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MARA

Z ap!

Survival instincts truly were a gift, and military training honed those primitive desires to stay alive, sharpening them to a deadly point. My hand unholstered my stunner and fired at the first monster that lunged, hitting it squarely in the chest, and causing the beast to fall limp to the ground.

Zap, zap!

Two more shots pulsed through the air, catching the soldier behind the hound and a second officer in the shoulder. They both fell to the ground in a heap.

“Mara!” Wes screamed, and before I knew what was happening, I was being slammed into the floor, eyes closed, inhaling sharply as I did. Just as I thought my head was going to crack against the tiled floor, my skull met soft hands that cradled me, protecting me from a nasty concussion.

Bang! Bang!

Shots rang out. Bullets whizzed through the air, striking concrete, shattering glass.

I opened my eyes and saw Wes’s beautiful face above me.

One arm wrapped around me, protecting my head from the fall, the other stretched out, firing several shots from his Glock at hounds coming toward us.

Then he was rolling off me, my cue to get up and get going.

No sooner had I gotten to my feet, someone yelled, “Flashbang!”

Was that Matias—?

The room was cast into a sudden bright white light—blinding and utterly disorienting—followed by the loudest, ear-piercing bang I had ever heard.

I cringed, huddling in a failed attempt to save myself from the effects of the stun grenade.

Idiot! I was a stupid idiot. I waited too long, and now I was going to pay the price.

My vision blurred and distorted with bright orbs of pulsating light, completely blinding me to my surroundings.

I can’t see. Oh shit, I can’t freaking see !

Ringing erupted in my ears, deafening all sounds of battle.

No gunshots.

No screams or yells or shouts.

No growling or snarling or that clickety clack of nails on tile or the muted thud of boots hitting the ground.

Deaf! I was deaf and blind. Nothing but fucking glowing orbs and incessant ringing.

I tried to move, my hands outstretched, swiping at empty air to keep from running into anything. But I was so disoriented, I found myself stumbling…felt like I was walking sideways when I swore I was moving forward.

Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod , my brain chanted in a panic. How long would this last? How long would I be utterly defenseless, surrounded by enemies in a fight I wasn’t entirely convinced we could win?

Then the world was taken from me. When you can’t see, you can’t tell that the world has gone upside down until your face hits the floor—gravity taking over.

This time, my head did hit, and how I could see stars when my vision was nothing but orbs of light was beyond me.

But I did, and the searing pain that crashed down through my awareness was disorienting in its own right .

“Mara!”

Was that my name? Did I imagine someone calling my name or was the ringing finally subsiding?

Snarling. I was hearing snarling.

I blinked rapidly, urging my vision to clear, and with annoying slowness, the orbs appeared less bright. Their flickering slowed, and the sparkling blobs grew smaller, revealing more of the world around me.

Oh thank god, my vision was coming back.

“Mara!” This time, my name rang in loud and clear.

“Matias?” I blinked rapidly again, and then I was seeing him. His boyish face and large brown eyes that rivaled mine, huge and panicked as he looked down at me. I realized then that I was on the floor, laying on my back.

Matias grabbed my arms and began hauling me up. “Move! We gotta move!”

And freaking finally, I was back. My hearing, vision, balance—it was all back. And if it was back for me, then that meant our enemies were regaining their senses as well. I got to my feet, taking in my surroundings.

The flashbang had granted us an edge we desperately needed, disorienting the REG soldiers long enough for my team to stun or shoot most of those who had come spewing from the elevator.

Judging by the blood splattered over the white walls and pooling on the ground, my team had opted for lethal weapons. At least I knew Wes had.

“Let’s go!” Matias yelled.

I turned toward the door, catching a glimpse of Wes firing one last round at a hound that was charging him, hitting it in the head before discharging his empty magazine.

Javier was already at the door in front of me, holding it open and waving us through.

His white uniform was smeared in red, and my heart stopped in my chest as I mentally begged the universe for the blood to belong to anyone but him .

“?Vámonos, prima!” he yelled.

I ran past him into the cool, late autumn air of the desert and the bright sun that still baked and burned any fool too stupid to stand in it for long.

Whooooop! Whooooop! Whooooop!

The alarm blared through speakers all over the damn facility, and I knew that if we didn’t get the hell out of here within the next ten to fifteen minutes, we were going to be faced with reinforcements coming in from Telvia.

I turned around, watching as Wes came through the door, followed by my cousin.

“Grenade!” Javi yelled, throwing the bomb into the lobby before making a run for it.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three…

Harris blew through the door, charging at Javi.

Four seconds.

Five…

Javi was thrown to the floor, wrangling with his captor just as three hounds jumped through the windows, shattering glass and sending shards flying.

Six seconds.

BOOM!

Fire bellowed out of the broken windows, along with plumes of black smoke.

“Javi!” I screamed, turning back to face my cousin. He climbed to his feet, squaring off with Harris once more.

“I knew I should have killed you,” Javier growled. “I should have shoved your ass into that chair and made you fry for everything you did to her!”

“When I’m done with you, de la Puente, I’ll make sure to send back your head as a personal gift from me to that bitch of yours! ”

Javier roared, and then there were fists flying, both men swinging and grunting and kicking. Harris was slow, giving Javi the advantage, but I noticed his one shoulder slumped and he had a slight limp with his right leg.

Oh my god. The blood is his.

I needed to help him. Instinct told me to use my stunner, but I had dropped it long ago in my fit of disorientation. I had also lost my bag with my other weapons, leaving me with nothing now to help Javi.

I scanned, finding Wes firing his Glock—he must have found another mag to reload—killing a hellhound in mid-leap.

“Wes!” I screamed. “Javi!” I said as I pointed at my cousin. Wes turned to see Javier as Harris landed a punch in his hurt shoulder, causing Javi to screech out in pain and stumble backwards. Wes took aim, and then—

“Mara!”

I spun around to Matias’s call, catching sight of the hound that came bounding toward me. It leapt, legs stretched out before it, maw unhinged and opened wide. This was it. I had nothing.

No defenses.

No weapons.

Nothing to save me from the jaws of hell.

I screamed.