Her Wild Hero

She pushed herself up on an elbow and tried to roll over onto her back, but she was having a hard time managing it. As if sensing him, she turned to look his way. Her eyes locked with his, but instead of relief, there was only panic in them.

Before he had time to figure out what was going on in her head, a door on the far side of the compound flew off its hinges and crashed to the ground halfway across the camp. The huge hybrid Declan and Kendra had seen that first day stepped out of the building. He took one look at Declan, then swung his gaze on Kendra. The hatred in those red eyes nearly stopped Declan’s heart. Mouth twisting into something that might have been a smile, the hybrid charged.

“Run!” Declan shouted at Kendra.

He didn’t wait to see if she obeyed, but instead rushed the oncoming brute with everything he had. No matter what it took, Declan had to take down this asshole. Declan didn’t know what had happened between Kendra and the hybrid, but his gut told him the creature would make sure she suffered if he got the chance. Declan wasn’t going to let that happen.

Declan collided with the hulk at full speed, smashing into him like a linebacker on a football field. Declan felt something in his shoulder crack but ignored the brief stab of pain. Nothing was going to stop him from killing this monster.

***

By the time Angelo and his team reached the low stone wall along the left side of the compound, hybrids were there to meet them. The only saving grace was that most of them weren’t carrying weapons. Not that it made fighting them any easier. If Ivy and Tanner hadn’t been there, he and the other guys would have been dead a hundred times over. Those two were frigging amazing. If they weren’t up to their necks in hybrids intent on killing them, Angelo would have enjoyed watching Ivy work. He’d never seen anyone move as fast as she did, literally spinning and ducking out of the path of incoming bullets, slashing throats here, ripping out hamstrings there. Hybrids might behave like berserkers, but apparently they weren’t as stupid as Angelo thought, because they quickly began to avoid the section of wall she was on, choosing to try their luck elsewhere.

Tanner was amazing, too, but in a completely different way. He moved in a slower, almost hesitant fashion, like he was thinking about every move before he made it. But while he wasn’t as graceful as Ivy, he still took down a lot of hybrids, only in a much bloodier fashion. Thank God he was on their side.

But even with all the advantages they had going for them—a good defensive position, enough ammo and grenades to get the job done, plus Ivy and Tanner—they were still losing. There were simply too many hybrids, and the flanking action he’d been expecting from Landon hadn’t come.

“Landon!” Angelo shouted into his radio mic as he drilled a hybrid through the forehead. “You can make that appearance anytime now. No need to be fashionably late.”

This was the first time they’d used the radio headsets since getting to Costa Rica, but he wasn’t sure why they bothered. Landon hadn’t responded to any of his calls for backup except to say he and the guys with him had their hands full and would get there when they could.

“We haven’t even gotten out of the tree line yet,” Landon yelled back over the open communications line. “I was hoping you’d draw most of the hybrids your way, but I’m guessing that part of the plan didn’t work.”

Angelo reloaded a fresh magazine before answering. “Your plan worked fine, Captain. We’re facing four to one odds over here.”

“Shit. We’ll be there. Just hold on five more minutes.” In the silence that followed Landon’s words, Angelo could hear the hollow booming sounds of grenades going off over the radio. “And by the way, I’m not your captain anymore.”

Angelo chuckled. “You’ll always be my captain. Now get the hell over here and pull my ass out of the fire, would you?”

“We’re coming,” Landon promised with that same grim determination Angelo had grown to trust. “Everyone okay on your side?”

“We’re fine,” Ivy answered. Her voice was so soft over the line that Angelo barely heard it. You’d never even know she was in the middle of a firefight. “What about you?”

“All in one piece,” Landon said.

“Good. Make sure you stay that way,” she said. “Don’t do anything crazy, huh? We’ll hold out until you get here.”

Angelo appreciated Ivy’s optimism, but he didn’t think they were going to last the five minutes Landon and the other guys took to get there. He didn’t say that, though.

“Okay, troops,” he shouted above the din of automatic-weapons fire and snarling hybrids. “Landon needs us to hold out for a little while longer. He’s run into some trouble.”