Blayne pulled the blades out of the man’s shoulders and without hesitation ran forward. Dee watched, her mouth hanging open, as Blayne Thorpe—teacup poodle—slashed one male across his arm, the tendons splitting, his weapon dropping uselessly to the ground. She lashed at another male with her left hand, cutting his throat and then burying the blade in his chest with one hard hit. She yanked the blade out and turned, the blade slamming into the eye of the man whose arm she destroyed as he tried to pick up his weapon with his other hand.

The third got off two rounds, Blayne ducking them both, before she moved in on him and caught hold of his gun by the barrel. She pulled the weapon forward then shoved it back, breaking the man’s nose. She tossed the gun, the man’s nose bleeding as he reached for the handgun holstered at his side. She slashed with one of her blades and the male screamed, three of his fingers falling to the floor. Blayne slashed with the other hand, and parts of his face flew off. She spun, giving herself a little momentum, so her back kick could knock him to the floor. She landed on him, her arms raised high above her head before she slammed both blades into the man’s chest.

“You done?” Blayne called over to her, her hands twisting the blade to make sure she killed him quick.

“Uh . . .” Stunned as she’d never been stunned before, Dee looked back at the lock. “Yeah, uh . . .” She quickly toyed with the lock until it opened. Letting out a breath, she started to tell Blayne she’d done it when a rather healthy sized and scarred hand gripped hers through the bars. She only had a second to look up and see the hybrid staring at her from the other side of the cage before the bitch grabbed Dee’s head and slammed it into the bars, knocking her out cold.

Blayne pulled the blades out and stood. She only had a second to realize someone was standing behind her. She turned, but the hybrid slammed her hands into her, sending Blayne’s much smaller body flipping across the room.

Holy shit. The female hybrid was part grizzly, part canine. And really, really pissed off.

Blayne hit the wall and then the floor, but after breaking all her bones during the abduction, they’d healed up stronger than before. So she scrambled back to her feet, unharmed, with the hybrid advancing on her.

“Wait,” Blayne said, her hands up.

Christ, she was young. A sub-adult sow. What did they do to you? Even though she was still in human form, it was like she wasn’t human anymore. Like that part had been beaten and fought out of her. There were so many scars and so much pain she’d endured. It was all over her. “We just want to help you. I just want to help you.” The sow didn’t answer Blayne, just sort of huffed and snuffled a little. Not a good sign, but Blayne didn’t want to have to kill her. She didn’t deserve that. Yet Blayne was also trying to avoid death here. “Let me. Let me help you.” Blayne held her hand out. “Just take my hand.”

The sow stared at Blayne’s hand for several excruciatingly long seconds before she reached out and gripped it.

Blayne smiled. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

The sow still watched her, as if she didn’t quite understand Blayne’s words. Behind the sow, Blayne could see Dee getting up. Blood poured from an open gash on her head and she had her .45 out. She had the weapon raised at the sow’s back, Blayne about to tell her not to do it, when the sow’s head came up. She sniffed the air once and before Blayne could do anything, the sow sent her flying right into Dee.

The two females hit the floor and rolled until they ran into the barn wall. At that point, Blayne was beginning to think she’d had more physical contact with Dee in the past hour than she’d had with Bo in the last week.

Dee scrambled up, her .45 raised again but Blayne bounced up and between the two females.

“Move, Blayne!”

“No. I won’t let you hurt her.”

“Blayne . . .”

“She’s young, Dee. A kid. We can help her. Really help her.”

“Help her? How?”

“By giving her a chance. Please?” Blayne placed her hand on Dee’s arm, pushing the weapon down. “Please, Dee?”

“This is stupid.”

“It’s the least you can do after what you did to me! Microchipping,” she hissed.

“Oh. That.” Dee’s eyes rolled to the ceiling. “You’re not going to let that go anytime soon, are ya?”

“If you protect her, take her back to the city and keep her alive—all’s forgiven. I swear.”

“Huh.”

“No, really. I . . . I’ll tell everybody how great you are and”—she snapped her fingers—“I’ll even come up with a cheer just for you! Goooooooooo—”

“Stop!”

Both Blayne and Dee jumped, slowly facing the sow behind them.

“No cheering,” the sow said. “Just . . . no cheering.”

Blayne smiled at Dee. “You two should get along like a house on fire. You’re both surly.”

The sows head snapped up, her fangs unleashing. Dee caught Blayne’s arm and pulled her behind her. But the sow faced the open backdoors.

Knowing more full-humans were coming through that door, Blayne went around Dee. “Get her out of here, Dee.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Get her out,” Blayne said again then she took off running, right out the door and heading into the tree that was outside the building.

Bo was annoyed. Why? Because his uncle wouldn’t give up Bo’s toy. No matter how much Bo pulled one way, his uncle pulled the other, both of them snarling and growling at each other. So unfair! Ursus County bears didn’t know how to share, something his mother used to warn him about. And when the toy tore in half, neither of them wanted it anymore because it was no longer screaming and begging for mercy. Tossing his half aside, Bo looked over at the chopper landing by the beach. Armed, MacRyrie came out first and, with one look, Bo knew the grizzly had done this before. Bo had been around enough Marines to know one when he saw one.