Page 12 of Corbin
“Are you serious?” Adrian shoved his hands on his hips. “My boss will have someone’s head for this. He pays for the best to keep us as safe as possible.”
Corbin scoffed, “I’m glad I didn’t have to find out if two shots would even slow down a grizzly.”
“Madre.” Ladrón rubbed his neatly trimmed black beard. “You and your wolf took on two bears. Are you saying the woman kept up?”
Corbin turned at the sound of her limping toward them. That ankle must not be broken. Terror had a way of keeping a person’s mind off pain. She wiped her face with her hands and sniffled. “I couldn’t walk. He carried me or I’d have died.” She turned to Corbin. “Thank you for saving my life. I don’t know how to repay you.”
Oh no. There was that hero-worship look again.
Clearing his throat, Corbin said, “Judith, these are my two friends, Adrian and Ladrón.” No point in telling her she was with more shifters.
She made a mmm-hmm sound, taking her eyes off him long enough to glance at them and look at him again.
Corbin sent an imploring look to Adrian.
Giving a nod of understanding, Adrian said, “Judith, we need to get you out of here as quickly as possible. Your father is wrecked worrying about you.” He told Ladrón, “Call in Hawke.”
Ladrón pulled off his backpack and dug out a satellite phone, then stepped twenty feet away to make the call. Hawke was a bird shifter with Adrian’s people who evidently piloted pretty much anything that could be flown.
“While he does that, I’d like to ask you some questions, Judith.” Adrian finally drew her attention to him and guided her away from Corbin.
Corbin sighed with a heavy dose of relief. While Adrian found a place for her to sit on an old tree stump to speak with her, Corbin stepped over to join Ladrón, who was giving coordinates to Hawke. He asked Corbin, “Is there good place for helicopter to land?”
Pointing over his shoulder, Corbin said, “About thirty yards that way. Big open space, easy to find.”
Ladrón relayed the message and then ended the call. He put the phone down and crossed his arms. “I would like to see this wolf of yours sometime.”
Ah hell. “You will, but too many in the pack don’t have good control. I’d like to wait until others in the pack are in a better place.”
“I have control.”
He’d insulted Ladrón. “Wasn’t talking about you. Let’s say I’m not ready yet.”
“I hear you.” Angling his head, Ladrón looked over where Adrian questioned Judith. He teased, “Pretty woman. She has eyes for you, amigo.”
“I don’t want any woman who looks at me that way, Ladrón, especially one that young and human.”
The Spaniard frowned, creasing the spot between his eyebrows. “What do you mean the way she looks at you?”
“With forever eyes. I’m only interested in occasional bedroom eyes.” To be honest, Corbin hadn’t seen even that in years.
“Ha!” Ladrón grinned. “Every man says that until a special one comes along and ruins his bachelor plans.”
“Not me. Biggest mistake I ever made was falling for a woman with dishonest eyes.” He’d thought she was the one, hismate that would bear him pups with gorgeous eyes like hers. That was not a topic he wanted to discuss further. “What took you two so long to get here?”
Scowling, Ladrón spoke with his hands flying. “I am sorry we were late. I told Adrian to go without me, but he would not. Was a good thing. We freed the rope and rappelled fast. When we reached the base of mountain, two jackals attacked us.”
Shocked, Corbin asked, “Were they with the kidnapping group?”
“No. SCIS. Adrian was much angry. He warned them to get out of our way. They were aggressive fools who are now tied up. Adrian told me he could have solved the issue with a phone call, but we had no time. He left them for his people to pick up.”
Given the option, Corbin would not go near SCIS jackals.
Adrian had powerful connections, but by now the Romanians had probably cut a deal with SCIS to put a bounty on Corbin’s head. He doubted Adrian and his boss could save him from that murdering group.
Chapter 2
Eirene stepped carefully over used syringes and a mix of nasty trash on the second floor, holding her breath against a stench that would send a human running out to barf. Being a wolf shifter meant having a sense of smell fifty times stronger than a human.
