The men had set fire to the barn. If they couldn’t come in, they were going to burn him and Mackenzie out.
Shit.
He jerked around to see flames creeping along the walls behind them.
“Gage, the barn’s on fire.”
Mackenzie’s voice was much calmer than it should have been in a situation like this. She was even filming again. No doubt about it—she was crazy.
Or maybe she didn’t realize how screwed they really were. The men had started the fire to drive their prey out of the barn. They were standing out there with every weapon pointed at the entryway and the weapons lying on the floor in the opening. When Gage made a move for them, they’d take him out before he even had a chance to pick them up.
And then they’d come for Mackenzie.
But if they stayed where they were, they’d roast. And Mackenzie would still be dead.
His mind raced at a thousand miles an hour as Mackenzie began to cough. There was a third option. A way to take out the men, or at least distract them long enough for Mackenzie to escape.
He was going to have to shift. He might still not survive the hit he was going to take from their automatic weapons, but Mackenzie would be safe. And that was what mattered.
But if he did this, everything would change—no matter how it turned out.
Gage took the camera out of Mackenzie’s grasp to let it hang by its cord from her wrist, then he gently pushed his pistol into her hand. “I have to get rid of those guys before this whole place goes up in flames, and there’s only one way to do it. And it’s going to the scare the hell out of you.”
She tried to push the gun back into his hand. “Gage, what are you talking about? How can you get those men without a weapon? It’s…”
He didn’t know if she had been about to say it was crazy, or stupid, or impossible because she started to cough from the thick smoke rolling off the back wall.
He wrapped her fingers around the pistol grip and curled her index finger in the trigger guard. “This is going to be hard on you, but you have to do it, no matter how scared you are. I need you to count to five, then follow me outside. You only have two rounds. If there’s anyone left out there when I’m done, you need to make those two rounds count. Do you understand?”
She coughed again, tears running down her face. He told himself it was the smoke making her cry, but he knew that was bull.
He slid his hands in her hair and kissed her hard. He wanted to tell her what she meant to him, tell her how he felt about her, tell her what he really was, but one kiss was all he had time for.
When he lifted his head, she was gazing up at him with tear-filled eyes, and the sight of them tore at his heart. “Remember—count to five, okay?”
“Why? Gage, what are you going to do?”
“Whatever I have to do to protect you.”
The whole back of the barn was engulfed in flames now. He rose to his feet, ignoring the pain of his wounds.
“I’m sorry,” he said raggedly, then turned and ran toward the door, shifting as he ran.
It was almost a relief to finally allow his teeth to elongate and his claws to come out. He wouldn’t need the MP5s on the floor now. With his speed, strength, claws, and fangs, he was a killing machine.
Mackenzie didn’t know that, of course. And as he ran out of the barn, she screamed his name.
***
Mac knew Gage was going to do something reckless and dangerous when he’d shoved his pistol into her hand—she just hadn’t known what.
When he’d said he was going to get rid of the men, she thought he was going to grab one of the machine guns the thugs had dropped, but he hadn’t. Why would he do something so insane?
She wiped away a tear with her free hand. She had to get it together. Gage was depending on her to go out there in five seconds.
How long had it been?
Longer than five seconds she was sure.
Outside, the sounds of gunfire filled the night, followed by shouting. Mac’s blood turned to ice in her veins. There was no way Gage could survive that many bullets.
She jumped to her feet and ran across the barn. The fire and smoke had sucked the oxygen out of the place and it was hard to breathe. Pieces of hay and wood floated through the air like dandelion fluff, burning her skin, but she ignored them.
Fresh air hit her like a slap to the face when she got outside, but it was nothing compared to what she saw that completely took her breath away again.
Two of the gunmen were already dead, their bodies torn and bloody. A third lay on the ground trying to reach a machine gun a dozen feet away, his leg twisted at an odd angle and badly bleeding. Dear God, the men looked as if they’d been mauled by a wild animal.
She searched around wildly for Gage and saw him locked in a struggle with the fourth man. They each had a hand around the other’s throat, trying to squeeze the life out of their opponent. The man twisted the machine gun in his free hand and pointed it at Gage.