Page 5 of Beautiful Vengeance

“Hear, hear,” everyone chorused. They tapped their glasses together, then tucked into their meal.

Though he would never admit it aloud, he was chuffed to bits that everyone enjoyed the meal so much, especially his Yorkshire puds and gravy. While he ate, he snuck a piece of roast under the table to Karas, who took it gently from his fingers and stared up at him with alert, hopeful eyes.

“What’s for dessert?” Chloe asked as she finished off her last Yorkshire. The woman ate as much as he did, though usually she stuffed her gob with junk food.

“Nothing, unless you made it,” Megan told her dryly.

“Dessert’s outside in just a bit,” Marcus said, and Chloe shot Megan a smug look across the table. Things had been tense for them all lately. Marcus figured they could do with a bit of fun.

While everyone cleaned up the supper dishes, he went out back with Karas to light the bonfire. He’d chosen the location with care, in a spot where no one but them would be able to see the fire. The sky was already growing dark and a crisp, cold wind blew across the hills. Once the fire was really roaring, he texted the others to come outside.

“Oh, wow,” Chloe said as she marched toward the fire with an unholy grin on her face. “How’d you start it?” Her down vest was open, revealing a shirt that read:I love a good bang.

“Without explosives,” he answered, earning a snicker from everyone else. If he didn’t know that Chloe was an explosives and demolition expert, he would have sworn she was a pyromaniac.

She looked disappointed. “Man, I wish we could risk setting off some fireworks. Just imagine the display I could put on for us.”

Her boyfriend Heath wound an arm around her shoulders. “There are already plenty of fireworks whenever you’re around, firecracker, trust me.”

Drawing attention to themselves, even with fireworks, was dangerous to them all. The whole point of them staying here was to keep a low profile and stay off the radar of whoever was hunting them.

Marcus passed out sticks he’d sharpened to points at one end earlier and then passed around bags of marshmallows. “I also brought this, to keep the chill away.” He handed Ty an open bottle of whisky.

“Now you’re talkin’,” Ty said, taking a sip before passing it to Megan.

While everyone talked, drank and roasted marshmallows, Marcus stood close to the fire next to Karas, leaning on his cane as he enjoyed the heat of it on the right side of his face, where no scars dulled the sensation. He joined in the conversation a few times but mostly listened, watching Kiyomi when her attention was elsewhere.

She was so utterly beautiful, and it did his heart good to see her so relaxed here. Happy, even.

A small explosion in the distance made him jolt. Conversation ceased, all heads whipping toward the source of the noise past the front of the house. Karas raced off toward it in the darkness, barking.

“The assholes are back,” Megan muttered, setting her roasting stick aside. “We’ll run them off and hopefully they won’t be back.” She took Ty’s hand and they left the fire to head to their gatehouse near the road that ran past the front of the property.

Minutes later more sharp explosions thudded in the night. A few seconds after that, his mobile buzzed in his pocket. A text from Megan.

Karas is hurt.

His heart dropped. He gripped his cane and started off across the field as fast as his gimpy leg would allow.

“What’s wrong?” Kiyomi was at his side in an instant, watching him in concern.

“Karas is hurt.” He pushed himself to go faster, ignoring the sharp pain in his hip and thigh.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He hurried on, cursing his damned limp. Kiyomi stayed beside him, and by the time they reached the front of the house, Megan and Ty were coming up the driveway. Ty was carrying Karas.

Marcus’s stomach lurched. “How bad?”

“I think she’s mostly just shaken up,” Megan answered, rushing to keep up with Ty’s long strides.

“It’s her right foreleg,” Ty said, stopping in front of Marcus.

Marcus bent to take her sweet face in his hands. Her eyes were fixed on him. She was panting and trembling, clearly in distress but he didn’t see any blood. “Bring her inside.”

Ty carried her into the study and placed her down on her bed in front of the fire.

Marcus knelt in front of her and took her chin in his hand. “What happened, lass?” Her pupils were even, but she trembled so much her collar jangled. The fur on her right shoulder was singed, and when he picked up her right front paw, she licked her lips and flattened her ears against her head.

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