Dark Empathy Archibald Bradford (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📖

Peeking over the brim of her shield, Volka smirked.

“Hey now. A cheese shield would just be silly.”

She had caught up to them mere moments after taking flight, but sadly, being a glowing winged woman they spotted her at the same time she had them.

Now the canny warrior was on the defensive, she knew that with all of the Aegis people in the area all she had to do was keep their attention fixed on her and play for time.

Though her heart burned with righteous fury at the sight of the terrified Lapine and her obvious injuries.

She bolstered her shield as Gregory and his friend took aim at her again, but before they could fire they heard the rapid clip-clopping of metal-clad hooves on the cobblestones to one side.

Volka’s eyes widened as an angry Minotaur burst out of an alley and slammed into them, the pair going down in a broken pile together from the force of her flanking charge.

With an aggressive moo Milly smashed the lost-tech weapons off of their mounts with her spear and hurled the remains against the men as they tried to stand, bowling them over again with the now useless weapons.

Snorting aggressively, the cow girl turned to see a pistol aimed at her chest, held by the cherry-haired woman gripping the terrified Lapine.

Her breathing steadied and a deadly calm filled her as she pointed at the pistol with her spear.

“You get one shot.” She shook her head slowly; “And it won’t be enough to stop me.”

Never before had Milly the Minotaur spoken with such intense and threatening conviction.

Even Volka was given pause, her heart having nearly stopped when her bond-sister put herself in the line of fire.

Though the way she had dismantled her men without hesitation was impressive, of all things it was her hat that really sold it for Bethany.

Any woman who could pull off a hat like that was a woman not to be trifled with.

The standoff lasted a half minute before she cursed and pulled her weapon-arm closer to her breast, her other still wrestling with Rebecca.

The cornered woman looked all around, desperately seeking a place to flee to.

But by delaying to witness the failure of her final trump card, the rapid-fire gatlings, the fugitive had unknowingly doomed herself as the remaining Aegis force caught up to them, guided by Nameless.

She was surrounded.

And she was all that remained, her entire criminal empire taken apart in less than a half hour. But she still wasn’t ready to give up; instead she held her pistol tight to the side of Rebecca’s head as she put her back to a wall.

“Back off! All of you! I’ll kill her!”

Frightful tears spilled down Rebecca’s cheeks at the deathly promise, she had hope again when the Valkyrie had arrived with her angelic aura, and with hope comes the fear of losing it.

A lone figure broke away from the Aegis forces, his face a controlled thundercloud.

“Bethany Sinclair. You are bound by law. Surrender now and you might escape the death sentence.” Benjamin ordered sternly.

His Spriggin both had arrows notched and aimed at the woman, though they would not shoot without their bond-mate’s order.

Likewise, Erica had a knife in either hand, ready to loose them at any sign of danger to her bond-sisters standing so close to the standoff.

Bethany’s response held a manic edge as tears spilled down her cheeks, her eyes reeling from one unfriendly face to another.

“Go ahead and hate me you fuckers! I have survived a father’s disgusting affections and a mother who loved drinking more than she did me! I even survived the tip of an Amazon warleader’s spear! You think I will lay down now just because you turn up your noses at me?! Now back off or I will fucking end her!”

At that point, Miranda arrived, propped up by Kala on one side, a bloody bandage pressed tight to her injury by Jan, the stubborn woman determined to see it through.

She took in the situation with narrow eyes, but then her look turned cunning.

“Hey Becks! Did you make that delivery like you were supposed to?” Her gruff voice rang out in the midst of the stalemate, startling everyone.

Rebecca sniffled miserably in the grip of the raving woman, but then her eyes widened as realization struck.

Before returning the parcel to her to give to ‘Carol’ Miranda had some of her people looking at it…

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Bethany snapped even as Jan and Kala shielded their bond-mate with their bodies.

But before her captor could suss out the meaning of the operative’s words, Rebecca bit down on her forearm just as hard as she could, her powerful incisors digging deep into the desperate woman’s flesh and causing her to scream and release her.

The Lapine whirled in place to face her, barely two feet away.

Despite the injury to her arm, the furious Bethany leveled her gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.

There was a sound of straining metal, followed by a pop, and the whole trigger assembly collapsed to the ground, leaving the criminal woman holding nothing more than a worthless piece of scrap metal.

“What the-”

She didn’t finish as Rebecca let out a snarling spitting noise that only an angry rabbit could make and threw herself at the treacherous woman, her powerful legs providing more than enough force to carry her back and slam her into the wall behind her before taking her to the ground.

“Get off me you little shit!” Bethany cried out, punching and kicking at her one-time paramour while she bit her arm again and scratched at her face.

But the punk bunny’s fury was too strong to be stopped by a few ineffectual punches and she quickly corralled Bethany’s wrists and began slapping her face with her