Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Whoever invented your tracking device needs a better way to deliver it. It hurt worse than a bug bite and bled.”
“You were stoic as hell,” Diego pointed out. She had glared at him. Even then, in the middle of a firefight, she made him want to laugh. Now they were sitting in a makeshift den created out of dirt, branches and forest floor debris. She was severely injured, and they were being hunted by soldiers. None of that seemed to matter. She made him feel alive and happy. She made him want to laugh despite the grim situation. For him, she was the perfect woman, one who would stand at his side and cope with everything that came their way. Most importantly, she would love their children and stand in front of them.
“I didn’t feel stoic,” she said. “I was very, very angry. If I could have risked a shot at you, just to shave a little flesh off your arm, I probably would have done it. Luther warned me you were going to shoot a dart at me. I told him absolutely not.”
He couldn’t help the grin. “Yeah. I saw that little exchange. I took the shot just in case Luther decided to warn me off.”
Her green eyes went cool, but there was a hint of laughter in them. “You’re a little on the ruthless side, aren’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “A little? Woman. That’s insulting.”
Her laughter melted something hard and stony inside him. He wasn’t sure how she managed, but she turned the worst of conditions into fun. Women threw themselves at him. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been with women, but he didn’t enjoy their company. He could have spent a lifetime in Leila’s company. She was just…easy to be with.
“Most men would think it was insulting if I called them ruthless. It isn’t a compliment.”
His grin widened and she reacted, tracing one of the indentations around his mouth with the pad of her finger.
“It is a compliment,” he insisted.
“You have dimples.”
He did his best to scowl at her. “I don’t. Dimples aren’t manly, Warrior Woman, and just being ruthless proves I’m all man.”
She rolled her eyes and burst out laughing again. “Stop. It hurts when I laugh.”
The owl settled on the top of their den, emitting a series of calls much like she would make to her young. That galvanized Diego into action. He pressed a kiss to her temple, and then made certain she had everything she needed to defend herself.
“Water and ammo on your right. More weapons on your left. I’ll be back as fast as possible.”
She didn’t protest or cry. He had known she wouldn’t. Her expression was one of utter resolve.
“I’ll protect our happy little home.” She flashed a smile at him, the last thing he saw when he left her. He took that someplace deep in his heart and, signaling the owl, headed up the mountain toward the place where he had left the bodies in a gorge.
6
Diego shed most of his humanity as he ran up the mountain, setting a fast pace as he swerved around the trees, ducked beneath branches, and leapt over the ribbons of water. Nearly every genetic enhancement he had was that of a predator. He utilized every one of the acute senses to aid him in his run toward the gorge where he’d left the bodies.
The owl had shown him there were five intruders on the mountain. She indicated her disdain for them by ruffling her feathers and sending a warning cry echoing through the trees. Her disdain grew when not a single man looked up to spot her as she sat in the tree right above their heads, her body elongated, frozen in place as she watched the men moving around, eyes to the ground, looking for tracks. She shared the impressions with Diego.
Diego continued his run without missing a stride, but he had the exact location of the five men. They were looking for signs, casting back and forth. One continually sniffed at the air and ground. The owl watched that man with some curiosity, showing Diego the strange way he ran his nose through the leaves and brush around the site where Diego had shot and killed their fellow soldiers.
Diego expanded his senses to encompass the area just above where the men were searching. A field of rocks and boulders studded the mountain, jutting out and forming what Diego called a basking knoll for snakes. Two ribbons of water wound their way through the rocks, bubbling over smaller stones. Diego knew timber rattlers had a den in the caves concealed by the rocks. The knoll was the perfect place to curl up in the sun, out of the trees.
Timber rattlers were carnivores. They hunted voles, rabbits, mice, squirrels and any other small rodent. The water close by was a draw to the rodents and allowed them access as well. Often a den could hold several hundred snakes until the males left the pregnant females. Diego knew exactly where that den was.