Page 57 of Captured By the Werewolf Highwaymen

This fight was nothing like that. There was no politeness here. Only the desire to hurt. Bone crunched and blood sprayed. She’d no idea who was being injured, but her stomach clenched in terror at the sight of Des and Bram locked in what could end in one of their deaths.

A falcon’s cry pierced the air.

Des and Bram immediately broke apart and staggered to their feet. They glanced up at the sky, as did Gideon and Liam. All of them wore looks of alarm.

“Guardians,” Des muttered.

Clara frowned in confusion. “What⁠—?”

“Guardians use falcons to spot their prey,” Gideon explained grimly. “Their prey being werewolves.”

“You fucking fool.” Des rounded on Bram, grabbed his lapels, and shook him. “You led the bastards right to us!”

“I…didn’t know,” Bram stammered.

“We can’t stay here and wait to be slaughtered,” Gideon said tautly.

“How far away are they?” Fear gripped Clara in razor talons. Guardians were, according to Des, utterly ruthless and without mercy. They’d heartlessly cut all of them down—Des, Gideon, and Clara included. “Surely you can sense them, smell them.”

“Guardians wear leather to disguise their scent,” Liam said, brow creased in worry. “They train to move undetected.”

“They could be right upon us,” Bram muttered miserably.

“How many?” she asked.

“They’re always in groups of seven or more,” Des said. “Better odds for the fight.”

He and Gideon were unarmed, while Bram and Liam had one pistol each. Standing there in the clearing, they were nearly defenseless, and easily surrounded.

“Back to the house,” she said. When the men looked at her, she said in as commanding a voice as she could manage, “We’re exposed out here. My house is the safest place. We might be able to hold them off there.”

Des nodded and held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

She wove her fingers with his, and with them in the lead, Gideon, Bram, and Liam following, they rushed from the clearing, back into the dense forest. They wove around trees and ducked under low-lying branches, the wood a green blur as they ran.

She’d been frightened last night as shadows and darkness covered the forest. But now, in the light of day, terror gripped her. If these Guardians were such skilled hunters, they could easily hide themselves in the wood, and might even now be racing toward them, eager for murder. She leapt and jumped at every sound, even as she tried her best to keep up with the others.

She grimaced at the pain in her side, yet there wasn’t time to stop and rest. Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs in a burning surge, but she kept running. She nearly wept when they emerged from the forest to see her house standing secure and quiet. It was alright. They’d be safe, and had time to formulate a strategy once the Guardians arrived.

They ran to the front door. Des pulled it open, and she ran into the foyer, then up the stairs.

“Hugh!” she cried. “They’re coming!”

She reached the landing, then drew up short.

A giant man blocked her path to Hugh’s room.

From head to toe, he was clad in leather. Coat, waistcoat, breeches, boots. His tricorn was worn low, and a mask was pulled up over his lower face, so she’d no idea what he looked like, but his eyes were icy gray and glinted with cold hatred. A baldric holding two pistols slung across his wide chest. In his hand he held a silver-edged sword.

He brandished it, forcing Clara to take a step back.

The Guardian would chop her down, right here on the landing of her own home.

Gideon’s arm went around her waist, hauling her back. As she was tugged away, Des and Bram rushed forward. Des used his forearm to knock the Guardian’s sword aside as Bram pushed the intruder. The massive man stumbled.

As the Guardian struggled to regain his footing, Hugh appeared behind him. He was dressed and standing, and he rammed a fist into the Guardian’s kidney. When the Guardian doubled over in pain. Hugh shouldered past to join Clara and the others.

“They showed up ten minutes prior,” Hugh cried. “Been running from ’em since.”