Lily's heart seized in her chest as she whipped around, eyes wide and disbelieving. There, not ten paces away, stood one of Spike's soldiers - a hulking brute straight out of a war movie, dressed head-to-toe in tactical gear with an assault rifle leveled directly at her face.
"Well, well...What do we have right here?" the person rumbled in a voice like gravel being churned. His mouth twisted into a predatory sneer under the masks as he raked his gaze over Lily from head to toe in a manner that made her skin move slowly.
Two more gunmen materialized from the shadows at his call, weapons raised as they rapidly closed in to flank their apparent prize. Lily backpedaled instinctively, fingers splayed protectively over her swollen belly as if she could somehow shield her unborn child from the
