27. Cherry
27
CHERRY
G od fucking damn it.
With an obnoxiously strong hand on my arm and a weapon pressed to my head, I tried to take rapid stock of the situation as Magnus’ goon forcibly turned me around and started marching me towards the closest gate. He pulled me through it until we were no longer in the protective embrace of Silar’s meticulously maintained fencing.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, heart on fire, my eyes scanning desperately for signs of an accomplice. So far, it looked to be just him.
“Told you what would happen to you,” he spat, grinding the weapon, some kind of blaster, harder against my temple. “You’re going to the bottom of Lake New Nippissing. But I’m going to have fun with you on the ride back. By the time we get there you’ll be in so much fucking pain you’ll welcome the water.”
I blinked. Ride back? He had his own ship here?
I mean, of course he did. He’d have to. How else would he have gotten here, unless he’d jumped on a last-minute supply transport like I did? This planet didn’t seem to have any other public transport or tourist services.
So why the hell hadn’t I heard it? Why hadn’t Silar heard it?
“How far is your ship?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.
“Not far. Just near those weird fucking trees. So don’t get any ideas about trying to escape before we reach it.” He cast me a suspicious sideways glance. I was momentarily cheered by how fucked up his nose looked from the side, but it didn’t last long when he continued, “My ship is cloaked. If you don’t think I’ve got the money to pay for the tech to shroud my shit then you are goddamn delusional. You have no idea who you’ve fucked with.”
Well, that would explain the silent arrival. It also meant we’d leave just the same way. No sound. No blips on any radars.
Silar would wake up and I would just be… gone.
For the first time, the reality of the situation caused panic to truly flare inside me. I was going to die.
And I was never going to see my husband again.
I could scream. With Silar’s hearing, it might be enough to wake him even in his deep post-coital stupor.
But then I’d be putting him in harm’s way. Despite all the large animals Silar dealt with and the predators I knew lurked beyond the fences, I’d never seen Silar with anything besides a simple knife. There was no way he’d have a weapon to rival this blaster.
If I screamed his name now, I’d only get to watch my husband’s death before I experienced my own.
Hell no . That was absolutely not an option. Whatever happened to me was my own fucking thing. Shit had caught up with me and I’d just have to figure out how to deal with that. But I was absolutely not going to involve Silar. I thought of him, safe and sleeping in our bed, and gulped down a hot stone of sorrow. But all that did was force the sorrow into my gut, my eyes, until I wasn’t sure if I was going to cry or throw up.
At least I had him for this long.
At least we’d had tonight together. At least I’d finally gotten to scrape the surface of the formidable, multi-layered, nearly impenetrable being that was my husband. But even with that grief-stricken gratitude, there was so much regret. Regret I hadn’t tried to get close to him sooner. Regret we’d only had this one, single chance to –
“Take your filthy hands off of my wife.”
No!
“Jesus fuck !” The man whirled me around, the gun digging into my skull. “Drop the weapon!”
There Silar stood. As if carved from metal, turned silver by the night. Every muscle was taut with tension though his stance looked cool, relaxed, his face an unreadable mask.
His eyes were so bright white they put the fucking stars to shame. A long-bladed knife glinted in his right hand.
“Hands up. Drop the weapon,” the man holding me repeated, “or I will blow her fucking brains out right here and now.”
All things considered, a quick death wasn’t sounding all that bad compared to the other fate of torture and drowning that had just been laid out for me. And the last thing I wanted was Silar defenceless without his weapon now.
“Silar,” I croaked, tears coursing down my cheeks. “Don’t!”
Silar raised his hands into the air, a smooth, symmetrical motion.
“Silar, no !”
He dropped the knife.
My breath punched out of me in a gutted, guttural rush. It was over. Now, Silar didn’t even have a knife to defend himself.
Now, we would both die.
The man behind me let out a harsh sigh, his body relaxing when Silar released his blade. The blaster weapon eased ever so slightly from my temple.
But the knife…
The knife never hit the ground.
My heart stuttered to a stop when I realized that, even though Silar’s hand had dropped the knife…
His tail had caught it.
Blink-quick, that powerful whip of an appendage curled and snapped, sending the knife whistling through the air like a dart.
A thwunk of impact vibrated through my head. I’d been hit. A crushing, death-like weight surged down on me, driving me to the frost-tipped grass on the ground. Dazedly, I thought I heard a weapon blast off a round, but I barely heard it, because I was dying. Even now, it was almost impossible to breathe.
But then the weight lifted, warningless and sudden, cold air rushing in to fill the empty air around me. Stunned, I rolled onto my back, gasping and coughing, focusing my eyes as Silar dragged the other man’s huge, now-limp body off of me. I sat up, my head swimming and my stomach heaving when I saw the man’s face.
Silar’s knife was buried hilt-deep in his left eye.
He wasn’t dead, though. He seemed to be unconscious, but his breath was still gargling out of him. Once the man was clear of falling on me again, Silar shoved him down to the ground.
Then, he knelt down, yanked out his knife with a fury that should have terrified me…
And then he slit the man’s throat.
My hands shot to my mouth to contain a scream or a gasp or maybe a surge of bitter bile. The man’s blood coursed freely from his wound, soaking the grass. Silar breathed heavily, his knife in the air, his hands looking near-black in the light, his face shaped by strained shadow. He looked like he was going to stab the guy again, but then he rose, swift and silent.
“Are there others?” he uttered, clenching his knife hard in his hand while his wild, white gaze scraped over the scene.
“I don’t know.” My voice shook out of me. It sounded so much smaller than it usually did. “I don’t think so. He said his ship is near the trees.”
Instantly, Silar was on the move.
“Get inside the house,” he growled. “Lock the doors.”
“Silar!”
“Now, Cherry!”
“I… I don’t want to leave you!”
He flinched at my words, then, fangs bared and covered in blood, he stormed up to me.
“I cannot think while you are out here! I can barely breathe! I cannot…” He bit off his words with a growl, taking several grating breaths before, more quietly this time, he added, “I cannot live if you are not alright. I have to secure the property. Cherry. Please.” His white gaze searched mine. “I need you in that house.”
A sob shuddered out of me. I hesitated, and my husband saw it.
“If you do not go willingly,” he hissed, fury returning, “then I will toss you over my shoulder and bring you there myself. I will find a way to lock you in from the outside if I have to.”
He would do it, too. I was wasting time like this. Draining his focus.
It fucking gutted me to do it, but I stumbled backwards towards the house.
“I’ll go,” I told him.
He watched me with piercing eyes until I’d closed the door.
Then, he whistled for Tarion.