Page 38 of Savage Mates

And she did exactly as I’d expected.

She raised the weapon, pointing the barrel in our direction.

CHAPTER 9

Lauren

Gorgeous. Sexy. Men.

All standing staring at me, but there was more. They were… hungry. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, they were fully erect. Holy shit. Blinking furiously, my nerves kicked into overdrive. They were huge brutes of men, muscular in all the right places and I could almost feel their heated breath tickling my skin.

Enough so prickles lifted across my arms and legs.

Wait a minute. Were they part of the mercenary team?

If so, why was my mouth watering, my nipples aching?

The drug. My reaction had to be because of the drug I’d been given, which I knew had occurred. Some bastard had drugged me. I was still woozy, my mind fuzzy enough that processing what I was seeing remained difficult. Voices still clawed at my mind, muted visions that I couldn’t understand. Sounds that could only be described as horrific. Growls. Snarls.

Roars.

Lions.

Like the night before.

“Who are you?” I demanded, still struggling with the light fog I’d awakened to. I tried to act as if their appearance didn’t bother me in the least when my legs were shaking.

Every muscle in my body ached and from what I could remember, I’d been shot with something. Likely a dart, a sedative used. Until this moment, I hadn’t been certain by whom.

Now I knew the men standing in front of me were to blame.

Only even as I kept the weapon pointed at them, I sensed something unfurling deep inside of me. As if all my beliefs were about to be torched. Maybe it was the drug I’d been given, a portion still remaining active in my body. I knew enough about incapacitating drugs to realize while foggy, I wasn’t as affected as I should be.

I took a deep breath. You could hear a pin drop, the silence was so oppressive.

Then the rapid thudding of my heart assaulted my eardrums. This was crazy. What was I doing holding a weapon on three… gorgeous men?

Just find a way to get away.

Right. As if that was possible.

Perhaps I still felt some sense of wishful thinking, but at this point, my hopes didn’t matter. Only protecting myself did.

I was shaking all over from a rush of adrenaline.

A crackling of electricity.

Strong, powerful, and relentless.

While there were three huge men standing in front of me, I was vaguely aware of others, a few trying to remain in the shadows of the waning light. But they were all watching me. My breath hitched and I licked my dry lips, trying to figure out how the hell to get myself out of this.

“Answer my question. Who are you? Why are you trying to kill the lions?”

When not one of the three bothered to answer my question, I stuck the gun out as far as my arms would allow.

I detected amusement, not intimidation.

Their arrogance annoyed me, but I was momentarily struck by their beauty. And yes, they were truly beautiful specimens of men, completely unlike the thugs I’d seen in the jungle.