Free Bound by Shannon Mayer

entire blood-drained face, he handed her over to me.
    “Mara, I . . .” He stumbled over the words, not even getting a full sentence out.
    “This is a dog eat dog world Burns. Vincent was going to kill her, and if not her, then Sebastian. I had the means to stop him,” I said, cradling her to my chest. I needed a name for her; I couldn’t just keep calling her the baby.
    My eyes refused to see the still twitching body in front of us, focusing solely on the child in my arms. I cooed to her, rocking her gently back and forth. I didn’t want to think about what had just happened. The previous two deaths I’d caused had been reflexes, accidents. This was nothing of the sort.
    “What are we going to do Mara?” Burns asked.
    I turned to him, frowning. “What do you mean?”
    “About the body; we can’t just leave it here. If the other men find out you shot Vincent, they’ll kill you,” he said.
    I glanced over my shoulder to see the pack crowding at the gate, their eyes hungry, and their gazes not wavering off the warm, barely dead body of Vincent. I sought out Sebastian. He hung back, not looking at us or making eye contact with me. I swallowed hard. Twice now I’d stopped him from killing and yet I’d killed three men. Did it matter that I thought what I’d done was right? Did it make any difference in the end?
    “I’m putting the body in with the pack,” Burns said, picking up Vincent’s legs. “Can you keep them away from the door, keep them off me?”
    I nodded and opened the door, forcing the pack to make room for Burns and the body. I looked at where Vincent had died; a trail of blood following from there into the rifle range. “They’re going to know. They can follow the blood and see that he was shot outside,” I said, my voice monotone and strange, even to my own ears.
    Burns gave the body a last heave and the pack fell on it. As I turned to step out something snapped down on my calf, and I screamed as teeth sliced into my flesh.
    With a roar Sebastian leapt forward, smashing my assailant on the head, knocking him unconscious. I whimpered and put a hand to my leg, the bite an open gash. Burns stepped up and put a hand under my arm. Sebastian growled and tensed; I put a hand on his arm, holding the baby awkwardly. “It’s okay love. Burns is going to help me, that’s all.”
    Sebastian stepped back and the pack slipped in around him, stealing the body and dragging it to the back of the rifle range. Bastian didn’t move; he stared at me as Burns helped me out then shut the gate. “I’ll be back,” I said, and blew Sebastian a kiss. He nodded and sat down where he was, his back to the pack and their meal.
     
     
     
     
     
     

14
     
    “We’ll tell them that one of the pack members jumped out, bit through Vincent’s throat, and then dragged him into the rifle range,” Burns said, as we slowly made our way to the bunker.
    “Will they believe that?” I asked.
    “Similar stuff has happened; you saw on the way here the guy that got dragged out of the truck, and those Nevermores are quick bastards,” he said.
    As we came up to the bunker Burns stopped and faced me. “Marks will be in charge now.”
    “That’s good though, isn’t it?” I frowned and tightened my arms around her, my leg throbbing in time with my heart as it sped up. “What?”
    “The kid’s mom—the woman was Marks’ ex-wife. He went back to find her once Vincent convinced him of a cure.”
    “You already told me that. Won’t he be happy that I saved his daughter?” I asked, rocking the little girl in my arms.
    “Marks wasn’t sure the baby was his.” I let out a groan. This was not going to be easy. Burns touched me on the shoulder. “How can you be sure the baby isn’t one of them—that she’s human?”
    I stared down at the bundle I held, wrapped in Burns’ jacket. Sound asleep, her body exhausted from lack of food and all the goings on, she looked like a perfect angel with her soft pink skin and