surrounding area.
Lark carefully sent her reply back to Mike as quietly as she could, telling him they were in the woods near the gazebo and that he needed to hurry.
Breathing a sigh of relief as she slipped her phone back into her back pocket, Lark looked up and almost screamed at the sight of Roman standing on the other side of the shrub they were hiding behind, staring down at her and Kal, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Lark didn’t even hesitate. Lifting the gun, she squeezed the trigger over and over again until she ran out of ammo. Then she reached down and yanked her son to his feet and ran.
Since she had no clue what kind of supernatural MODs Roman had taken, she wasn’t sure firing at point-blank range would damage him at all. She ran as fast as she could, practically carrying Kal now as they fled through the woods.
When they finally burst out of the trees and into the clearing, Lark thought they’d make it all the way to the house. Until three men in tactical gear carrying assault rifles darted out from around the corner of the building near the pool and blocked their path.
Lark slid to a halt, keeping Kal safely behind her. Not that it helped, because at that moment, Roman charged out of the woods, blood staining the front of his tactical gear, his face full of rage.
“All that running, only to end up right back in my hands,” Roman said with a menacing tone that made Lark’s insides twist into knots. “This ends now.”
Roman strode toward her and Kal even as his three goons boxed them in from the other direction. As if they weren’t enough to deal with, Wayne came around the side of the house, two other men with him.
Lark glanced down at Kal, nearly undone at the terror she saw on his face, and hating that she had no idea what to do in this situation.
Her gun was empty, and if she shifted into her wolf form and charged at Roman, then Kal would be left at the mercy of his supernaturals.
If she moved to fight them, or Wayne and his guys instead, Roman would go after Kal.
There weren’t any good options. Not one that would see her son safe.
Lark was about to shift anyway when a loud voice from the direction of the back door of the house made her and everyone else jump. Her heart soared at the sight of Mike standing there. Beside her, Kal practically started cheering.
“I have your flash drive,” Mike said, holding up a mailing envelope. “Let my family go, and I’ll give it to you.”
Roman let out a derisive snort. “You had a chance to do this the easy way, but you didn’t. This time, we’ll do things my way, and it starts with me putting a gun to your son’s head. If you even think about playing games with me again, he’s the one who will pay the price. And you’ll get to watch.”
Lark pulled Kal closer to her and started backing away, her blood running cold. But Roman was immediately on them, reaching for her son to drag him away. She bit back a scream, that fluttery feeling of electricity ran up and down her body as she prepared to shift into her wolf form.
It might not do any good at all, but she had to protect her son.