Page 63 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

Korfas stamped his foot once and huffed. I knew the signal. Wait for an opening, then go low. He’d take the upper body. I eased my weight forward without moving my hooves.

“You came to see your sister?” Korfas asked. He didn’t stamp his hoof again. There was no need. Some things couldn’t be forgotten.

“I came to rescue her.” The blaster flailed for a second, but it wasn’t enough. “She ran away and then was taken in by you monsters and her letters back home… you don’t know what she was going through.”

His voice broke on the last words. He was sweating, breathing hard, but he held out his free hand toward Julia as if he could still coax her to safety.

“It’s almost over,” he told her.

She shook her head. He didn’t see it. He was too busy keeping the weapon aimed at us.

I still didn’t know where Teresa was.

Metal scraped against metal somewhere up the road. Then came a series of loud bangs and an engine laboring around the bend.

Jason turned his head. The blaster followed.

I went for his legs.

Korfas hit him high at the same instant, seizing the arm with the weapon and forcing it upward. I caught Jason behind the knees and lifted. His feet left the ground, his free arm flailed, and we brought him down hard on his back.

The blaster fell from his hand. Korfas shoved it aside and rolled Jason onto his stomach, trapping his arm behind him. I kept hold of his legs while he kicked and tried to drag a breath into his lungs.

“Stay down,” I growled.

A truck lurched into view and stopped behind the buggy. Its loose tailgate slammed against the bed one last time. Drev was crouched behind the cab, holding on to the side.

Teresa was driving.

Relief hit me so hard I nearly let go of Jason. Then she was climbing out of the truck, and I tightened my grip on him.

“Are you hurt?” I demanded.

She shook her head, staring past me at Jason on the ground.

“I’m here to rescue…” Teresa looked around. “Frankly, I’m not really sure who I’m rescuing right now.”

Julia started to cry.

Teresa came toward her while Korfas kicked the blaster farther up the bank. He pulled a coil of thin rope from his belt and bound Jason’s wrists. The human swore at him, then at me, then tried to kick me again. I held his ankles together while Korfas tied those too.

I let go and stood. We weren’t leaving him with Otho this time.

“Let him go!” Julia cried.

I turned toward her just as she lunged at me, hands reaching for my face. Teresa stepped into her path and put a boot in front of her feet. Julia stumbled over it and went down on her hands and knees.

Julia tried to get up, and I caught her wrist before she could make another attempt at me. She swung her free hand at my arm. I took that one too and held both behind her back while she struggled.

“Stop,” Teresa told her. “Julia, just stop.”

Korfas cut the spare length from his rope and passed it to me. I tied Julia’s wrists, keeping the cord loose enough not to bite into her skin. She was still crying, but she’d stopped trying to hit me. Teresa crouched beside her as I stepped back.

“I think I missed something,” Drev said, jumping down from the truck bed and eyeing the trussed-up humans. “What’s going on?”

Korfas gave Jason an assessing look. “It’s going to be my pleasure to find out.”

21