Free Scarred (Unlikely Heroes Book 5) by Leslie Georgeson Page A

beneath an open window and listened.
    “The dog’s got old scars, look at him. He was a fighter once. Let’s see what he’s got. Maybe we’ll just keep him.”
    Sebastian cringed. No fucking way. No one was hurting his dog. Scar was the only thing he’d allowed himself to care about since he was a kid. He and Scar were two similar souls. They understood each other. After what they’d been through together, they both knew there were times when they had to fight, even if they didn’t want to.
    Times such as now.
    If these bastards thought they were going to force Scar to fight another dog, they had better think again.
    “Go get Spartacus,” the voice said from inside the house. “See if this dog will fight back.”
    Sebastian’s heart pinched.
    Hell no.
    Sebastian slipped quietly toward the back door. He waited, listening.
    Footsteps on wood. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
    Someone hurrying down to a basement. That was probably where they kept their dogs, hidden in the basement.
    Faint barking.
    Whining.
    Footsteps again. Slower. Coming up the stairs. Thump. Thump. Thump.
    More whining. He imagined an excited dog pulling at its leash, trying to break free.
    Whoever had gone downstairs was bringing a dog up with him.
    Sebastian reached for the doorknob on the back door.
    Locked.
    The door was old faded wood with long rectangular sidelights that ran up either side of the door. Sebastian glanced around for something to break the glass with. He found a rock at the base of a shrub and came back to the door. Slamming the rock into the sidelight, he broke through the glass. He quickly reached in and unlocked the door. The noise was bound to alert someone of his presence.
    Cautiously, he pushed the door open.
    Light from the hallway spilled into the room, lighting it just enough for him to see by.
    A snarl came from his left, just inside the door. As much as Sebastian loved animals, he hated fighting dogs. They were unpredictable. Dangerous. Because their human owners made them that way.
    He lifted a hand to cover his face as the beast leapt at him. The dog’s fangs gnashed through the air just inches from his face.
    Rolling away and hunkering behind the table, Sebastian glanced around. He was in a small kitchen. He snatched up a chair from beside the table and kept it between him and the dog. The beast snarled again and lunged.
    Sebastian lifted the chair and knocked the animal aside.
    Footsteps pounded into the room. The light clicked on.
    A gangly Hispanic man in his early twenties came to a halt in the kitchen doorway. His gaze locked on Sebastian.
    “Who the fuck are you?”
    “Your worst nightmare.”
    The beast came at him again. Sebastian slammed the chair at the dog. The animal yelped and fell back, limping away. It didn’t try to attack a third time.
    The man lifted a gun and pointed it at Sebastian.
    Sebastian leapt at the guy, kicking the gun aside. He wrapped his arm around the guy’s throat and locked him in a choke hold. The man struggled, but Sebastian held tight, slowly squeezing off the guy’s oxygen. He wouldn’t kill him, just knock him out.
    Finally the man went limp. Sebastian lowered him to the floor. He snatched up the guy’s gun and stuffed it into the waistband of his own jeans. The guy wouldn’t be out for long. A few seconds. Sebastian pulled a zip tie from his back pocket and zipped the guy’s hands together behind his back before he woke. He dragged the man over to the corner and leaned him against the wall.
    He needed to hurry and get to Scar.
    Sebastian glanced over at the brindle Pitbull that had attacked him when he’d first entered the house. The dog cowered in the corner, eyeing him warily, licking a fresh wound on its leg that had been caused by the wooden chair.
    “Sorry buddy,” he whispered. “Just defending myself.” He might be able to save that one. If he was lucky.
    The man moaned from the corner where Sebastian had propped him against the wall. Sebastian headed for the