Page 91 of Corbin
Darkness closed over Corbin again. He welcomed leaving here.
Ares brought him back awake when he spoke up in a rough voice hurting for water.Someone coming.
Huh?A guard looked down at Corbin. Had he said that out loud? He moved his good eye to find Vlad sitting on a chair someone had brought here. He scrolled his phone.
Be quiet, Ares said.
Never had Corbin’s wolf sounded beaten, but he did now. Corbin asked,What is coming? Is it the shifter Vlad is waiting for?
Maybe. I do not scent anyone yet.
A tear worked free of Corbin’s swollen eye. He didn’t want to hand Ares a broken body for his last fight. They’d had no food and little water. His wolf couldn’t heal them.
A loud explosion erupted outside.
Vlad yelled at his guards. They yelled back in their native tongue. The two heavily armed guards slipped out the back end of the barn by opening a door held in place with a bent nail.
A strange hush fell around the building.
Corbin tried to hear what was going on. Shouldn’t they be shooting?
A scream outside jolted the Romanian.
Corbin smiled. That had been a human scream. Deep sounding as if from a male. Who had Vlad pissed off now?
Were the strangers here to steal his broken wolf shifter?
Corbin hoped not. He knew this monster. Why trade for one with more evil ideas?
The barn door hanging half open yanked wider.
This could be interesting. Corbin tilted his head to see more with his half-closed eye.
In came Adrian with a badass pistol raised. He fired twice.
Corbin had to be hallucinating, but he looked at Vlad.
The Romanian dropped his rifle and stood there for a second with two bullet holes in his forehead, and then he fell backward.
Better than hallucinating. This was a dream come true.
Ares had been right. Corbin must be seeing apparitions again. He turned back to Adrian to enjoy this moment for as long as he could before Vlad zapped him.
Adrian shouted over his shoulder, “Cole! Call in the chopper and send Rory in here.” He rushed to Corbin’s side and dropped to one knee. “I’m so sorry we didn’t arrive sooner. The Guardian has teams all over this part of Canada searching for you.”
“Is this real?” Hope sent relief zinging through Corbin.
“Yes, it is, buddy.” Adrian’s face distorted with a look of horror for only a second. Then he tried to smile but failed. “Oh, man, they did a number on you. Wish I could have saved you from this. Jaz will fix you up. Hold on while we get you to the chopper and out of here.”
Was Adrian taking him out of here? Did that mean the Romanian was dead?
Ares said,Good people. Let them fix us.
His wolf thought this was real too. Corbin had no fight left in him. Even if it wasn’t real, he decided to go along with all of it for a moment of peace from Vlad’s red remote.
“Thanks, Adrian,” Corbin rasped in case Adrian was here. He’d failed to let Adrian know when he left that building with Eirene. “I would have called ...” He drew in a painful breath of air that gurgled on the way out. “My phone. Broken.”
“Forget about it and stop trying to talk. I think you’re bleeding internally. Please stay still.”
