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“Very good. Now, start talking or I kill you.”
Lauren backed up until she was even with Gavin’s room, and she pressed her palm to the reader. It beeped once, and she lifted her palm but allowed all five fingers to stay, so the fingerprints could be read. She heard a click, and she opened the door while staying in front of the wall.
Chapter 12
Gunfire erupted, and Lauren went to the floor, somersaulted in, stood, and used the heel of her hand to strike the first man she came to in the face. His nose geysered blood, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell backwards in a heap. He wasn’t dead, but he’d be out at least a few minutes. Before he even hit the floor, she leapt up and over a sofa, turning in midair. She saw another man pivoting to aim his gun in her direction as she dropped to the floor, and she squatted behind the sofa and then somersaulted to the right as machine-gun fire ate through the back of the sofa. She pressed herself to the floor andlistened.
She heard him walking closer. Closer. Closer.
Lauren didn’t know how she knew she could push the sofa into him hard enough to make him fall, but she did, and she trusted the feeling. As he stepped to the sofa and lifted the gun to fire directly down on her, she shoved the sofa into his legs, he fell forward, the gun went off a half-dozen times, and she felt fire exploding in her left calf muscle as her hawk took off from her shoulder. She didn’t know how he got out from under her bra and shirt, but he did, and he beat the man around the head and shoulders long enough for Lauren to take his gun from him.
And then she felt Gavin awaken, take stock of what was going on, and the next thing she knew, the middle of the floor popped up and a blur came out of it too fast for her human eyes to see.
Less than a minute later, her hawk was back on her shoulder, and she saw everything the hawk had seen while it was away from her, including a clear view of Gavin coming out of his hidey-hole.
Everyone in the room still alive was frozen in place, as if they were a statue.
“Queenie’s outside the room,” Lauren told him, “recovering from some major damage. She had a guy held at gunpoint when I came in. She needs food.”
I sense everything in the mansion. They brought twenty-three people in. All unfriendlies still alive are marching to my dungeon even as we speak.
They didn’t expect you up this early?
I’ve never been up this early. I believe you somehow woke me with your terror.Gavin took a deep breath. I smell your blood.
Lauren sat up and looked at her leg. “Yeah. My calf. At least one bullet, possibly more. There isn’t enough blood to have to worry about it yet.”
Gavin turned towards the man still standing, though frozen like a statue. “Strip off your clothes and leave everything here. Gather your fallen comrades, strip them naked as well, and take everyone into the jail cell across the hall. My wolf will show you where to take them.”
You said that out loud so I’d hear the instructions.
Lauren wasn’t certain he’d heard her telepathing him, but she didn’t repeat herself. Gavin walked to a cabinet and opened it to reveal bottles of water. He unscrewed the cap, poured an envelope of powder into it, screwed the cap back in, and walked out into the hallway while shaking the bottle. He returned without the bottle and told Lauren, “You were correct. A team of twenty-three infiltrated the property, and more are waiting outside the fence. I’ve directed all hostiles inside the fence into lockup facilities, and it’s taking a lot of brain power to walk them all to their death, so I’d like to keep conversation and especially telepathy to a minimum, for now. Let me see your leg, please.”
Lauren was hurting, but her life wasn’t in danger. However, she instinctively knew that Gavin wasn’t going to leave her to do whatever needed doing until she showed him.
She rolled so the entry wound would be aimed up, and Gavin gently ripped the lower part of her pants away. He tilted her leg one way then another, and said, “I apologize in advance. Please look at the clock, just so there’s no misunderstanding.”
Lauren looked at the analog clock, blinked, and it was suddenly nine minutes later.
“What the fuck?”
“I blocked the pain so I could fix your injuries. Two bullets tore through your calf. I’ve glued you up well enough you should be able to walk. I’m still dulling the pain, so take it easy, but you need to come with us, and I need you in working order.”
“We’re clear down here, Master,” Queenie said from the doorway leading into the hall.
Lauren followed Gavin out, surprised her leg and foot worked, because her calf had been torn up. Gavin had it tightly wrapped with a bandage so she couldn’t see it, which was probably for the best.
They paused at the door looking into the dungeon, and Gavin stepped inside to look over the prisoners.
“The goshawk is nearly dead. I may as well get whatever information I can manage from his brain, since he’s going to die anyway, and I won’t get to play with him later.”
The man on the floor went into spasms, grabbed his head with his arms, and screamed as if the fires of hell were consuming him for a good thirty seconds. Blood poured from his ears at first, then his nose, and finally his eyes before he went limp and his heart stopped beating.
“They were coming for you, Lauren. Getting me as well was merely the icing on the cake. They assumed you would be in my quarters, so they came here first.”
“That points away from them having an inside man, Master,” Queenie noted.
“Doesn’t rule it out, but it’s a reason to be hopeful.”
