Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(91)

He ducked his head and ran full bore into the battle.



Hope could barely breathe. Smoke billowed into the helicopter as her team rushed out. Her heart was in her throat, and panic threatened to consume her. The idea of Paxton getting hurt froze her for the briefest of moments. She took a deep breath and started typing again.

Satellite images became blurry as the smoke rose in the air. She flipped on the cameras contained in her teams’ vests to direct them in real time.

Collin jumped into the back of the craft and started to shut the door. “Go, go, go,” he yelled at his brother. “We have to get out of here.”

Something glinted, and Hope zeroed in on a Kurjan soldier positioned on top of one of the buildings, his over-shoulder rocket aimed at them. “Incoming,” she yelled, ducking.

A missile instantly hit the back of the craft with a loud thunk and then exploded. Collin turned just in time and grabbed Hope, covering her with his body. Fire roared through the interior, and he bellowed, the sound filled with pain.

His brother was instantly there, grabbing them both and throwing them out of the helicopter onto the battlefield. Collin rolled several times, putting out the fire, and then stopped. “Hope, you okay?”

Her ears rang, and her body felt as if it had been through another avalanche. She’d felt a sharp pop in her leg. “I think so.” Her knee was at an odd angle. “Except my leg’s broken.”

Yep. The pain came, fast and hard. She gasped for breath and then breathed out.

Colin rolled to the side, his entire back burned.

“Holy crap,” Liam said. “Hold on.” He slit his wrist with his fangs and held a hand to Hope. “Drink.”

She drank several mouthfuls and then pushed him away. “Collin,” she said.

Liam grabbed his brother and forced him to drink blood.

Collin drank and then pushed him away. “I’ve got it. I’m okay. I can heal myself.”

“You’re a fucking disaster,” Liam said.

A Kurjan soldier came out of nowhere, and Liam turned, kicking and then slicing, punching hard and fast in a blur of motion. Hope gritted her teeth and tried to push herself up. The helicopter was smoking and burning behind them. As soon as that fire hit the fuel, the craft was going to blow.

“We have to move,” she said, pain coursing through her entire body.

“Agreed.” Collin forced himself to stand. Half of his hair was burned away, revealing his scalp. Hope tried to help him, but he gestured her away. “I’m fine.” He stood and staggered slightly before ducking a shoulder beneath hers. “You can’t walk on that knee. Let me help you.” The smell of burned flesh and hair clogged the air.

They looked wildly around for a safe refuge, but hand-to-hand combat was going on all around them. A laser bullet zoomed by them and hit the copter. Liam dispatched the Kurjan he was fighting by slicing off the enemy’s head and then kicking the body out of the way.

His fangs dropped low. “Here. Over here.” He put his shoulder under Hope’s other arm, and the twins lifted her off the ground and started running with her between them. She tried to send healing cells to her broken knee and actually felt something happening. Liam’s blood was helping too. Slowly, her knee popped back into place. She shrieked at the pain and then calmed. Okay, that was better. They reached some sort of toolshed, and Liam released her as Collin did the same. She stood on one foot.

“Get healed,” Liam ordered his brother.

Collin shut his eyes and concentrated. The air popped all around him as healing cells took effect.

Screams of outrage and pain filled the air as well as the smell of smoke and blood. The sound of steel on steel, metal on metal, and fists hitting bodies reached a crescendo all around them. Hope’s gut hurt, and she wanted to throw up. Instead, she focused on healing her knee. It took only a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity.

Collin finally pushed away from the rough wooden shed. “I’m okay. Let’s get in this thing.”

Liam cut his gaze to Hope.

She shook her head. “Go. They need you.” She no longer had her laptop, but she had her ear communicator and her phone. She pulled it from her pocket. “I can see and direct all of you. Paxton, Vero, and Hunter need assistance. They’re surrounded about two hundred yards to the north, over by the main lodge. You guys need to get there.”

“We’re not leaving you,” Collin said, his hands clenched into fists.

There wasn’t time to argue. She gingerly put weight on her now healed leg. “You don’t have a choice. I can get inside where the enhanced females are.”

“That’s a good idea,” Liam said. “All right, stay between us, and we’ll take you there. If we’re engaged and you need to run, do it.”

“Affirmative,” she said. The barracks where the enhanced females lived was less secure than some of the others. The Kurjans had relied on manpower to guard it, and right now they were all out fighting. She ducked her head and pulled a knife from the sheath inside her boot. “Let’s go.”

They were close to their destination. Even so, they had to engage several Kurjan soldiers on the way. The Cyst were busy fighting elsewhere, which was good. Collin killed two soldiers, Liam three, and Hope took down one on her own. She used the Kurjan fighting blade to her advantage and killed him. His blood sprayed across her face, burning her chin. She wiped at it frantically.