Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

They were really good—some of the best fighters she’d ever seen.

Afana, you’d better watch out. We’re coming for you!

She jumped off the horse and left it where she had gotten it from. She didn’t want it to run away.

Then she headed toward the workshop, but before she reached it something heavy hit her across the back of the head. Her legs went weak, and her body tumbled to the ground.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Ryder’s head was pounding when she woke up. She was in the woods, but how? Why?

Yegor looked down at her greedily, pinning her with his hands and legs. She thrashed to get out of his hold and was kicked in the ribs by Sergei. The pain radiated over her body.

“So you’re a fucking whore,” Sergei said as he undid his belt. “I fucking knew there was something up with you. I just thought you were Terrier’s toy, and I guess that was true. He was fucking you all along.” Sergei pulled his belt out of the loops and put it across Ryder’s mouth. Yegor gripped each end and held them in place so she couldn’t get away.

Yegor got out of his own pants. One of his pant legs was stained with blood. He’d been bitten.

Sergei climbed onto Ryder. “I’d say it won’t hurt, but I’ll be lying.” He kissed her.

“I’m next. You said I could go next,” Yegor begged, his saliva dripping onto Ryder’s face. Ryder thrashed her head, trying not to let any of Yegor’s bodily fluids touch her. She didn’t want to go Mad.

Her eyes filled with tears of anger as she tried and failed to get Sergei off her. Once she nearly succeeded, and he punched her in her face for it.

Ryder heard Sergei unzip his fly. Get off me, you son of a bitch! Ryder thrashed. I’m not going down without a motherfucking end-of-worlds fight!

Sergei was getting angry and he lashed out at Ryder, but she didn’t give a fuck! She could take a beating.

Leandro leapt through the air, knocking the Mad flying. He might not be able to risk biting them but they sure made good Fluffy-toys. He tossed a Mad into the air and Carter shot it, it landed on another Mad and they both fell to the ground.

He barreled through the Mad, flinging them left, right and center. One went especially far. It hit the side of the building with a crunch —no one was getting up after that.

He glanced at his dad, impressed with Massimo’s skills. He was as strong as he had been when Leandro was a kid, and looked just as scary. Not that he scared Leandro or the Mad, who looked like nothing scared them, but it would be useful when they were in the bunker fight with men who weren’t Mad.

He looked at the others. They were all doing well, taking the Mad out. Then Leandro looked for Ryder, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. He spotted the horse she had been riding by Graham’s workshop, and Byrant running from the workshop toward the group.

Where’s Ryder? He tried to scream her name, but nothing came out because he was a wolf.

Leandro ran to Bryant, who backed away from him. Now he wished he’d told everyone earlier he was a werewolf so that Willard wouldn’t have stabbed him. Carter wouldn’t think Leandro owed him one for stopping Javier from coming after him, and Bryant might not have backed away from him.

Damn it!

He put his snout in the air and took a deep breath. He could smell a familiar scent, but couldn’t remember where he’d smelled it before. Then he caught the faintest whiff of Ryder’s scent coming from the direction of the woods. Ryder was in the woods, but why?

Massimo could take care of himself, so Leandro sprinted toward the smell. Adrenaline raced through his blood as he leapt over fallen trees and whizzed between the standing ones.

Ryder was pinned to the ground by one man, and another was on top of her.

NO!

Leandro slammed into Sergei and dragged him off Ryder, He didn’t care if he caught the Madness. This man wasn’t going to die from one bite, he was going to suffer from many. He felt Ryder’s hand on his neck, calming him. Outwardly, he remained terrifying. He snarled at Sergei’s, dripping hot saliva on the man’s face.

Sergei screamed. “Yegor, do something.”

Ryder booted Sergei right in the face. “Take that, you piece of shit!”

“Yegor, you’re fucking mine,” Ryder yelled. As she got to her feet she swung the belt at Yegor, smacking him in his face with the metal buckle. “You fucking prick!” she shouted as she repeatedly slashed the buckle at him. His face was already raw and bloody from the wounds when she turned the belt on Sergei.

Both Sergei and Yegor were yelling in pain, but their cries would only end when they were dead.

Yegor was holding his face and trying to run away, so Ryder stabbed him. He grabbed that wound and Ryder sliced his throat, ending the little prick’s life.

Then it was Sergei’s turn as Ryder finished him off.

The world fell silent for a moment. “Three hunters down, a whole bunker left,” Ryder murmured to Fluffy.

Ryder stroked his white fur, which had blood all over it. “Thank you, Leandro.” Ryder knew what it was like to spend her life as something which she wasn’t. She hoped Leandro would be happy if he had to spend the rest of his life as a wolf. He had said he liked it, after all, but it was one thing to like it and another to spend your whole life that way.

“Ryder,” Carter yelled as he ran through the woods. He spotted her. “Are you okay? Byrant told us what had happened,” he said, looking her over.

“I am, thanks to Leandro. He saved me,” Ryder told Carter, looking down at the wolf.

“Nice to have you back, Fluffy,” Carter cheered. Leandro growled in response.

They all headed toward the blacksmith’s workshop, Carter helping