The rest backed away before Carlos could touch them.  One wolf remained, his teeth sunk deeply into the spot where Carlos’ neck met his shoulder.  Carlos, on his hands and knees, tried to lift his head.

One of the men moved toward me as if to intercept me.

I held up a hand.

“Stop.”

Whether because of my impatient tone or my angry glare at Carlos, the man halted.

One of the wolves transformed from wolf to man.  He stood with his legs braced apart and crossed his arms as he smirked at me.

“Go ahead and pull a stunt like you did on the road.  He’ll die.”

After giving the man the briefest of glances, I returned to glaring at Carlos.

“You read fiction and go for a run the morning after I pissed off Doofenshmirtz here?  How did you not see this coming?” I asked, waving a hand at the seven men around him.

Carlos said nothing.  I felt only a small twinge of pity for him at the moment.  I was too full of the group’s anger and aggression that I’d been slowly siphoning since I’d stopped the car.

“Fine,” I said between clenched teeth.  I stalked toward Carlos.

“Isabelle, go,” he said with his head still hanging low.

“I don’t think so.  I have something to say.”

I reached him and bent, gently touching his cheek.

“You promised.”

Growls sounded behind me as the men realized I wasn’t angry with Carlos.  I grinned, then twisted to come up swinging.

Something flew through the trees and crashed into three of the wolves coming at me.  The new wolf tore into those Urbat while I tore into the four who were trying to rip into Carlos.

My knuckles cracked and bled with each furious swing.  I kicked out and solidly found my mark.  The half-formed man bent as if in slow motion then collapsed to the ground, wheezing.  Behind me, I heard Carlos move.

“Stay...” I ducked under a man’s swing.

“out of...”  I came back up with a jab to his throat.

“my...”  Swinging wide, I caught another in his ribs as he tried to feint around me.

“way, Carlos.”

The half-formed man fell.  Suddenly, everything was quiet.

“Wouldn’t dream of interfering,” Carlos said softly behind me.

I looked around and found all the men on the ground.  Grey was still in his fur, standing over one.  Blood covered his muzzle.

“Thanks, Grey.”

“He wants to know if you’re all right,” Carlos said.  He reached around me and touched my fisted hand.  I hadn’t realized I was still clenching them.  His fingers skimmed over the skin just below my bloody knuckles.

“I’m fine.”

“Grey’s going to the SUV and getting some clothes.  Gabby says things are clear now.  Before we go, you need to get rid of what’s left.”

How did he know my skin still tingled with anger and aggression?  It wasn’t much.  I waited until Grey walked away, then moved further into the trees for extra protection before pushing it out.  When I turned, I saw Carlos—really saw him—for the first time.

His face was swollen, and he had bruises around his neck.  Bloody bite marks covered the base of his neck and his shoulders, his shirt was torn, and he was missing a shoe.

“You big, dumb fool,” I said in a burst of frustration.

He shuffled forward until he stood just before me.  I could barely look at his face.  Fear was pummeling my frustration.  Images of what could have happened tormented me.

He reached up and gently wiped his thumb on my cheek.  Once I realized I was crying, it just got worse.

“It could have been you, too,” I said.

He wrapped me in his arms.

“Never.  I’ll keep my promise.  I’ll stay with you.”

I cried, and he held me.

One of the men moved on the ground behind us.  The sound brought my head up from Carlos’ chest.  The man weakly shifted his hand from his side, bringing it up level with his shoulder.  His pathetic attempt to lift himself landed him right back in the dirt.

My tears evaporated with my anger.

I pulled away from Carlos and went to the man.  He attempted to right himself again and ended up on his back.  It was the same guy from the road.  Tilting my head, I considered him.  There was no fear, only anger and resentment.

I squatted beside him, ignoring Carlos’ soft warning to stay away.

“Don’t like being my bitch twice, do ya?”

The man said something rude.

“Now, why would Blake send you after us when I told you I was coming for him?”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at me with his jaw clenched.

“Maybe you didn’t tell him.  Or maybe he sent you because he doesn’t want me coming to him, but I doubt that.  He sent fifty men to try to catch us.  So why only seven this time?  Unless...someone’s not being a good boy.

“Here’s what I think.  I think you lost your temper the last time we met and convinced these idiots it was a good idea to chase one of us down.  Not smart.  You’re going to be in trouble when Blake finds out.”

A sickening crunch cut off the man’s laugh as his chest moved oddly, almost as if inflating.  I knew humpty dumpty would be ready to move again soon.

“You’re Blake’s,” he said.  “But I told you, we’re going to leave you with nothing.”

Nothing.  They’d meant to kill Carlos.  And would probably come after Thomas, Emmitt, Luke...all of the men.

I stood, placed my foot on his chest, and pushed down hard.  Whatever little boney bits that were trying to knit back together, collapsed again under my weight.  The man rasped in pain.

“Don’t push me.  You won’t like it if I lose my temper.”  I lifted my foot.  “Tell Blake he’s wasting his men.  He’ll need every one of you when I get there.”

Carlos’ hand settled on my shoulder.  I took it as a sign to go.  Turning away from the idiot on the ground, I moved closer to Carlos and walked with him back to the SUV where Grey leaned, casually watching us.  He was dressed, thankfully.

“You get to drive,” I said.

The SUV was still running, and Grey had Gabby’s phone in his hand.

“Everything okay with the rest?”

“Just fine,” he said, moving to the driver’s seat.

I opened the back door and stepped aside to motion Carlos in.  I hadn’t looked at him since he’d let me cry.  A gentle touch under my chin had me lifting my gaze to his.

“Sit with me.”

I nodded and waited for Carlos to ease himself in.  Blood smeared across the back of the seat as he slid over.  The sight of it worried me.  I quickly got in and closed the door.  Carlos sighed and leaned his head against the seat as he closed his eyes.

The touch of his fingers on my hand almost made me jump.  Instead, I turned my hand so he could wrap his fingers around mine.  He gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance a second before a faint rhythmic sound caught my attention.  I looked down and saw blood dripping onto the seat from a bite on his arm.  I wasn’t reassured.

The drive back took longer because Grey actually obeyed the speed limit.  When we pulled into the parking lot, everyone still waited outside.  I hopped out and worriedly turned to Carlos.  He slid toward me and seemed to exit with more ease than when he’d entered.

Charlene gasped when she saw Carlos, and Thomas wrapped a comforting arm around her.

“He’ll be fine,” he said softly.

Fine?  Carlos didn’t look fine.  He had stopped bleeding, though.

“You two, go inside,” Thomas said, meeting my gaze.  “Help him clean up.  We’ll clean and load the car.”

I nodded and walked beside Carlos as he made his way to our room.  The back of his shirt hung open in two flaps.  Claw marks created jagged, bloody valleys in his skin, and my temper flared at the sight.

When he reached the door, he opened it and stood aside to let me in first.  Courtesy over injuries.  I would have said something snarky about that, but my voice wasn’t ready for snarky.  It was still set on throat-closing worry.

Moving ahead of him, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower.  My thoughts raced to what I would need for Carlos’ wounds.  I still had the first aid kits, but I didn’t think there was enough salve or bandages to take care of everything.