Page 29 of Warrant (The Berserker’s Rage MC: Wyoming Chapter #1)

Ainsley

I f someone had told me I’d be babysitting a couple of kids, protecting them from danger, and completely in the dark about why they needed protecting, and that I’d be mostly fine with it, I’d have laughed hysterically at them.

I wasn’t even sure I had a maternal bone in my body before this. Now my ovaries were going feral.

I paused in the doorway to my spare bedroom and folded my arms over my chest. All the lights in the house were out as I prepared to head to bed, but I could see just enough in the moonlight streaming through the window.

Turned out, I did have a maternal instinct, and it was in overdrive right now. My heart melted at the sight before me.

Aella was asleep on her back and tucked under her arm was Cadet, also on her back with all four paws up in the air as she snored softly. Next to her, Jared was on his side, facing away from the door.

Beau was between the bed and the door, looking like a melted puddle on the floor as he slept. The dog was all wrinkles and loose skin while he was laying down.

Against all odds, I knew I was going to miss these kids when they went home.

Aella had made things interesting for the last couple days and I was sure the addition of Jared was going to drive me over the edge of insanity, but damn they were fun.

Dinner had been nothing but laughter. Despite the bruises all over the teenager, he’d kept everything light and his sister happy. It was obvious he loved her very much.

I was about to head to bed myself when a sound made all my instincts go on full alert. It was out of place in my small little home. Turning, I gasped as something hit me directly in the face, making me stumble backward.

An arm wrapped around me from behind, cutting off my airflow. My first instinct was to panic, but I shoved that way down and let the rage build up instead. I’d trained for this. I knew how to override those initial responses that tended to make people flee from a fight.

Raising up onto my tip toes, I dug my fingers between my throat and the assailant's arm.

Then I went back onto the flats of my feet, leaned forward just a little and cocked my right hip out.

Planting my feet as much as I could I threw my weight forward and grinned when he swore.

His weight was now off center and I turned a bit more and dug my hip fully into him, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying over my right shoulder. He landed on his back in front of me.

I wasted no time. This asshole had broken into my home, attacked me, and I had zero doubts that he was here for my kids.

They were in my care, therefore they were mine for now.

No one was going to hurt them. I stomped my boot—thank God I hadn’t changed into my pajamas yet—right onto his face. Again and again.

The yowl of pain gave me a grim satisfaction that stayed with me as I raced down the hall toward my bedroom. As much as I wanted to stay and keep kicking the shit out of the guy, he wasn’t alone. Or so my intuition was screaming at me. I needed my gun.

With young children in the house, I’d done the responsible thing and put it in the lockbox inside my closet.

Skidding to a stop, I tried to control my breathing and the slight shake in my hands as I spun the numbers on the lock.

The slight glow from the light I kept plugged into the wall outlet in the closet was all I needed to see.

I could probably open this lock in the dark, I did it so often.

It took forever even though it was only a few seconds.

Damn doing the responsible thing. I quickly pulled my bullet proof vest over my head and strapped it down.

Grabbing an extra, full, magazine, I shoved it into my jean pocket and then palmed my gun. I was back at the door of my bedroom before I even realized I’d taken a step. The adrenaline was coursing through my body and making everything seem to move in a distortion of time.

There were shadows moving down my hallway. Gritting my teeth, I flipped on my bedroom light. It was a dangerous move because that meant I was backlit, an easy target for my enemies, but it also allowed me to see just enough of them to know I wasn’t about to shoot one of the children in my care.

Aella would’ve been easy to pick out because she was so small, but Jared was tall and lanky. He was just as tall as some of these full grown men who’d broken into my home to kidnap children. They were going to pay for that. It wasn’t Jared. Good.

Aiming, I pulled the trigger, a smooth steady draw that sent the weapon bucking in my hand.

One of the men grunted and went down on his knee.

I didn’t stop firing. There was screaming and yelling and my ears were ringing so hard it wasn’t easy to distinguish the sounds or who was making them.

I was trusting Jared to keep his sister inside the room and safe while I took care of these assholes.

They were stuck in this hallway, with men down on the ground around them, stuck in a tunnel where they couldn’t all rush me at once. Idiots.

One of them hooked to the right and I swore as he bolted into the spare bedroom. The rest finally realized they weren’t getting to me alive and ran back to the living room. There wasn’t time to chase them. Not when one or more was in the room with the kids.

I rushed down the hall, my gun still extended and froze when I saw the chaos inside.

Aella was nowhere to be found, but Beau had woken up and his teeth were lodged in a man’s groin area.

He was shrieking like a banshee, trying to get the dog to let him go.

But Beau had turned into a fury-filled rage monster.

He was growling and shaking at the man, causing as much pain and destruction as he could.

Apparently he had been sleeping his whole life resting up for this moment, because he wasn’t relenting.

What a good boy. He’s getting a steak later on.

There was a second man in the room. I hadn’t noticed him come inside. Jared was squared up with him, exchanging blows. I was impressed as hell that a fifteen-year-old wasn’t afraid to take on a full grown man.

I couldn’t use the gun in here now. Not without the risk of shooting Jared or Beau. Not to mention I had no idea where Aella or Cadet were. I hoped they were hiding and someone else hadn’t snuck off with them.

I didn’t announce myself. Didn’t hesitate.

I just swung my pistol as hard as I could at the man’s head.

I hit him in the left temple with enough force to send him sprawling to the floor.

“Hide,” I said, not even looking Jared’s way, before I swept the first man’s leg, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Beau leapt out of the way and let me take over.

I jumped on top of the guy and started swinging haymakers at him.

I couldn’t let him get the upper hand. He was going to be stronger than me.

Didn’t matter that I lifted five days a week, trained in boxing and Jui-Jitsu just as often, he was going to overpower me if I gave him even the slightest chance.

My pistol was an equalizer, but I couldn’t use it right now. In retrospect, I should have tried.

I knew for a fact I threw a mean punch and these were affecting this guy.

That didn’t matter when I heard a yelp from Beau behind me and I was dragged off the man.

Looking over, I searched desperately for the hound.

He was backed up to the bed, showing those bright white teeth and refusing to move.

That was how I knew the kids and my puppy were under the bed.

Someone must have kicked him, but he wasn’t backing down and he didn’t look permanently hurt—thank God—because I would never forgive myself if something happened to him.

“Call your fucking mutt off, lady,” the new guy holding me under my arms growled in my ear.

“Beau, stay,” I ordered. “It’d be better if you left him here,” I said, trying for nonchalant.

“Where are the kids?”

Both men who were in the room and knew the kids were here were unconscious. All I could do is hope that I could get these guys out of my damn house before they woke up.

“Their dad took them home earlier today. It’s just me and Beau here,” I told him. It was a good thing my voice didn’t waver. Lying wasn’t exactly my strong suit. I hadn’t had much cause to use that particular skill, but it didn’t fail me in my time of need.

Cursing up a storm, the guy dragged me backward and into the living room. My heart leapt as one of the guys closed the door to the spare room to keep Beau inside. The kids were safe for now. I just needed to distract these guys as long as I possibly could.

My heart sank as I realized there were about ten more men in the main area of my house. I hadn’t even counted how many I’d shot in the hallway. But ten was way too many to take on alone. Hell, even if I’d kept them bottled up in the hallway I’d have run out of bullets.

The guy I’d been hitting stumbled out of the room, shook his head to clear it, and frowned at the others, making me cringe. “Where’s the kid?”

“What kid?” the one holding me asked.

“The boy. He was in the room.”

“Lying cunt,” the man snapped at me.

I rolled my eyes. Like I was obligated to tell him the truth.

Two men started back toward the hallway.

It was now or never. Letting my legs go out from under me, I dropped all my weight onto the guy holding my arms. If I was a hundred pounds soaking wet he would have just held onto me.

But I wasn’t small or petite. I was five-eleven and one hundred sixty pounds.

Most of it was muscle, though I did have a little pooch on my belly that I’d come to accept and love.

I slid through his arms like I was a buttered up turkey.

As soon as my ass hit the floor, I rolled.

Grabbing my gun, I started shooting. It was the only way I was going to make it out of this shit storm.

Ten versus one wasn’t just bad odds, it was suicidal.

But I was willing to give my life for the kids, and yes, the dogs, hiding inside that bedroom.

There wasn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for them.

I fired three or four shots, the first two were aimed, after that it was chaos.

I was shooting and running. They were just running.

I scrambled for the back of the couch, laying down cover fire as I went.

The familiar metal click happened right as I got behind the hideous brown couch the landlord had stuck in here for me.

Didn’t matter if it got shot up because I intended to replace it.

Wincing as bullets whizzed past, I pulled the magazine from my pocket and reloaded my weapon.

Sucking in harsh breaths, I waited for a lull in the shots before I made my move.

They were taking cover behind the recliner on the other side of the room and behind the wall in the kitchen.

The couch, and more importantly the opening to the hallway was mine.

If they wanted to go after my kids, they were going to have to go through me.