Page 17 of Savage Hunter

Shimmers of water blur the smile on her face.

“Makes no difference.”

Adrenaline courses through my blood like a spike of terror to the heart. I’ve never been a fighter. I raise a leg, aim and drive the heel of my foot into a hard shin. But I guess there is a first time for everything.

Brutus the Brute roars in pain. And I don’t feel an ounce of remorse. This is new for me.

Focused on one monster, I momentarily lose track of the other. This time it is the back of my mother’s hand that meets the other side of my face with so much force I’m knocked off balance. The edge of her diamond ring leaves behind a slash. I stumble back into the brick wall. Using the momentum I turn, crank a knee high and take his balls on a trip north.

He hunches forward grabbing himself, his face turning an ugly purple.

I run.

I hit the stairs running and don’t look back nor do I stop until I am at the bottom. Guests mingle around the foyer and deeper into the open spaces of the living areas.

Arrowing my arms in front of me, I plow through the miles of silks and cigar smoke. I find the front door wide open and barrel through with no proper plan but to get to Wolfe. He has to be among the crowd somewhere. Security lingers along the fringes to not interrupt the guests.

I scan every foot of pristine law. The fountain in the middle of the drive. I run forward. Where is he? My heart races and my blood pours through my veins so hot I feel like there is a fire inside me and it will burn me alive.

An unsuspecting guard stupid enough to keep his suit jacket undone walks past me. Instinct and the will to survive drive my hand forward. My fingers wrap around metal.

I pull and aim. “Back off.” I walk down the front stairs. Faceless men and women part to the sides. I brace against the pain of the cobbled stone underfoot.

Someone to my left tries to play hero. I aim the gun at his head. I move my finger over the trigger. “Don’t. Just don’t.”

I take another step, do a one eighty and make sure no one is sneaking up on me. It all happens in less than a second and I’m right back to pointing my gun at my mother’s guests.

“Harmonia? Beautiful. What’s going on?” I turn at the sound of Wolfe’s voice and want to fall into his arms. But I have to be strong. These people will try to stop us. I can’t let that happen.

Confusion pulls at his handsome features. He looks to me, the guests and then he sees then finally eyes the gun in my hands.

“Harmonia?”

“Wolfe, get behind me. My mother. God, you won’t believe this.”

“Wolfe Carter. I see you have my daughter. And betrayed my trust. You’ve been a busy man this evening.”

Her voice carries over the courtyard and falling water.

She knows. Of course she does.

I do the unthinkable and level my weapon on my mother as she comes to the edge of the stairs and stops. Guests line up on either side of her and turn into an impenetrable wall of humans. I can’t run forward. I chance a look behind me. Several Brutus lookalikes circle around us and block our exit to the rear.

“She plans on marrying me off to someone who wants to breed me.”

“Take them.”

Mother’s two words are the last I hear for what feels like forever.

Wolfe turns into a machine. “Behind me.” With one hand he moves me behind him and with the other he grabs my gun. Bullets fly and Wolfe doesn’t stop shooting at the men he oversees until bodies are on the ground and his gun is empty. From the looks of it, not a single bullet misses its target.

He drops the empty weapon and takes out his own. The violence starts all over again. I grip his tuxedo jack and cling to him as he clears a path through the guards. But as soon as one drops another moves in to take his place.

Blood runs over the sun-warmed cobblestones.

Rough hands grab my hair, and I am yanked away from Wolfe. He turns, the weapon looks like it’s pointed at my head when he pulls the trigger. The hand and man holding me drops. I stumble forward and I get to Wolfe just as another man lands a sucker punch to the side of his face.

He falls to the left, and I am jerked to right. A punishing arm comes around my middle and I am hauled off my feet and forced to kneel at my mother’s side.

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