Blood Assassin (The Sentinels #2)(102)

She gave one more scream before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped unconscious in the Sentinel’s arms.

Fane lifted his head to stab him with a lethal glare, the heat of his anger sizzling through the air.

“You’re a dead man,” he promised in flat tones.

Instead of following the Mave down the narrow track that offered a gentle angle down the hill, Wolfe headed directly over the top and down the steep slope, leaping the last six feet to land directly behind the squatting norms.

He wanted to take care of the band of idiots before Lana could get herself shot.

Silently stepping within striking distance of the first norm, Wolfe folded his arms over his chest.

“Put your guns down,” he said, his voice filled with authority.

In unison the men surged upright, spinning to eye Wolfe with expressions varying from shock to outright fear.

The ones with fear were the smart ones. They might actually survive the encounter.

“What the hell?” the nearest idiot muttered, a gun in his hand. “Who are you?”

Wolfe allowed his gaze to drift down the line of men, judging the character of each of them by the way they held themselves.

They were all in their mid to late twenties and dressed in the usual jeans and black T-shirts. All had tats in an effort to make them look badass and a few had piercings on various parts of their bodies.

Ridiculous, of course. Such markings only made it easier for them to be identified.

The one closest to him was clearly the leader while the one at the far end looked like he was about to piss his pants. The second in line was calculating, no doubt willing to kill, but preferring to do it without risk to his own skin. The fourth was a wild card.

“I gave you a command,” he reminded them, conspicuously leaving his own weapons in their holsters.

This close he could kill quicker with his hands.

The leader spit directly toward Wolfe’s heavy boots.

“We don’t take commands from you.”

His smile had chilled the blood of trained assassins.

“Then you’re a fool.”

The man remained defiant, but Wolfe could smell his rising fear.

“No, you are,” he tried to bluff. “We’re here on the orders of the new leader of the high-bloods.”

“Strange,” a female voice floated from the back of the SUV. “I didn’t realize I’d been deposed.”

Wolfe muttered a string of foul words beneath his breath as the men jerked around to watch the dark haired beauty step into view.

Had the aggravating woman run down the hill at full speed?

There was a moment of stunned appreciation before the leader recognized the emerald birthmark on her upper breast that shimmered in the moonlight.

“Fuck,” a man in the middle breathed, awe tingeing his voice. “You’re—”

“The Mave, current leader of the high-bloods,” Lana offered as the man’s words faltered. Her gaze shifted toward the man nearest Wolfe, the power of her presence making the air sizzle. “Or at least I was the last time I checked.”

The leader gave the man next to him a shove in the back. “Shoot her.”

The norm stiffened, glancing over his shoulder in horror. “Are you out of your mind? I can’t kill her.”

“Fine.” The leader aimed his gun. “Then I will.”

Wolfe moved with lightning speed, grabbing the man by the head and giving it a sharp twist. His neck snapped like a twig, his body limp as Wolfe tossed him to the side.

In the same motion he reached for the second man, wrapped his arm around his throat, and pulled until the man’s back was pressed against his chest. The idiot made the perfect shield.

Waiting for the bad guy’s inevitable reaction, Wolfe was prepared when he jerked his gun up in an attempt to shoot him. If the moron had any sense he would have shot through his own body in an attempt to kill Wolfe. Or at least he should have rid himself of the weapon so it couldn’t be used against him.

Grabbing the man’s wrist with enough strength to crack the bones, he forced the hand down, aiming the gun at the remaining norms.

“I gave you an order,” he said, squeezing the man’s wrist to make him cry out in pain. There was nothing like a grown man screaming to make people nervous. “Put down your guns.”

There was a flicker of movement from the man on the end as he tossed his gun to the side, and just as swiftly reached behind his back. He’d just managed to get his hidden gun pulled and pointed toward Wolfe when Wolfe shot him directly between his eyes.

The man stood for a half second, blood dripping down his nose. Then, with a harsh sigh, he toppled to the side, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.

Hissing in fear, the man in the middle dropped his gun, pressing himself against the SUV as if he could make himself invisible.

The man that Wolfe still held tight against his chest shivered, the stench of his fear making him grimace.

“What do you want?” the norm rasped.

With a jerk of his hand, Wolfe forced the man to drop the weapon. Then, he shoved him next to his friend, waiting until both of them were staring at him with open terror.

“That’s the question I was about to ask you,” he drawled.

It was the man with the crushed wrist who answered, his wary gaze darting between Wolfe and the Mave.