Barron's Prey

Molly & Barron

Pushing him to the side, she stood and started walking towards the building. She couldn't let them die, not when she'd just met them. Barron was hers, and there was no way she was letting him die. A hand clamped down on her shoulder and once again she was sitting down in the SUV.

"Why do they mean that much to you? You would die for them?"

"My mate," she hissed, "is in there."

"Shit." She raised her eyebrows, and he waved her off. "You're going to have to get used to it. So, if I went in there and brought him out."

"All of them."

He growled. "The little leopard shot me four times when she walked through the door. When I went to rip the wolf's throat out, the fox shot me with a silver bullet. I don't think they'll think to kindly of me walking back in there."

She smiled brightly at him. "Tell them Molly sent you."

"If I die, we're even," he said as he turned back towards the building and disappeared.

Molly blinked after him before shrugging. Sadly enough, she admitted to herself as she closed her eyes, that wasn't even the weirdest thing that had happened to her in the past couple of days. No. The weirdest had been waking up to find out she was a fox shifter, who could apparently heal without water now. She banged her head against the seat and winced when her head throbbed with pain. Opening her eyes, she stared at the building.

What she felt this time was different. There was a different kind of fear emanating from the warehouse. This was the type of fear that encompassed your body, froze you in your steps. She pushed through the emotions and found Barron. There was no fear coming off him. There was confusion, weariness, and hope. With a sigh, she relaxed. They were fine. They would be fine.

***

Barron

"Molly sent me."

Barron stared at the man who fought next to him before shaking his head in confusion. He had been sleeping near the doorway when they had all come in, and Barron had a feeling that if this man hadn't been sleeping, they never would have been able to get a shot off.

"She okay?"

"Fine," the man grunted as he snapped someone's neck. "I'm Jared. She's outside sleeping it off."

Barron glanced down where he had hit him with a silver bullet and found nothing. Firing off a couple rounds, he turned to see the rest of his team holding their own. There were too many of them though, and why Owen had sent them here, Barron still didn't know. "She cured your silver poisoning?"

"Yeah. Nice touch with the 22. Bullet stays inside, pings around, doesn't normally leave the body."

"Thanks. Something my dad taught me."

"Another fox?" Jared asked, causing Barron to pause momentarily.

Before the shifter in front of him could get in a hit, Jared reached out, snapped his arm, and continued on his way, leaving Barron to defend himself once more. "How'd you know?"

"We need to get out of here. No one can shift, and there are too many of them."

"Owen!" Barron shouted. The rest of his team glanced towards them as they continued to fight off the people in front of them. "Fall back."

Namir reached out, put a hand on Sara and Bryn before popping out of the room. Jared cursed beside him. "Man, I wish I could do that."

"Me too," Barron admitted as Namir popped in, grabbed Owen and disappeared once more. "I only know one other person who can do that."

Jared looked towards him. "I knew an asshole back in the day who ran a crew who could do that."

Namir popped in front of them, grabbed them, and then popped outside. Barron glanced towards the SUV, seeing Molly staring at him in relief. "You're okay?"

"Fine," she said with a large smile, but the smile faded as she glanced at Owen. "Do you still hear them calling?"

Owen frowned as he shook his head. "No. I don't know what's going on, but I don't hear anything."

"We need to get out of here," Jared said as he stepped around Barron and pushed Molly further into the SUV.  Barron growled at the man, but Jared just sent an amused look over his shoulder. "You can get on the other side."

He opened his mouth, but Molly shook her head. "Can we do this later, when there isn't a large chance of us dying?"

Sara grumbled as she eased herself into the passenger's seat. "Not that anyone cares, but we need to go somewhere that I can shift and heal. This cut in my thigh hasn't stopped bleeding."

They all piled in. Owen sped away from the building, and Barron turned with a frown when not a single person exited. "What the hell is going on?"

Jared sighed on the other side of Molly. "It's kind of a long story."

Molly leaned forward, put her hand on Sara's shoulder then hissed. Sara jerked away before curling her hands in a fist. "Thanks," she snapped as Molly flopped back into the seat.

"You need to slow down," Barron whispered as he pulled her into his side. "You're weak."

She glanced up at him with a dazed smile. "He called to me. I couldn't help it." She raised her hands, showing him the dried blood on her palms. "I don't know how it worked."

Barron watched as her eyes drifted shut. When she let out a small snore, he relaxed beside her. "We need to figure out what's going on."

Bryn leaned forward from the back of the SUV. "Does anyone else feel like that was one of the most anticlimactic fights we've gotten into in a long time?"

"We did the killing," Namir said in confusion, "but no one really seemed to know how to fight."

"It was too easy," Owen admitted. "The only thing they had going for them was numbers. They could have killed us if we kept going, but they were too chaotic. They weren't even working together.  Some were fighting each other.  They didn't even try to follow us."

"They're in training," Jared said as he leaned his head against the window, "and there isn't a clear alpha.  They'll fight, but they have no idea what they're doing. They didn't follow because they aren't allowed to leave the building." He sat up. "Hey, before we leave town, do you mind stopping by my cave?"

"You're cave?" Bryn asked in wonder.

He turned towards her with a large smile before nodding. "Yeah. If I'm going to be going with you, I need to pick up my dog."

They froze in their seats before Owen started laughing. "This is classic. A car full of cat shifters and a dog." He broke off as he started laughing harder.

"We need to stop at the hotel first. We need to come up with a plan. Figure out what we're doing here or if we want to even get involved in another pack's politics," Barron said as Sara began laughing with Owen.

"Then you and I can go get my dog?" Jared asked again, raising his eyebrows in question.

"Yeah," Barron agreed with annoyance. "Then we'll go get your dog."

Namir and Bryn began laughing along with the other two, and Barron could feel the corner of his mouth twitch. This, apparently, was his life now. Picking up strays, keeping whoever Molly healed, fighting battles, and having no idea why he did any of it. With a sigh that was half frustration and half resignation, he let his head fall back against the headrest.

When they got back to the hotel, he would try to figure out what in the hell had just happened. But for now, he relaxed with laughter surrounding him and Molly pressed against his side.