Chapter Thirty-Three
KHALIL
I follow the glow of a fire in the distance, trying to keep quiet in case it’s someone else and not them. I’ve been searching for two days, barely eating or sleeping and only stopping long enough to consult the map and all the areas I’ve already crossed off and to radio Thorin to check on him.
He’s getting impatient, and so am I. I don’t know how much more I can reason with him that he’s in no shape to help me look.
And then there was the sheriff. He’s been coming down on our heads since Aurelia missed their daily check-ins.
Apparently, they had some kind of secret deal.
A condition that allowed her to come back with us and keep her hidden from her uncle until the sheriff decided if he believed Aurelia’s story or not.
We told him what happened with the storm and that Zeke is missing too.
It’s the only thing that’s kept him from coming up here to arrest us both, but I’ve been keeping him up to speed on my progress.
Or rather lack thereof.
I’m creeping along trying to remain undetected when I hear a scream.
Forgetting all about caution, I sprint toward the sound and come across a small but empty campfire.
Resting against the tree is Aurelia’s bow, but she’s nowhere to be found.
I kneel and study the footprints on the ground that indicate a struggle, the rock with a snake’s peeled skin and bloody entrails, and a knife.
Hearing another scream, I stand and kick dirt onto the fire, grab the knife, and Aurelia’s bow and take off in that direction. I hop a log, following the female voice, which becomes more distinct the closer I get.
“Let me go! Do you hear me, you crazy bastard? Let me go, dammit! I’m not going back to that cave!”
I burst through some dense foliage and onto a trail that leads away from the cabin, and I immediately spot Zeke walking down it with Aurelia thrown over his shoulder.
At least I assume it’s Zeke since he’s not hurting her.
Aurelia’s pounding her fists on his back and screaming bloody murder, but he seems to be oblivious to it all as her protests fall on deaf ears.
“Aurelia! Zeke!”
Zeke doesn’t stop walking, but Aurelia’s head pops up from where it’s hanging upside down, and her eyes widen when she sees me. “Oh my God. Khalil! Help me!”
“What the hell are you guys doing?”
Before she can answer, Zeke turns around, and from the look in his eyes I know it’s not Zeke at all.
It’s Bane.
“You.”
“Fuck.” Dropping everything, I pull the tranq from its holster just as he removes Aurelia from his shoulder like she’s a sack of flour and tosses her into some bushes. She volleys a string of curses at him as she disappears from view, and then it’s just him and me.
He sprints toward me, and I aim the dart gun, letting that shit off before he can get more than a few steps. It pierces his shoulder, but unlike the movies, I know it won’t take effect immediately.
I’m going to have to fight this crazy bastard.
Bane slams into me, and I hit the ground with a grunt, and stars spark in my vision. I recover quickly enough to throw up my arms and avoid the slam of his fists. When I get my opening, I toss his ass off me and regain my feet before shoving my boot into his ribs.
Unfortunately, pain and Bane aren’t acquaintances.
It does nothing but piss him off.
He lunges for me with a roar that sends a fucking chill down my spine and my head snaps to the left and blood spews out of my mouth. I follow up with a blow of my own that bounces right off him.
How do you beat someone who is impervious to pain?
The answer is: you can’t.
I’m just buying time and staying alive until the effects of the tranq can kick in.
I won’t lie. The fighter in me loves it. Bane is the perfect opponent, and if he weren’t always trying to kill me, I’d make him my sparring partner.
Pain explodes through my shoulder a moment later, when Bane drives me into a tree and dislocates it with a vicious punch that knocks the wind out of me.
It’s enough of an opening for Bane to take the knife he left behind and press the blade to my throat.
I feel it nick my skin, and then he leans close and growls, “She’s mine. ”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aurelia pop free of the bushes. She’s got leaves and branches stuck in her disheveled hair and a look in her eyes that would give the devil nightmares. I see too late that she’s clutching a large branch in her hand as she storms toward us with her eyes on Bane.
“Aurelia, don’t you dare,” I command with my heart sinking into my stomach. “Stay back!”
Ignoring me, she lifts the branch with a warrior’s scream and brings it down on Bane’s back. He goes down, and neither of us breathe as we wait for him to stand again.
When a full minute passes and he doesn’t, she drops the branch while I’m left gaping at them both.
“Sorry,” she says, not sounding sorry at all. “I couldn’t wait for the tranq.”
“You want to tell me what the fuck that was about? Where was he taking you?”
Aurelia tells me how she doesn’t remember anything after passing out in the river and then waking up in a cave on the leeward side of Maia.
She tells me Bane’s warning about the cabin not being safe and then she drops the bomb that Seth woke up.
I don’t think I hear much after that because of my relief that Zeke’s alter is okay after all.
Aurelia tells me that they were heading back to the cabin but stopped for the night when Bane woke up again for no reason at all.
Apparently, he does that now.
“Shit, okay. Well, the tranq won’t last the night, and that was the only one I had. We need to get him back to the cabin before he wakes up.”
“But your shoulder…can you carry him that far like this?”
“It’s not that far, and we don’t have a choice. If it’s as you say and Bane can wake up at will, then we can’t risk it. You’ll have to pop my shoulder back into place.”
Aurelia shakes her head while backing away. “No. No way. I can’t do that. I don’t know how.”
“You have to, baby. Please. For me?”
Aurelia chews on her lip, inhales, and then nods. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”
I run it down for her and then lie on my back and force myself to relax. Aurelia gently takes my arm and extends it but pauses with worry in her eyes that she might hurt me further.
“It’s okay, Goldilocks. You can do it.”
Nodding, she moves my arm the way I showed her, and I shout a curse when I feel the joint slide back into place. When enough of the pain fades, I rotate the injured arm to test it out and then exhale my relief.
“Thanks, baby.” She looks like she wants to pass out, so I make her sit while I quickly examine her. There’s no time to be thorough. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
I walk over to my discarded pack and bring it back over to her before reaching inside and removing my full canteen. “Here, drink.”
“I’m not thirsty.”
“Drink it anyway,” I command.
“Is it too much to ask to have just one boyfriend who isn’t overbearing and bossy?”
“It is now, since you’re stuck with us, and we don’t share.”
“Except with each other,” she says with a devious smirk.
“Sometimes not even then.” She rolls her eyes and drinks while I tend to some of her cuts and bruises.
Once I’m sure she’s fit for the journey, I help her to her feet and press my forehead against hers.
“I was beginning to worry I wouldn’t find you,” I admit.
Something about Aurelia always makes me feel like it’s okay to be open with her.
“Really?” she says as she slides a hand over my cheek and then rises onto her toes to kiss me deep and slow. “Because I never doubted you would.” A moment later, she pulls back enough for me to see her face and the worry in her eyes. “How’s Thorin?”
“Alive. Eager to see you. Hopefully getting the rest he needs.”
Aurelia snorts. “No chance of that. He’s probably pissy he had to be left behind.”
“Then by all means, let’s get you back to him.” I kiss her again and then grab Bane, hoisting him over my uninjured shoulder while Aurelia grabs the rest of our things. “Let’s go.”