Pointing the laser pistol at his heart, Diane activated it.
“Liza, run,” she said heavily.
She was going to kill him. If she didn’t manage to do anything else, she would kill him.
“Where?” Liza’s voice was filled with disbelief. “Have you noticed there are four Coyotes here, lady? Does it look like I have a chance?”
One of the Coyotes grinned. A tilt of his lips that covered the curved canines.
“The first one who moves will die,” she snapped back at her. “Now get the hell out of here.”
“If she runs, one of us will chase,” a Coyote murmured. “We can’t resist. It’s like a dog with a ball. We just have to fetch.” He wagged his brows playfully.
As though he were flirting?
“Malcolm, where did you find your Coyotes?” she asked in disgust. “They’re fucking crazy.”
“They’re fucking effective,” he snapped back. “They caught your ass, didn’t they?”
Well, he had her there, didn’t he?
“Where is your mate, little warrior?” another murmured silkily as his dark gray eyes danced in amusement. “I can smell his mark on you and it’s fresh. You know, he gets his hands on you, and he’s gonna show you exactly how a Breed punishes disobedient little mates.”
“Go to hell!” she snapped.
He grimaced back at her. “Aw, come on, it’s just hot as hell there and my AC doesn’t even make a dent. Let’s try for something cooler.”
She took a moment to stare at him in complete disbelief.
“Great, a comedian,” Liza murmured behind her.
“Yeah, all before breakfast.” Diane sighed. “I think I might be nauseous anyway.”
“I warned you not to bring him, Malcolm,” another Coyote spoke up. “He’s going to start playing his incessant games again.”
“Loki, stop playing the fucking horndog,” Malcolm snapped at the flirting creature. “We’re here to kidnap a Breed mate, not see if we can seduce her.”
“I’m still maturing.” The Coyote shrugged with a cold, far too experienced, far too cruel expression of displeasure.
“He has about as much common sense as his brother Farce had,” another drawled. “Remember what happened to him, Loki? The wrong end of a feline weapon I believe.”
Diane followed them with her eyes, keeping her position, shielding Liza with her own body. As ignorant as they acted, as playful as they pretended to be, she knew they were now at their most dangerous.
“Liza, go!” she hissed.
“We’ll just chase her.” The taller, broader Coyote reached into his pocket and pulled a cigar free.
With lazy amusement, he holstered his weapon before lighting the tip, sending the scent of tobacco to fill the early morning air.
She was screwed. She would get one shot off, that was it at the current setting.
She turned back to Malcolm. “I’ll kill you first.” With a flip of her thumb she placed the weapon on its highest setting.
Malcolm smiled complacently. “No, Diane, you won’t,” he assured her. “Because if you do, then we’re going to take your little friend behind you as well. And I think you know what will happen to her then. You have only one shot. That’ll leave three Coyotes for her to deal with. Do you think she’ll survive?”
Liza wouldn’t survive. What Council Coyotes had been known to do to innocent bystanders was horrifying.
And they were alone with no backup and possibly no hope of backup arriving in time.
The heaviness that settled in her chest was like a crushing weight.
“I’d rather fight,” Liza whispered behind her.
Diane nodded slowly. “Do you have a weapon?”
“A knife, that’s all I have.” Regret filled the other girl’s voice.
Diane drew in a hard, deep breath. “Don’t let them take you. It would be far better to use that knife on yourself than to be captured by them. Once they come for me, run for the hotel. Breeds will be looking for me. They’ll take care of you.”
“I’m surprised, Ms. Broen,” the sandy-haired mocking Coyote drawled then. “I’ve heard of your mate. I’m shocked he’s not at your side facing us with that prick-assed attitude of his. Or did he do as he always swore he would and run the other way the minute he realized he was mated?”
“He was only delayed a bit,” she assured him.
“More like expecting her to be the good girl and stay in their bed rather than heading out to save this little bitch.” Malcolm waved his gun in Liza’s direction. “How did you know we were coming for her, Diane?”
She hadn’t.
Diane stepped back, bringing herself closer to the other girl in an effort to protect her; she took a deep breath and prepared herself.
They didn’t have a chance. Malcolm had taken out Thor and that left no one to watch her back. She had one shot, and not enough time to power the weapon again for another kill shot.
She didn’t have to kill.
With an imperceptible movement of her thumb against the mechanism Diane lowered the power from kill to wound and from wound to disable.
She could get off eight shots, and if she aimed at their kneecaps, she might have a chance.
And so would Liza.
“Poor Malcolm,” she drawled with an edge of laughter as she looked back at him, the only plan she could come up with flashing through her memory.
He scowled as the Coyote with the cigar chuckled wickedly. “Sounds like a challenge to me, little man.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Malcolm snapped. “No one asked you.”
Lawe would have missed her by now surely. It had been over an hour. He knew her and he knew her well. Just as she knew him. She had been pushing him, challenging him, now all she had to do was stay alive long enough—
“No one had to ask me.” The Coyote gave another low, amused laugh. “She’s cute as hell, Malcolm.”
“And she can kick Malcolm’s ass to hell and back,” Diane assured them all. Glancing at the Coyote, clearly the dominant alpha, she shot him a mocking sneer. “He knew he would have to face me.” She nodded at Malcolm. “He didn’t come for the girl, he came for me.”
The Coyote turned his head to Malcolm. “That true, Malcolm?”
Malcolm’s lips thinned angrily. “Two birds with one stone, right? She got her uncle, his second-in-command, killed so she and that bastard Thor could take over the team. I told you I wanted blood.”
“That wasn’t the mission,” he was reminded.
Diane chuckled. “Four coyotes.” She sighed. “For little ole me? That scared of me, Malcolm?”
His jaw bunched, his hands clenching the weapon.
“If you want me, come fight me,” she suggested with a laugh. “I dare you.”
Every Coyote there perked up.
“A thousand on the girl,” the leader murmured.
“Shut the fuck up, Dog,” Malcolm raged furiously.
“I got your thousand on the prick there. He has muscle where she doesn’t.” Loki took the bet before turning to the other two. “Mutt, Mongrel? You two in?”
“Thousand on the girl.” Gray Eyes took him up on it.
“Thousand on the prick.” The last one accepted the bet.
Malcolm was shaking with fury.
Diane smiled in anticipation.
“Knives or fists?” she asked, knowing his strengths as well as his weaknesses.
“You fucking whore,” he snarled.
“Take the challenge or walk away,” Dog snapped. “We won’t take her without the fight.”
God love a Coyote’s heart and his love of a challenge or a good bet.
“I win, we walk away,” she demanded as she kept her eyes on Malcolm.
Dog’s smile was clearly anticipatory, but he nodded easily. “Whip his ass and you walk. He whips yours—you run. How’s that?”
Diane gave a sharp, firm nod as she smiled at Malcolm. “It’s a bet.”