Page 63 of Amaros

A roar of pure rage came from their left.Zoe turned to see Camriel launch himself over a boulder.He landed and sprinted towards Grace in a blur of motion.Amaros was right behind him.Seeing Zoe was okay, he allowed his second in command to take care of the situation.

Zoe turned back just in time to see the knight draw his fist back.One punch was enough to demolish the human’s face.Camriel caught Grace as her assailant fell.“Are you okay, little sister?”he crooned, hugging her tightly.

“Can’t.Breathe,” she gasped.

“Amaros!”Camriel bellowed in fear.“She’s dying!We have to help her!”

“I’m fine,” Grace croaked.“You’re hugging me too tightly.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said sheepishly and put her down.

Zoe’s knees gave out just as Amaros reached her.He took the gun from her hand and put his arm around her waist to keep her upright.She bent over, feeling lightheaded and sure she was going to puke.

“What are you doing up here?”Amaros asked.He’d seen the targets, but he still wanted an explanation.

“We needed somewhere to practice where we won’t scare the animals away, or draw attention to our base,” Grace said.Her voice still sounded croaky, but her bruises were already fading.

“You chose a poor place for target practice,” Amaros said.His tone was heavy with disapproval.“We could hear you long before we reached our base.”

“You have superhuman hearing,” Zoe mumbled, still feeling a bit faint and woozy.

“Obviously, the humans could hear you as well, or they wouldn’t have found you,” he said icily.

Zoe straightened up and snatched her gun from him.“We didn’t know they were holed up in a resort just up the mountain,” she said defensively.She stalked over to the final man and shot him twice in the back.Kicking him over onto his back, she shot him again in the chest, then checked his pulse.

“Damn,” Camriel said, impressed by her cold-blooded murder.“They weren’t kidding when they said you had a temper.”

“Zoe’s not angry,” Grace said.She was still shaken by the ambush.“You’ll know it when she is,” she added.

Chapter Thirty-Two

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AMAROS TOOK A BREATH, striving to control his own temper.It wasn’t Zoe he was angry with, but himself.“We sensed you were in trouble,” he said, quietly impressed with their actions.He hated that they’d had to kill anyone, but he was glad they’d defended themselves.“We should have been here to save you.”

Zoe was still shaken up, but she was getting herself under control again.He could sense there was something else upsetting her.“There are more of them,” she said, confirming his suspicions.“They’ve got a bunch of women under guard in their resort.We need to rescue them.”