New Species 03 Valiant by Laurann Dohner Page B

ground. Valiant roared again
    when he discovered more of Tammy’s blood.
    “Easy,” Tiger snarled low. “We’re all allowing our
    animal sides to rule but we’re dealing with humans.
    Control your instincts while we hunt. They aren’t deer.
    Keep that in mind.”
    Rider growled where he crouched, examining the
    disturbed leaves. “One man is carrying her. His track
    impressions show the added weight.”
    “He’s dead when I reach him,” Valiant promised.
    “Let’s go.”
    * * * * *
    Tammy woke and softly cursed. Her shoulder, arm,
    back, and head hurt. She stopped listing what ached and
    tried to concentrate instead on what didn’t. Her feet and
    her ass were fine but that was about it. She forced her
    eyes open to stare at a blazing campfire. She rested on
    her side facing it, a few feet away from the flames. She
    turned her head, only to instantly regret it.
    Four men sat on a fallen log glaring at her. One of
    them, Terry, had his cowboy boots off. Dried blood
    stained his chin and shirt. She’d head-butted that one.
    A nother one had strips of his torn shirt stuffed up his
    nose that seemed to be actively bleeding, while another
    one had his hand clamped over his arm where bloody
    claw marks from her fingernails assured her he’d been
    one of the jerks in the back of the truck with her. The
    fourth man appeared unhurt.
    She looked away from them and glanced at the trees
    surrounding them. She had been placed on grass but as
    she tried to lift up, she couldn’t move her arms. She
    tugged and realized they were bound behind her. She
    glared at the men.
    “My leather belt is wrapped around your wrists, you
    little hellion. You just stay down.” It was the unhurt man
    who spoke in an angry tone. “I still say we should just
    kill her. Look at all the shit we’re in because of her. She
    broke Ned’s nose when she kicked him in the face on her
    way out of the truck.”
    Surprise registered to Tammy. She didn’t remember
    doing that but hid a smile, happy it had happened. She
    vaguely remembered using her feet to help kick off to
    shove her upper body from the bed of the truck. She’d
    thought she’d used the floor to do it. The fact that it had
    actually been his face made it better.
    “I think two of my teeth are loose. She slammed her
    head into my mouth,” Terry said and grunted while he
    glared at her. “I say I take my belt and blister her ass
    with it.”
    “Stop all of that whining,” the guy with the scratched
    arm ordered. “We need her help. You heard what our
    informant on the inside of that animal land told us. One
    of those animals grabbed and carried her off. We need to
    convince her to go public and tell everyone what he did
    to her to gain support for our cause.”
    “Like that bitch is going to do that.” Ned paused.
    “Right. She broke my nose. She’s as much of an animal
    as they are. Did she come with us peacefully the way a
    real lady would? Hell no. She fought as though she were
    an animal. Now here we are stuck in the woods without a
    truck. That car followed us and I’m pretty sure that guy
    went for help. He probably got the license plate. We
    probably have half of the state searching for us because
    she wouldn’t just be reasonable.”
    “We should have waited, Paul.” Terry frowned at the
    guy with the scratched arm. “He ordered us to wait to
    take her when he arrived. You’re the dick who thought
    she’d be easy enough to grab. You said it would be as
    simple as eating pie. The boss is going to be here in a
    few days and he’s going to tear you a new asshole and us
    along with you since we were dumb enough to listen to
    your screwed-up plan. You know the boss wants her bad,
    he told you he has big plans for her. He said he could
    talk her into doing whatever we needed her to do but
    now it’s all turned to shit.”

Chapter Five
    Paul cursed. “I can fix this. We can convince her to
    tell the press what we want but it just might take a bit
    more