Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(11)

Until about ten minutes ago, they’d been his friends, his family. He led them easily through the labyrinth of narrow alleys, almost to where he’d heard Hope order transport to be waiting. His skin crawled, and he held up a hand. The breeze stopped.

Two Kurjan soldiers jumped down from the nearest roof ahead of him and two from the rear. He instantly went into battle mode, firing his gun and slashing with his knife, rushing them. A bullet hit his wrist, and the gun flew out of his hand. He dropped into hand-to-hand with the nearest soldier while Liam did the same. A quick pivot, and he slammed the knife into the soldier’s throat, slicing furiously until he freed the head from the body. Kurjan blood spurted across Paxton’s neck, instantly burning him.

Liam dispatched the other soldier, and the Kurjan’s head bumped across the rough cobblestones.

Pax could hear shots behind him where Hope no doubt fired, and hopefully Collin did as well.

The sound of breaking bones came from behind him. Okay, so Collin had dropped into hand-to-hand.

A series of darts struck Paxton’s neck. “What the hell?” He yanked several out and looked up in the direction from which they’d come. This was a kidnapping attempt? Shit. They wanted Hope.

“Darts,” Hope bellowed. “Everybody get against the building.”

The darts were coming from a sniper position high above, so Paxton instantly moved where she ordered. She must have seen the shooter.

Her eyes were wide on him, and she was cradling her arm, snow covering her side. Had she fallen? “When did you learn to fight?”

She hadn’t seen anything yet. “Your arm?” he growled.

“Broken.” She winced. “Trying to heal it now.”

“More darts incoming,” Liam yelled. Then he groaned and fell to his knees with several bullet holes in his temple, face, and neck. He dropped forward onto the stones, blood seeping from beneath his face.

Paxton turned and fired perfectly through the air. A groan sounded, and then a crash echoed.

Everything wavered and went dark around Paxton. “What was in those darts?” He looked around. There were four fallen Kurjans as well as the one off the roof. There would no doubt be more coming. “Were you hit?” he asked Hope.

She was holding her neck with her good hand, and she’d gone stark white pale.

Panic clawed through him with a force he’d never experienced.

“Damn it.” Collin reached down and hauled his brother over his shoulder.

Hope sank to her knees, pitching forward.

Paxton forced the darkness away and caught her before she hit the cobblestones, ducking his head to toss her over his aching shoulder. She sputtered and then fell unconscious as the drug in the darts must’ve taken effect.

Collin leveled a grim look at him. “You hurt her, and there won’t be one inch on this world where you can hide.”

Paxton ignored the threat and turned, loping into an unsteady jog as he led the way out of the labyrinth. Each step was excruciating, and the darkness kept coming for him as the drugs moved through his system. He stumbled, and the scent of vanilla beans and orange spice wafted around him.

Hope’s scent.

He growled low, dug deep, and kept moving. They finally emerged onto a quiet street where an innocuous off-white van waited silently, the delivery driver long gone.

Collin tossed Liam in the back with a low groan.

Paxton gently flipped Hope over, cradling her easily against his chest. Possessiveness pummeled him, stronger and more primal than any drug from a dart. He’d never made himself look down deep inside where his monster lived, but today the door to that hellhole cracked open, and the beast roared, rattling his very bones.

“Give her to me.” Collin reached for his cousin.

Paxton bared his teeth as that possessive predator inside him protested. She was his.

Collin caught sight of his expression and reached for his weapon.

“No.” Paxton gently handed her over, sensing more Kurjans coming. “Go. I’ll fight them off.” He turned to run back toward danger, and the darkness finally took him.

He went down, landed hard on his elbow and then his face. Collin didn’t try to break his fall. Pain exploded, and the gleeful blackness opened up its jaws and swallowed him whole.





Chapter Five


“I can’t believe I was out for the entire flight home.” Hope sat on a plush leather examination table in her aunt’s lab, having blood drawn. Her head hurt, and her tongue was swollen. When she’d regained consciousness after arriving at Realm headquarters in Idaho, her arm was already in a cast.

“I set your fractured ulna while you were out. Now I’m going to look at the components in those darts,” Emma said, inserting an IV needle into Hope’s arm. “Here’s a nice concoction that’ll help you feel better.”

It was nothing new for Emma to take Hope’s blood, but today she just ached. Her head hurt, and she couldn’t grasp the thought that Paxton had betrayed her, had betrayed all of them, actually. It didn’t make sense. She desperately needed to speak with him.

Emma smoothed Hope’s hair away from her face. “We’ll figure this out, honey, I promise.”

“I know.” Hope tried to force a smile for her aunt, who was also the Queen of the Realm. She was their chief scientist, and she spent more time inside the lab trying to cure diseases than she did outside it. Her hair was raven black and her eyes sparkling blue, and as usual, she wore a goofy T-shirt, frayed jeans, and tennis shoes beneath a white lab coat.