Page 107 of Toxic

He swore and I knew from spending the last couple weeks with the man that he was swiping a hand over his short hair. It was something he did when he was agitated. “You and Daryl watch your sixes.”

I smiled and shook my head. I’d just told him that his lifelong friend was in serious danger and he’d told me to be careful. Even Warrant knew that Toxic was going to handle business. It made the terror swirling around inside of me ease a little.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think Toxic could take care of this situation. It was just the unknown that worried me. What if too many men rushed him at once? What if a stray bullet caught him or someone got a lucky shot off?

Meanwhile Toxic, Daryl, and Warrant seemed to realize that me and Daryl were actually in the vulnerable spot in this situation. And now I understood it, too. “We will.” I hung up the phone and let out a steady breath, trying to calm my nerves.

My heart was racing despite my best efforts. My body was dumping adrenaline into my system, preparing me to fight for my life. We sat there for a few moments before I realized it was quiet. I looked around, eyes straining in the dark.

“What’s wrong?”

“Eris,” I called softly.

The sound of silence was my only answer. Looked like Toxic wasn’t alone out there after all. I swallowed back tears. I wasn’t a particularly religious woman, but I began to pray in my mind. I asked God and my dad to watch over both Toxic and my beloved pet. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask God to help in a situation where Toxic would be killing men, but in my mind, they started this. So I hoped, and prayed, that Toxic would send them all to their maker tonight. It was all I could do for now.

CHAPTER 38

Toxic

“Eleven…twelve…thirteen,” I counted softly as I crept around the property. “Fuck. Brently wasn’t playing this time,” I muttered to myself.

My rifle swung to my left as a soft sound broke the silence near the barn. A squat little shadow with a tail held high came trotting up to me. I dropped the muzzle of the rifle toward the ground. “What are you doing out here, you little demon?” I asked.

In response, Eris leaned against my leg. Her solid weight was a comfort. I reached down and scratched her ears.

“Once this kicks off, you need to get out of here. You should just go back to the house,” I told her. “Protect Billie.” She just stared up at me with that weird glowing gaze as her eyes caught some ambient light in the darkness. “Okay. That’s creepy. Let’s go.”

I slung my rifle over my shoulder by the strap and pulled out my Ka-Bar knife. Shifting it in my hand so that it rested comfortably, I crept around the barn toward the man standing around, waiting. He was the lookout. The backup in case we put up a fight inside the house. I needed to get rid of some of these fuckers before taking on the men outside the ranch house. Which meant I needed to do it as quietly as possible.

The first man went down without a sound when I wrapped my arm around him from behind and slid my knife over his throat. The spill of hot blood over my arm didn’t bother me as I used my hand to muffle any sounds he might have made. I let his body fall in a controlled manner, down toward the ground, guiding it so it didn’t make a heavy thump and alert the second guy who was only a few feet away on the other side of the barn.

I didn’t need to look to know Eris was trotting alongside me. I had no doubt her tongue was lolling out with eagerness for the excitement to come.Fucking crazy ass cattle dog.I planned to gift one to all my future children. I knew those little cattle dogs would protect my kids with a single-driven focus like no other breed would. So they would all be given their own little demon once they turned three. Hell, maybe we’d breed Eris so that her line of sons and daughters could protect mine.

I was grateful she was keeping her growls and barks contained as we snuck through the darkness toward the next man. She understood the assignment, as unnerving as that was. Twelve guys was a lot to take on alone. I wanted to whittle the numbers down toward something more in my favor.

Unfortunately, you didn’t always get what you wanted in your life. As I rounded the corner of the barn there were now two men there, and one was facing directly toward me.

“Pete?” he called out.

Now both men faced me, trying to determine if I was their buddy in the moonless night. I couldn’t call out to reassurethem, so I sheathed my knife, and settled my rifle on my shoulder. All hell was about to break loose on the Cholla Summit Ranch.

I stopped moving and that alerted the men to the fact that I wasn’t a friendly. Gunfire split the air as they separated and started peppering the barn behind me with bullet holes. Fuck. I was going to have to fix that later. I just prayed one of the rounds didn’t hit the horses housed inside. It would break Billie’s heart.

I returned fire on the man who was running toward the house. A scream of pain and fear came from my right, but no more rounds were coming from that direction, so I focused on the guy who was going for help. Not that the gunfire wasn’t going to draw the rest of them down on my ass just as easily as his warning would. That was alright, better to me than to Billie.

He went down with a thump as one of my bullets made contact. Turning, I ran toward the front of the barn, then stuttered to a stop when I saw Eris lift her head. She was only about forty pounds, but she’d managed to take the guy down all the same. He’d landed on his own fucking knife, I realized when I checked the body. He’d probably tried to stab the dog while she hung off the arm that was controlling his gun.

“Good girl,” I told her, patting her head. “Let’s get these animals out of here while we have the chance.” We ran into the barn and I opened the horses’ stalls toward the fields where Billie turned her horses out during the sunny daylight hours. It would give them a chance to get away from all the danger. Or more of a chance than being stuck inside the barn anyway.

Eris snapped at the heels of any horses who balked about leaving their stalls. That got them moving further out into the fields and away from the threat.

I left the animals and headed back out into the darkness. Those assholes were going to be breaking into the house now that they knew we were awake and aware of their presence. Iwasn’t going to let them touch a fucking hair on my family’s head. I was just glad that, even though I was here alone, none of my brothers’ families were here or in danger. I doubted Brently would have sent anyone to the clubhouse, that place was a fortress. The ranch was his goal. Which meant the other women and kids were safe.

I just needed to make suremywoman and Pops would be, too. Running toward the house, I scanned the area, searching for the fuckers who were threatening my family. They were going to regret that decision come morning. Or just as soon as I caught up with them.

Slowing, I crept around a corner of the garage. Running straight out into the open was a stupid fucking idea, and I wasn’t stupid. I might have been the pilot for Butcher’s team, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t trained with them. I had. He’d taught me everything he knew. So had the special forces instructors who worked with us until the military figured out our team was just as proficient as any men they set in front of us.

Most saw me as the happy go lucky asshole who made jokes. And I was ninety percent of the time. The other ten? These men were about to be introduced tothatman.

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