“I don’t give a shit.” Mary stared at the house. “Was Lash able to get in?”
Mel hugged her tighter against her side. “I don’t know.”
“We haven’t heard any yelling or more shots. That’s good.”
Mary shot Snow a scowl.
“It is,” he insisted.
Jaded Wild came running at them along the backside of the barn. New Species moved out of his way. He stopped about five feet back. Someone had turned on a battery-operated lantern so her and Mel could see, since it was pitch dark. His green eyes were bright and he smiled, showing off white teeth.
“Lash is inside. I saw him enter through what appeared to be a very small attic window.”
Mary stared at the house. She knew that window well. There was only one up there. It used to be one of her summer chores as a kid to clean it since the glass would get dirty after a while from rain and winter storms. She couldn’t picture Lash fitting through that small opening, but she believed Jaded Wild.
It helped her calm down to picture Lash in the attic. He was tall, and the ceiling up there wasn’t. He’d have to probably slouch a bit to reach the stairwell to the second floor—
“Shit.”
“What?” Mel asked.
“Remember the stairs to the attic? You went up there with me at the beginning of summer to help me look for that chest of picture albums my mom wanted to show you, from my childhood.”
Mel did seem to remember. “Crap. I hope he fits.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s an old house with quirks,” Mel answered. “Think tiny, steep space to get to the third floor.”
Mary worried that Lash would get his big body wedged and stuck on that stairwell. She barely managed it at times. Her parents never went up there and always sent her. As a kid, it had been fun. As an adult, not so much.
Minutes ticked by in her head, dragging on forever. “What’s going on in there?”
“I still don’t know,” Mel whispered back. “I’m right here with you, though. Have faith in your man. He looked determined, and my money is on him.”
Regret hit Mary hard. What if she lost both of her parents and Lash? She should have told him no and kept him with her. She couldn’t lose all of them. Her stomach churned, and she swallowed down the bile that rose. The threat of puking was real.
There was suddenly a muted roar.
Mary jolted and her knees almost gave way. Mel kept her up, and she chose to pretend the two big hands that gripped her hips from behind belonged to her best friend instead of Mel’s husband. Snow was just trying to help.
She watched the house, looking for any indication of Lash, but all the windows remained dark and covered. The lights around the house were still on, showing the porch and the side of the house. None of the windows broke and nothing came crashing out of them. It also hadn’t been a gunshot. She counted that as a good thing.
The sheriff suddenly stood and lifted his blowhorn. Brass grabbed him and yanked him back down. They seemed to be arguing with each other but she couldn’t hear it. Just Sheriff Cooper waving his free hand around enough for her to spot him in the house lights. Her gaze locked back on the house.
Her heart pounded when the door was suddenly thrown open and she saw…
Lash. He dragged a much smaller man out and just dropped him on the porch with a loud thud.
“Come get your bad human,” he bellowed. Then he spun in his loincloth, slamming the door closed as he went back inside.
“Holy crap!” Mel blurted.
Mary tried to run forward but Snow’s hands on her hips tightened, and Mel refused to let her go. Sherriff Cooper got up and ran toward the house with his deputy. Brass went with them. They jogged up the few porch steps, and she couldn’t see the downed man once they blocked her view. Instead, she watched as the deputy reached for handcuffs on his belt.
A masculine chuckle startled Mary.
“I asked Lash not to kill the male. He listened. They wouldn’t be restraining the wrists of a dead body.”
She didn’t look at Jaded Wild but she tried to jerk away from Mel again. “They got him. Let me go.”
“Not yet,” Snow ordered. “There could be more of them.”
“There’s just the one asshole,” Mary argued.
“Let Lash make sure. You promised him to stay here.”
She wanted to fight with Snow but figured it was pointless.
The men on the porch were lifting up the asshole who had kept her parents hostage. Then the asshole was shoved forward by Sheriff Cooper and Deputy Tommy. Each of them had a good hold on his upper arms, his hands secured behind his back. They brought him down the stairs, and he was walking on his own. Limping, actually, all the way to the sheriff’s car. They put him in the backseat.
“Where are my parents? Lash?” Mary desperately wanted to go inside the house.
Brass seemed to try to enter the house, but he was stopped by the closed door. Then he knocked, pounding on it with his fist.
“Why isn’t he going in?” Mary needed to know what was going on.
“How would I know? I’m standing right here with you, Mary.”
“Sorry, Mel.” She turned her head, giving a pleading look to Jaded Wild. He seemed to outrank Snow. “They have that asshole secured in the patrol car. Can I go now?”
“No. Wait. There could be more males we don’t know about.”
“You heard that gunshot. What if one of my parents are hurt?”
“Mary!”
She snapped her head toward the sound of Lash’s voice.
Her eyes lit as he rounded the back of the house—and it took her a second to realize that he had something over both shoulders, his arms hooked along the back of…
Her parents’ legs. He was carrying them.
“He’s got them,” Mel gasped.
Snow released her and rushed around them. So did a lot of other New Species. At least a dozen of them darted out from around the barn, booking it toward Lash as he causally kept coming at her with her parents slung over his shoulders. There were ropes twined around their bodies that she could see even from a distance, from their ankles, over their pants at the calves, behind their knees, around the backs of their thighs, and even across their asses.
Mel’s hold on her loosened, and Mary took advantage, yanking free and running. She almost tripped but caught her balance. New Species met Lash and tried to take her parents from him, but he snarled at them.
“I’m taking them to Mary. Someone get a knife to cut the ropes. They have fragile skin. I didn’t want to use my claws to tear the rope because they’d probably bruise. Mary, they are unhurt. Just scared.”
She got to him and stared at her parents. At least, the back of them. Tears blinded her as she finally looked up at Lash.
He gave her a huge grin, showing off his fangs. “I told you I’d bring them to you.”
“Lash,” Brass ordered, “let us lift them off you.”
Lash finally gave a sharp nod. New Species converged, gently gripping each of her parents and lifting them away from Lash. As soon as they were off him, he grabbed her, picking her up, and Mary was being squeezed in a bear hug.
She wrapped her around him. “Thank you!” Then she wiggled. “Let me down. I have to check on them.”
Lash sighed but he lowered her. “They act like prey,” he grumbled. “It’s also why I didn’t untie them. They probably would have run to hide from me, and it would have taken longer to bring them to you.”
Mary wiped at her tears. The New Species had lain her parents on their backs on the ground, and they were cutting the ropes. Her dad was freed first, and he tore at the gag around his mouth. He struggled to sit up.
One of the New Species gently helped him but released him fast. Brass was the first to speak to them.
“You’re safe. Sherriff Cooper has the male who tried to harm you in custody. Do either of you need medical assistance? We can take you to Reservation and have our doctors treat you.”