Page 35 of Redemption (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #4)
A branch snaps directly behind me, a heavy, low growl following after another threatening step.
I pinch my eyes shut, taking a deep breath to stop myself from reacting too quickly and drawing the entire mass right to us.
Instead, I press myself further into Alessandra—a feeble attempt to cover the scent that’s already ensnared them to us.
And then I feel something I didn’t think I’d ever feel again.
The tentative touch of Alessandra’s hand crawling up the side of my leg almost ruins me.
The gasp of pure elation from the pressure of her fingers on me after so long is barely contained even as my dick kicks at the unintended attention.
My focus wanes as I lean into the touch, remembering all those days and nights we couldn’t keep our hands off one another, but, with barely a whisper, she brings me back to reality as she asks, “How many?”
Not trusting my voice that’s almost definitely going to give away my lust-filled thoughts and draw even more attention to us, I use my fingers, tapping against her waist seven times with my answer. She gives a minute nod of acknowledgment in return and then blows my fucking mind.
In a move I wasn’t expecting at all, she lifts her arm—the same one that was inching around to my ass only moments ago—and stabs the deadhead lingering just behind me, right through the temple.
With my knife.
The same one that was tucked into my back pocket.
She then turns and lifts her baseball bat, spinning it around in a move that impresses the hell out of me before she smashes it into the next deadhead only a few feet away, the head flying off its body on impact.
Her dog joins in the melee a second later, leaping and landing on another, holding it there on the ground until Alessandra is able to dispatch that one as well.
It’s less than a minute before she’s taken out almost half of the group and successfully shocked me stupid.
With a determined shake of my head, I resituate my gaping jaw and get to work, pulling my knife from the deadhead at my feet before launching myself at the one on my left.
When the last deadhead falls to the ground at my feet, I turn to her, questions flooding in my brain, but they all disappear the moment I see her.
She stands there like a warrior goddess.
Her blonde hair—blood-stained, disheveled, and spotted with mud, grass, and twigs—cascades down her shoulders as they lift and lower with her heaving breaths.
Her face is the perfect reflection of ethereal savagery as she lifts the bloody bat and wipes the gory remnants on her pant leg.
Death surrounds her, but she’s glowing with life and vitality.
Beautifully deadly. Stunningly lethal. Absolutely magnificent in her feminine glory.
A goddess of death.
In the simplest of terms that I’m now forced to use due to lack of any other sort of vocabulary, holy fucking shit .
This woman has bewitched me with the carnage she’s laid out in a heap at our feet.
So much so, it takes her snapping her fingers in front of my face to draw my attention away from her magnificent massacre.
“Earth to Darius! What the fuck, dude? Let’s go!” I shake my head, still unable to form any words. “Still bleeding here!” She presses the tips of her fingers together, creating an arrow shape that then points directly at the space between her thighs. “Darius!”
I blink a few times to try and get my shit together and not act like a fucking imbecile, but that all goes out the window when I let out a very undignified, “Huh?”
“You’re ridiculous, you know that? I. AM. BLEEDING... from my lady bits, and I can’t do anything about it in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere because those fucking asshats took everything, including my tampons! So, unless you have something else to shove up there to stem the flow—”
I smirk, half my brain no longer working while the other half is completely turned on. “I mean...”
“Absolutely not, Chewy. You can continue to go all Han Solo for all I care, cause my Wookiee is the last place you’re sticking your lightsaber.”
I scrunch my eyebrows together. “Did you just make a Star Wars reference? When did that start?”
“Yeah. That’s right. The guys taught me a thing or two about a thing or two. Including Star Wars! Not that you helped in that area.”
Well, fuck me... I wish it was me that did. What else have I missed?
Regardless, I shake my head, not ready to get into this with her. Not here. Not now that my brain is completely back online and in savior mode once again.
As she indicated, we need to find a place to shelter for the night and get her the supplies she needs before more deadheads come upon on us in the dark.
No matter what she’s learned in the years since we parted, neither of us will survive the night exposed out here.
Which means we no longer have the luxury of hiking until we get to the safehouse I originally intended to take her to.
I rack my brain for an alternative. The next town should have one, but I know from experience it hasn’t been used in a while, and I’m not sure how well-stocked it is or the last time it was cleared.
Despite all of that, however, it’s the only shot we’ve got.
“Come on. I know of another place we can stay.”