Page 45 of August

She was trapped. Diedrich on her heels, jackals ahead of her.

She reached the open norms’ paddock and rushed in, grabbing the gate and swinging it shut. It bounced back, the lock broken where it had been forced open.

The maintenance shed! There would be a door in the floor where she could get to safety and then figure out a way to get back to August to make sure he was okay.

She ran for the maintenance shed, her heart hammering in her chest.

Skidding to a stop, she realized there was a keypad next to the big double doors of the shed.

She tested the door handle to see if it would open, and it didn’t.

And she didn’t have the code.

Shit.

Turning, she put her back against the shed as she watched Diedrich and the other males walk into the paddock.

There was nothing in the paddock but normal animals, and not even predator ones that could help a girl out. Aside from the animals, there was only a pond, some trees and rocks, and the useless locked building at her back.

Fear clawed at her like something alive and wretched. Her gut churned, her mouth went salty, and her eyes stung. If they took her to her grandfather, she’d die just as surely as the rest of her family. Not only was she not ready to traipse off into the great beyond, but she didn’t want to leave August. She just got him, for Hades’ sake.

And she was not going to go down without a fight.

Letting out her claws, she lifted her head and unleashed a howl.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she vowed, clicking her claws together.

Then she lowered her head and smiled.

August nearly got taken out by a few deer racing down the path and had to squeeze against the stone wall to keep from being trampled. He moved back onto the path and saw Ginny run into the norms’ paddock.

He also saw the male chasing her, as well as several others coming from the other way, move in that direction. She’d be trapped. He hadn’t gotten a chance to give her the security codes, so she wouldn’t be able to unlock the maintenance shed.

His feet pounded on the worn path as he followed, desperate to get to her before she was harmed. As he reached the broken door of the norms’ paddock, someone jerked him off his feet and tossed him backward.

It happened so fast he didn’t even have time to yell out in shock. He hit the ground, the air rushing from his lungs and his head thudding as he landed, his ears ringing and his eyes watering.

A male leaned over him, and the pressure on his chest increased greatly until he was sure something was going to crack.

“You’re following her,” the male said. He was older, with gray hair and a thick beard. It wasn’t his face that reminded him of Ginny so much as his eyes. They were the same green that August had loved from the moment he’d met her.

“She’s mine,” he managed to get out between painful gasps of air.

Her grandfather leaned a little harder and August did feel something crack. Pain ratcheted through him, making his vision blur.

“Not for long,” he said. “I need her to flush the other one out, and then?—”

The male was pushed off August abruptly. August rolled to his side and tried to inhale as whatever rib had cracked made his whole chest hurt. Coughing more than breathing, he managed to get to his knees and straighten.

A male squared off against Ginny’s grandfather.

August had never seen the male before, but he was holding back Ginny’s grandfather and that’s what mattered.

“Get to Ginny, man,” the male shouted to August, dark claws shining from his fingertips.

“I knew you’d come for her,” her grandfather said. “Your time has come.”

“Yours. First.”