Page 73 of No Mercy

“Remove her pants and pin her down,” Boomer ordered, indifferent to her demands. The look in his smiling eyes revealed that he was enjoying himself. Then he palmed the hard-on in his pants suggestively. “I’m gonna fucking enjoy this.”

I roared with rage, giving him the response that he wanted. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

Two of his men easily held a screaming Allie while they stripped her jeans off and then pinned her down into the dirt. She twisted, bowed, and kicked out at them, but she was helpless against two men. They laughed at her efforts, their eyes glued to her naked tits. One reached forward and squeezed a breast hard, tearing a cry of pain from Allie that went through my heart. I shot Clay a look and a slight chin lift, giving him the sign that we were going to make our move.

In a rapid fire move I straightened and brought my hand up with the knife, burying it deep into the neck of the man next to me. I yanked the knife out as he released me and stumbled back, shock on his face, his hands moving up to cover the wound. I’d hit his jugular, the blood squirting out between his fingers like a faucet, and I knew he’d bleed out in seconds. Within seconds he was stumbling to his knees, disbelief in his eyes.

One man down, five to go.

The two men pinning Allie down finally heard the gurgling sound of their brother, looked over, and released her to stand up. Both men reached for their guns at the same time. I threw my knife, hitting one in the chest, which sent him staggering backwards, while Clay took the other one out with a bullet to the head. Boomer was a little slow in grasping that the situation had changed, but when he did he snatched Allie up and used her as a human shield.

“Rock!”

I was on my feet now and charging toward them, my gaze on the fear in Allie’s round eyes.

“I’ll kill her!” Boomer threatened in a slightly panicked tone, putting his gun against her temple. Both Clay and I halted. I knew he’d do it, too, he hated me that much.

“You might as well give up.” Clay was the one who spoke. “Your backup is dead.” He kept his weapon aimed at Boomer. He could probably take him out with a clean shot to the head, but neither of us would take that chance.

Two of his men were dead, but the man with the knife sticking out of his chest was moaning on the ground. My guess was that he’d be dead soon, but until then he could still be a threat. “Clay--” He glanced at me. I nodded toward the guy who was still clutching his weapon. “Get his gun.”

“You forget the men I have out there looking for your kid,” Boomer reminded us.

I thought about it for a second, they’d been gone a long time. My guess was that Hawk and Big John had already taken them out. “You think they’re coming back?” I taunted confidently. “You aren’t the only one with brothers out there.” I watched his face turn red as realization dawned on him that we had backup, too. “Your time is coming.”

“I won’t be going alone,” he growled, swinging his gun on me and firing before any of us realized what he was going to do.

“No!” Allie screamed.

The power of the bullet entering my body forced me backwards a step, but I managed to correct myself and remain on my feet. Jesus Christ, that hurt! It felt as if someone had speared me with a molten hot poker. The smell of scorched clothing and flesh stung my nostrils. I clutched my side, feeling the liquid heat of my own blood coating and slipping through my fingers. Either Boomer was a poor shot, or he was going to take his time killing me.

“You bastard!” Allie cried, twisting halfway around to grab Boomer’s gun hand, pulling his arm enough to take his aim off of me. As they struggled against each other briefly he raised his arm out of her reach, and that’s when Clay took his shot, shooting the gun right out of Boomer’s hand. His weapon went flying, but almost instantly he replaced it with a knife.

Fuck!

He twisted his hand in Allie’s hair and snapped her head back, arching her throat. Seeing the blade against her flesh brought everything to a standstill. Boomer laughed like a fucking mad man. He knew he wielded all the power right then, and the only thing that kept me from charging him was that I knew he wouldn’t kill Allie. He needed her alive if he wanted to stay alive.

“Cut her, and I’ll fucking gut you and feed you to the fish,” I said between my teeth.

A thin line of red appeared where the blade bit into her skin. Allie whimpered.

“Keep talking, big man.” His tone clearly warned that whatever he did to her would be the in direct response to what I said and did. He turned his face toward Allie and rubbed his cheek against hers. “Be ashamed to carve this pretty woman up before I get to sample her pussy.” He took a step backwards in the direction of the cabin. “If I can’t kill my son’s murderer I’ll take the next best thing.”

I took a step, knowing that if Boomer dragged Allie inside we’d be in trouble.She’dbe in trouble. My gaze shot to Clay, the look on his face showing the same thing I felt, frustration. Movement in the bushes at the side of the cabin drew my gaze there, and I saw Hawk emerge like a quiet animal stalking its prey. At that point I knew all I had to do was keep Boomer talking to slow down his progress to the door.

“Only a fucking coward would use an innocent woman as payback. This is between you and me. You want me? Then let her go.”

He snorted. “Bullshit! You’d give up your life for hers, without a fight?” His hand relaxed a little, releasing the pressure on Allie’s neck. I breathed with relief when he lowered the knife a little.

I met her eyes, which were filling with tears. It was gutting me that she was in this position, that something I had done had put her in it, being held against her will, threatened, hurt, and naked except for a tiny thong and the gaping ends of her ruined tee. I fucking hated this. “I would for her,” I insisted.

“No, Rock. Please−”

Boomer gave her a warning shake, cutting her off. “I don’t know. I was kind of looking forward to fucking her, knowing that you can’t do anything about it. I wanted you to watch, but−” His eyes darted to where Clay hadn’t moved. “Looks like that’s not gonna happen now.”

“So let her go. Just you and me, the way you want it.” I kept my tone even.

“How do I know your brothers won’t follow?”

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