Page 26 of It’s Kind of a Bunny Story (Hey There, Hop Stuff #3)

I gnoring the man, I pushed my trembling legs to run faster. I was so close to the lake, and once I hit the water, no one could catch me. Gravel crunched beneath the man’s boots as they pounded against the ground behind me.

I pretended I couldn’t feel the tightness in my chest or the burning of my lungs, because if I acknowledged it, I’d be forced to recognize how much trouble I was in.

Truthfully, even if I made it to the water before being tackled, I was already exhausted and struggling to breathe.

How could I make the long swim to the far shore?

The man let out a string of curses, and his thundering steps drew closer.

“Faster, faster, faster,” I repeated like a mantra to myself.

“I said stop!” the man ordered.

Yeah, I’d do that… just as soon as mathematicians reached the last digit of pi.

I wove my way through the trees, but just as I ran onto the pebbled shore, his fingertips brushed against my back. He tried to grab me, but wasn’t able to get a grip on my skin-tight top.

Yes! Who’s your daddy? I screamed in my mind, delighted that planning had helped me outmaneuver him.

Unfortunately, my momentary victory came to a screeching halt when he grabbed my arm. The toxin-filled injections had already affected my muscles, causing them to grow stiff. Thanks to our momentum, the hard yank backward had a scream ripping from my throat.

Pain.

So. Much. Pain.

My knees buckled from the sudden shock of it. I went down hard, but I wasn’t ready to give up, especially when I could practically taste the water.

Rolling quickly to my back, I stared up at the man. With zero hesitation, I pulled back my leg and kicked his chuckle nuggets with every bit of force I could muster. He hit the ground harder than I had.

Not waiting around to gloat, I cradled my aching arm against my chest and scrambled to my feet. But before I could take more than a couple of steps, my attacker’s fingers wrapped around my ankle like an iron band. He yanked me off balance, sending me toppling face-first onto the stones.

My chin and cheek collided with the ground.

A sickening crack that reverberated through my skull followed the impact, and I was pretty sure my brain was bruised from rattling about.

Still, I didn’t have time to dwell on my injuries.

Especially when I had already caught the beam of a flashlight hurrying toward us. The guard’s backup had arrived.

Which meant this was my last chance to escape.

Fleeing wasn’t going to work, so I was left with only one option.

Yanking the knife from its sheath at my waist, I threw myself toward my would-be captor. He went from being the predator to becoming my prey, and his momentary shock at the role reversal gave me the slight advantage that I needed.

I aimed for his chest. People liked to think that when you stabbed someone, the knife would go in like butter.

That wasn’t always the case, and things like whether the person was wearing cotton or leather, and where the knife penetrated, could change the outcome.

That, combined with our size difference, meant I’d need to put my all in this one attack, because he wouldn’t give me a second chance.

It was a kill or be killed situation. And if I was about to be killed, I was taking him with me.

You’d be proud of me, Linc, I thought, throwing all my weight behind the knife.

At the last second, the man jerked his body to the left, causing my blade to slice a line across his chest before plunging into his skin just below his collarbone. While the knife sank deep, it hit nothing vital.

Before I could pull my weapon free, the guard backhanded me with so much force that I tasted blood. The sudden explosion of white-hot pain lit up the dark night, momentarily blinding me as he shoved me off him. Leaping to his feet, he sent the metal toe of his boot into my stomach.

Unable to breathe and still struggling to see thanks to the brilliant pain lighting up every nerve ending in my body, I could do little more than curl into the fetal position and try to protect myself from another attack.

With difficulty, I did my best to push past the agony that was stealing my ability to come up with a plan.

Heck, forget about coming up with a plan! I wasn’t sure I remembered how to breathe, let alone problem-solve.

The man’s ragged breathing was followed by the metallic click of a gun being cocked.

I forced my eyelids open and stared up at him, letting him see the defiance I felt toward everything in this cursed burrow.

He spat, grinning evilly when it hit my cheek.

“If you so much as flex your pinky, the next bullet goes through your brain. You’ve been nothing but trouble for the burrow.

I’d prefer to kill you here and now, but I have a feeling the council is going to want to question you about the wolf pack’s inner workings.

Although I suspect you’ll continue being a disappointing waste of their time. ”

“And you’re a waste of oxygen.”

The guard’s eyes widened, and he spun around toward the voice.

Boone stood behind him. Stepping back, he lifted his hand to display an empty syringe.

“What did you do?” the guard grunted, muscles in his neck bulging and his mouth wide as he tried to breathe. “What did you inject me with?”

Boone looked at the syringe, then dropped it to the ground as though it burned his fingers. “Something that doesn’t have an antidote, I’m afraid.”

The guard sagged to the ground, odd, strangled sounds coming from his throat. “What’s happening… to… me…?”

“Every muscle in your body is becoming paralyzed. This will make it impossible for your lungs or heart to function.” Boone kicked the gun well out of the reach of the dying man.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my aching brain struggling to comprehend what was happening.

So sure had I been that the approaching flashlight belonged to the guard’s backup, I never even considered the possibility that I might have had backup.

“You didn’t actually think I was going to let you go alone, did you?” He raised a single eyebrow.

“Well, yeah, that’s exactly what I thought.” I pushed myself into a sitting position. Nausea overwhelmed me, and I twisted around to vomit on the rocks. When I could speak again, I asked, “What about your research and everything you’ve done here?”

Reaching down, he offered me a hand and helped me to my feet.

“The moment I sent that email, I knew my work in the lab had ended. Do you think the council would ever trust me again? Even if I claimed you had a gun to my head and forced me to send the email and steal the toxin, they’d still need someone to blame and make the public scapegoat.

Do you really want the guilt of leaving me behind on your conscience? ”

He wasn’t wrong. I’d ruined his future here at the burrow.

“Hey, don’t look so glum, Charlee. This was the kick in the butt I needed to make better decisions. If it makes you feel any better,” he added as he looped my arm around his shoulders, “I have to admit, I’m pretty excited to see where this new research goes.”

“New research?” Each word was a struggle to get out thanks to the throbbing of my cheek and jaw. “Research? What research?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The success rate of a possible antidote on werewolves who’ve ingested antibodies prior to exposure. Plus, I want to know the effect of injecting such a large dose of the toxin has on our bodies.”

“Our bodies?” It was becoming harder to concentrate thanks to the pounding in my head that became louder with each beat of my heart. “Where are you taking us? I have to swim back.”

“Lee—can I call you that? I know your name’s Charlee, but I figure with us being in a mess together, we could go with nicknames at this point.”

“Yeah, sure.” My words came out slurred as though I’d had too many shots. It was kind of true. Injections were shots, just the less fun kind.

“You’re in no shape to swim and would drown before you made it halfway across.

There’s no way I’m going to let such a valuable chance to further my research sink to the bottom of the lake.

” He chuckled. “I’ve got a car. You can use my cell phone to call the pack.

If they’ve realized you’re missing, they’re probably already losing their minds.

And I’d prefer if you told them about me before they find me in the car with you so I don’t end up in a kill-first-ask-questions-later situation.

I’ve heard wolves are pretty protective of their packs. ”

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get my heavy limbs to obey the commands my brain was giving them. By the time we reached the car, Boone was practically carrying me.

He settled me into the passenger seat, and my head slumped back onto the headrest, too heavy for my neck to continue holding up. My vision had grown so blurry that I couldn’t even make out the time on the car’s console.

Boone dropped into the driver’s seat and put the car in gear. He kept the headlights off as we shot down the gravel road and through the burrow’s gated entrance.

“What did you mean when you said our bodies? ” I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth as nausea rippled through me. What if I vomited in his car after everything he’d done to help me?

“We have no way of knowing how many vials of blood with the antibodies will be needed to save your men. Not to mention, it’s possible someone else in your pack could get exposed before an antidote can be figured out.

” Boone flipped off his headlights as he turned off the gravel drive and onto the paved main road.

“So, after I sent you toward the side exit, I went back and injected myself.”

“You did what?” My eyes flew open. “Are you crazy? You don’t even know my mates!”