Her Wild Hero

But she couldn’t just sit there and watch Declan fight this thing on his own.

She finally got her lap restraint undone and clambered around the bench seats, almost slipping on the huge amount of blood spilling on the floor of the cabin from the dead crew chief. But she made it to Declan’s side, spreading her legs wide in an attempt to keep from being thrown out the open door of the almost out-of-control helicopter.

Declan must have seen her out of the corner of his eye because he let out a growl and shoved the hybrid against the interior wall of the bird, pinning its head and one arm at the same time. The move left Declan open to the hybrid’s claws, but Kendra jumped in before the creature had a chance to do any damage, pushing the barrel of her M4 into the thing’s chest right over his heart and unloading the five remaining rounds.

The bullets ripped right through the hybrid’s body and out the side of the helicopter. Thank God there wasn’t anything critical in that part of the airframe. But it had been worth the risk—even a hybrid needed a heart to pump its blood.

Declan flung the creature out the door with a growl. They were a good hundred feet above the ground now, and the crash the hybrid made as it slammed into the treetops was audible even over the thump of the rotors.

Kendra sagged against one of the seats. Holy crap, they’d done it. They were going to get out of here.

Then something slammed into the underside of the Seahawk like a bull had kicked it. Kendra would have fallen out the open door if Declan hadn’t grabbed her and pushed her toward the bench seats. As she scrambled to get a grip on something solid, the torn, lifeless body of the crew chief tumbled out of the helicopter, leaving a trail of blood on the floor in its wake.

Crap. She’d jinxed them. Whatever had just hit them was way bigger than small arms fire. The helicopter bucked and spun out of control, alarm buzzers screaming in warning as smoke filled the cargo compartment. Kendra was so disoriented, she could barely tell up from down.

The pilot and copilot shouted at each other, fighting the controls to keep the aircraft up in the air. But she knew their heroics were in vain. They were going down—right back into the middle of the pack of hybrids and soldiers who had been trying their damndest to kill every one of them for the last three hours.

***

Declan had known they were going to crash even before the rocket-propelled grenade had slammed into the belly of the copter. The damage they’d taken right after lifting off had done something to the controls. Worse, the pilot had been hit and was barely able to keep the aircraft flying straight and level. By the time the hybrid had jumped on board to tear anyone he could reach to shreds, Declan was wondering what the hell they’d done to deserve this. It was like some force was acting against them, doing everything in its power to make sure they never got out of this jungle.

He’d read all the reports that Landon and Ivy had written about hybrids, but it was one thing reading about them and a completely different thing fighting them. He couldn’t believe the amount of damage it took to put down one of those things. It was as if they were too stupid to know when they’d been mortally wounded. Or maybe they simply didn’t care.

If he hadn’t been so worried about the helicopter spinning madly out of control and that they were probably going to be dead in a few seconds, he would have told Kendra how well she’d handled herself. She’d stayed calm throughout the long march to the landing zone, taking out soldiers and hybrids like she’d been born to do it. And her actions in the helicopter when she’d put down that hybrid to save his life? That had been impressive.

Of course, none of that mattered. Because in a fight with gravity, gravity won every time.

Nevertheless, that pragmatic outlook didn’t keep him from throwing his body over Kendra’s when the helicopter lurched and took a header toward the ground. He shifted just before they hit, tensing every muscle in his body in an attempt to create a protective barrier around her.

He told himself he was doing it because it’d been Tate’s last orders, but a voice in the back of his head told him that was bullshit.

The impact was horrendous, the sound of crushing metal, snapping rotor blades, and breaking trees overwhelming everything else—even the screams of pain and fear.

He was actually surprised after it was all over that he was still alive. Movement beneath him told him that Kendra was, too. Damn, she was one tough woman. Thank God.

Acrid smoke began to fill what was left of the helicopter, and his thoughts immediately turned to fear of a fire. It would be just their luck to survive the crash only to die in the flames.