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“Jenny?” The newest girl cries out the name my queen uses. Curiosity pulls me closer, and I see my mate fall to her knees, clutching the new woman to her chest.
“Dr. Michelson! I never thought I’d see you again!” Excited tears tremble her voice. I feel a tug at my conscience that she has been separated from her friend for so long. I’ll be sure to bring all new humans past her perusal, in hopes of seeing that reaction again.
A change in the warning howls turns my ears.
Encroachment.
Someone draws near.
Chapter thirty-five
SAM
Hollowandyetfilledwith agony. How can I feel both at the same time? Watching her be carried off has to be the single most painful experience I have ever endured.
Even worse than Claire dying.
I feel like my insides are out of me, like a great hand has reached into my very soul and has strewn it on the shit covered ground to be trampled on.
My ears are deaf. The sounds of the captain screaming into his radio don’t register. I’m blind to the disappearance of the beasts. I just keep seeing her being carried away.
Over and over.
Her limp body bouncing on the shoulder of the oversized half-breed. More beast than man.
A jarring fist finds my shoulder, and I’m rattled back into reality.
“I’m going after her.” My voice feels disembodied, like they’re words from another man, another time.
“I know,” Cap says quietly. Why that whispered phrase makes it through when the yelling before didn’t, I don’t know. “I have a suggestion for you, if you’re ready. Angela’s marker grenade went off. We know where to go.”
It doesn’t take long to put his plan into action.
The circling choppers keep lingering dogs at bay. Their damage already inflicted, they tease along the alleys and under eaves, dancing just outside the access of the miniguns mounted above.
Unloading the bull was easy, and with Misty’s help, the cows quickly followed. She’s pushing them at a frantic pace ahead of us as we follow in the jeep. Thor remains behind in the truck, I hope the others can keep him safe.
Cap is manning the 50 cal. I’m in the passenger seat. A pile of M4 loaded rifles and pistols sit between us, and the driver is white-knuckling every turn with me yelling directions at Misty through the open windows.
I want twenty of these rifles. They drop the dogs that are brave enough to be drawn to the cows with just a shot. Cap is keeping the way cleared as we push toward the red cloud of smoke dissipating ahead of us.
Rounding the last corner, we see a spray of dead dogs encircling the dying canister of smoke. A weak tendril still wisps into the air near the large bay door of a warehouse.
The giant half-breed that carried Dani off appears, roaring to an army of dogs, pointing at us.
With screams and howls, the dogs descend on the small herd of cows.
“Misty! Come!” I call her back frantically. She jumps gracefully into the back window of the jeep as Cap opens up with the massive gun on the roof. Armor piercing and incendiary rounds spew forth in a haphazard spray before us, mowing down the masses of flesh. Brown shaggy fur and black sleek skin alike are shredded before the terrorizing attack.
The writhing wall of wounded animals parts for just a glimpse, and I can see inside the warehouse. Humans sit just inside the door. I’m paralyzed when I see her.
Dani.
She’s alive!
Relief and abject horror strikes me simultaneously.
Too late, I scream at Cap to stop.