Page 49 of The Renegade Mate

“Then, Jase,” I said, “you make sure you're the grumpiest, stubbornest, most badass enforcer with a killer scowl that makes all the girls swoon this world has ever seen.”

He laughed, and I sighed inwardly. It was a good sound to hear.

I was moving before I registered that I’d heard a noise. I don’t know what alerted me. The birds going quiet, perhaps. But I was running before the clamor of a shattered window pierced the relative quiet of the house. We had to protect Sam. Jase drew level with me, his eyes wide in shock.

“Shit,” he muttered, drawing in a sharp breath.

I grabbed Jase’s arm, yanking him behind me as the first intruder barreled through the doorway. I positioned us back-to-back, Jase and me, as people—Brock’s enforcers—flooded into the house from different directions. The first attacker lunged at me with a snarl, his eyes cold and merciless. I drove my foot into his midsection, sending him flying across the room. My hair whipped around my face as I spun to face the next assailant. I saw Jase throw an elbow into a man’s stomach, forcing him to double over in pain, then Jase slammed his fist into the side of the man’s head.

The next two jumped over their fallen colleagues. I kicked off the wall, gaining height, and brought my forearm down onto the first one’s throat as he followed my move. I rammed into him, sending him falling into the man behind him.

I was furious that they’d come here, had attacked my little Pack and our safe haven, but there were more of them than of us, and they pushed us back until we were in the waiting room and the only thing standing between them and Sam, helpless in his coma.

“Get out of here, Mai!” Jase yelled, desperation creeping into his tone as he struggled to fend off two attackers simultaneously. “They’ll kill you. You have to go!”

I ignored Jase and his idiotic suggestion. There was no way I was abandoning him or Sam. I would hold this line or die trying. One of the enforcers swung a right hook at me. I ducked, and he hit the wall instead. The sound of the bones in his hand breaking made me smile.

I saw the glint of a knife out of the corner of my eye as a woman stabbed toward Jase’s unprotected back. I threw myself between them. Searing pain erupted in my shoulder as the blade sliced through flesh, but adrenaline drowned out the worst of it.

With a feral snarl, I rammed the heel of my hand into her nose. Blood spurted as cartilage crunched under the blow. I followed it up with a roundhouse kick to her ribs.

Rage boiled in my veins, fueling each punch and kick as I unleashed my fury.

My movements flowed seamlessly as I spun and twisted, dodging blows while landing my own in quick succession. The enforcers outnumbered us, but I was faster, fueled by the need to protect those I cared about. I just wasn’t sure who would fail first: me running out of energy or them running out of enforcers to throw at us.

A short, stocky man with flaming red hair punched out, his fist connecting with my cheek, making my head spin. I staggered back, smelling my own blood. When he came at me again, I slammed my foot into his knee. He wobbled, and I curled my fingers into a ball and drove my knuckles into his chest. He crashed to the floor, and I followed up with a stomp to his sternum that had him gasping for air.

Finally, all the enforcers lay strewn around me, unconscious or groaning in pain. I stood in the center of the carnage, chest heaving, knuckles split and bleeding from a slash to my shoulder.

Jase stared at me with an odd look on his face. He’d seen me in school fights before, but never like this. Never with so much at stake.

I fell to my knees, my energy spent. He reached out, gripping my shoulder tightly. “Mai,” he whispered, his voice filled with raw emotion, “you’re one fuck of a badass.”

"Stop swearing," I said automatically.

Chapter twenty-nine

Ryan

Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bond with Mai—little spikes of fear and pain—but our bond was too new for me to know anything more than that. I'd cut short our last visit. We'd only just started trying to track down Ava, one of Jem's better enforcers, but she'd gone into hiding and we'd need to talk to her friends and colleagues to get an idea of where she might be. Instead of going to her workplace, I'd turned the car around and headed for Thomas' house.

The air was cool, the breeze carrying the faint scent of pine, but it was the coppery smell of blood that drew my attention as we neared the house. I stiffened, my senses heightened. Mason, ever alert, paused, following my gaze.

I moved, desperate now. As we ran in the back door, the sight was jarring. The familiar space was turned into a battlefield. Bodies of unconscious werewolves, most of whom I recognized as being followers of Brock’s, were splayed around the room in an untidy sprawl like discarded dolls. Mai was kneeling in the midst of it all, Jase crouched down beside her.

I rushed over to Mai, my heart pounding as I took in her disheveled appearance. Her dark hair was wild, her brown eyes were glinting with a stubborn defiance, but it was the crimson stain on her shoulder that drew my immediate concern.

“How bad?”

“It’s okay. No need to worry.”

“Sam?”

“Still out. He’s fine. The fight didn’t get past this room,” she replied.

“Let me see.” I gently took her arm in my hands. I felt her wince. It wasn’t deep, but it needed tending. “You need to stop getting injured.”

“That would be nice.”

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