Page 52 of Love Fire

He pulls my hair while I take jabs at his stomach.

“I’m not touching you!”

Brent sighs behind us. “This is getting childish.”

He gets between us again. This time, he holds me back with both arms. I’m trapped behind his large back.

“Stop it. She hasn’t been doing that shit ever since she’s been under my watch.”

“Or under you,” Nate mutters.

Brent glares at him. Fingers start to point. “We’re trying to take down your father’s operation. Whether you like it or not. With or without your help.”

“Do you think just the two of you are able to pull this off? I didn’t think you were a naïve Fire agent.”

“Will you fucking quit it? Instead of bitching and criticizing us, why don't you offer us help?”

“I did offer help! You two decided not to take up the offer when you ambushed the fucking lion’s den without telling me!”

I notice Brent’s back muscles contracting. He’s snarling his words now. If he doesn’t calm down he could shift at any moment. As much as I want to see Nate getting his ass kicked, now’s not the time.

I move away from Brent. He doesn’t notice it by how worked up he is. I try to speak up.

“Hey, guys, wait a minute. Let’s calm down for a min—”

A gunshot fires nearby. The sound of it catches both of the guys’ attention. We don’t move a muscle.

A bullet whizzes past my head.

“Run!” I yell.

We scatter in different directions. Nate goes back the way he came from. Brent dematerialized. He’s not up in the sky in dragon form.

I don’t know which direction he headed off to. I run deeper in the woods. Maybe I’ll find him once the gunshots cease.

There’s a cluster of trees down a small hill. Another gunshot is fired in the distance. I stop running. This place is good enough to hide.

I crouch down, peeking through the branches. I move back a little further into the shadows. Then, the leaves to my left start rustling.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Who’s there?

43

BRENT

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!” My attackers just smirk as they keep me pinned to the ground. In a fair fight, I could’ve taken them all but these cowards caught me off guard. They slap a pair of handcuffs on my wrists and the fight is over before it could even begin.

God damnit. Of course, they got me. How could I expect anything less? Nothing has gone perfectly since I was assigned the iridescent case. It’s all been one screw up after another.

Two big burly guys in their ranks pull me to my feet. A smaller guy approaches me. I believe this is the man Erin called Hank, her father’s right-hand man. I can’t wait to kill him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he says. “You can shift if you want to but-” He looks over at all the men pointing guns at me. "You’ll be dead before your tail even pokes out.”

“That’ll still give me enough time to rip your throat out.”

Hank smirks and nods to the men holding me. They start dragging me to a black escalade, yep these are definitely Erin’s father’s men. One of them throws a bag over my head and I’m tossed in the back seat of the car.

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