“Abominations…” His hand tightened.

Sherra fired immediately but the missile’s trigger caught before he went down, causing the missile to launch.

“Incoming! Incoming!” she screamed. “God, clear that house out now! Now!”

She knew there hadn’t been time to evacuate the house, no way to get everyone to safety. She ran to the fallen man, aware he wasn’t quite dead. Instantly straddling his back, she ignored the blood dampening his shoulder and his scream of pain as she wrenched his arms back and secured them with the steel cuffs before jumping to her feet.

“Get that bastard,” she yelled at two of the men as she heard the explosion farther down the mountain.

“The rest of you are with me.”

“Tamber, report,” she yelled into the link as she raced down the mountain. “Goddammit, report!”

She could hear screaming in the background as orders were relayed, but no Tamber.

“No strike,” a voice suddenly called out in her ear as she nearly stumbled down the slope, coming in view of the house. “We have no strike. No strike. Missile fouled.”

Or something had fouled it. The heavily forested mountain with its thick-trunked trees had saved their hides. Two wide, centuries-old oaks flamed at the base of the mountain from the impact that had triggered the explosives in the missile. Breeds were rushing around the yards, pulling hoses from the hydrants located around the property to put out the flames before it set the entire mountain on fire.

“Check for others,” Sherra snapped into the link as she turned and rushed back the way she had come. She would kill the bastard.

As she neared the two Breeds dragging the screeching figure down the mountain she allowed a hard feline snarl of fury to pass her lips. They stopped, dropping their burden and standing aside as she stepped closer.

He was sobbing. Like a child caught at some indiscretion that he knew would bring punishment. The bastard wasn’t even repentant, just terrified now.

“Hello.” She whispered the word with a dangerous, predatory growl as she hunched down, knees

bending to stare into the pale face. “What do we have here? A little midnight snack?” She displayed her teeth, seeing his eyes round at the sharp canines at the sides, top and bottom. She was one of the rare few with two full sets of the pointed weapons. Keeping the long canines hidden behind small smiles and a pretense of shyness hadn’t been easy while living in the small eastern Kentucky town they had been hiding in before.

There was no need to hide now. She pulled her goggles back from her eyes, aware that they now shimmered eerily in the full light of the moon that glowed overhead. He screamed a second before his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness. Sherra grunted coldly.

“Haul him to the cells.” She stood up as she gave the curt order to the two guards. “I’m sure Kane and Callan are waiting for him.”

Missiles now. She shook her head as she fought to breathe through the pounding of her heart. How the hell had he managed to get through their outer security and this far down the mountain before he showed up on radar?

“I need two more units out here. We need those outer fences checked as well as the security alerts,”

Sherra yelled into the link to be certain she was heard over the din in the communications room.

“On their way.” Callan’s voice was full-throttle fury. “Get your ass back here now. I need you here. We have wounded.”

“Who?” Fear slammed in her heart at the thought of her family as she started down the mountain at a fast clip.

“The explosion caused flying debris to hit several of the guards and Merinus is in a tirade over you being out there. Get back here and calm her down. I don’t need her having that baby before it’s due.”

Which meant Merinus was more than upset. Which meant someone close to Merinus…

“Where’s Kane?” she breathed out harshly.

Silence descended.

“Oh God…” Her knees weakened in fear. Gathering her strength, Sherra raced down the remainder of the mountain toward the opened gate awaiting her.

She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She refused to acknowledge the searing pain that gripped her chest and made her want to howl in misery. She ignored the despair, ignored the fear and ran with everything she had back to the house and to her mate.

“Dammit to hell, if you don’t stop poking at me I’m going to break your fingers,” Kane snapped at Doc Martin as he pulled a long sliver of wood from his shoulder, staunching the bleeding with thick gauze. The flesh of his shoulder was a mess, raw and oozing blood, as Doc worked to clean the area.

Sherra stopped just inside the well-equipped medical room and stared at the wounds in horror. Smooth, perfect muscle bunched painfully as Doc inserted another injection of anesthetic to deaden the pain before pulling more slivers of wood from the flesh.

Wounds had never particularly affected her. She had been helping Doc for years with Callan’s and often Taber’s injuries. But seeing Kane, his perfect flesh torn and brutalized, made her stomach heave threateningly.

“Sherra, I need more bandages,” Doc snapped as she paused behind him. “I already had to nearly sedate Merinus when she saw this, and everyone else is busy.”

Rushing to the sink, Sherra hurriedly scrubbed her hands and arms down, rinsed and dried them before she rushed back to the gurney. Standing in front of Kane, she prepared the gauze, staring down at the utensils and the small metal bowl littered with wood fragments.

“Damned butcher,” Kane muttered with a grimace as the probing began again. He kept his head lowered, his shoulder hunched as though in pain, though she knew the area should be properly numbed by that point.

“It’s pretty bad. He’ll need a few stitches,” Doc murmured. “You were lucky, son. Those flying splinters could have buried in a lung.”

Sherra fought to control the sense of horror at the thought. Her stomach roiled as she swallowed tightly and prepared the sutures the doctor would need.

“You okay?” Kane asked her, his voice tense, his head still lowered.

“Fine,” she said thickly.

She couldn’t believe he was sitting there, that the attack had nearly taken him out. The fact that he was conscious and relatively unharmed amazed her.

“The others?” Her eyes rose to the doctor.

Doc Martin grunted in irritation as he worked another splinter free. “Minor. Limb clipped one of them. The other was thrown into a building. This one had the worst damage. If he would stay still I might manage to get the damned splinters out before next week.”

Kane had shifted again, turning slightly farther away from Sherra. She frowned at his bent head. Was he hurt worse than he was letting on? He was acting so out of character that she moved until she was facing him, then bent down to inspect his bare chest for any wounds. She froze in horror as his head finally raised and a sigh of resignation slipped past his lips. The scarring was horrendous. Long jagged lines of flesh extended from one side of his dark chest to the other. One sliced through a small male nipple, others criss-crossed his chest like a crazed map of violence. He hadn’t had those scars at the labs. And she knew scars—these were old. Dayan said he attacked Kane that night. That he should have been dead. Now I know why he was hurt so badly all those months that he was in the hospital, Sherra. They wouldn’t let me see him then. But the wounds were terrible.Sherra remembered Merinus recounting the evil that had spewed from Dayan as he

attempted to kill her and Callan’s newly conceived child.

Kane’s gaze was hard as he watched her. “Are you going to pass out too?” he asked her warily.

“Merinus has already had her go at it. I don’t think my shoulder can take another swooning female right now.”

His expression was savage, his eyes glittering with pain and rage as she stared back at him helplessly. This had been the price he had paid for trying to save them. The scars he carried daily, a reminder of the deceit and betrayal which had infected her own family.

“Sherra, I need that gauze,” Doc snapped. “Stop ogling that chest and hand it to me.”

She jerked upright, aware of Kane slowly straightening as much as Doc would allow. She handed him the gauze, her mind a morass of confusion. She had never expected to see such scarring on the man she had come to think of as invincible over the past months. Her own anger and tangled emotions aside, she knew she had never imagined a time that she could conceive anyone actually wounding Kane enough to immobilize him. She hadn’t completely believed Merinus until now. She stood there, disbelief filling her as she helped Doc automatically. Handing him what he needed when it was needed, fighting the guilt and rage that filled her each time his muscles bunched. He didn’t whimper or flinch, he endured the pain as though it were no more than an irritation.

“You didn’t need too many stitches, but this wound is a mess,” Doc said as he applied the last stitch.

“You need to allow it to rest for a while. I’ll change the bandages daily, give you a shot for the pain tonight and keep an eye on it. If it gets infected we’ll be in for a battle. We don’t want that to happen.”

Kane only grunted.

Sherra stood silently as Doc gave him an injection for the pain, then bandaged the shoulder.

“Can you get him to his room?” he asked Sherra. “Everyone else is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They’ll let him get back in the fray rather than putting him to bed where he should be when this shot takes effect.”

“I’ll take care of it.” She nodded firmly, meeting Kane’s smirk as his head raised. Damn him, even wounded he had to be a mocking ass.

“He’ll be pretty dazed until he goes to sleep. Stay with him.” Her gaze flew back to the doctor as she began to prepare her excuses.

Was he insane? Stay with Kane? He was well aware of the effect that just being on the same property with him caused. He knew damned good and well what the same room would do.

“Don’t you give me that look, girl,” Doc snapped. “Someone has to stay with him and you’re the only one here. Now get him out of here.”

“Come on, kitten.” Kane’s voice was tired as he pushed himself to his feet, his other hand gripping the wounded arm. “Come tuck me in all nice and quiet and I’ll let you go peacefully.”

“Stay with him,” Doc snapped again as Kane finished speaking. “No argument.”

The world was just out to get her, Sherra decided as she pushed herself against Kane’s side, looping her arm around his bare back.

“I want a damned bath,” he informed her stiffly as they moved from the room. “I’m not touching my clean bed like this.”

She sighed. Yes, the world was out to get her. She prayed someone, anyone, would be available to help him other than her. She moved him to the elevator and hit the button for the main floor where Kane had taken a room. Thankfully, it would open up not far from his door.

“Did you get the bastard?” he asked her as they entered the elevator.

“Yeah. I growled at him and showed some teeth. He passed out cold. I wish they’d at least send someone with backbone. These pansies faint if you smile at them the wrong way.”

Kane grunted. He was leaning heavily against her as the doors opened, though, an indication that the painkiller was beginning to affect him.

“Let’s get you to bed.” She led him from the box and toward his room.

“Bath first,” he reminded her as he breathed in deeply. “I swear to God, this day has been hell.”

It was a new day, but she wasn’t about to point that out to him. It was after two in the morning and dawn wasn’t far away. She knew he was up before five every morning and usually still awake at midnight. He worked as hard, if not harder, than any of her family.