Stars Across Time by Ruby Lionsdrake

striking flesh came from behind her, and someone cried out. Andie was too distracted to register what was happening back there because her original opponent had recovered from the kick to the knee and had pulled a knife. He slashed at her, apparently forgetting that the women weren’t supposed to be damaged.
    Andie jumped back. The blade skimmed past her stomach, almost cutting the buckskin of her shirt. Landing lightly on her toes, she sprang back in immediately, catching his wrist before he could pull it back to ready another strike. She stuck her knife in her mouth so she could bring in her second hand to help against his superior strength, and she locked her thumbs against the back of his wrist and pressed against the joint with all the power she could muster. He gasped and dropped his knife. She was about to use her own blade on him, but someone appeared behind the thug, gripping him beneath both armpits and hurling him away from her.
    She grabbed her knife from her mouth and dropped into a low crouch, ready to spring in any direction. Mace slammed a palm into the side of her remaining opponent’s head, the blow so hard that the man was hurtled to the floor, his skull slamming against the wood planks. Two other kidnappers were already groaning from the ground, grasping their battered bodies.
    Andie gave Mace a quick nod of thanks and then, remembering what had prompted all of this, raced toward the shadows below the loft. The one who had been dragging the girl away had never joined in the fight, doubtlessly intending to give into his carnal urges while everyone was distracted. Andie hadn’t used her knife on anyone yet, but she would cut that bastard’s dick off if she could.
    But Ruth Marie ran out of the shadows toward her before she reached that dark corner. Andie caught the girl, who grasped her arms, glancing wildly over her shoulder.
    “I bit him,” she blurted, her expression somewhere between triumph and terror.
    “Good.” Andie pushed Ruth Marie behind her, in case her tormenter meant to run out after her.
    The man slunk out of the shadows, blood dribbling from his lip. He glowered at Andie and Ruth Marie, but after glancing past them, took a circuitous route toward the sleeping area. Andie turned, not surprised to find Mace looming behind them. He wasn’t holding any of his weapons, but the men were clearly intimidated by him after seeing him kill two of their brethren. The others who had jumped into the fight were slinking away too.
    Near the hearth, Bedene sighed from his spot on the floor. “Be useful if we could get some damned sleep around here.”
    “I have to report to him,” Mace said, looking from Andie to Ruth Marie. “Are you two all right? Uninjured?” His gaze took in the knife in Andie’s hand, but he didn’t say anything about it.
    “Well enough.” Andie couldn’t bring herself to say that she was fine. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and nothing about this entire situation was fine .
    Ruth Marie merely nodded. She had shifted behind Andie’s shoulder, as if she worried Mace might become another attacker. Or maybe seeing him kill those men had intimidated her too. Andie wasn’t sure why she wasn’t intimidated. Just because he had been a protector so far didn’t mean she could trust him or that she understood his motivation to help them, much less his ultimate goal.
    Mace nodded at them, then walked to Bedene’s blanket. He spoke quietly, and Andie could not hear what he was reporting. His hands were dirtier than they had been when he left, and fresh earth smeared his bare torso in a couple of places. He looked like he had been digging. With a start, she realized he must have found a shovel and dug graves for the two men he had killed. It surprised her that he would have gone through the effort; Bedene certainly hadn’t asked for it.
    Andie touched Ruth Marie’s arm and nodded toward the sleeping area. With luck, now that Mace was back, the men over there would keep