Free Into the Light by Tami Lund Page B

push her into a nearby armchair.
    She wrapped her arms protectively around her massive belly and affected a sullen look, although her eyes kept darting to her prone mate, who lay in a bloody, unconscious heap on the floor.
    Quentin sniffed the air. “I smell something intriguing,” he said softly, giving her the opportunity to speak without coercion. He knew he was a bastard, but the woman was heavy with a pup in her belly—a full-blooded, legitimate shifter that would only help to grow the ranks of Quentin’s pack. He would not hurt her—badly—unless she forced his hand.
    “I just put a meatloaf in the oven,” she replied.
    He backhanded her. Bloody spittle flew from her mouth as her head whipped to the side, and she let out a cry of pain.
    A dark-haired shifter pup appeared in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Mommy?” She looked at the shifter lying on the floor. “Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?” She started to run toward Freddy, but at a sharp nod from Quentin, one of his guards scooped her up and deposited her into her mother’s lap. Lisa grabbed the child’s head and forced her face into Lisa’s shoulder.
    “What did he do?” Lisa demanded.
    “Wouldn’t give me the information I required,” Quentin responded.
    Lisa’s gaze darted from Freddy to Quentin to her daughter and back again. He watched as she came to a decision in her mind.
    “What do you want to know?” she finally asked.
    Quentin smiled. “Good girl,” he said approvingly.

Chapter 7
    “Time to go,” Tanner said brusquely, as he disconnected the call he’d taken just a few minutes prior.
    “Who was that?” Olivia asked as she dragged a rolling suitcase into the sitting room of the hotel suite.
    “Lisa. Quentin figured out she and Freddy helped us. She said he also figured out we’re in Vegas. It’s time to leave. Now .”
    Cecilia came trotting out of the bedroom dragging her own suitcase. Dane grabbed each woman’s suitcase and headed toward the door. “We can take it from here. Thank you for your services, shifter.”
    “It’s Tanner, and I’m not leaving you three alone until I know you’re safely back in your coterie.”
    “I am perfectly capable of protecting Olivia and Cecilia,” Dane said with a sniff.
    Tanner snorted out his disbelief.
    Olivia decided to put an end to the argument. If Tanner wanted to be their bodyguard, she saw no reason not to take him up on his offer. After observing he and Dane standing side by side, she no longer had faith that Dane could protect them, either. She never realized how small Dane was until now. Or maybe it was just that Tanner was so big .
    “We all go,” she said sharply. “Together.”
    Dane opened his mouth to argue, but she quelled him with a look. Tanner smirked. Cecilia batted her eyelashes at him. Olivia wondered when she would ever escape from the rabbit hole.
    She looked at Tanner. “Do you think they will be able to figure out we’re at this particular hotel?”
    To her dismay, he nodded. “Shifters have an amazing sense of smell. And Quentin has some seriously badass trackers in his pack. They’ll find us.”
    It was the middle of the night by the time they left the hotel. The attached parking garage where they’d left the car was lit with incandescent lights that gave everything a faint blue tinge. The world outside the parking garage was a sea of bright, flashing lights and swarms of people. Inside the garage, there were deep pools of shadows where the lights did not reach.
    Tanner grabbed Olivia’s arm. “Dane, you have Cecilia,” he commanded. Dane nodded once and produced a sword. Tanner sighed. “Put the sword away. Humans don’t use swords and you’ll just draw unwanted attention.”
    “Besides, you need to conserve your strength,” Olivia added. “We’ve half the night before we can regenerate ourselves.”
    Dane nodded again and released the magic, causing the sword to disappear. Then he grabbed Cecilia’s arm in a death grip.
    * * * *
    They