Fierce Player (Sierra Pride Book 4) by Liza Street Read Free Book Online Page B

get them outside, away from Kate. Once outside, he could savage them to his heart’s content.
    No one would be able to tell what killed them when he was through with them.
    Then he heard her . No, he couldn’t focus if his mate was anywhere near the danger. Go, Kate. Get back. Go.
    But her footsteps grew louder as she approached. Too faint for human ears, so she was safe for now, but not for much longer if she continued to advance.
    Whirling around, he went back to her. She hadn’t made it out of the Clark room yet. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and he lowered his head, then jerked it past her, toward the restrooms.
    “No,” she whispered, squatting down next to him. “I can’t bear being in there, not knowing what’s going on. Let me help.”
    You’re safe in there , he wanted to say. He pointed a foot, to emphasize his point, but she shook her head.
    “You can’t chase them off in here,” she said quietly next to his ear. “But I could lead them outside.”
    He shook his head emphatically. They had guns. He would not let her do this.
    Smiling at him, she stood to walk past, but he gripped the edge of her sweater in his teeth and tugged as gently as possible.
    “Maverick,” she hissed. “Let me go .”
    She wasn’t going to listen to reason. Huffing, he held up a paw. Not a “no,” but a “wait.” She seemed to get what he was saying.
    Then he led her to the Clark room’s emergency exit. This wasn’t a perfect plan, but it would have to do. He held up his paw in the “wait” sign again, and Kate looked at him expectantly.
    The emergency exits were alarmed, and the alert would go to the campus police substation even if the power was cut. It would also draw the men outside, after her, and then he could keep them from following. He didn’t want to kill anyone—well, he wanted to, but he wasn’t a murderer.
    Thinking ahead, he gathered his clothes and backpack, and rejoined Kate by the doors. She reached out. “Do you want me to take those?”
    He pressed them toward her hand, and she grabbed them, clutching them to her chest.
    Then he nodded. It was time.

Chapter Twelve
    The door flew open, and the alarm howled as Kate jumped outside, rushing to hide behind some trimmed hedges lining the perimeter of the library. She turned to see Maverick right behind her, and she held his clothes and backpack against her chest, breathing in his comforting scent.
    He bolted to the other side of the hedge, and two men ran outside. She recognized one as the guy who’d been looking into a store window the other day. She couldn’t believe herself—why hadn’t she listened to her instincts sooner? Instead she’d brushed the whole thing off as silly and self-absorbed.
    Now they were here, threatening her, and her…Maverick. Boyfriend wasn’t strong enough. She wondered what he’d been trying to tell her about mates.
    Crazy as it sounded, the word “mate” felt about right for him.
    Maverick snarled, and the men looked in his direction. It was too late. He was already lunging at them.
    Sirens wailed in the distance.
    One of the men dropped his gun in panic, and the second was flailing underneath Maverick. One of Maverick’s paws held the man’s gun hand, and Kate could see the man’s flesh turning red, then white, as the blood circulation was cut off under the pressure.
    But the second man had bent down to pick up his gun, and Kate knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he held that gun to Maverick’s head.
    She dropped his clothes and ran forward. “Hey, asshole!” she shouted.
    He whipped the gun up and took aim, but Maverick swiped at the man underneath him—that gun slid away on the slick cement, a few feet away from Kate.
    A snarl on his face, Maverick turned to the guy aiming at Kate.
    The guy turned to see what Kate was smiling at, and saw Maverick. He stumbled backward.
    Maverick leaped, but the gun went off.
    “No!” Kate screamed.
    There was blood, and Maverick yowled, and