Page 20 of Bound to the Minotaur (Hillcrest Hollow Shifters #2)
I ran, but without the maze helping, it was not nearly as easy.
I turned back the way I’d come and abruptly ran into an old car that I swore hadn’t been there before.
I skidded to the right into another passage, and my jacket caught on brambles, tugging at my hair.
The brush of a hand came at the back of my neck, then yanked on my coat, and I fought myself free of the fabric with a scream.
Avis was on the guy then, growling and hissing like a demon as he clawed into the expensive wool of a suit jacket.
A gun fired, and I dropped to the ground, my hands covering my ears.
It was instinct to roll and scuttle into the dark knot of twisted roots shaped like a hollow in the hedge.
Only then did I realize that the shots had come from farther away. By then, it was too late.
The cat had only managed to distract one guy, and the other dove after me, heedless of his suit.
He was far more interested in pleasing my father, and I was the prize.
His hand closed around my ankle, and he yanked with implacable force.
I kicked and screamed but was no match for his firm grip.
Then I was thrown over a shoulder, and he began running back out of the maze, followed by his partner.
We passed the guy with the flamethrower, who had continued to damage and burn the maze.
“Gregory!” I screamed as we passed the demolition guy, and he twisted his head to look at me, flames dancing in black eyes.
Ah, shit… that wasn’t just a reflection, was it?
Or was I seeing strange things in every corner now?
The air was colder outside the maze, slapping me in the face with its briskness and sliding down my spine beneath my sweater.
My jacket had gotten lost, but Avis was still with me, dancing around the pair of mobsters that had kidnapped me, hissing, growling, swatting at them with utter fury.
Guy number one had a shredded pants leg, and his jacket was in ribbons across his back.
I shouted a warning when, clearly fed up, he raised his automatic weapon and aimed it at the cat.
My shout was met with a howl, loud and eerie.
It was enough to pose a distraction, and Avis melted away like snow under the sun.
I saw it when I twisted myself awkwardly over my captor’s shoulder: a wolf, barreling around the corner of the maze, fangs bared, saliva dripping, eyes alight with an impossible inner glow.
I saw the barrel of a gun go up, not the one from my captor, but the other guy.
The wolf kept charging; he’d be shot to pieces.
A silver blur: Avis crashing into that gun arm from out of nowhere.
The shots went wide, rattling loudly through the air.
The wolf swerved as the flamethrower abruptly swiveled his way, and then I shut my eyes.
A jaw closed around flesh, bones crunching, a man’s tortured scream echoing through the cold fall air.
At the crunch of tires and the roar of an engine, I flicked my gaze back to the world and to the noise.
A truck was barreling through the forest, off-road, bumping across roots.
For a moment, I hoped that those were friends of Gregory—like that wolf surely was—but when they halted next to us, my captor rushed to toss me into the backseat.
I fought, kicking and screaming, until someone in the front of the car spun around and pressed the barrel of a gun to my forehead.
“Shut up,” he warned in a cold voice. With ice splashing down my spine, I obeyed, my eyes huge and focused on that deadly weapon.
Even with that wolf ravaging one of them outside, there was no way out.
That meant I had no option but to be dragged to wherever my father was hiding. Not that he’d ever call it hiding. Dragged before his throne, tossed at his feet, and onto his mercy, I could only hope that my minotaur had another trick up his sleeve—because I was all out.
The truck spun, not waiting for anyone else to get in, and raced back into the forest, barreling through underbrush and deadwood.
I got tossed around in the backseat, but that was the least of my concerns.
Through the back window, I could see the wolf fighting with a guy, Avis darting in and out to deal with the second man with the gun.
I wasn’t sure who was winning, but if they managed to use that weapon…
I was sure it would be all over for both the cat and the wolf, werewolf?
The thought struck me that it could be the mayor, that cute, vibrant, and grandmotherly woman I’d met earlier that morning. The wolf pounced, jaws snapping, and the guy with the flamethrower went down.
“What the fuck is that?” the guy in the passenger seat snapped, horror on his face, his gun hanging limply in his hand.
He was twisted around like I was, staring out the back to see what was going on.
I eyed the gun, then the door, and wondered if I could move fast enough to throw myself out of the moving vehicle. Was I brave enough to dare?
“Don’t even think about it,” the man said again, his fist tightening around the grip of the pistol. The barrel went up, and I knew: there was no escaping this. Time to see Daddy.