Because it revealed how deeply he loved her.
He had every reason to hate her brother, to want him dead, but he had given him a chance to redeem himself, had tried to deal with him without resorting to violence.
She slung the strap of the gun over her shoulder and placed her hand over Maverick’s on her arm, held his gaze and hoped he saw in it that she didn’t blame him for what had happened. She didn’t hold him responsible in any way. Her brother had made his choice, and in the end, he had paid for it.
Bronwyn eased closer to him, tiptoed and surrendered to the urge that ran through her, pressing her lips to his as her eyes slipped shut. His kiss was soft, hesitant, and then he slid his arm around her waist and tugged her closer, angled his head and kissed her deeper, stirring warmth in her with each brush of his lips across hers. She savoured the kiss and that warmth, how it curled through her to ease her fears and reassured her.
Mourned the loss of both when Maverick eased back.
He gazed down at her, his grey eyes warm and soft.
His throat worked on a hard swallow.
Maverick opened his mouth, snapped it closed and looked away from her again. “We’re here.”
Her heart drummed faster, the fear rolling up on her again. A burst of adrenaline shot through her as she stretched her senses around her and detected more than two dozen humans nearby.
Maverick glanced at her again. “Ready?”
“No.” She gripped his hand, all of her feelings lodging in her throat to make it impossible for her to say what she needed to tell him before they both lost their minds and tried to take on dozens of soldiers with only one gun.
An alarm rang, the high shrieking wail of it piercing her sensitive ears and making her flinch.
“Stick close.” Maverick tugged her to him, planted a brief, hard kiss on her lips and then he was moving.
Bronwyn shouldered her assault rifle, not really sure what she was doing with it, but willing to give it a go. It couldn’t be that hard to use. She had watched plenty of action movies in her years. Enough that she eyed it as they hurried along a corridor, towards the swarm of humans she had sensed.
The safety was off.
That was a good start.
The smell of oil and fuel hit her, together with the scent of human sweat and gunpowder, and she breathed through a momentary spike in panic as she followed Maverick out into a dark corner of an enormous hangar.
The entire wall off to her right was open to the night, two large black helicopters parked there beneath the moonlight, their rotor blades lazily turning.
Maverick pulled her down behind a stack of black cases and wooden crates, and leaned towards the edge of their makeshift cover. He ducked back again and she tensed as she sensed why. A male dressed in black fatigues similar to the ones she wore strolled around the corner, didn’t notice them as he adjusted his grip on his gun and sighed.
Maverick launched from the shadows, clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him down into cover.
She flinched as he snapped the hunter’s neck and pushed him away in one fluid move, snagging his gun in the process. He checked it over, looking far more comfortable with the weapon than she was with hers, and then glanced at her. She dragged her eyes away from the dead hunter.
Concern flickered in Maverick’s gaze.
She managed a smile, hoping to alleviate his worry. “I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t have to kill anyone, Winnie,” he whispered. “Leave it all to me.”
She appreciated that, but she also hated how weak it made her feel. These were hunters, humans intent on hurting people she cared about, enslaving them and putting them through hell, all for the sake of entertainment. She shouldn’t be hesitating to kill them, but she was. The thought of shooting them had her feeling sick all over again.
But she couldn’t let Maverick fight alone.
She couldn’t let him shoulder this burden too.
Not when she had vowed that they would make it through this together.
She readied her gun and drew down a steadying breath, steeled her heart and nodded, silently telling Maverick that she was as prepared as she was going to get.
Bronwyn focused on the dozens of soldiers behind her.
Although she really wasn’t sure Maverick had thought this through.
That feeling grew as Maverick rushed from behind the stack of crates, keeping low, the gun clutched close to his chest as he raced for the next block of cover. When he reached it, he looked back at her and frowned, a confused edge to his gaze. Like hell she was running across open ground, even when she was dressed like one of the soldiers. She was staying firmly behind cover at all times.
Maverick frowned and then twisted towards the cases and boxes. He poked his head up, gaze scanning everything in a fast sweep before he ducked back down behind cover. He motioned to her, signalling something off to her left, his look one of pure worry.
Bronwyn eased onto her toes in a crouch and came to face the crates and peered to her right, towards whatever Maverick had spotted.
Three soldiers.
They were doing a lap of the hangar, heading in her direction. A patrol like the one Maverick had killed.
The alarm continued to blare, dampening her hearing and making it impossible for her to tell what they were saying as they talked. She looked back at Maverick, unsure what to do—break cover and rush to him, or wait for them to reach her and attack.
Her eyes widened.
She waved her hand towards the two males who were heading straight for him, would be right on top of him in only a few seconds.
Maverick turned and loosed a spray of bullets, nailing both of them.
The whole hangar erupted into action.
The trio that had been heading for her opened fire on Maverick and he ducked behind cover, waited for them to stop firing before he popped back up again and unleashed another hail of bullets. Fear blasted through her, shaking her, but the sight of Maverick standing there bare-chested and shooting an automatic rifle provided a powerful distraction, one that almost had her forgetting they were both in grave danger as she responded on a biological level where she wasn’t quite master.
One of the men took cover and scooted towards her and Bronwyn panicked when she sensed him behind her, twisted and brought her rifle up, striking him hard in the side of his head with the butt of it. He went down on a muffled grunt.
Someone yelled, “There’s two of them.”
It ended on an agonised cry as Maverick nailed him in the shoulder and then that cry abruptly cut off as the next bullet ripped through his forehead. The male beside him lunged for him as he went down, caught himself as he clearly realised it was too late, and turned on Maverick, opening fire.
Maverick ducked behind cover and shrank lower in time with her as the other soldiers in the hangar opened fire too. He glanced at her, that look telling her to keep down. As if she was insane enough to do anything other than that. She wanted to survive this. She wanted them both to survive it.
He checked his gun and frowned, threw it away and waved his hand towards her. Rather than surrendering her own weapon, she stole the one from the man she had knocked out and tossed that across the open stretch of concrete to him. He inspected the clip and shoved it back into place, readied the weapon like a seasoned pro and drew down a deep breath.
She wanted to yell at him when he popped up from behind cover, firing off a few rounds.
He was going to get himself killed.
But then again, if they sat here and did nothing, that was a death sentence too.
Maverick waited for another break in gunfire before he raised his head and weapon enough to deal with the last hunter who was near her. She grimaced as the male fell into view, landing on his side with one arm stretched above his head and his sightless eyes fixed on her. She shuffled away from him a little and looked back at Maverick, watching him as he popped up and fired again, his shots more precise this time. He must have figured o
ut the location of all the hunters in the hangar and was now picking them off.
Maybe they could survive this.
She tensed as the noise coming from the helicopters grew louder, their engines whining as the rotor blades began to beat the night air. Not good. She peeked over the top of the crates and her eyes widened as she saw close to ten hunters had broken away from the group and were running for the helicopters. Her eyes leaped to Maverick but he was too busy taking potshots at the hunters who had remained, was focused on them as they continued to fire back at him.
Not paying any attention to her.
Bronwyn stared at the helicopters.
She couldn’t let them take off. Those soldiers would head to Black Ridge and everyone there would be in danger, and it would be all her fault.
She had to do something.
Her gaze fell to her gun.
She knew what she had to do.
Bronwyn lifted the weapon and aimed it as best she could, pointing it towards the helicopters. She depressed the trigger. Gasped as the gun immediately kicked upwards, the recoil far greater than she had anticipated. She sprayed bullets over the top of the helicopters, gritted her teeth and fought the weapon, bringing it down until the rounds were sort of hitting their target.
The soldiers that had been running for the helicopters ducked and kept low, slid behind cover as she overcompensated for the recoil and left a trail of holes in the side of one helicopter before the bullets pinged off the concrete, throwing dust up into the night air.
Some of those holes close to the rotor blades began to bleed smoke.
Several of the hunters pushed back onto their feet as she stopped firing, none of them making a break for the helicopters. They were running back towards her, yelling at each other.
The helicopter suddenly exploded in a blinding ball of fire, the shockwave catching the humans and hurling them towards her and Maverick, and heat rolled over her together with the scent of fuel.
Bronwyn stared wide-eyed at the hungry flames that devoured the two helicopters, the groans of the injured hunters distant to her ears as she tried to make herself believe what she had done.
It slowly dawned on her that they might have just won.
That fleeting feeling dissipated as more soldiers poured in from around the corner of the open end of the hangar and began firing in her and Maverick’s direction, forcing them back behind cover.
She curled up as the bullets pinged off the cases and thudded into the crates, her heart racing in her throat as she cast a look at Maverick.
His brow furrowed as he stared across the twenty-foot strip of concrete that separated them, keeping low to the ground with his back against the crates. She could read that look in his eyes.
He wanted to come to her.
She shook her head.
It would be suicide.
Gasped as another wave of bullets tore into the cover behind her and forced Maverick back, further away from her.
She looked at him, locking gazes with him again, her heart aching now.
They weren’t making it out of this alive.
Chapter 20
Maverick had to do something.
The need to reach Bronwyn seethed inside him, had his bear side and his human one restless as he gazed across the open stretch of concrete that separated them and looked as if it was miles to him. He wouldn’t make it, not without taking a hit or two, and he was already injured. He would be no good to her if he was hurt worse than he was.
Or killed.
But the urge to protect her was strong, had him considering it as he looked at her, as he saw the hope in her eyes fading and felt the fear building in her.
She shrieked as more hunters turned their guns on the cover she was hiding behind, curled into a smaller ball and placed her hands over her head as she tucked it towards her knees. He growled and tensed, ached to launch across to her and hold her, needed to tell her everything was going to be all right.
Even when he feared it wouldn’t be.
Maverick drew down a breath and held it, fought his instincts as her fated male and tried to be objective. The place where she was hiding was well defended, with metal shipping crates stacked in rows of two between her and the hunters. The bullets were only denting them, for now, which meant he had time to come up with a plan.
He poked his head over the top of his own stack of wooden crates and heavy-duty cases.
Ducked back down when he almost got his head blown off.
This wasn’t good.
He had taken out a lot of the hunters, but the reinforcements that had arrived when Winnie had blown up the helicopters meant the number he was up against was more than double what it had been. This entire operation was far larger than he had imagined, but then he guessed the lure of hunting shifters and the promise of fat pay for delivering them to this arena was probably enticing to a lot of Archangel soldiers.
He bit out a curse.
Looked at Bronwyn again.
Sure that this was it, and he was never going to get to tell her that he loved her and wanted to be her mate, if she would have him.
She glanced at him too, uncurled a little as her honey-coloured eyes locked with his, her delicate features softening. Calm flowed through him as she said a thousand things to him without speaking a word, as he saw in her eyes that she loved him and she knew he loved her.
She pulled down a breath and he did too.
One last stand.
Maybe they could make it out of this.
He checked his rifle and cursed again when he saw there was only one bullet left. His gaze strayed back to Winnie. She frowned at the magazine he held and then looked at her gun, her brow furrowing. Before he could tell her not to, she had unclipped the magazine and it was sliding towards him across the concrete. He caught it and attached it to his rifle, drew down a breath.
This was it.
Maverick took one last look at Bronwyn and hoped that for once the universe was on his side. Fate owed him for all it had put him through.
He pushed to his feet and several soldiers immediately took aim at him. He picked one of them, swinging his rifle in their direction, and pulled the trigger. Nailed him between the eyes but the others opened fire before he could shift his aim to them, forcing him back behind cover. He waited for a break in fire and then popped up again, managing to take out another two, but it left a hell of a lot of hunters to go.
Maverick aimed at another one and growled when he depressed the trigger and nothing happened.
He sank back behind cover, tucking low as bullets tore into it behind him, and checked the magazine. Empty. He cast it aside and looked around, growled again when he couldn’t see a single weapon within easy distance of him.
Behind him, the hunters hollered orders to close in and he could sense them flanking him and Winnie.
Fuck that bitch fate.
He looked at Winnie, aware this was the end.
But then cries and yells erupted behind him and the scent of human blood grew stronger, hitting him in a wave. What the hell? Maverick popped his head up again and frowned as several of the hunters turned away from him to face the direction of the burning helicopters. The staccato sound of gunfire rang in his ears together with his ragged breathing as he tried to make out what was happening.
The second he had an opening, he threw himself across the gap between him and Bronwyn and pulled her into his arms, shielding her with his body.
“What’s happening?” she hollered above the noise of the battle raging behind them.
“Don’t know.”
Two roars sounded.
One bear.
One cougar.
Maverick twisted his upper body away from Bronwyn and looked over the lowest of the crates. Relief and disbelief blasted through him as he spotted the source of the commotion.
His pride.
And they weren’t alone.
Rath and his brothers were with Saint, Lowe and Knox, and Rune. Lowe and Knox form
ed a formidable wall of black as they moved as one, using assault rifles they must have picked up from other soldiers in the base to take down any hunter who stood in their path. Rune was alternating between using his gun and his fists to fight his way deeper into the hangar. Saint had teamed up with Rath to cut a path in another direction. Rath’s three cougar brothers were all heading in a line between them, using the crates and boxes as cover whenever needed.
They were spreading out.
Searching for him and Bronwyn.
Maverick grabbed her hand and pulled her with him as he broke right, towards the side of the hangar where they had entered it. He kept low, hoping she would do the same as bullets flew in all directions, forcing his pride and the cougars behind cover. Knox’s handsome face twisted in dark lines as he expertly picked off several hunters with a handgun, providing cover for his twin as Lowe made a break for the next block of crates.
Rune appeared from behind a stack of cases, a shadow in the night dressed all in black, and Bronwyn tensed and gasped, her shock rolling into Maverick. She relaxed the moment she realised it was Rune.
Rune’s pale blue eyes landed on him and then he growled as a hunter came out of nowhere, tackling him and knocking him face-first into the wall. Rune elbowed him in the side of his head and twisted, bringing his knee up into the male’s side at the same time. He gripped the hunter by his hair and shoved his head down, smashing his knee into his face too, and tossed him away.
Casually swung the rifle he gripped towards the downed male and put a bullet in his head.
Rune grabbed another gun from the ground and slid into cover next to Maverick as hunters opened fire on him. He shoved the second gun at Maverick.
Maverick snatched it. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Rune glanced at him, the corners of his mouth twitching. “You didn’t really think I would let you do this alone? You’re my brother.”
Not by blood, but hell, Rune was right. They were brothers and Maverick had never been so glad to see him.
Awakened by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 5) Page 17
