I grabbed him by the shoulders and rammed my knee into his balls. He unleashed a strangled moan before doubling over, eyes bulging. I let loose a feral snarl and slammed his face with my elbow. The sickening crunch of bone and cartilage released a gush of blood. He staggered back. One hand clutched his nuts, the other his nose.
Fuck!I’d thrown everything at him, yet he still stood.
Pauly bared his teeth and charged. I dodged, but he caught my sweater and hauled me to him. His hands clamped around my throat. A choked sound escaped me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream. My fingernails clawed his face and shredded his wrists, but he didn’t let go.
“You stupid bitch. You’re dead!” Pauly yelled. The pouring rain streaked blood down his lips and chin.
Seconds felt like minutes. The rage in his eyes would be the last thing I’d ever see. My vision closed in and flickered. My heavy arms weakened.
There was a flash of movement before we were thrown sideways. Pauly’s hands tore from my throat as we slammed into the shallow riverbed. I coughed and sputtered, sucking in desperate lungfuls. Dizziness lingered, but I had to move. On hands and knees, I crawled through the icy water.
My spinning head filled with strange noises. Hysterical shouting. A savage animal growling.
Ranger!
The pointer’s long white fangs clamped around Pauly’s forearm. The vicious snarling intensified as Ranger thrashed, tearing flesh.
Pauly shrieked like a dying animal as he writhed on his back. He tried to shove Ranger away with his free hand. “Shoot it! Kill it!” he yelled.
Ranger didn’t let go.
Lopez panicked. The aim of his weapon darted as he tried to find a clear shot, but Ranger was all over Pauly.
A shot rang out and I ducked. When I glanced up, Ranger lay motionless in the shallows. Blood leaked from a wound in his chest.
“No!” I screamed.
Lopez stared at the scene in disbelief. His discharged weapon shook in his trembling hands. A moment later he came to his senses and searched the trees where Ranger had emerged.
Where are you, Shep? Hurry.
The heavy rain eased. Pauly staggered to his feet and clutched his forearm. His shredded, crimson-stained shirt exposed a bloody gash where Ranger’s teeth had cut to the bone. Blood trickled down the fingers of his mauled arm, which hung limp at his side.
Pauly lurched for me, gasping and grimacing in pain. He withdrew a pistol and cocked it. He wasted no time aiming it at my head.
I squeezed my lids shut.
BANG!
I flinched, but opened my eyes in time to see Pauly thrown backward into the water.
A moment later, another shot rang out, sending Lopez to the ground.
The gunshots echoed off the mountains. Both men lay motionless. Bloodstained water flowed around Pauly’s skull, his stare wide and unblinking.
“Shep!” I yelled. My breath hitched as a sob left my throat.
I ran to Ranger, tore my sweater over my head and pressed it firm against the bullet wound on his chest. There was so much blood.
Feet pounding over pebbles brought my eyes up. Shep bolted toward us along the river’s edge, rifle slung over his shoulder. “Are there any others?” he called out as he approached.
I stood and shook my head.
When he reached us, he threw his arms around me and squeezed the air from my lungs. He held me at arm’s length, checking for injury. “Did they hurt you?” He ducked to my eye level. Jesus, I’d never seen him look so alarmed.
“I’m fine. We have to help Ranger.”
I wasn’t fine. Not at all. But I had to keep my shit together. I shrugged Shep off and pulled him to the ground so he could check Ranger’s injuries.