Bronto's Revenge (Barbarian Lust, #2)(39)

Bronto tore into the woods but didn’t see a soul mixed within the trees. He halted to look and listen. Nothing. It was eerily quiet. Not even the sound of leaves rustled.

He followed smashed ferns, not knowing if the tracks were fresh or left over from their feet when they’d chopped down trees.

“Bronto?” Vulcan shouted, halting him in his tracks. “Wait.”

He turned.

“Let’s mount the horses and ride out. We’ll waste too much time on foot,” Vulcan instructed.

“Caw. Caw.”

Bronto glanced overhead. Birmon’s mom circled the treetops, her massive wings swooping air. She flew toward the mountains, hovered over an area for a moment then returned, gliding above the trees.

“Caw. Caw.”

Vulcan stepped beside Bronto, keeping his eyes on the sky as she again headed toward the mountains. “It’s unusual for her to appear for no reason,” Vulcan said. “Let’s ride over there. Zypher, untether the horses.”

Bronto shot past him and mounted his horse. He didn’t wait for Vulcan or Zypher and he raced toward the foothills where the thirty-foot-long bird treaded air.

Suddenly she changed direction, flying straight ahead to a clearing, and swooped up and down within a large area. Bronto halted and gazed at the open meadow. There wasn’t a damn thing in sight. No footprints in the dirt. No footprints in the grass. No f*cking evidence at all.

He tried silencing his raspy breath to focus on unusual noises but the only things audible besides air rushing in and out of his lungs were horse hooves beating to a stop behind him.

“Caw. Caw.”

“What the f*ck,” he shouted, rubbing sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. “We’re wasting time. There’s nothing here.”

Again the creature took flight and changed direction, gliding to the southeast.

Where the f*ck was she going? Bronto kicked his mount into a run. For all he knew the bird could be leading them to their deaths. She’d shred them to pieces as she’d done to that bastard Sledge. The SOB deserved it.

Bronto had had enough of that *’s shitty antics. The day Bronto met Ivy, Wisteria was, for the second time, at the mercy of the whip-happy prick. He’d used Ivy as bait to barge his sneaky ass into the Barbarians’ camp and take Wisteria hostage. While he’d held an ax to Wisteria’s throat, Ivy sat bound to a tree. Bronto deserved a medal for the amount of restraint he’d utilized to maintain control. If Vulcan hadn’t commanded him to halt, Bronto would’ve plugged an arrow right between the abducting lug’s eyes. One wrong move would’ve earned him a third eye socket.

Bronto pulled on the reins and guided the horse left when the creature flew around a bend. In the backdrop he spotted what appeared to be a dark haze but he knew it was a distant forest wall. The trees appeared no bigger than an inch tall. It would take them f*cking forever to get there and breach the border. Precious time they couldn’t afford to lose.

The creature swooped low then gained height then swooped again. Trying to keep an eye on it while looking from side to side for Ivy was more difficult than he’d anticipated. They traveled so fast she would’ve been easy to miss had the aliens stalled within the surrounding trees.

And then the bird landed on her talons in a thick patch of knee-high brush. She didn’t move as Bronto barreled ass to reach her. As he narrowed the distance he slowed to a trot, positioning his finger on the rifle trigger in case she showed any signs of aggression. A short distance behind her through the trees a purple haze glowed. And then he heard a waterfall. The damn bird had guided him the long route to the exact place he and Ivy encountered when they’d fled from the cave lion.

He steadied his mount, which sidestepped as if spooked, and he listened for voices or, God forbid, screams.

“What the hell is that?” Zypher asked as he and Vulcan settled on either side of him.

“This is where Ivy and I found the baby dinosaurs.” He pointed toward the purple background. “In there.”

“Caw.” Birmon’s mom waddled to the wall of trees then took flight.

Without a second thought, Bronto galloped to the forest border and dismounted. He tied his horse to a conifer and entered the small stretch of pines and evergreens. On the opposite side he saw the waterfall, the pond and the stones where Ivy sat to watch the fish.

His eyes burned and his breath caught but he contained the sick feeling bleeding through his veins and trudged forward until he reached the plush grass.

He thought he heard whimpers and he stiffened in alarm but it was hard to focus with Vulcan’s and Zypher’s footsteps shuffling through the dense bed of ferns.

Then he heard them again. He whipped around and held up his hand. “Shhh.”

Swoosh-swoosh.

The sound of the bird’s wings broke the silence as she landed on top of the opening of a golden cave, her talons gripping the edge.

Muffled screams echoed from the belly of the rock tunnel. Bronto wanted to rush inside and shoot everything that moved but he controlled the urge and backed up until he disappeared inside the line of trees near the men.

Zypher’s eyes flared and his mouth dropped as if he wanted to speak but he snapped it shut and peered at the cave.

As quietly as possible they made their way to the entrance. They didn’t need to venture deep inside to see bright lighting reflected at the end of a narrow rock tunnel. They crept along the wall, spurring each other on, stopping periodically inside deep crevices to listen. The closer they got to the dead end, the louder the whimpers and screams tore through the enclosure.