Page 156 of Lesson In Faith

She took a step back. She wasn’t taking anyone’s word on whether they were friends, not when she didn’t know who was the enemy.Ifthere were friends and foes out here, she had no way of discerning one from the other, but both sides would know her face, her name, and they could be used against her.

“Don’t run. You’re not supposed to be out here.” He glanced around, looking mightily displeased. His head jerked up as a gunshot rang through the forest like a bell. “Come with me, I can get you back to safety before anyone realizes you’re not where you’re supposed to be. It’s fucking dangerous for you right now.”

As if to emphasize his point, a man screamed as though someone was tearing his heart out with their bare hands.

She didn’t wait, didn’t hesitate, she just bolted away from the man in black, away from the screaming. Legs pumping, she veered diagonally through the trees, praying it would make it easier to travel uphill.

Another gunshot cracked the air, louder and more ominous than the first.

Tamsyn cried out, gasping for breath, and tripped over a tree root, skidding on her hands and knees. In a horrible case of déjà vu, she felt herself topple and roll in that same awful tumble that had brought her to Merrick’s doorstep.

She slid to a stop on her belly, bruised and shaken, but thankfully without broken bones. Catching her breath, she lay there for a minute, hearing nothing but the pulse of blood in her ears until she caught the rumble of a man’s voice.

“Found her. Orders are to keep her alive for Drake. Meet at the extraction point in twenty.”

She whimpered as a hand fisted in the back of her hoody, lifting her off her stomach. Kicking and swinging, she managed to land a few ineffective blows to her captor’s legs and abdomen; so ineffective, in fact, he laughed before his other hand slammed across her face hard enough to rattle her brain.

“Might as well stop fighting, little bitch. There’s no escaping a second time.”

Pain throbbed through her jaw and cheek, her teeth and neck. A second blow distorted her vision, then she was dropped to the ground with a boot lodged in her gut for good measure. She retched viciously, her lungs revolting in unison with her stomach.

“Drake said alive, he didn’t say undamaged. Been searching for you for weeks, praying I’d get the chance to have some fun. Weeks of traipsing up and down this motherfucking mountain, but I’ll be damned if I know why you’re so fucking special.” He flipped her over, staring down at her with a curious kind of revulsion. “Just another carcass to toss over the edge for the scavengers.”

She recognized him now—Jason, one of Jedidiah’s most loyal security guards. A vicious predator in uniform, always watching the community women as though they were a menu, choosing what suited him. He’d been with her father for years, never wealthy enough to elevate himself into the elders, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Jedidiah gave him a taste to keep his loyalty right where he wanted it.

“Should’ve been traded when you came of age,” he told her nastily, crouching down to grip her throat in a merciless hand. “A few quick fucks and a slow, painful death would’ve saved us all a lot of trouble.”

She clawed at his hand, his wrist, to no avail. Writhing, she kicked and bucked, digging her nails into whatever flesh she could reach. His fingers were bruising her, closing off her airway, bringing her perilously close to passing out.

Something flew over her, smashing feet-first into his leering face. It landed on her as he sailed back, knocking the remnants of air from her lungs, then rolled and sprang to standing. She barely had a chance to notice the stark shock of blonde hair before the thing—thewoman—leaped forward to tackle Jason as he tried to gain his feet.

They went down in a tangle of limbs, fighting for supremacy. Fists flew in a cacophony of flesh striking flesh, hard grunts and yelps of pain.

Tamsyn blinked her vision clear, horrified to see the woman disappear beneath Jason’s bulk. There was nothing she could do to help, yet she forced herself onto hands and knees, crawling toward the seething mass of limbs.

Before she made it two feet, Jason screamed. Back arching, he scrambled away, taking a boot to the face for the second time. The woman kicked again, angling her foot this time so the sole of her boot slammed into his throat, sending him sprawling onto his back.

One hand cradled his throat, the other gripping the hilt of a knife buried into his lower gut.

Tabitha—broken, bleeding Tabitha—flashed a grin as she straddled him, her teeth red with her own blood. Slapping his hand off the knife, she regained control of it, wrapping both hands around the handle and shoving the blade up. It sliced through his flesh like butter, carving him open almost from crotch to sternum, apparently immune to his inhuman screams.

Blood welled and spilled like a waterfall while his screams became…

The blade raked over his throat, turning his last breaths into dying gurgles.

“Well, that was fun.” Swinging herself off the body, Tabitha rose and shoved her knife back into her belt. Swiping her hair away from her face with a blood-slicked hand that was as steady as the damn mountain, she scowled at Tamsyn with blue eyes alive with manic energy. “Youare not supposed to be here. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“S-Saving Merrick.”

Tabitha laughed. “Might want to leave that to the professionals. Better let the boss know you’re safe before he sends a chopper out to search for you.” Digging into a hidden pocket in the side of her pants, she pulled out her cell phone and pressed a button. “Have you lost something, mighty Master?”

She listened intently. “I have her secured. What’s the body count? Mmm-hmm. Add another eight from me.” She kicked Jason’s body. “Alpha team took down the extraction point? Damn it, they get all the fun.”

This was fun? She hadn’t been joking?

“I… well, fuck.” Those blue eyes turned on Tamsyn again, and she swore a flash of pity glowed in the depths. Even Tabitha’s tone changed. “Yes, Sir. Is my brother… well, there’s a chance then. Heading back now. Yes, Sir.”

The call ended, the phone disappearing again.

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