Blind Salvage Read Online Free Page B

fighting if they stay in close proximity. Just one more reason for us to go home.”
    “Will could control himself; it’s Liam that can’t,” she said, her nose turning up with a snobbery that only came to her when she spoke about Will.
    I snorted. Nothing Will ever did would be bad in her eyes. Nor would she see that he was pushing hard to get Liam to step away from me. Again, I wasn’t going to explain that part to her. “Right, whatever.”
    The cabbie pulled off to the side of the road, where we’d asked to be dropped. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere. From here, the directions were straight forward. Follow the dirt path to the rundown castle at the end of the road. Easy peasy.
    We stepped out of the car, grabbed our bags, and paid our fare. The cabbie turned his car around, and then headed back down the poorly kept road to the main thoroughfare. As the cab disappeared over a hump in the road, a rustle from the bushes turned us both around.
    “Tell me you brought clothes.” Liam said, standing strategically behind a bush so that he didn’t flash Pamela. I reached into my bag and tossed him a shirt and pair of jeans, and the last pair of shoes I had in his size. With all his shifting, we were going through clothes like crazy.
    He dressed and stepped out from around the bush, Alex right behind him. Tongue lolling out, he had a big grin on his misshapen face. I had no doubt that the run had been a blast for him.
    “Have fun?”
    “Yuppy doody. Boss is good boss.”
    With that, we headed out. Liam led, Alex tucked in behind him, then Pamela, and then me.
    The heavy brush on either side of us would make for a perfect ambush, which was not something I was interested in dealing with. Without a break in my stride, I pulled a sword from my back, and adjusted the bag of weapons so I would have an easy swing at anyone, or anything that might pop out to say ‘hello.’
    With my luck, the chances were high we’d run into at least one nasty ugly.
    Pamela glanced back at me, saw the sword, and lifted her hands to prep a spell. I didn’t stop her. The more ready we were, the less likely we were to get our asses tromped by something. No need for the Monday blues to kick us into next week if we could avoid it.
    Alex trailed behind Liam like a well-trained dog, never once straying out in front of his alpha. Liam’s steps slowed and he turned his head to look into the bushes, as we slid down a small slope into a depression in the ground. Along the edges of the path the trees were bent, large branches snapped like twigs, and sap ran freely from the wounds. Whatever had caused the damage, it had been recent and on the far end of the ‘big ass’ scale.
    “Something rather large has come this way.” Liam reached out and touched his fingers to the jagged edge of a tree, then closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath as he scented the air.
    I tightened my grip on my sword and slowly lowered the bag of weapons. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Wait, how the hell can you smell ‘large’?”
    “I don’t know. A lot of whatever came through here. Look around. That’s how I can tell.”
    I pulled my other sword from my back and rolled it in my hand. “Alex, can you smell what it is?”
    The werewolf stuck his nose to the ground and moved in an ever-widening circle, finally stopping about ten feet out in front of us, his eyes round with fear, as he whispered. “Big bugger.”
    Obviously, he’d picked up on the local lingo. “What kind of big bugger?”
    He mouthed the word, and I groaned. No. Fucking. Way.
    Liam spun slowly. “Did he say what I think he said?”
    I nodded. “Yup. He did.”
    “Yuppy doody,” Alex said softly. “There be giants.”
    Crouching over my bag, I opened it with a yank on the zipper and quickly geared up. Was it fun to run with all my weapons on? No, but running with my weapons on was a hell of a lot easier than running with a bulky bag. I handed out the few weapons I couldn’t strap