Chapter 21
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Alyssa damned herself for being an idiot. She’d brought her youngest tenants to safety—a pair of four-year-old twins—was coordinating with Detective Kennedy, and watching her home and her life savings literally go up in smoke. But she couldn’t see Simon, and that ate at her. Also, her older tenants might be fierce in mind, but frail in body. She let them cover her retreat while she was hauling the twins, but now it was time to make sure they made it to safety, too.
So as soon as she could, she handed off her phone to one of the mothers and headed back toward the building. Then the shots had started and she freaked. Nothing stopped the images of Simon bleeding on the ground from parading through her brain. His flesh torn open, his eyes glazing as he struggled for his last breath. She couldn’t block the thoughts and so she’d rushed when she should have been careful.
The asshole caught her just rounding the corner of the neighboring building. Her gaze had been on the parking lot as she searched for Simon. The gun had been lax in her hand, her attention too far away. Joey disarmed her before she even knew he was there. And then she was pressed against the building with his arm across her throat as he buried his nose against her temple.
His inhale was loud and disgusting. Worse was the way he pulled back with a sneer.
“He mated you,” he spat. “A pot dealer in a better-off-dead suburb.”
“We can’t all be born in alligator shirts and ugly chinos.” No sense in telling him she didn’t deal pot. He wasn’t listening.
But he was damn fast.
He backhanded her. Quick and harsh. Her head slammed back against the wall and her cheek burned. But that was all she needed to move her fear into an icy cold rage. It cleared her mind and brought with it every self-defense tactic she’d ever learned. And a few that were all about maiming her assailant permanently.
But she never got the chance.
He was a great deal bigger than she was and he had her pinned against a brick wall. Right when she was about to slam on his instep, he spun her around and shoved her face-first into the brick. And he held her there with his weight and his minty Altoid breath while someone came up beside them to report.
“We’ve got a problem.”
“No shit, Sherlock. Who thought a bunch of old geezers could fight?”
Good for them. She hoped her friends had killed every single one of his henchmen. Just like she was going to do to him the second he gave her a chance.
That came a moment later when he turned to look over his shoulder at the building. She didn’t have much leverage, but damn she could head butt like nobody’s business. Or in this case rear her head back and try to break his nose.
It didn’t work. Or at least not as well as she’d wanted. She nailed him but not hard enough.
“Ow! You fucking bitch.”
She tried to squirm away, but his hold on her didn’t ease. And then he was pissed enough to slam her head forward again hard enough to make her see stars. Strangely enough it was the other guy who spoke reason.
“You can’t kill her,” the guy said. “They’re mated. He’ll kill us for sure.”
“He’s going to try. And that’s just what we want.”
Alyssa wanted to argue that she and Simon weren’t mated, but her face was pressed too hard against the brick. And she also guessed that she was the only one who cared about the distinction.
“But—” began the other guy.
“Shut up and do what I tell you. Find out who’s left.”
Bad guy bickering. God, could it get any worse?
She shouldn’t have even thought the question because a moment later, her biggest fear came true. First, they had to wait while the henchman tried to phone their buddies. No response, which made Alyssa all kinds of happy inside. But before she could make any snide comments, Joey zip-tied her wrists behind her back then spun her around. His choke hold was tight enough, but then she felt the hard press of metal against her temple.
She would have fought. Hell, she tried. But he was bigger and stronger. Worse, his forearm was so tight against her throat, it was all she could do to draw breath.
“Stand on that side,” he ordered his man. “The minute you can, shoot him.” Then he marched her into the narrow circle of yellow porch light and started bellowing for Simon.
It didn’t take long for him to appear. He stood in the shadows beside an old minivan, and she scanned every inch of him looking for bullet holes. Thankfully there weren’t any, but there sure as hell was blood on his clothes and a murderous look on his face.
But he didn’t move and he sure as hell didn’t speak. Thank God because where he stood was too protected for the asshole to get off a shot. And though she strained to get enough breath to warn Simon, she never got the chance. It was all she could do to get enough air to keep from passing out.
