Page 60 of Guarded By Them

“It looks clearer up ahead,” Kodee called back to us. “Let’s hope we’re not going to hit water. I didn’t see any signs of a lake on the map, but I might be looking at it wrong.”

Even a small lake could add miles to our journey and there were lakes everywhere around here.

The trees grew fewer in number and, instead of a lake, we stepped into a clearing.

I sucked in a breath.

“Oh!” Rue’s cry was breathy with wonder, keeping her voice low so not to disturb them.

In the clearing, a doe and a fawn stood side by side. The doe’s brown back was dappled in white spots, and the fawn’s little tail wagged like a happy dog. The fawn’s legs were long and bowed, and the young creature seemed almost unsteady on them. The mother’s graceful neck was bent as she nibbled on tender shoots from the ground, and the fawn nudged and gently butted her mother’s teats, searching for milk. The doe’s satellite ears twisted toward us, and she clearly noticed our arrival, but she made no attempt to run.

It was a good thing none of us were hunters. I’d have hated to see these beautiful creatures harmed.

I smiled down at Rue, who beamed up at me. Having lived in the city her whole life, mostly hidden away from nature, I doubted she’d ever seen deer this close up, or even at all.

We were all motionless, none of us wanting to ruin the moment.

Suddenly, cold metal pressed against the back of my skull, followed by a male voice. “Get on your knees. All of you.”

The deer startled at the brusque voice, the doe and fawn both skittering and running into the forest on the other side of the clearing.

Fuck.

Chapter Twenty-one

Rue

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THERE WAS NO MISTAKING we were in deep shit.

Four men had stepped into the clearing behind us while we’d been distracted by the deer, and now each man pressed a gun against the backs of our heads.

Something hit me between my shoulder blades, sending me staggering forward.

“I said get on your knees,” one of the men who’d followed us demanded.

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