Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 58 - OUT OF LINE

He was saying it earnestly ... like he genuinely expected me to understand. Like wanting to sleep with a sixteen-year-old was a valid reason to drag her kicking and screaming to her wedding. A flockie might have walked away then. Found someone higher up the pecking order to sort this out. It was lucky that I wasn't a flockie.

"Okay," I said mildly. "Here's the thing. No."

He choked on a laugh. "The hell do you mean - no? This has nothing to do with you-"

Oh, I had no trouble believing that he didn't know what 'no' meant. I plastered on a sickly smile and raised the baseball bat once again. It was less suspicious than pulling a knife on him.

"I mean that you can go screw yourself," I said. "You have three seconds to get away from the door before I clock you. Three."

"Don't make me laugh, little girl."

"Two."

"You wouldn't dare-"

I didn't say 'one.' I didn't want to give him the warning. I just swung hard at his stomach and knocked the breath right out of him. And while he was doubled over, gasping, I took the cheap shot at his throat with my other hand. My knuckles collided with his windpipe.

They made it so easy, these flockie boys. They took one look at me and saw a scrawny-looking girl and dismissed me as a threat. And that made it all the more surprising for them when I turned around and kicked their arses. Sometimes it was nice to be underestimated.

I shook out my hand. The flockie was on the floor now, distinctly pale and retching. I hadn't hit him that hard, but he didn't try to get back up again. Lucky for me. My knuckles were stinging, and I wouldn't have been keen to hit him again.

"Eva..." Lilah breathed.

She didn't sound as scandalised as I'd expected, but there was a degree of wariness there. I turned my head just far enough to wink at her before stepping away from the door. Without taking my eyes off the flockies, I called to Lin. "You can come out now."

And she did. Slowly, cautiously, and with a faceful of disbelief, Lin crept out of the storage room and ducked behind me. I had a feeling I didn't want to know why her dress was torn at the shoulder and there were red marks on her arms, like someone had been squeezing a bit too hard.

He'd laid hands on her before she'd got away. He'd tried to drag her to that ceremony against her will. This pack never ceased to amaze me. He should have been on our list for the ambush. You'd think that a man who had the hots for a sixteen-year-old would have qualified as one of the pack's biggest pricks, but somehow, he didn't even make the top fifteen.

"Let's go, ladies," I said.

I dared to turn my back on them. One hand on Lin's arm, I guided her down the corridor, towards freedom. She didn't look too much the worse for her ordeal. And once we got her back to the cottage, she'd be safe and sound.

"The Alpha will hear about this, you vicious little bitch," the man's friend snapped after us.

I was certain that I had never cared less about anything ever. "Cool. Don't leave out the part where I beat you both up."

***

We were coming out of the packhouse when Micah found us. I wouldn't have been surprised to see him looking at us, given that Lilah was among us, but that wasn't all he did. The way he changed direction, stalking across the lawn, could only mean one thing. Someone had been mind-linking.

We were in so much trouble. For more reasons than one. He had a group of fighters behind him, and one of those fighters was Liam. He had been drafted to Mason's personal detail days ago, and that meant he was now a part of Micah's. And his presence here only served to complicate things.