Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(92)

“Let’s go,” Liam yelled, his shoulder obviously broken.

They ran farther and finally reached the barracks. Three Realm soldiers were already guarding the facility.

“Good,” Liam said, pushing her past the soldiers. “Is it clear in there?”

The first Realm soldier nodded. “Yes. No Kurjans or Cyst and no weapons. We made sure.”

“Good. All right. Direct us,” Liam said.

She read the face of her phone, her mind calculating distances and fighting forces. “Go assist Paxton,” she ordered. “That way.” She pointed past several clusters of combatants.

“On it,” Collin said. He and his brother hurried into the fray.

Hope took a deep gulp just as she spotted Lyrica and Genevieve hurrying toward her.





Chapter Forty


Hope turned as two Kurjan soldiers barreled around the corner and tackled the Realm guards. A third followed up and grabbed her, lifting her off the ground.

“Oh, hell no,” Lyrica yelled, running toward them and stabbing the Kurjan in the eye repeatedly. Genevieve followed and kicked him in the groin, ankle, and knees while shrieking the entire time.

He bellowed and backed away, swatting at the two females. Then a Realm soldier tackled him to the ground, and the other two took care of their attackers. Hope turned, ushering the women back into safety. Her breath panted. “Thanks for that.”

“Sure.” Lyrica’s chest heaved, and she wiped blood off her cheekbone. “Snuck out and grabbed weapons for some of us. We’re ready to fight.” She winced. “Their blood burns.”

“I know.” Hope reached out and wiped off her friend’s cheek.

Lyrica gulped. “We were just about to make a run for it. You want to come with us?”

Hope took out her phone to watch her team in action. “No, no. Don’t go anywhere. It’s not safe. There are more explosives, and the Kurjans will probably shoot you on sight. Your best bet is to stay here, and I’ll let you know if we need to run in the case of a breach.” She looked around the main barracks area at the twenty or so enhanced females. “Are any of you mated to Kurjans?”

They all shook their heads.

“No,” Lyrica said. “The mates are all at other barracks. To be honest, there aren’t many here. I don’t think the soldiers take them when they go to other camps.”

That actually made sense. “Good. Excellent job procuring weapons.”

“Thanks. It feels good to have a way to protect ourselves now. They’ve kept weapons away from us, obviously,” Lyrica said. “Probably thought we’d stab them through the brain as if they had any.” Today, the woman wore a light pink skirt with a V-neck top. She angrily unbraided her thick black hair. “I really want in that battle.”

“Do you know how to fight?” Hope asked.

Lyrica set her stance. “Yeah, I know how to fight. I’ve been looking forward to this.”

“I admire your dedication,” Hope said. “But for now, how about we let everybody who has weapons and tactical gear fight the bad guys?”

“All right,” Lyrica said, frowning. “But I’m telling you, if things look like they’re going south for the good guys, I’m not waiting here.”

Hope turned back to her phone. “Agreed.”

Libby and Derrick were positioned with the far north fighting force, and Hope could see Realm soldiers around them. They were in good position.

She looked around for anything they could use to block the entrance to the barracks if necessary. The room only held cots and mirrors. It was kind of creepy. She didn’t have enough weapons for all of the women. “Anybody against breaking some glass?”

“They’re unbreakable,” Lyrica sniffed. “I already tried. Thought I could use glass as a weapon. It’s not even the real stuff.”

“Figures.” Hope looked back at her phone. Sounds of the battle were excruciating, and a couple of the women started to cry. “It’s all right,” Hope said, watching carefully. “We’ve outmanned them, and we have better explosives. We took out their weapons depot as well as several of their missiles. They have a couple they can still send. But we are deactivating them as we speak.”

She could see what was happening in real time, but she wanted to be out there. However, her skills were needed here, and this was how she’d trained. She clicked her ear communicator. “Dage, your force needs to move to the left. You guys are going right, and Talen’s team doesn’t need your help, whereas Garrett’s does. Maneuver toward the Seven, not the vampires.”

“Copy that,” the king said.

She could see on the map when they started to move. Good. “Does anybody have eyes on Ulric?” she asked.

“Negative,” Paxton said, grunting.

A chorus of negatives came through the line.

“Keep looking,” she muttered. “Where is he? We didn’t miss him, did we?”

The sounds of more fighting came over the line, and nobody answered.

“What’s going on?” Lyrica asked, looking over her shoulder.

“We’re moving from the outside in,” Hope said. “We’re confining those we can and killing any we can’t.”