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With that, Amira let the knife fly, while raising the gun and firing at the same time. One of them ate a bullet, the other clutched at the knife that was embedded deeply into his throat, his eyes wide in shock. Both dropped to the ground almost simultaneously, staring vacantly at the ceiling in death.
The door crashed open, and Amira swung the gun in that direction to see Karma coming through it, dressed in a t-shirt that went down to her knees and nothing else. The other woman lowered the rifle she held in her hands, glancing down at the two dead men on the floor. “We’ve cleared the building and the area surrounding it. There were only a handful of guards here.”
“These are the only ones I saw.”
“Good.”
“Rylan needs a doctor,” Amira said, a small catch in her voice that she chose to ignore. “There’s blood on his coat. He’s… hurting.” She hesitated over the last part, her heart clenching with emotion, but not wanting anyone to see how affected she was over her mate’s pain.
Stop being stupid. He’s our mate, of course you would be upset that he is hurting.
We haven’t even really met yet. I know nothing about him. Why is this bothering me so much? I feel like it’s crushing me, and I don’t like it.
You don’t have to like it. Her dragoness was blunt, to the point, just like Amira needed her to be. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t met. He is ours. I’ve told you so, and you need to trust me. And you know he is strong, loyal, and a good father to our cubs. Now, buck the fuck up, buttercup, and take care of our mate.
Gritting her teeth tightly, Amira looked back at Rylan. He stood at the front of the cage now, his eyes on hers as he watched her carefully. Taking a deep breath, she said, “We need to find keys to get the cages open.”
Frowning, she let her gaze roam around the room, before looking back at Rylan. “Any idea where those might be, mate?”
Rylan shook his head and then slowly lowered himself to the ground, as if he couldn’t stand any longer. Amira quickly crossed the room, blocking out everything else around her except him as she knelt in front of his cage.
“Rylan?”
He rested his head on his paws, his eyes closing, and Amira couldn’t stop herself from reaching through the bars to lay a hand on his neck. A low purr emerged from his throat, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“Rest, my mate, while I find a way to get you out of here.”
Rylan growled lowly when she took her hand from him and slipped it back through the bars, but still didn’t open his eyes, which she knew meant he was much worse off than she originally thought.
Amira’s head snapped to the cage next to her when the fox began to shift, and she quickly moved over in front of her. “Wait, you can’t, there isn’t enough room.”
The shifter didn’t listen, and soon there was a tiny woman where the fox had been. She was curled into a tiny ball, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, her wide, liquid brown eyes on Amira. Luckily, she was small enough that her body fit in the cage, with a little room to spare, she just wouldn’t be standing up in it.
“Keys in cabinet,” she gasped, as her body trembled in fear. “On hook on door.”
Amira glanced back at Karma, and the other woman gave her a nod, before stalking across the room to the cabinet.
“You are safe now, little fox,” Amira said softly. “We are going to free you and get you home.”
“Can’t go home,” the woman whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “They will find me again.”
“We just took out their army,” Amira said soothingly. “All of the men here are gone, and so are the ones who showed up at our pride earlier today.”
“There are more. Vanessa is in charge. Rylan got her good when she came in a while ago. She’s at the hospital now.”
Amira’s gaze held pride as she looked over at her mate. He was strong and brave.
And ours.
“She will be back.”
“Maybe,” Amira replied, “but we will be long gone.”
“And Gunther,” the woman gasped. “He’s huge. Scary.”
“Is he the male dragon?” Karma asked as she came over with a set of keys.
“Yes.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about him anymore. Amira killed him, and I made sure all that was left was ashes.” After a few unsuccessful attempts, Karma found the right key, and unlocked the cell door. “What’s your name, little one?”
The woman slowly crawled out of the cage, but didn’t stand when she was out. She looked up at them, her long, dark hair covering half of her pretty face as she whispered, “Ella. Ella Martinez.”
“You have a beautiful name,” Karma said softly. “Mine is Karma. Would you feel more comfortable shifting back to your fox form until we get back home?”
“Home?”
Karma smiled at her kindly, before handing the keys over to Amira. “Yes, Ella, we are going to my home. You can stay with us until we can make sure that you are safe.”
Ella ducked her head, her eyes on the floor as she whispered, “Thank you.”
Amira tuned them out as she moved to the black leopard’s cell next. “Are you going to fight us when I open this door, leopard?” At the decisive shake of his head, Amira took a deep breath and slid the key into the lock. Trusting in her dragoness to have her back and warn her if he turned out to be a threat, she removed the key quickly and opened the door, then moved back over to Rylan without waiting to see the leopard step out of the cell.
After quickly opening the door to Rylan’s cage, she dropped to her knees beside him, running her hands gently over his fur. There was blood matting it in two separate spots, and she swore softly when she saw what looked like bullet wounds.
“It looks like he has a couple of bullets in him. We are going to need to remove them.”
“Zev and the others are about thirty minutes out,” Draco said as he walked into the room, Evalena right behind him. He grinned when Amira looked over at him in confusion, wondering how the hell he knew that. “Borrowed a phone from one of the dead guys to make a call.”
When she sent him an answering smile, she was surprised to hear a warning growl from the lion beside her. Glancing down, she saw his eyes were open and on her now, and she laughed softly. Leaning down, she rubbed her cheek against his, whispering, “You up for removing those bullets?” At his low rumbling growl, she laughed again. “Don’t worry, gorgeous, I know what I’m doing. I’ve done it a time or two before.” Noticing how protective he seemed to be, Amira didn’t tell him that every bullet she removed before had been from her own body.
Glancing over at Draco, she said, “I’m going to need a few things from that lab area down the hall. I need to get these out so he can heal properly.” After giving him a list, she laid her head down on top of Rylan’s. “Let’s do this so we can get home to our cubs, mate. I don’t want to be away much longer if what Ella says is true, and there are still more of our enemy out there.”
When he growled in what she assumed was agreement, she placed a kiss on his fur. “Don’t worry, they are fine right now. They have the pride, and Karma’s cousin and her mate are there too. Soon, we will be home and you can keep them safe while I go hunting.”
Amira could tell he didn’t like that by the snarl he let loose, but it didn’t matter. She was going. She needed to make sure her family was safe, and the only way to do that was to hunt down all threats and eliminate them.
“Don’t worry, mate,” she said quietly, running her hand gently over his fur. “I’m a Rogue Enforcer. This is what I do.”
And it was what she would continue to do. She hoped Rylan could deal with that.
