Page 37 of Savage Fire

There were two of them—whoever they were.

“Wa-what do you want?” she choked, desperately trying to drag a full breath into her lungs. The hand at her throat, and the wrenching pain in her ribs prevented that.

Both of the men laughed, the one holding her hair yanked again, making her cry out.

A blow landed against her belly, and she groaned, her eyes clamping shut against the pain as she instinctively tried to curl into a ball to fend off more blows. But the asshole behind her held her up. His hand around her throat tightened.

“Hey! What’re you doin’ to Tessa?” a voice called out, making Asshole Number One stiffen with a curse, his hand around her throat loosening. She dragged in a breath, the white dots in her vision disappearing.

It was Benny, her neighbor from two condos over. He usually took a walk this time of night, which was lucky for her.

“Come on, man, let’s get the fuck out of here,” Asshole Number Two begged, frantically. He didn’t wait for his friend to act before taking off for the back of her condo where there was a narrow alley that led to the parking lot of the condo building behind hers.

Asshole Number One growled, grunting out another curse before dropping his hand from her throat. He slammed his fist into her belly once more, making her double over and collapse to the ground, her legs unable to hold her up.

“This isn’t over, bitch. We’ll be back, we can promise you that,” the man spat before spinning and taking off after his buddy.

Groaning, Tessa pushed up to her knees, trying to suck in much needed air. She wrapped an arm about her ribs, wincing at the pain stabbing into her. Shit. He must’ve cracked a rib with that kick. The asshole.

“What the hell, Tessa, who were those men?”

Tessa shook her head, trying to clear the dots, the haze, the fear.

“I-I don’t know. They got me from behind,” she admitted, hating that anyone was able to get the drop on her.

With Benny’s help, she got to her feet and leaned against him as she hobbled to her front steps. She sat, careful of her ribs.

“Do you have someone to call, honey?” Benny asked, his kindly face flushed with the exertion of helping her. The man was five-two, portly, and spent most of his time tending his garden with his partner, Rex.

Immediately, her fearful, restless mind conjured the image of the one man she, at one time, depended on with everything in her. At one time, Fang had been her comfort. Her strength. Now, he was her greatest heartache.

No, she couldn’t call Fang. She couldn’t trust him not to come and have an ulterior motive, using her time of vulnerability to pull her into his sticky, sensual Hive.

Her hands shaking, she called the one person shecouldtrust.

“Sky, I need you to promise me you won’t freak out,” Tessa began, hurrying through on a single breath. One, because breathing with a bruised rib hurt. Two, she didn’t want to chicken out.

Skathi was silent for a moment, then she answered, “Honestly, I am already freaking out just from you telling me not to freak out. But, if whatever you tell me, freaks me out, I promise not to show it. How about that?”

Tessa wanted to laugh, thankfully she didn’t.

“Reasonable.”

“Good. Now tell me,” Skathi ordered, using her badass MMA trainer tone.

Taking a breath as deep as she could without shooting pain through her body, she finally said, “I was attacked outside my condo.”

“What?!” Skathi bellowed, shocking the shit out of Tessa who’d never heard the woman raise her voice. Ever. “Skide!” Tessa snorted at that. Skathi rarely cursed, but when she did, she did it in Danish.

“You promised you wouldn’t freak out,” Tessa whined, clearly not feeling so kickass in that moment. Yeah, she fended off two attackers, but she wasn’t dumb enough to think she could have battled them both and won. If Benny hadn’t shown up, Tessa had no idea what those two assholes would have done to her.

“I am not freaking out here, Tessa. I am upset. What happened? Who was it? Are you alright?”

“I was getting out of my car and heading into the house when I was hit from behind. Before I could get up off the ground, one of them kicked me in the ribs. The other one grabbed my hair and put his hands around my neck. I have no idea who they were, I just knew they intended to hurt me.” Reliving the event, still reeling from the shock, the fear, the pain, Tessa was surprisingly numb, and getting number. No doubt, she was going into shock. Shaking herself to clear her brain, she grunted in pain from the movement.

“I will come to get you. Liz is already here tending to Wolf who got himself knifed by some man outside the tattoo shop. She can check you out.”

Go to the clubhouse. Where Fang might be.

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