The force of their weight blew her into the wall, sheetrock crumbling around her.
This was it. The moment men like Stas and Dennis won. She knew it. She was prepared for it even as she vowed to struggle to her death.
Until there was another shriek, deep and heated, shaking the entire room.
Cormac’s bulky body shot forward, and with his head down, he crashed into Stas and Dennis, knocking them clear across the room and almost over the bar
He didn’t stop to catch his breath. No, he rushed them, didn’t give them the chance to regain their footing before he was on Dennis’s back and Wanda was on Stas.
Dennis rolled and went for Cormac’s throat with a screech of torment, his jaws but a half-inch from the meaty flesh. However, Cormac was too quick. He raised his paw high in the air and took a long swipe.
The tear of flesh made a sickening ripping noise, blood spurting from Dennis’s throat in gushes of thick red as he went limp.
Cormac huffed, his broad chest heaving, his nostrils flaring before he let his head fall between his shoulders and his shift began to take hold.
Wanda held Stas on the ground, her body realizing its human shape once again.
Arch was there just as sirens rang out in the distance, throwing clothes at Wanda and Marty, who crawled to where Nina lie, her sobs cutting through the wail of the police cars Arch and Nina had been told to call if they were in the bar too long.
Carl appeared, his greenish-pale face a mask of pain. But he handed clothes to Cormac and Teddy so they could dress before the police arrived. Just like they’d planned if the confession didn’t work out and they were attacked.
The only part of the plan that had worked.
Cormac rushed to Teddy, helping her pull on an oversized shirt and some sweats, quickly zipping up his jeans and pulling her to him for a quick, silent hug before he jammed his feet into his scattered boots and went to help Wanda.
“I’ve got him, Wanda,” Cormac whispered as he helped her up and away from an unconscious Stas, keeping his eyes on her face. “Dress. Hurry. He won’t go anywhere.”
Darnell ran from body to body, searching until he found Dennis, his face grim.
“What do we do next?” Cormac asked from the glass-covered floor where small fires burned, sending tendrils of acrid smoke upward to the ceiling.
Darnell dug into the deep pocket of his jeans and pulled out the recorder, instantly covered with blood from his fingers, and handed it to Cormac. “You give this to the po-po. Don’t lose track of it. The rest, I got, man. Go. Be ready just like we planned,” he urged with a slap to his shoulder before he turned and stooped to haul up Dennis’s lifeless body. Throwing him over his shoulder, Darnell was gone in the blink of an eye.
Teddy knelt next to Marty, pushing her hair, soaked in blood and sweat, back from her face as she coaxed her arms into a sweater she’d never in a million years wear and begged her to put her pants and shoes on. “Please, Marty. I’ll help you. Get dressed before the police get here. We have to stick to the plan.”
Marty did as she was told, rushing and shaking as she did all the things she should, and then she was beside Nina again, stroking her hair, pressing her cheek to her friend’s.
Teddy fought a scream of frustration and sorrow as she pressed the sleeve of her sweatshirt against Nina’s wound, her breathing shallow and labored. “Where is the ambulance?” she asked, on the verge of hysteria. “We need help now!”
Suddenly the room filled with paramedics, who whisked Nina away on a sterile cot, hooking her up to an IV and blood-pressure cuff. The police entered right behind them, their eyes wide at the carnage, astonished that Cormac had Stas naked and pinned to the floor.
And there were questions, and more questions, and chaos, and crime-scene tape and chalk outlines and Cormac handing over the evidence they’d gathered, relaying the events of the night. There was Carmine, huddled and shaking so violently, he had to be carried out on a stretcher in handcuffs. And all Teddy could think was, she needed to get to the hospital to be with Nina.
And then she remembered Carl. Oh God. Where was Carl?
Carl, who’d done everything he was told to do, while looking almost catatonic. Teddy pushed her way through the throng of police and outside, where onlookers gawked. Cormac followed, gripping her hand to keep her close.
Then she saw him.
Propped weakly against a pole, his eyes wide, his torment crystal clear.
“Move!” she shouted to the people milling about him.
She reached out her hand to him, thrust it through the crowd and gripped his cold, stiff fingers, and he collapsed against her, his shoulders silently shaking.
Cormac sheltered them from behind, keeping the press and stray ambulance chasers from invading their circle.
Keeping them safe as Carl buried his face in her neck and they both cried.
Chapter 16