Page 29 of Savage Mates
They were frothing at the mouth from being famished.
Sweet Jesus. Had they killed the soldier, mauling his body?
Their eyes were mesmerizing, but not like any other lion I’d ever seen, glowing to the point of appearing like neon. Finally, all three opened their jowls as if in synchronization, exposing their sharp canines.
In all my years, I’d never seen any lion so large, abnormally so. They were at least twice the size of a normal beast.
And there was no doubt who they were hunting.
Me.
They were quiet, yet I felt the hard ticking of their pulse dancing to the same beat as mine.
My actions slow and deliberate, I reached into my bag, searching for my gun. But one lion seemed to sense what I was doing, as if reading my mind. Before I could wrap my fingers around the cool steel, the powerful beast lunged for me and I took off running again, unable to keep a single shrill cry from erupting.
Trees slapped at my face and arms, scratching my skin. In pain, I kept running, my heart thudding.
Terror skittered through me.
Why had I been so stupid?
I had to find a way of escaping.
A ridiculous fleeting thought rushed through my mind. The lions. My lions. The ones who I’d sensed being there to protect me.
I called out to them in my mind, screaming silently for their help. Then a bloodcurdling scream erupted, the sound raw and terrified.
Oh, God. This wasn’t good.
This was a nightmare.
The sound of rushing water pounded in my ears the moment I broke through a group of trees, forced to skid to a stop.
No. No. No! A waterfall. A cliff. A sharp drop-off.
I was cornered. There was nowhere to go.
Spinning around, I thrust the machete out in front of me, moving from foot to foot as the beasts approached. Their moves were cautious, calculated. “Get away from me.”
Then anther noise. I was expecting to see more lions from the pride joining them, preparing for a juicy feast. But I was wrong.
So very wrong.
Two men appeared from the shadows. Each was holding an assault rifle, but in their other hand was a whip. One of them grinning, he swung the whip, the hard snap of his wrist immediately followed by the thin leather tip hitting the ground. One of the lions threw his massive head over his shoulder, issuing a dangerous growl as a warning.
Dr. Abbott hadn’t lied about how dangerous the mercenaries could be.
Oh, my fucking God. They were controlling the lions, beating them to do their bidding.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Time slowed as the men studied me. One of them made a single sound and the lions became agitated.
There was nowhere to go, no way of escaping.
More noise. Trees rustling.
A single shot and one of the mercenaries went down hard. The lions moved into frenzy, momentarily ignoring me.
