Chapter 23
SATURDAY CONTINUES
IN WHICH JAMISON WISHES HE’D WORN A SHIRT
Jamison had left messages with everyone he could think to call as he pulled to the side of a sandy track.
Up ahead, the road dissolved into little more than an overgrown trail through the trees, and there was no way his Lexus could go farther without getting stuck.
Still, he knew with a certainty that literally vibrated in his bones that Dessa was here, somewhere.
He sent out one last mass text of his GPS location before running down the trail, resolving to trade in his Lexus for something that could go off-road.
Hell. His chest began to heave as he sprinted down the path, his hand tight around Brad’s gun.
Just how long was this trail? Miles? Or what if he was wrong, and this road led nowhere?
Then, not only had he wasted his own time, but he’d also be taking their enforcement crew on a wild goose chase while they should’ve been following a different lead.
Still, he wasn’t sure his foreboding could possibly needle him any harder as he homed in on the source.
And he could only hope it was leading him to Dessa.
But as the unending track stretched before him, sweat slicked his skin beneath his hoodie, and still he found nothing. At some point soon, he’d have to make a choice. Either continue no matter where his curse took him, or turn back and wait for help.
No sooner had it come to mind though, than his decision was made.
Because if he was wrong here, his probability of finding Dessa alive would crumble to dust. She would be just another face on a missing poster in the AzRIO.
Just another dark tale of warning for Richard to prattle on about in the lobby. And Jamison couldn’t allow that.
He would find whatever his body was willing him toward and let the cards fall where they may. The resolution cleared his mind, and he pushed his legs harder, thankful he’d spent so many hours in the gym during his year of effective house arrest.
At last, a shed came into view at the end of the road, the door hanging slightly ajar, and Jamison’s heart nearly choked him. He barreled into the dirt-stained building, dawn’s fingers threading into the dusty, spartan room.
There was a girl bound and unconscious on the floor, but it wasn’t Dessa. No, not a girl—Carly Jowett. He knelt at her side, using the switchblade he’d brought to cut her free, adrenaline still singing through him. Still breathing, not hurt.
“Carly,” he said, shaking her elbow. “Carly, wake up.”
Nothing.
What was wrong with her? And where was Dessa?
His stomach pitched as he turned, trying to fine-tune his foreboding once again, but now it seemed so strong he could barely make out a direction.
He jogged out of the shed and ran a ring around it, his gaze sweeping the trees.
When he nearly tripped on the shovel and the upturned earth beside it, he froze.
No. No way. She’d only been gone a couple hours. There was no way that was enough time to kill and bury someone. It was a stupid thought, but a straw he grasped with all his will.
“Dessa!” he screamed, no longer caring if Jean Marc heard him. So what? Let him come. Jamison didn’t care anymore. As long as the crazy Vampire told him where Dessa was, that’s all that mattered. “Dessa!” A faint noise pricked his ears, and he forced himself to stop.
Again, a weak voice swept toward him from the trees, barely carried by the wind. He ran toward it, every cell bending toward the sound. He was about to call out again when he saw her, blood staining her shirt, her face gray, and her eyes half-lidded.
“Jamison…” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, her body trembling and her head canting toward her shoulder.
He was at her side in an instant, his arms curling around her as he ran his gaze over the ugly gashes in her neck and the bruise on her cheek. “Dessa, what’s wrong? What did he do to you?” He took off his hoodie and threw it around her—really wishing he’d had the sense to throw on a shirt.
She shook her head weakly, her lips almost bloodless. Had the Vampire fed on her? Fury and nausea roiled through him at the same time. “No,” she whispered. “It…it’s my magic. I think it’s draining me to keep him asleep.”
Jamison followed her gaze to where Jean Marc lay sleeping on the ground as peacefully as a child. “You’re keeping him asleep?”
Dessa nodded.
“But how—” The realization dawned on Jamison in stark wonder. “You compelled him? I thought you couldn’t do that to paranormals.”
“I couldn’t when I was a kid…” The words came out like a wheeze, Dessa’s mouth twitching. “I must be stronger now.”
“I have a gun and a pop-stake,” Jamison said, the items suddenly heavy in his pockets. “I can kill him before—”
“No, don’t,” Dessa said, her trembling hand clutching his wrist. “He has information. Have you called—”
The roar of an engine and snap of branches cut Dessa off as an unfamiliar black SUV barreled into the clearing.
Panic resurged through Jamison. Jean Marc probably wasn’t acting alone.
Was it possible his help had gotten there before theirs had?
His attention snapped toward the still-moving vehicle just as Rhett Carline leapt out of an open door, and Jamison relaxed.
Two wolves howled somewhere behind them, and he knew without a doubt they’d soon have half of Azalea Springs here. Cold relief flooded down his spine. They’d done it. They’d found Carly, Dessa was okay, and now they would finally be done with this abduction madness.
But when he looked at Dessa, her eyes only widened. “They can’t know. That I—That I—” She swallowed, and her face went bone white. “I don’t know what they’d do.”
“Jamison!” Rhett yelled. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” Jamison called, his mind whirring.
“Carly’s in the shed, I think there are graves behind it, and Jean Marc is…
is unconscious.” He lowered his voice, and three huge wolves bounded up next to the SUV.
With their senses, they could probably hear everything he said, regardless of his volume.
“Okay, what do you want to tell them, Dessa?”
“I—I don’t know.” Her eyelids fluttered. “But I can’t…”
Rhett called to the others from the shed, and a veritable wave of suited Vampires got out of the SUV and circled the area, while Rhett ran up to Jamison. His dark eyes flicked to Dessa. “Is she hurt badly?”
“She’ll be fine,” Jamison said. “But someone needs to secure Jean Marc.”
“I’ve got it.” Rhett moved so quickly, Jamison’s eyes almost couldn’t track him.
He pulled a syringe from his pocket, uncapped the needle, and then plunged it into Jean Marc’s neck.
“It’s a sedative,” Rhett explained as he locked heavy-duty cuffs onto the Vampire. “How were you able to knock him out?”
Dessa’s half-lidded gaze pleaded with Jamison, and words seemed to fly out of his mouth of their own accord. “Dessa said he just collapsed. She doesn’t know why.”
Dessa’s body relaxed in his arms, and even though he’d just lied to someone who’d probably kill him if he found out, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. If Jean Marc told anyone what Dessa had done to him when he woke up, that would have to be a future-them problem.
“Strange.” Rhett’s brow furrowed as he dragged the Vampire back to the SUV.
“But don’t worry, we’ll make sure we get some answers out of him before he gets his just ends.
You did well to ID him, Dessa McKinney.” His gaze darted to Jamison with something like begrudging respect.
“And you too, Jamison Kane. Though you could use a shirt.”
Dessa slumped further against Jamison’s bare chest. “Best backup ever.” A wrinkle cut through her brow and her eyes fluttered open again. “But how’d you know where to find us?”
He opened his mouth to reply, when the words got stuck on his tongue. Ah yes, he could no more talk about the boon of the strange magic than he could about the curse. Finally, he managed. “I really wish I could tell you,” he said with a wince. “But I literally can’t.”
“The curse.” Surprise flickered across Dessa’s blood-streaked face. “You really know how to pique a girl’s curiosity. Also why are you shirtless?”
“Hey, I was in a hurry, okay?” he said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She’d probably get a laugh that he’d used the curse for the exact opposite of what it was meant for. “But for now, we need to get you somewhere you can rest. You deserve it.”
He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the SUV, calling to one of the Vampires for a ride, before he got in the backseat with her. Though she tried to sit up, she listed to one side, and he guided her head to his shoulder.
“I thought you said you were dangerous to me, Jamison Kane,” Dessa mumbled. “But here you are saving my life again.”
“I’m your backup, Blue.” Jamison smirked. “I said I’d always be here to catch you.”
Inwardly though, all he could really think was that those two things weren’t mutually exclusive. If the curse was somehow now tied to Dessa, maybe falling for her really was dangerous.
Not that it mattered anymore.
He glanced down at her as she snuggled into his side, her nose scrunching as a surge of unbelievable protectiveness swept through him.
This was no high school crush on the quiet, sharp-eyed girl with the striking smile.
This time, he’d well and truly fallen for her, and whatever price he had to pay to protect her from anyone—
He would pay it.