Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“How much longer?” I asked, looking out the window.
“Four minutes,” Ian answered.
Dalton hadn’t spoken once.
“She’s fine,” Chance said, reaching over to slap my chest. “Only a couple more minutes and you’ll see for yourself.”
“Don’t land at the house,” I ordered.
“The closest place to land is a quarter mile away,” Ian replied, looking at me in disbelief over his shoulder.
“If we land at the house, we’ll barely make it out of the helicopter,” I said, leaning forward. I knew Dalton could hear me through the headset, but I wasn’t sure he would actually listen.
“We need to go in quietly or they’ll be ready for us.”
“It could be over by now,” Chance said as he watched Dalton worriedly. “Did it say when that message was sent?”
Ian shook his head.
“If we land on your property, someone is going to notice,” I warned. “We’ll lose any element of surprise we have.”
“Dad?” Ian murmured.
Adamson groaned when Dalton took a sharp left and the helicopter swung sideways.
“Shut the fuck up,” Chance growled, stomping on Adamson’s back. “No one fucking cares.”
He pulled a piece of thin rope out of his pocket and leaned down to tie Adamson’s hands behind his back. By the time he’d finished, we were just setting down on a grassy piece of land. I wasn’t sure where we were, but there were no lights in the distance giving any indication of a house.
I had to throw myself out of the helicopter and land running to keep up with Dalton and Ian through the woods. They leaped over small creeks and circumvented large rocks like they’d run that path a hundred times before and could do it with their eyes closed. By the time they slowed, light was visible through the trees around us.
At first, I thought it was outdoor lights, but as we moved closer, I realized that the front of the house was illuminated with headlights. At least six vehicles were parked out front, and I didn’t recognize any of them.
The men were yelling to each other in hushed voices, racing in and out of the house like ants on an anthill.
Then the crack of a rifle shot.
A man in the front doorway of the house collapsed.
Another rifle shot.
Someone near one of the vehicles disappeared behind it.
Three men in the yard began firing at where the second shot had come from.
Another shot, and one of them went down.
“That’s Gary,” Dalton said, his eyes searching the yard. “I recognize the sound of his rifle.”
“Is the other one Rosemary?” I asked, searching the hill.
“I doubt it,” Ian said softly. “Someone had to get Mom and the boys out of the safe room.”
Everything inside me stilled.
I’d only experienced the sensation once before, but I’d been too young to fully remember it. When my father realized what he’d passed down, he’d done his best to equip me with the tools to keep it in check. We’d had so many conversations about it as I grew, and long after I was an adult.
Up until that point, I’d always been able to hold it back by calming myself down.
Unfortunately, the box that I’d held my emotions in for most of my life was suddenly nowhere to be found.
My father said that when it came over him, it was as if his senses heightened, but everything came through a filter as if his body knew instinctively what mattered and what didn’t. All pain disappeared. Tiredness was washed away. Thought narrowed into precise focus.
Like father, like son.
I didn’t realize I was moving until I was already upon the men near the SUV. Through a red haze, I cut them down. I didn’t even bother with the rifle hanging over my shoulder. The knife in my hand worked just fine.
Chance’s voice came from somewhere behind me, but I ignored it.
There was a man inside the SUV. I took care of him too.
Then I strode toward the house.
There were so many of them inside, and they all came to meet me.
My rifle was still on my back, but my pistol was easily accessible in my holster, so I used that as the men raced toward me.
I grunted in frustration as Chance and Dalton ran up the stairs, chasing a few of the men down.
My hands flexed as I stalked through the bottom floor. No more men.
Ian stood next to me, saying something, but I couldn’t hear him.
He wasn’t important.
Turning, I walked back out the front door. My mate was here somewhere, and I needed to find her. Walking down the side of the house, I searched for more of the humans. Shots peppered around me, but I ignored those too. A bullet wouldn’t slow me down unless I let it.
My mate was somewhere on that property, and I was going to find her.
I wasn’t sure how many men I faced as I moved toward the back of the property, but there were a lot. They swarmed like locusts on a field of wheat. When one fell, another took his place.