Free Blood & Dust (Lonesome Ridge Book 2) by Samantha Warren Page A

impenetrable. She was a predator, bent on death and destruction, but she was not heedless of her own life. She had been reckless in the past, she knew that, but now she had a goal, a purpose: to destroy the town of Lonesome Ridge. She would not be foolish enough to lose her life in the process.
    A light growl at her side pulled her out of her ever deepening spiral into hatred. Summer Rain reached down and brushed her fingers through the course fur of her only companion. “We will get them,” she whispered. “Somehow, some way, we will bring them down.”
    The wolf huffed in response and closed his eyes once more. This wasn’t his war, but she had become his friend and he would be there for her.
    As the sun’s light crept over the horizon, the gates cracked open to reveal a small crowd just inside the wall. Summer Rain rose to her feet and inched forward while still keeping to the cover of the trees. Far away, she could just make a handful of figures. Her head cocked to the side as she stared. A young woman with dark hair stood beside a horse. Her back was to Summer Rain as she hugged a blond girl of similar stature, but the undead woman was sure she had seen her before. Her eyes danced to the trio of men. She had never seen the sheriff, in his long black coat and dusty black hat, but he was unmistakable. The way the others reacted to him, respected him and gave him a send-off, it had to be him.
    The anger smoldering in her chest grew into flames. Her nostrils flared and she twisted her fingers into the wolf’s fur to keep herself from sprinting the distance between them. The guards on the wall would have her brought down before she was close enough to touch them, much less bite them. She heard a growl and glanced down at the wolf. He was still sleeping. She was becoming more of a predator than she thought.
    Summer Rain glared at the group. The sheriff and the dark-haired girl were leaving, bidding farewell to the rest. She needed to get closer, to see, to confirm her suspicions. She released the wolf’s fur and dropped to her stomach. It was still fairly dark and she was hidden by the grass. She snaked her way forward until she was close enough to really see the group.
    Her teeth clenched on a scream that almost fought its way past her lips as the dark-haired girl turned to mount her horse. That hair, that face. Summer Rain knew it. It was the last woman she had bitten during that horrible battle, the last one before she received a knife in the back.
    The anger boiled over and Summer Rain’s hands found her hair. She couldn’t scream and she couldn’t kill, so she settled for ripping chunks of hair out of her skull. It didn’t hurt as bad as she wanted it to. She wanted to feel the pain. But all she got were tiny sparks of heat dancing across her brain. Her vision turned red as she watched the girl reach her right arm for the horse and pull herself up. The sheriff and the girl waved one last time and kicked their horses into motion.
    Summer Rain’s mind swam as they left the gates. “We will follow,” she whispered, but the wolf was out of earshot. “We will follow and kill them while they sleep.” Her lips twisted into a snarl and her head shook. “No. No, that will not work. They are too smart for that. They will not leave themselves unprotected.” Her hands unclenched and she watched bits of hair and rotted scalp fall to the ground. She glanced back up at the gates.
    The young blond woman and a young blond man stood at the open road, waving goodbye to the sheriff and his companion. Summer Rain’s snarl turned to a sneer. She recognized the girl and the guy. The girl was the one who had thrown the knife. The guy was the one who shot her in the face. If his bullet had been an inch off, Summer Rain would be dead, burned along with the others.
    Her eyes danced between the sheriff and the people at the gate. A plan began to form, accompanied by the most vicious of smiles. The sheriff was leaving the town. He