Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Gemma jolted awake to find herself in darkness.
The rain had stopped. She must’ve dozed off in the field.
She’d only planned to rest for a few minutes.
Something yanked her upward off the ground.
In a matter of seconds, she was on a horse moving fast into the dark night.
Before she could think to scream, the hard body behind her locked her in place with a gigantic arm around her midsection and a hand over her mouth.
Neither belonged to Skarde. Where the hell was Skarde, if it was night already?
A small backward glance to view her abductor, and… Oh, shit.
Cade.
On the upside, it wasn’t VanFliet.
On the very bad side, this guy seemed like a one-track-mind kind of guy, one who didn’t lose sight of the endgame when on a mission.
“Keep quiet or I’ll knock you out.” He released his hold on her mouth.
“I want off the horse. I might puke. Motion sickness.” Not entirely true. She didn’t get motion sickness easily. She wiggled against his hold.
“You’ll regret it if you puke on me.” He banded his arm tighter around her midsection.
“I can’t breathe, asshole. Pretty sure your bosses want me alive.” She managed to elbow him hard in the stomach, not that he reacted.
“Stop thrashing.” He grabbed her neck, tilted it sideways with a growl, and exposed his sharp teeth. But Cade didn’t slow the horse’s pace.
A shiver ran through her as moonlight between the clouds lit up his face.
Even though she was ninety-nine percent confident he wouldn’t sink those super sharp teeth into her neck, the threat was real.
With zero historical information on Cade, Gemma didn’t know if his ethical compass ran like Skarde’s or VanFliet’s.
She stopped fidgeting. But, as always happened when she was nervous, randomness tumbled out. “How’d you get green eyes and Skarde has blue? Are you sure you guys are brothers?”
He released her head. “Pretty damned sure. Be quiet.”
She muttered, “I don’t know how you guys go around biting people. It’s unsanitary. Diseases, you know.”
“Hush.” He jostled her.
The ache behind her forehead settled into a pounding that matched each jolt of the horse’s gait. What she wouldn’t give for a bottled water and a Motrin.
Brawn wasn’t going to get her out of this. She needed to use her brain, which wouldn’t function right now.
Rain pelted hard against them. She’d been hopeful the previous storm was over, but no.
Soaked to her skin in a minute, and not feeling an ounce of warmth from Cade, she muttered, “The rain and cold never stop in this place. Fucking miserable.”
He chuckled.
“That wasn’t funny. It was a serious observation. You’d think someone here would design better rain gear. I have yet to see anyone wear something repellant. Have you got a raincoat hidden in your saddle and you’re holding out on me?”
“You get used to being cold and wet.”
“No, you don’t. It’s unhealthy and makes you super cranky. I’m sure people die of pneumonia all the time here.”
“You jabber too much.”
“Does it bother you? Does my talking humanize me when all you want is to be a good little soldier and do your mission without thinking about the right or wrong of it?”
“You could be a witch using your silver tongue to trick me.” The rain went sideways so she had to duck her chin to avoid face hits. Lightning started in the distance. Cade slowed the horse to a walk.
“You’re not looking for a witch. What if I tell you I’m a witch? Would you let me go?”
“No. How do you know what I’m looking for?”
“Kind of wish I was a witch. I’d turn you into a hedgehog because you’re prickly.
” She’d given up the full body struggle but managed to get one hand free.
She swiped water out of her line of vision.
“Better yet, I’d put a spell on you so you can’t remember your name or anything.
Then you can sit in squalor in the mud with a numb tongue. ”
The crystal Skarde had given her dug into her chest, so she pulled it out from her shirt.
Cade picked it up between two of his large fingers. “That’s… Did he give you this?”
“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re implying.” She wiped water out of her eyes again. “He’s going to come after me.” At least, she hoped.
“He might.”
“Unless he dies. God, I hope he doesn’t. Did you see what VanFliet did to him? Drugged him, shredded his chest, and threw him over a cliff to become ash at dawn.”
“You saved him.” Something grave wove through his voice. She kind of wished she could see his expression, but she suspected somewhere, deep inside, Cade cared what happened to his brother. Maybe it was wishful thinking.
He said, “He’ll be fine. He’s like a cat. The asshole always lands on his feet.”
“That’s a myth. Cats don’t always land on their feet when they fall.
It’s not the first time in the past two weeks he needed me to help him decide choosing to die wasn’t okay.
Does that sound like the Skarde you know?
” She shifted. “Do you mind stopping for a sec? I’ve got to pee.
Highly doubt you want me releasing my bladder all over you and your saddle. ”
Between one stride and the next, the horse stopped.
Worked for a three-year-old in the back of a minivan.
It also worked for a twenty-eight-year-old on a horse in the pouring rain.
She bit back a smile. Her bladder had been complaining a small bit, but she needed a way to buy time so Skarde could catch up.
“Over there.” Cade waved to some bushes.
“I’d give my left arm for a rest stop and a flush toilet.” She eyed the wet, prickly bushes. This wasn’t going to be enjoyable.
Once done, as she closed the distance back to Cade, she noticed he stood with all his weight on his right leg. The rain wasn’t as pelting as it’d been moments ago. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“You’re hurt,” she stated.
“Says who?”
“Show me your leg.”
He scowled and waved for her to walk faster.
She cast her eyes heavenward. “I’m trained to take care of people when they’re hurt. Just show me.”
“How do you know I have something wrong? Even if I did, why in hell would I trust you to help me?”
“You’re not bearing much weight on your left leg. I swear I only want to help. We can resume our kidnapper-kidnapee relationship in a few minutes.”
He waved at his left calf. She knelt in the mud because her entire body was covered in rain, so what was a little mud on top of that? Pulling aside the cleanly cut fabric, she found a deep laceration. “Ouch. Who did that to you?”
“I’ll heal.”
“You left my backpack back there, which means I don’t have my medical kit. Do you have anything I can use to wrap it and slow the bleeding until morning? Skarde said you guys heal during daytime sleep, right?”
With a snort of frustration, he reached into the leather pouch attached to his saddle and removed a shirt, which he tied around his calf. “There. Happy now?”
“Yep. Thrilled.”
“Let’s go.” He checked the girth on the saddle for tightness.
She had little trouble guessing what would happen to her once she arrived at the Directorate.
“Cade,” she said softly. He didn’t acknowledge she’d spoken. “Cade?”
He turned, eyes narrowed and body tense.
Quietly, she said, “You need to let me go.”
He crossed his arms. “You’re getting on the horse.”
“If you take me to the Directorate, Skarde will follow. We can both guess what will happen when Skarde arrives there. There will be an epic fight. You and he pitted against each other. Him and the Directorate super shits pitted against each other. You’ll have to choose who holds your loyalty.
Will you side against him and watch them kill Skarde?
Will you watch one of them force me to become a vampire—which I don’t want, by the way?
Your boss vampires are wrong to think it’ll make some random vamp more powerful. ”
“Maybe I should bite you.” With an all-consuming intent he fixated on her neck.
As intense and somewhat erotic as his stare might be, she didn’t light up, unlike when Skarde had had his mouth on her neck. With Cade, she was left somewhere between ennui and borderline curiosity.
“Would you do it?” she asked.
His eyelids closed, shutting off his focus on her neck. His shoulders drooped as if giving in to something he fought.
“I didn’t think so. You’re smart. Why do you persist in being the Directorate’s errand boy? Do they have something on you to keep you enslaved to them?”
A bird cried in the distance.
Every time that particular noise happened on the show, VanFliet showed up and someone died.
“I’m not going to be the expendable Red Shirt in this miserable place,” she said.
“What’s a Red Shirt?”
“They’re always the ones who die first on this classic Sci-fi space show. I swear to God I am not a glorified extra.” At his side glare of confusion she added, “Forget it. Not relevant to right now. Suffice it to say I refuse to be a throwaway character.”
“They’re behind us, closing in.” Cade sighed and cast a glance heavenward as if he couldn’t believe some deity forced him to fight for both of them. “It’s too late to get back on the horse.”
A volley of arrows came in around them. He dragged them both behind a rock.
“You’re bleeding.” His voice had dropped an octave as his eyes dilated. His fangs glistened as they peeked out of his lips. “Smells…” He swallowed and choked out, “good.”
She hadn’t even realized she’d been hit. Nothing had hurt—until he pointed it out. Suddenly, her left arm was on fire. “Oh my God. I’m shot. I refuse to die here like this!”
The arrow had lodged in her bicep, and blood pooled around it, dribbling down her arm, mixing with rain. Until now, it hadn’t hit her that she could actually die while inside the show.
Cade rocked back on his heels away from her, cast his head upward, and licked his lips. “The smell of your blood… Fuck, it’s incredible.”
“No biting me. That’s not happening tonight. Most definitely not by you.”
His breaths came out shaky as he took the shirt off his calf and, without asking, broke off the pointy end of the arrow and pulled it through. Which felt like someone severing her arm in half.
She cried out, but he clapped a hand over her mouth. “Quiet.”
He dabbed blood off with a piece of cloth that looked like a dirty handkerchief, then tucked it into his cost. Next, he wrapped her arm tightly enough the shirt could be considered a tourniquet. But he didn’t release her arm. He stared at her blood saturating the makeshift bandage.
She snapped her fingers. “Stop it!”
He cradled his forehead. His accent thickened. “I cannae take ye with me. Nae with ye bleeding. VanFliet wants ye as much as the Directorate. He won’t resist…this. Ye’ll be best with Skarde who’s too much of a puss-ass to taste you. Stay here. I’ll lead them away.” He muttered, “Have to go.”
“You’re leaving me? Here?” She waited for his reply. She waved around them. “There’s an army of mindless, hungry vampires who like to shoot arrows around us.”
“Yes.” He glanced down at her. “This’ll work. Skarde follows, but be warned, I’ll find you again. I’ve never failed to complete a mission.”
She caught his hand as he started to move.
“I knew you weren’t a creepy evil killer.
There’s still good in you.” With a big grin, she kissed his cheek.
“Skarde is your brother. The two of you need to stop fighting and realize how important that is. Talk your shit out. Fix it before one of you dies and you’re filled with regret. ”
Then she shot her fist straight into his balls.
Direct hit. Total crusher.
“Fuck.” He doubled over.
“That’s for the kidnapping experience and getting me impaled by an arrow. Also, for you being a grumpy asshole.”
“I’m trying to save ye, lass. Trying nae to bite.” He grunted as he slowly righted himself. “You’re…” Now she got the look, the one that said she’d gone bat shit crazy.
Cade’s gaze dropped down her body. “When he won’t bite you because he’s… Next time I find you, I’ll do it myself.”
“You’ve got your own dark, complicated, totally fucked up, hot vibe going on, but, no offense, I’m Team Skarde. If anyone’s ever biting me, it’ll be him.” She put space between them and hunkered down behind the embankment. “Sorry, but he’s hot as hell and sets all my lady parts on fire. You don’t.”
“You’re trouble.” With a headshake, Cade stepped toward her, grabbed her bandaged arm and coated the wrap in mud. “This should mask the smell of your blood.” He took out the handkerchief and waved it in the air as he mounted.
“I’m not trouble, I’m Gemma. And I belong with Skarde.”