Page 72 of Shield and Savior

I lift both hands in the air. “I’m not going to shoot you at an elementary school.”

In the distance a door slams, the sound so jarring, Mike takes his eyes off me. “Who the fuck are you?”

My lips curl at the corners, because I know exactly who’s interrupting us. Three black dogs charge from the woods toward the gunman. Hadeon’s dogs jump on him from behind. Well played. The gunman is distracted enough for Ian to scramble out of his grip as a sixty-pound rottweiler knocks Izzy’s ex over. Ian sprints toward me, smart enough to run in a zigzag. His arms wrap around me as the school door crashes open on its hinges.

Dimitri charges out like a tank, breezing past me, past three dogs howling and snapping, andbarreling into the ex with all of his weight, slamming him to the ground. Maybe it’s wishful thinking because I heard the snap, but I’m kinda hoping he broke a few of Mike Bringsea’s ribs and not merely a bunch of sticks. He wraps one fist around the asshole’s shirt and pummels hard on his cheek and jaw with the other. “You fucking touchedmykid. How dare you!”

Ian flinches a little as he wraps his arms tighter around my waist and buries his face in my hip. I drop my arm and rub his back, keeping my eyes, and my gun, pointed in the direction of the bludgeoning I have no intention of stopping. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.” But Ian’s sobs are barely audible over the barking.

Bringsea stammers, “You’re the Squid. You’re supposed to be dead.”

Dimitri scoffs, “That was my brother. I’m the Octopus.” He lifts his fist high in the air. And that’s when the full range of Dimitri’s fist slams down.

“Well, that’s a broken jaw,” I say to Ian.

The school door opens again, and this time it’s Thiago, Duncan, and Izzy, with a terrified Drew leading them. “They went out this way.” In the distance there’s a whistle, and the dogs disengage from their attack and retreat.

“Um, I’m so sorry they got away.” Hadeon looks awkward and disheveled.He looks at the kids. “Can you help me get them?” These dogs have hundreds of thousands of dollars in training. One word and they would go running to his side. No. Hadeon is distracting the boys so they won’t be scared. Dad Mode activated .

Drew watches the dogs for a few moments before turning his attention back to Ian. “Are you okay?”

Ian lifts his head and growls, “You have a bad dad.”

Drew pauses and blinks a few times. “You speak ENGLISH!”

There’s a sound that’s half laugh, half cry from Ian. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Drew’s frustration is laced in every word.

Ian sniffs. “You move your hands around like a clown when you talk to me. It’s funny.” I give him one more quick squeeze before pushing him off and nudging him to his friend. Ian wipes his face with the heels of his hands.

Drew glances at me to see what to do. I smile at him and motion to the dogs running around the campus. His face is hard to read. Could be grateful, maybe also a little hurt. And a good level of annoyed. Drew huffs, “Come on, let’s go get the dogs. You have to get all the fast, annoying ones.”

The two boys run off, trying to grab their collars every time a dog gets close. Ian laughs as one dog slips through his fingers only to have one jump on him and lick his face. It would almost be a wholesome scene if the dogs weren’t lethal guard dogs, the witnesses weren’t in the criminal underworld, and an entire extended family wasn’t super pissed at the bleeding asshole in the pile of leaves.

Izzy steps forward, but Thiago puts his arm out. “Hold on.”

Duncan walks into the woods with a black backpack over his shoulder. I’ve never seen them work before and now doesn’t seem like the right time to start.

Instead, I focus on Izzy. She’s my whole world. Her bottom lip quivers, and her eyes get glassy. She’s starting to shake, too, but this isn’t a fear reaction. She’s not looking at me, only at the men in the woods. My hand rests on her cheek. “They’re safe.”

Izzy is still on the stairs, a few feet higher than me, and she watches over my shoulder. Between the barking and the kids yelling, I can still hear the sound of fists on flesh.

Thiago steps to the side and joins his family into the darkness of the treeline.

Izzy’s voice sounds shallow as she whispers, “He didn’t even realize it was the wrong kid.”

The breach of security is bad. The kidnapping is catastrophic. To use that child as a bargaining chip was evil. But not recognizing your own son? That’s a low I hadn’t seen before. It takes all my strength not to run into the woods and take a few punches of my own.

“Do you need a hug?” Everyone is different when they are in a rightful rage. To assume she wants me at all at this moment is selfish.

She nods and throws her arms around me, burying her head in my neck. She shakes and whispers, “Thank you.”

“I thought it was Drew, I thought he took my…” I stop myself before the words came out. My kid. Drew is mine.

She squeezes me tighter. “Drew is more yours than his, that’s for damn sure.”

The door swings open, and two more women emerge. Izzy’s mother is on the phone. “Hold on, there are dogs everywhere.” She pauses, taking in the situation. “I see him. Our boys have him.” She curses under her breath, but her expression and voice are completely stoic when she lets the caller know, “There is a camera that needs to get wiped. I’ll see you soon.”

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