Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
KAEL
Iawaken with a start. The damp forest floor feels warm beneath me, pinyon pine branches stretching overhead.
Tempest nickers next to me, teeth pulling grass up by the roots.
The marks on my chest ache and burn. A pressure builds in my head.
It shouldn’t be like this. The farther I get from her—it shouldn’t be unbearable.
My mind wraps around a flash of metal—the alien alloy bracelet Eliza wears around her wrist.
Suppression.
My stomach twists, a cold sweat coming over me.
It’s my only hope.
I gulp air, fingers digging into the mark pulsing across my chest and down one arm. I can’t live this way. But there’s no alternative.
Except for the dampeners.
I have to go back to Raven’s Ridge. I have to finish what I started with Mags. What Ash broke at the cabin in the winter pasture.
There’s no other way.
“Come on, girl. Got to ride hard,” I say between clenched teeth, thumb sliding over the raised welts on my forearm from rattlesnake bites.
If only the sparks Eliza put in my blood would heal as quickly. But I can’t think about her now as I ride into a new storm. Heading back into the thick of the humming mountains and the woman who won’t stop tugging at my thoughts.
Two hours later, I stand in Redfern Feed, the sweet smell of grain and the nuttiness of hay threading the air. My hands are on my hips, facing off against Mags. “The dampener. Have you had any luck fixing it?”
“No,” she says, eyes large, face blanched. “But we have much bigger problems than that now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You haven’t heard?” she asks, skepticism behind her gaze.
“Heard what?”
“That Eliza Wakefield’s missing.”
The air escapes my lungs, my chest squeezing hard. “What do you mean?”
“She hasn’t been to work in two days. Isn’t answering her phone.” She paces behind the counter, then stops, leveling her gaze on me. “You don’t have anything to do with this?”
My blood boils, words echoing through my head. “What kind of question is that?”
“You’re dangerous, Guthrie. Not like us. Older. Unpredictable. More like them.”
She nods toward the mountains.
“Where’s Eliza?” I ask, stepping forward.
She shrugs. “No one knows. There are no signs of forced entry. But she’s gone. Heather confirmed it this morning.”
“God,” I huff, shaking my head. I can’t breathe. Can’t think straight. My hands fist at my sides. I’ll rip whoever did this limb from limb. “I have to find her, Mags. If somebody hurt her…” My voice comes out dark and ragged.
“Ash will help,” she says. “I’ll call him… tell you to meet at the Wakefield place. You can look for clues together.”
“If anything happens to her.” Something in me is dying. I can feel it.
We may not be bonded, but nothing matters without her.
Her eyes are warm and empathetic. I don’t know what to do with that kindness. “She means something to you.”
“She means everything,” I say, storming from the feed store without a second look back.
At Eliza’s ranch, I read immediate signs of disturbance—dry mud pressed with tire treads leaving the ranch. Her truck’s still parked in front of the house.
Inside, the red bouquet still blooms, water sunk halfway down the jar. Upstairs, I find no clues. Not one. The dress she wore to the wedding doesn’t hang in the closet. Like she never removed it. And her bed’s still made.
Downstairs again, I search the living room and kitchen. Then, I lift the cell phone I left behind, finding a business card beneath it. I flip it over. Agent McPherson Clooney with the Department of Homeland Security.
I freeze, heart racing.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Ash says, strolling through the front door. He clenches his jaw, eyes dropping to the card in my hand.
“Government men,” I say, holding up the paper in my hand. “Left their calling card.”
“Dammit,” he says, face falling.
“They won’t get away with this.”
“What are you thinking, Guthrie?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” It comes out like a growl.
“Nuh uh. Not how this works.”
“That’s exactly how it works.” I start to push past him, but he grabs my shoulder.
I grab his throat, lifting him easily off the ground and slamming him into the wall. “Don’t touch me.”
I let go, dropping him back onto his feet. He grips his neck, eyes round as dinner plates. “You’re stronger than I remember,” he grunts, dragging air back into his lungs. “Or maybe it’s the resonance.”
“No.” It comes out savage. But it’s a lie. We both know it. “I can’t do that to her… no matter what.”
“So, you’ll leave her vulnerable? Unprotected?” Ash snarls.
His words strike something deep and primal. The one part of this I can’t excuse away or ignore. My greatest temptation—not just to claim her—to protect her with every part of my being.
“That why you took your woman? Despite knowing better? Despite everything men like us have suffered for lust?”
“Not lust,” Ash growls. “Love. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to ensure Josephine’s safety and happiness. No matter what. Maybe it’s the same for you and Eliza. Or at least, it could be.”
“If I were man enough…” I grunt, stepping closer and slamming chests.
“If you were human enough,” Ash counters, eyes narrowing.
“Or Sentinel enough,” I say, stepping back and shoving my hands in my pockets. This younger generation doesn’t know them like I do—through my grandma’s recollections, stories of my father and his bride. “My father died for my mother without a second thought.”
“When the resonance hit, though he thought it impossible, he couldn’t ignore it,” Ash says, face hardening. “Can you, Guthrie?”
That’s the question I still can’t answer.
“Don’t have time to waste. If they have her, God only knows what they’ll do. I have to get her back. You helping or hindering?”
Ash takes a deep breath. “You can’t just go in there, guns blazing.”
“There is a way.”
“Not one that reveals us,” the blond cowboy counters.
“Then help me come up with something better. Either way, I’m not leaving without her.”
“Let’s give them what they want,” Ash says.
I arch an eyebrow.
“We’ll give them you.”
“We’ll talk in the saddle,” I say, heading for Tempest.
As we ride side by side, Ash hollers, “They won’t want to kill us. They’ll want to contain us.”
My jaw tightens. “Then, that’ll be their mistake.”