He grunted as Dane charged him faster than a bullet out of a gun. He slammed into Tony, knocking him down and pouncing on him, pinning him to them ground before he sank his fist into his face. He pulled back for another swing, when suddenly, there was the sound of a gun being cocked.
“Get offa him, asshole!” Two of Angelo’s guys who Dane had half run over were up. Bleeding, but up, and holding guns at him.
“Let him go, prick!” the other grunted, bleeding from a head wound. “Count of three, I’m blowing you away. One. Two—”
He grunted, his eyes rolling back as he suddenly slumped forward. And suddenly, from behind him in the swirling white snowy wind, three figures emerged.
Three big, built figures.
The second wounded mafia guy turned back, but one of the new arrivals just grabbed him, picking him up effortlessly, yanking the gun from his hands, then tossing him away like a piece of wadded up paper.
The three figures stepped forward, moving out of the swirling snow and into visibility. I shivered.
Yikes, where the hell had these three come from? The three men were built as big as Dane, bearded, and fierce looking. They looked like cavemen mixed with bikers. Really, really good looking caveman bikers.
Dane stood, nodding at them.
“Thanks. I had it, but thanks.”
The one with the bigger beard and a shotgun in his hands chuckled. “‘Course you did.”
“Go. Fuck. Your—”
Tony whimpered as Dane kicked the toe of his boot into the asshole’s side.
“Stop fucking talking,” he hissed before turning to me. Our eyes locked, his lips pulled back in a grin, and suddenly, he was on me.
I shrieked as he scooped me up again, whirling me and then kissing me deeply as my arms slid around his neck.
“You found me,” I murmured.
“I’ll always find you, angel,” he whispered back. “You’re my heart, you know. It’s tough to lose your heart.”
There was a grunt from one of Angelo’s men as he tried to stand, but one of the newcomers stormed over and kicked him down with his boot.
“Stay down,” he growled in a Russian-sounding accent.
Dane’s arm tightened around me as he turned towards the three of them.
“Sorry about the windshield.”
The man with the accent grinned, shrugging. “It’s fine.”
Tony groaned pitifully, from the ground, and the third man walked over and sank a boot into his side before leveling a gun at him.
“This one the leader?”
Dane nodded, his eyes narrowing at Tony as his arm tightened on me possessively.
“Yeah.”
The guy looked up. “He worth killing?”
Dane growled, and slowly turned to eye me. “Angel?”
I took a breath, glaring daggers at the man who’d beaten me, and hurt me, and given me away for a gambling debt, and I tried to remember how in the world I’d ever wound up with him in the first place. Tony was a bastard, but then, I wasn’t about to play judge, jury, and executioner.
“No,” I said quietly, shaking my head. “He’s not.”
I looked up into Dane’s eyes, biting my lip as I smiled wickedly.
“He is worth throwing in prison though.”
Dane chuckled, grinning at me. “Good.”
“We’ll call it in,” the biggest guy with the beard growled. “We got some friends with the local cops.”
“Thanks,” Dane nodded. “Holly, this is Axe, Braun, and Vlad. They all live up here?”
“Together?”
Braun chuckled as he shook his head. “Hell no. These two are like brothers to me, and I’d still murder them in their sleep if I had to live with ‘em.” He grinned. “Nah, we all live with our wives. There’s the three of us, Austin and Dallas, Ryker, and Stone, and their wives too.”
My brow arched. “Quite a crowd you’ve got up here.”
Axe laughed deeply. “It’s getting downright fucking crowded up here.”
“Look, we can get your truck out when the snow calms the fuck down a little bit,” Braun said. “Until then, we can get you down the mountain if you’ve got some place to be, or…” He shrugged. “I mean, it’s Christmas Eve, and you both are welcome to stay. We’re all having a get-together up at Vlad’s place over the next ridge. All of us, the other guys, our families, kids, all of it.”
He glanced at the other two and shrugged. “Listen, none of us up here are in the habit of sticking our noses in other folks’ business. Shit, it’s the reason most of us are up here to begin with. But I’m guessing you two need to lay low for a while.” He looked around, raising his hands up. “If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But I will say that Blackthorn is a pretty damn good place to lay low. It’s a pretty fucking great place to start over in.”
Axe snorted. “Jesus, man. You wanna bring them a welcome to the neighborhood casserole and invite them to game night?”
Braun elbowed him sharply, making Axe chuckle as he shook his head and glanced at us. “We, uh. We do actually have a game night going these days.”