The Wolf's Bounty Page 20

  The Endavors loomed high above. Their heads vanished into the distance. Dax’s pained cries pierced the din every time his captor moved his arm. They churned Raleigh’s guts. How could they get him down?

  Before she could think, Bishop pulled up short. He stopped flailing his weapons in all directions and concentrated his fire on the Endavors. He cut them to pieces with his laser beams. He blasted their arms and legs and heads off with his lightning.

  Raleigh ran up next to him. She dropped on one knee and aimed her cube at the giants, too. She gritted her teeth and blinked sweat out of her eyes, but ice cold determination drove her on and on without end. She would fire until she destroyed every last Endavor in Hinterland if that’s what it took to get Dax back.

  Bishop’s arms shot out at his sides one after the other, first one way and then the other. Deadly fire exploded out of his hands so fast no one could keep track of where it went or what damage it did.

  The Endavors roared in fury, but those roars changed to screams of pain when Bishop sliced them up one after another. Raleigh didn’t try to watch him. She kept her attention on her own work.

  She started to enjoy the satisfaction of drawing those tortured screams from her gigantic foes. She grimaced in deadly glee when arms flew off and legs crumbled under her constant barrage of torrential fire.

  Bishop rounded on her without stopping. “Get ready!”

  She didn’t turn around, but shouted over her shoulder. “What?”

  He gave no answer. He swept his arm in a wide sweep. Sizzling blue flame shot out of his weapon. It splintered across the roof and slashed down on the big Endavor. It cut into the creature’s neck and severed the great sinews holding its arm to its body.

  The Endavor shrieked to the skies. Its bellowing voice shivered Hinterland to its roots. It lost its grip on the tiny body in its hand, and Dax flew into the air. Dax sailed head over heels into the air. He made a perfect arc over the Endavor’s head and bounced on the hard ground some distance away.

  Raleigh spun around and screamed at the top of her lungs. “Dax!”

  She raced forward under the very feet of the stampeding Endavors. She rushed to his side and fell on her knees. He lay on his back with his eyes closed. As she watched, his eyelids fluttered and he gazed up at the ceiling.

  Raleigh looked all around for any help. Her eye fell on Bishop. He still stood at the same spot. From her place at Dax’s side, he looked like he was bent in concentration over his weapons. What was he doing? Why didn’t he help her? Didn’t he care if Dax lay broken and dying in this wretched place?

  All of a sudden, his head shot up and he fixed her with those burning eyes. No one could ignore those eyes. He inhaled a deep lungful of air and thundered at her, “Get him out of here!”

  She didn’t have to see what he was doing with his weapons. She didn’t have to check if Dax was okay. If that fall shattered every bone in his body, she had to obey Bishop. Whatever he was doing, she had to obey. She couldn’t do anything else.

  She leapt to her feet. She grabbed Dax by the shirt and hauled him to his feet. His weight hung heavy at the end of her arm, and he moaned and sobbed in pain, but she didn’t care. She forced him to his feet and set off at a run for the tunnel.

  Dax must have understood. He did his best to run. When he stumbled, she dragged him across the ground. Only once did she dare look at Bishop when she ran past him. “Bishop….”

  He turned around and bellowed through his teeth. “Run!”

  She didn’t look back. Neither did Dax. He pumped his injured legs and clutched his arms across his battered torso, but he kept running. Where the path wound up the valley wall to the tunnel, he collapsed with a whimpering cry. One look at him told Raleigh he couldn’t go on.

  Bishop still stood halfway down the valley, but as she stood there paused over Dax’s sprawled frame, he did something. He dropped a black object on the ground, whirled around, and bolted toward her. She caught sight of his face, and her heart fell into her boots.

  Where she found the strength to pick up Dax and heave him over her shoulder, she never knew. The next thing she remembered, she was climbing. Her knees buckled, but she had to keep going. She had to reach the tunnel before….

  The Endavors charged down the valley. They pounded the ground all around with their clubs. They fixed their beady eyes on the fleeing humans and bared their awful teeth.

  Bishop brushed past her. He seized her by the vest and hauled her up the slope. At the very crest, he grated between wheezing breaths. “Not much time…..Get under cover….”

  She didn’t question. What had he done? What did he do down there to stop the Endavors following them? Raleigh cast a glance up the slope. The tunnel entrance hovered too far away. She couldn’t make it. They would all be killed before they got there.

  At that moment, a screaming noise deafened her. A blast of freezing cold air knocked her forward. Dax pitched onto the ground with another pained moan. He couldn’t go on like this. He needed rest.

  Just when Raleigh gave up all hope of escape, Bishop picked her up in his arms. He paid no attention to Dax. He turned around and faced the valley, but he didn’t shout or pant anymore. He walked with her in perfect calm to the ledge.

  Raleigh blinked into the air where the magical vehicle sailed before her disbelieving eyes. Angela sat at the controls, and she raised an eyebrow at the travelers. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  Bishop set Raleigh in the passenger seat. “Get us out of here.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do,” Angela replied. “Get in. We don’t have much time.”

  Bishop picked up Dax and climbed in behind Raleigh. Angela hit the controls, and the G-force tore Raleigh’s skin off. At the same moment, a blinding flash of light filled the whole cavern. Endavors screamed and toppled every which way. A sickening concussion knocked the vehicle forward, and it plunged into the tunnel.

  Raleigh lost consciousness for….she didn’t know how long. She woke up to Bishop’s hand on her cheek. “Wake up, sweetheart. We’re there.”

  She struggled out of the seat and blinked. The vehicle sat inside the tunnel where she and Bishop fought the wolves. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re going home. Can you walk? Can you make it on your own, or should I send for the coach to drive us?”

  She climbed out, but when she put her weight on her legs, they wobbled. “I can make it.”

  Dax sat against the wall nearby. His head hung sideways with his eyes shut, and his lips sagged open. He might as well be asleep, but Raleigh knew better.

  Angela brushed the folds of her immaculate dress into place. She stroked her hair all over and smoothed her bodice. She caught Raleigh watching her, and a prim little smile touched her lips. Raleigh lowered her eyes. “Thank you for saving us. I thought we were gone.”

  Angela’s face brightened in a glorious smile. “You’re welcome. If I had known you would do something as foolish as this, I would probably have had you arrested and kept in the stocks where you would be safe.”

  Bishop touched a button on the vehicle, and it folded down into a suitcase once more. He picked it up. “Can you carry Dax, Raleigh? The sooner we get home, the better.”

  “I’ll carry him. I’ll carry him wherever he needs to go.”

  Bishop nodded and brushed away the vines covering the entrance. Angela followed, but when Raleigh went to pick up Dax, she found his eyes open. He gazed up at her with the same pleading expression on his face. “Don’t send me back. Don’t send me back alone.”

  She touched his bruised face. “You’re not going back alone. We’re taking you with us. You have my word on that.”

  He let out a ragged breath and relaxed.

  “Can you walk? I can carry you if you want me to.”

  He dragged himself to his feet. “I can walk.”

  She put her arm around him. “Good man.”

  He tried to smile at her and winced instead. She held t
he vines out of the way while he limped into the open. She stepped out after him and almost bumped into Angela.

  Angela and Bishop stood stock still in the forest and stared at the ground. Raleigh came to Bishop’s side to see what they were looking at. When she saw the thing, she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

  Lying there on the ground, stripped naked and half covered in leaves, was the unmistakable body of Soto. His vacant stare searched the canopy overhead, and Raleigh recognized the polygonal pattern of the twen’s necklace carved bloody and hideous into his bare chest.

  To be continued….

  Read Book 2’s description on the next page!

  Hinterland Series Book 2: The Wolf’s Quarry

  Raleigh Douglas has proven her worth as a hunter and slayer. Now she and Knox Bishop delve deeper into the mysterious danger stalking Hinterland. Can they put aside their personal tensions and learn to respect each other, or will their hidden feelings for each other destroy their fragile bond?

  While they struggle to come to grips with their new situation, they must grapple with forces beyond their comprehension. Just when they thought they found the black market merchant pedaling the Elixir of Life, a larger, darker force snatches him from their grasp to reveal a monstrous power moving just out of sight.

  The stronger and more confident Raleigh becomes, the more she depends on Bishop, not only as a colleague and professional partner, but emotionally as well. Can she put aside their rivalry and embrace the connection between them in time, or will evil and danger rob her of her one chance to find true love?

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