Page 70 of Warrant
“That’s Demo. The fucker is as graceful as a bull in a china shop.”
“Yeah, and where you are, Demo usually is. So don’t break my damn phone.”
Waving it at him, I walked away. Knowing he was watching I tossed it from hand to hand, then dropped it. I caught it right before it hit the sidewalk. Turning, I laughed as Owen flipped me off.
I got back on my bike and pulled away from the curb. It was time to go handle some business.
CHAPTER 28
Ainsley
If someone had told me I’d be babysitting a couple of kids, protecting them from danger, and completely in the dark aboutwhythey needed protecting, and that I’d be mostly fine with it, I’d have laughed hysterically at them. I wasn’t even sure I had a maternal bone in my body before this. Now my ovaries were going feral.
I paused in the doorway to my spare bedroom and folded my arms over my chest. All the lights in the house were out as I prepared to head to bed, but I could see just enough in the moonlight streaming through the window. Turned out, I did have a maternal instinct, and it was in overdrive right now. My heart melted at the sight before me.
Aella was asleep on her back and tucked under her arm was Cadet, also on her back with all four paws up in the air as she snored softly. Next to her, Jared was on his side, facing away from the door.
Beau was between the bed and the door, looking like a melted puddle on the floor as he slept. The dog was all wrinkles and loose skin while he was laying down.
Against all odds, I knew I was going to miss these kids when they went home. Aella had made things interesting for the last couple days and I was sure the addition of Jared was going to drive me over the edge of insanity, but damn they were fun. Dinner had been nothing but laughter. Despite the bruises all over the teenager, he’d kept everything light and his sister happy. It was obvious he loved her very much.
I was about to head to bed myself when a sound made all my instincts go on full alert. It was out of place in my small little home. Turning, I gasped as something hit me directly in the face, making me stumble backward.
An arm wrapped around me from behind, cutting off my airflow. My first instinct was to panic, but I shoved that way down and let the rage build up instead. I’d trained for this. I knew how to override those initial responses that tended to make people flee from a fight.
Raising up onto my tip toes, I dug my fingers between my throat and the assailant's arm. Then I went back onto the flats of my feet, leaned forward just a little and cocked my right hip out. Planting my feet as much as I could I threw my weight forward and grinned when he swore. His weight was now off center and I turned a bit more and dug my hip fully into him, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying over my right shoulder. He landed on his back in front of me.
I wasted no time. This asshole had broken into my home, attacked me, and I had zero doubts that he was here for my kids. They were in my care, therefore they wereminefor now. No one was going to hurt them. I stomped my boot—thank God I hadn’t changed into my pajamas yet—right onto his face. Again and again.
The yowl of pain gave me a grim satisfaction that stayed with me as I raced down the hall toward my bedroom. As much as I wanted to stay and keep kicking the shit out of the guy, he wasn’t alone. Or so my intuition was screaming at me. I needed my gun.
With young children in the house, I’d done the responsible thing and put it in the lockbox inside my closet. Skidding to a stop, I tried to control my breathing and the slight shake in my hands as I spun the numbers on the lock. The slight glow from the light I kept plugged into the wall outlet in the closet was all I needed to see. I could probably open this lock in the dark, I did it so often. It took forever even though it was only a few seconds. Damn doing the responsible thing. I quickly pulled my bullet proof vest over my head and strapped it down.
Grabbing an extra, full, magazine, I shoved it into my jean pocket and then palmed my gun. I was back at the door of my bedroom before I even realized I’d taken a step. The adrenaline was coursing through my body and making everything seem to move in a distortion of time.
There were shadows moving down my hallway. Gritting my teeth, I flipped on my bedroom light. It was a dangerous move because that meant I was backlit, an easy target for my enemies, but it also allowed me to see just enough of them to know I wasn’t about to shoot one of the children in my care.
Aella would’ve been easy to pick out because she was so small, but Jared was tall and lanky. He was just as tall as some of these full grown men who’d broken into my home to kidnap children. They were going to pay for that. It wasn’t Jared. Good.
Aiming, I pulled the trigger, a smooth steady draw that sent the weapon bucking in my hand. One of the men grunted and went down on his knee. I didn’t stop firing. There was screaming and yelling and my ears were ringing so hard it wasn’t easy to distinguish the sounds or who was making them. I was trusting Jared to keep his sister inside the room and safe while I tookcare of these assholes. They were stuck in this hallway, with men down on the ground around them, stuck in a tunnel where they couldn’t all rush me at once. Idiots.
One of them hooked to the right and I swore as he bolted into the spare bedroom. The rest finally realized they weren’t getting to me alive and ran back to the living room. There wasn’t time to chase them. Not when one or more was in the room with the kids.
I rushed down the hall, my gun still extended and froze when I saw the chaos inside. Aella was nowhere to be found, but Beau had woken up and his teeth were lodged in a man’s groin area. He was shrieking like a banshee, trying to get the dog to let him go. But Beau had turned into a fury-filled rage monster. He was growling and shaking at the man, causing as much pain and destruction as he could. Apparently he had been sleeping his whole life resting up for this moment, because he wasn’t relenting.
What a good boy. He’s getting a steak later on.
There was a second man in the room. I hadn’t noticed him come inside. Jared was squared up with him, exchanging blows. I was impressed as hell that a fifteen-year-old wasn’t afraid to take on a full grown man.
I couldn’t use the gun in here now. Not without the risk of shooting Jared or Beau. Not to mention I had no idea where Aella or Cadet were. I hoped they were hiding and someone else hadn’t snuck off with them.
I didn’t announce myself. Didn’t hesitate. I just swung my pistol as hard as I could at the man’s head. I hit him in the left temple with enough force to send him sprawling to the floor. “Hide,” I said, not even looking Jared’s way, before I swept the first man’s leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. Beau leapt out of the way and let me take over. I jumped on top of the guy and started swinging haymakers at him.
I couldn’t let him get the upper hand. He was going to be stronger than me. Didn’t matter that I lifted five days a week, trained in boxing and Jui-Jitsu just as often, he was going to overpower me if I gave him even the slightest chance. My pistol was an equalizer, but I couldn’t use it right now. In retrospect, I should have tried.
I knew for a fact I threw a mean punch and these were affecting this guy. That didn’t matter when I heard a yelp from Beau behind me and I was dragged off the man. Looking over, I searched desperately for the hound. He was backed up to the bed, showing those bright white teeth and refusing to move. That was how I knew the kids and my puppy were under the bed.
Someone must have kicked him, but he wasn’t backing down and he didn’t look permanently hurt—thank God—because I would never forgive myself if something happened to him.
