as they settled their bill at the bar, not quite sure what to expect from them. They were eyeing her with open looks of curiosity and friendly smiles, but she was still a bit wary. Not physically, but emotionally. The last thing she wanted was for one of them to blurt out a question about her relationship with Eli. And they looked nosey enough to do it.
“Since the men and I are heading back with you,” Eli rumbled, “we should find a motel for the night, then hit the road first thing in the morning.”
She’d just started to ask how quickly he thought they could reach Maryland, when the sound of screeching tires and loud voices came from the bar’s front parking lot.
“What was that?” she asked, though no one was paying her any attention. They were all focused on the one named Sam, who had made his way over to one of the front windows and was peeking outside. “Shit,” he muttered. “It looks like we’ve got a problem.”
Eli grabbed her arm and jerked her behind him. “Who is it?”
“I can’t tell yet,” Sam replied, while the remaining customers, along with the staff, started pouring out the back entrance. It apparently wasn’t the first time this place had seen this kind of “problem,” and given the look of the clientele, Carla doubted it would be the last. “But we’ve got three pickups with beds full of armed bad guys,” Sam was saying, “and they’re stopping by our trucks. So my guess is that they’re here for us.”
“Were you followed here?” Lev asked her.
“What? No! Of course not.”
“Then they’re definitely here for us,” the one named James murmured in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Don’t be so sure,” Eli muttered. “She has a knack for dragging trouble in her wake.”
“I do not!” she snapped, poking him hard in the back of his shoulder.
Sam scratched his head as he sauntered back over to the group, a funny expression on his handsome face as he looked at Eli. “I’ve never seen him like this,” he seemed to be saying to the other guys. “He’s always so blasted nice to women. Why’s he keep riling this little thing?”
James shrugged. “Beats me.”
“All of you, mind your own damn business,” Eli growled.
Kyle flashed a smile. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to get a good idea of the problem.”
Lev threw back his head and let out a lusty laugh. “This is gonna be priceless.”
Eli slowly looked from one man to the next, his powerful frame drawn tight with tension. “Shut up about her,” he said in a low voice, “or I’ll break your heads before those idiots out there even get a chance.”
As she moved back to his side, Carla thought he looked and sounded more than ready to thrash the next guy who teased him, but they didn’t seem to care.
“You don’t have to get so testy,” Sam drawled, his dark eyes shining with humor. “We like her.”
“I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual anymore,” she muttered, reaching back and pulling the gun she’d stolen off one of the Whiteclaw soldiers from the waistband of her jeans.
“Oh, God,” Lev murmured, clutching his heart when she opened the clip, checking her ammo. “I think I just fell in love.”
At her startled look, Sam laughed. “Lev has a thing about women who can handle a weapon.”
“Mmm. That I do.”
Kyle snorted. “He has a thing about all women.”
The blond arched his tawny brows at the grinning merc. “And you don’t?”
Kyle winked and blew him a kiss. “Don’t go sounding jealous, honey. You know I love you.”
This time, Lev was the one who snorted. “You just like the way I fill out my jeans.”
Carla looked at the four laughing idiots and wondered what on earth she’d gotten herself into. What was Eli doing with these clowns? She’d come here for warriors, damn it. Not a collection of frat boys who enjoyed ribbing each other.
Though, to be fair, these mercs didn’t look anything like any frat boy she’d ever seen. They would have made even the college ball players look puny.
Ah, now I get it, she thought a few minutes later, after they’d decided how to handle the situation and she, Eli, and Kyle had made their way out the back entrance and around the left side of the building. The customers and staff had thankfully scattered, no doubt heading into one of the other bars farther down the road, since there wasn’t much of anything else around. There’d been a small group of human thugs lying in wait for the mercenaries just outside the exit, but Lev, Sam, and James, who’d gone out first, had quickly taken care of them, before going right. Then the three mercs had engaged the armed gunmen causing havoc in the front parking lot, while Eli and Kyle stayed with her in the shadows.
These guys might act like a bunch of frat boys, but they sure as hell didn’t fight like them. Relief swept through her in a warm rush as she watched them, making her breathe a bit easier. If she was going to have to endure the seven circles of hell by being close to Eli, she at least wanted to know it was for a good reason. And protecting the ones she loved was as good a reason as there was.
Wyatt was worried about her, and had tried talking her into coming back during each of their conversations since she’d started this journey. It was a testament to how much she meant to all the guys, since they knew Eli and his men were needed—but they apparently cared about her even more. She really was like the little sister none of them had, aside from Eric, and she should have realized how they would react to her heading off on her own. There was probably going to be hell to pay when she finally made it back to the Alley—the place that the Bloodrunners called home.
But at least it would have been worth it. These mercenaries might be even more of a joking, smartass group than the Runners, but they were seriously skilled when it came to combat. Bullets sprayed from the humans’ guns as they scattered around the remaining cars in the lot and shot wildly into the night, unable to pinpoint the mercs’ locations as the guys quickly took down one assailant after another. She could sense Eli and Kyle’s need to join the fight and help their friends, but knew they were sticking close to her in order to provide protection.
Eli Drake had always been the most overprotective male she’d ever known, and that obviously hadn’t changed. She knew he didn’t want to leave her side, but when it looked like four of the thugs were going to slash the tires on the two shiny, badass black trucks she assumed belonged to the mercs, he told her to stay with Kyle, and headed off to deal with them.
“You know, we don’t have to hide over here,” she murmured, as soon as Eli had left. “I’m perfectly capable of helping in a fight.”
“I’m sure you are, honey. But I think Eli would probably castrate me if I let anything happen to you. And I’m kinda partial to all my body parts.”
That probably would have been the end of it, if another truckload of men hadn’t come barreling into the lot. Someone must have called for reinforcements, and this time the truck stopped near the side of the building where she was waiting with
