The door jerks open and a huge man, a mountain himself, fills the doorframe. His dark head almost reaches the top of the jamb as he scans the darkness outside for what might have caused the noise.
I thump my hand against the log, drawing his attention toward the construction site, and he steps out, weapon in his right hand, pointed toward me, even though he can’t see a fucking thing this far.
That doesn’t stop him though.
He doesn’t even hesitate.
He moves like a trained assassin across the clearing, sweeping in all directions, but keeping his focus on where he most recently heard the sound.
Killian waits in the shadows for his opportunity.
We both wait until the man is far enough away from the cabin that he can’t double back to Raven.
I slam my hand against the log again, and he fires into it, the sharp cracks of gunfire shattering the stillness of the mountain and sending birds flying into the night sky in a panic.
The bullets slam into the log I’m tucked behind, but he’s so close that I can smell the sweat coming from him and see his sharp eyes trying to locate the intruder.
But it’s him.
This is my land, that’s my woman he’s hurting, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him touch her again.
I clutch my axe and shove to my feet as I swing.
He doesn’t have time to react, but the blade only grazes his arm as he pulls the trigger and fires a shot that embeds itself in one of the logs only a few inches from me.
This fucker barely grunts at the pain and somehow keeps hold of his gun, spinning it toward me as I lunge in the dark and knock him to the ground. I grasp his wrist and slam it down, dislodging his hold on his weapon and sending it a foot to our right in the grass.
Killian races across the clearing toward us, his gun pointed directly at us, but with me on top, there isn’t any way he can get a clean shot.
I punch the man beneath me square in the jaw.
It barely affects him.
Far bigger than me, he easily rolls me onto my back, and the sinister grin spreading across his face makes my already steaming anger flare even hotter.
“Connor McBride…you’ve interrupted my plans. I thought I’d have more one-on-one time to spend with Raven.” He grabs for his gun and presses the barrel against my temple. “But we can take care of that quickly.”
The shot rings out through the night…
It slams into his shoulder, throwing him back off me.
I don’t wait for Killian to reach us, just scramble for my axe. The moment it’s in my hand, I drive it into the man’s already bloody chest.
He jerks and reaches for the embedded blade, but I step over him and press my foot on his hand as blood begins to gurgle from his mouth.
“Lorell won’t get away with this.”
The man smiles, despite the blood spilling beneath him on the grass that means he won’t last long. He knows he’s dying and doesn’t care. “He already has.”
RAVEN
The room around me spins.
My vision goes in and out—from pitch black to fuzzy, strange light that makes me blink away from it.
Pain throbs through my temples.
The split in my lip stings, and the coppery tang of blood in my mouth makes me gag again.
