Tansy's Titan: Cosmos' Gateway Book 3 (14 page)

Mak?
Tansy's soft voice called out in his mind.

Yes, je talli?
Mak responded in a cool tone.

I counted eight men. If you have taken out three, then that leaves five. I'll stay hidden as long as possible. There are two men at the garage. The others are heading for the back of the house. They are not sure I am here, or if I am, whether or not I am alone,
Tansy said quietly.
They plan to kill my family and Natasha and Helene. I overheard two of the men say they have sent men to kill Cosmos.

Mak bit back a curse. If Cosmos was in danger then that meant Terra was in danger. He was ready to be done with this world! They would need to warn Cosmos to leave. It would be best if he returned to Baade with Terra. Their father would accept Cosmos as Terra's mate. He would have no choice. At least there, he would know his sister was safe.

I am coming for you,
Mak bit out harshly.

Chapter 12

Mak made his way up behind the garage. He stopped at the outer rim of the woods, standing at an angle so his body was mostly hidden from view. He could see three other men fanning out behind the house. That meant two men were not visible. He was about to move forward when the bark next to him flew out in all directions. He whirled around, running back into the woods as fast as he could. Within moments, he was to the east of them. He could hear them yelling now. One of the men near Tansy had spotted him and fired. He let out a roar when he heard Tansy return fire on the man. Loud curses could be heard as the men scrambled for cover.

“Bitch!” The man who fired on Mak called out hoarsely. “Kill her! I don’t care what Avilov said, kill her!”

“Shut up, Viktor!” Osip yelled. “Do not kill her! I repeat, do not kill her. Wound her.”

Pasha raised his rifle and looked through the scope. “There is something else out there,” he yelled out.

Cursing, he wiped a hand across his eyes. Either his vision was suddenly blurry or whatever was out there was moving faster than he could eye clearly. He tried to gauge where it was going but by the time he tried to focus, the image was gone.

“Osip, there is something the hell out there!” Pasha yelled out again.

“What the hell do you mean something? Shoot the bastard!” Osip shouted back. “Vanya, Yegor cover Luka.”

Pasha moved slightly. There, the figure of a… Pasha felt the shiver of ice clear to his soul. Whatever in the hell it was, it was not human. It was too damn big, too damn fast to be human. The figure moved with lightning speed toward the garage where the gunfire had come from just a few moments before. He aimed carefully and pulled the trigger. The figure didn’t even slow down. He was sure he had hit him. Before he could aim again the figure disappeared. A hoarse scream filled the air before Viktor’s lifeless body was tossed out into the yard, his arms and neck at a strange angle.

“Luka! Where are you?” Osip shouted out from behind a small wooden fence. “Luka!”

*.*.*

Tansy lowered the body of the one called Luka down to the ground. She had surprised him as he came around the corner of the garage at the same time Mak was turning the one called Viktor into a human pretzel. She had made quick work of disposing of him with the sharp curved knife Natasha had shown her the day before. She had no choice but to take Luka out. He had been getting into position to shoot at Mak. She was hoping to keep at least one of the assholes alive long enough to find out what Avilov’s plans were.

At the rate Mak was taking them out, she wouldn’t have anything but corpses and they just didn’t talk, no matter how much she tried to get them to, T
ansy thought in frustration.

Tansy gave in to the desire to look around. She had heard the sound of a high power rifle and feared Mak might have been hit. It was only the fact that Viktor was tossed like a discarded toy after the shot that gave her hope the shot had missed him. She tried to touch his mind but he had closed her off. The lack of contact both stunned and pissed her off. She was stunned at how empty she felt without his presence and pissed that she was letting him inside the carefully built barriers she had built around her.

Hell, it was like a fucking black hole,
Tansy thought in aggravation at the desolate emptiness.

It wasn’t like she should even give a damn. What they had was a brief interlude under a stressful situation. It didn’t really mean anything. She sure as heck shouldn’t be ready to cry like a baby because he had blocked her out. It just proved if he could lock her out so easily then he didn’t really give a damn about her. Tansy ignored the shaft of pain the thought caused and focused on the relief that it would be easier to say goodbye when the time came.

Satisfied with her reasoning, she decided she was done with sitting back and waiting for the Calvary to rescue her. This was her assignment
.
S
he needed to get it back under her control. She had to get to
Ramenskoe, get Helene and Natasha into a safe house, get to Cosmos and killed the bastards sent after him, then clean house in Washington. She didn’t have time to pussyfoot around with Avilov’s lackeys or an alien male who wanted to play house.

Pulling the pistol from the waistband of her jeans, she checked the clip and was satisfied she had enough rounds to deal with the remaining men. Tansy peeked around the corner of the garage trying to gauge where the men were hiding. She still didn’t see where Mak was. This was the side that Viktor had been on so he should be somewhere close by. Tansy moved along the side of the building keeping her eyes focused for any movement. There were two smaller sheds about ten meters to the left. Tansy stopped at the corner and looked down. Her eyes widened as she followed a small trail of blood leading to the closest shed. It could only mean one thing… Mak had been hit.

*.*.*

Mak ignored the blood soaking his side. The bullet had grazed him, cutting a clean path just below his ribcage. He focused on the remaining men. There were four left. Mak was tired of the games. He pulled a couple of the small charges he had attached to the front leather straps that crisscrossed the front of his vest. The small silver balls, no bigger than a small button, held a powerful explosive. Mak palmed three of them in his hand. He rolled his shoulders before sprinting out from behind the shed at a fast run. Tossing the small explosive balls with deadly precision at the targets, he tucked and rolled as the men opened fired at the same time as the explosives hit their target. The explosion shook the ground. Where the man behind the fencing
used to be was a deep hole. N
othing remained of the man called Osip, not even small body parts. The same fate belonged to Vanya who had hidden behind an old wagon. Pasha was trapped under the wreckage of the collapsed roof of the porch. A beam lay across his legs trapping him. His rifle, which has been ripped out of his hands by the explosion, lay too far for him to reach. He tried to get to his pistol but every movement sent excruciating pain through him.

Mak walked up to where the man was pinned on the porch and knelt down. Mak quickly searched the trapped figure for weapons, removing them and tossing them into the yard. He pressed the translator against the man’s temple. He needed to know how many others were a threat to his mate and his family.

“How many others?” He growled out.

*.*.*

Pasha looked in fear at the face of a man who was not human. The male’s face was set in a cold mask of rage. His eyes were burning silver flames of fury that promised Pasha he would not die easily. It was the male’s mouth that held Pasha frozen in terror, unable to speak at first. Long canines extended down in sharp points, each end held a drop of liquid that held him mesmerized. There was no way this could have been faked. When the man pressed the device against his temple he thought for sure it was a type of weapon. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he could understand what the man was saying.

Pasha watched as the man drew a deadly looking short sword from the leather sheath on his back. “There were eight of us,” Pasha said desperately. “Eight of us were sent to bring the female back.”

Mak looked down into the terror-filled eyes coldly. “I have killed five. Where are the other two?”

Pasha shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered hoarsely. “I wasn’t keeping an eye on them. They should be here somewhere unless they took off.”

Mak looked down at the trapped man dispassionately. “I will let you live so you may give the man who wants to harm my mate and her family a message. Tell him I am coming for him. I will kill any who stand in my way.” Mak stood up. “You will give him this message. If I ever see you again I will slice you into small pieces very, very slowly. You understand me?” Mak asked coldly.

Pasha nodded desperately. Money was of no use to him if he was dead and he had no doubt he would be dead if he ever crossed this man's path again. This huge male frightened him more than Boris Avilov ever could. He also knew that Avilov's time on Earth was about to end very soon. He would deliver the message, not in person, but he would deliver the message and then he would disappear.

Mak turned away from where Pasha was lying and started walking across the yard. He was concerned with the disappearance of the other male. He needed to find his mate and make sure she was safe. He had cut her off for two reasons: first he was upset with her for not staying in the tunnel where he knew she would have been safe and second, he didn't want her to know he had been hurt. He knew she would have come charging out with the mistaken idea of saving his ass.

His eyes lit up with fury when he saw her coming out from around the side of the garage. She had a pistol in one hand and a bloody knife in the other. He strode toward her and grabbed the hand holding the knife. He raised it up and looked at her sternly.

“What?” Tansy asked. “He fell on it,” she joked.

“You were supposed to stay hidden!” Mak growled out in a low, frustrated voice.

“Yeah, and you weren't supposed to get hurt,” Tansy replied with a raised eyebrow. “It looks like you listen about as good as I do,” she added before turning away from him.

Mak raised his hands as if he wanted to wrap them around her neck and strangle her. Tansy looked over her shoulder catching him in the act and grinned in amusement. She was about to make a smart-ass comment when movement out of the corner of her eye pulled a curse out of her instead. She stepped in front of Mak's huge frame and fired at the same time as the hidden figure did. Tansy felt the burning fire of the bullet as it hit her in the shoulder causing her to jerk backwards into Mak's hard body. Everything seemed to slow down after that. She watched as a nice little hole opened up between the man's eyes before he collapsed. She felt Mak's arms wrap around her falling body and his roar of rage before she was gently lowered to the ground. Everything seemed to accelerate to fast forward the moment she was lying flat on the hard ground. Pain exploded through her as Mak ripped the material of her jacket and shirt apart to see how badly she was hit.

Yup,
Tansy thought as black spots began appearing before her eyes,
getting shot really sucked.

*.*.*

“You already said that,” Tansy groaned again. “I know you are mad at me. Enough already! I haven't had my ass chewed this bad since...ever! Even my mom and dad don't harp as much as you do,” Tansy complained as she shifted in the seat of the SUV trying to get comfortable.

“Harp! Harp!” Mak sputtered in aggravation. “You are impossible! How do you expect me to protect you if you do not listen to me? You are small, delicate, fragile, and need to learn how to be more obedient!”

“Like that is ever likely to happen,” Tansy muttered under her breath as she looked out the passenger side window.

After she was shot Mak had done his Mojo with the little MED kit he had. She was definitely going to have to invest in a couple of cases of the medical kits before she closed down the gateway Cosmos opened. The pain patch was some wickedly powerful shit. She didn't feel him pulling the bullet out at all and the HM mist and sealant patch...they were pure magic as far as Tansy was concerned. A quick trip into the house afterwards for a new shirt and jacket, another one to ask Pasha a few more questions and they were on the back road heading for the cave and the other vehicle Natasha and Helene had stashed.

The pain patch was a blessing as the road wasn't the smoothest. Neither was Mak's driving but Tansy didn't think it was in her best interest to say anything. For the last hour, Mak had driven at a brutal pace over the rough road, taking his anger and frustration out of the poor SUV's suspension. Thirty minutes into the journey, he had started in on her. She was forced to listen to him chew her out for doing such a dangerous job, not being careful, not listening, not taking care of herself, not...blah, blah, blah. After about five minutes she tuned him out. It was either that or jump out of the rapidly moving SUV. The only thing that stopped her from doing that was it would prove him right because she would probably end up with a broken neck at the rate he was driving.

“Are you even listening to me?” Mak demanded.

Tansy flushed when she realized he had asked her the same question three times. “No,” she replied with a pout as she wiggled in her seat again.

Mak glanced at her briefly before drawing in a deep breath and releasing it. “Is that no, you are not in pain or no, you are not listening to me?” He asked in a quieter voice.