War of Hearts(40)

She heard Conall roaring her name just before she felt him at her back.

“Thea, we need to get back, now!”

“Back up!” she yelled over her shoulder.

The car creaked one last time.

It was enough.

“Thea!”

“I’ve got him.” She slid her arms around the man and struggled to pull him out. His legs were a mess. She turned to find Conall still waiting. He looked like he wanted to kill her, but he said nothing, instead taking the injured man from her with ease.

Together they were streaks of movement up the road to the waiting mother and daughter.

The explosion behind them caused a gust of wind to blow Thea’s hair up and around her face, momentarily blinding her. She smoothed it down impatiently, glad to feel the burns on her palms had already healed.

Crying over her mother’s unconscious body, the little girl didn’t even acknowledge the car’s explosion. Her eyes were on her father, whom Conall laid on the road beside her. His daughter fell over him, crying in relief.

Thea felt something settle inside. Feeling Conall’s attention, she looked up to find him staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. It was intense. Really intense. Another flutter of nerves made themselves known in her belly.

Just as she was about to ask him what his problem was, the sounds of sirens filled their ears. Someone had called the emergency services.

“We need to leave.” Conall seemed torn about it as he glanced from the injured family to the black sedan lying upside down in the field. “If the people inside that car arenae human, we dinnae have much time to get out of here.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when the back-passenger door of the sedan heaved open, an arm appearing.

“Yeah, we need to go.” She nudged him toward the car and looked down at the little girl. Guilt suffused her but the sirens were growing ever closer. The kid would be fine. Just as long as her mom and dad woke up.

Things didn’t look good for her dad.

Thea’s heart ached but she shoved down the pain as she and Conall grabbed their rucksacks and belongings, abandoned their vehicle and ran into the cover of the forest that ran beside the freeway. Thea sent a prayer out into the universe. She wasn’t certain she believed in God, but if He did exist, she asked Him to watch over the kid, to make sure she didn’t end up alone.





*



The trees camouflaged them as they ran at full speed. Thea was faster than Conall, but he did an admirable job of trying to keep up. There was forestation all along the freeway, toward the town Thea had intended Conall to drive to, which provided much-needed cover.

Given their speed, they arrived quicker than they would have in the car. The tingling never abandoned Thea’s neck, so she knew her pursuers were still after her. She and Conall cut southeast through fields and trees, and she’d never longed for the dark of night more.

“I can hear them. They’re werewolves.” Conall grabbed Thea’s biceps, pulling her to a halt. “We cannae lead them into a town if they’re armed. We’ve caused enough damage.” He searched the fields in the distance and Thea saw her own guilt mirrored in his eyes.

“There.” He pointed to what looked like industrial farm buildings.

They fled across the fields and stopped within the protection of the trees surrounding the largest of the buildings.

Conall held a finger to his lips, and she stayed silent. Her hearing was good. His was better.

Finally, he looked down at her. “Empty.”

“I’m guessing this is a kill-or-be-killed situation.”

“Aye.” He took off his rucksack and urged her to do the same. After hiding them behind a tree, he nudged her in front of him and they crouched low as they broke out of the trees and dove against the building. Conall pulled the large double doors open and Thea followed him inside.

It was entirely empty.

There were stalls and chunky metal gates everywhere but no animals and no people. There wasn’t even a strong smell of animal waste in the air, just a musty scent and sparse bits of old hay scattered about.

Her eyes swept over the disused barn.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere they could set up a defensive position. Everything was out in the open.

The thought had barely processed when the tingling on her neck increased. “Conall—” She whipped around as two female wolves stormed into the barn, handguns blazing.

Thea’s body moved before she could think, instinct fueling her speed as she jumped in front of Conall and felt the bullets ricochet through her like hot stings. She shoved the Scot with such force, he flew into the air out of the way of the spray.

Thea turned as the wolves reloaded and she thanked fuck they weren’t packing automatics as she pushed through the awful feeling of having metal foreign objects lodged in her back. Two were through and through. Three were not.

Dipshits.

It took seconds to kill them.

Break wrist holding gun. Tear heart out of chest. Rinse and repeat.

A deep sadness filled Thea as she stared down at the two women, but she knew she had to kill them. If she’d merely knocked them out, they would have come after them again, and Thea needed time to take care of the three bullets inside her.

Whoever this coven was, they underestimated her. They weren’t exactly sending their finest to fight her. Well, except for the strong vampire in Prague who Conall had annihilated. Speaking of which ...