“Did you remember anything? Devon?”
He paused when she used his name. She could feel the burn of frustration coming from him before he jerked the zipper closed.
“No. We have to go.”
He went back to her sofa and picked up a black vest of some sort. It had pockets all over it, and all of them were full. He swung it up and pushed his arms through the openings before zipping it up. There was a click as he checked the pistol he’d stuffed in his belt before he tucked it into the inside of the vest.
“I know this is not the optimal situation, but you have to trust me, Kalin. You need to come with me.”
Even fighting drowsiness, she still wanted to resist leaving. “To go where?”
She felt his frustration again before he shook his head. “North.”
“Why north?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but staying here makes us sitting ducks.”
“I guess I can’t argue with that.” She tipped the soda can up and drained it. The sugar and caffeine were beginning to be absorbed into her system. But she froze with her hands on the backpack. She was about to step past the point of no return. She heard his soft footsteps just a moment before he cupped her chin.
The contact was jarring. So hot, yet so comforting. A shiver raced down her back as their gazes locked. She felt him again, deep inside her mind. It was the purest form of intimacy, something she’d never realized she longed for. The sensation put her on edge, yet it also gave her a sense of security that was unmatched by any other experience in her life.
“I don’t know who I am, but I know what I am.” He stroked her cheek gently, soothingly. “I’ll get you out of here.”
Confidence rose off of him like a thick vapor. It was intoxicating, drawing her closer to him. He narrowed his eyes, flattening his hand on the side of her face.
He was thinking about kissing her.
Or maybe she was thinking about it.
With their thoughts mingling, there was no way to separate his desire from hers. It was one desire. One she found irresistible, but the intensity of the urge broke through her fascination. She jerked her attention away, looking at the backpack and forcing herself to focus on the very real threat his presence had placed her in.
“Yes, it is my fault, but I can’t truly apologize for surviving or wishing you hadn’t helped me.”
The link between them broke, leaving her prey to doubt and fear once more. She drew in a deep breath and tried to remind herself why she’d come to the cabin.
To live.
“Life is precious.”
She lifted the backpack and put it on. She had no idea what was in it but it was a trust-or-die situation.
“All right, lead on, Devon Ross.”
“You smack that gum like a kid.”
“Shut your trap, Clausan.” There were a few more smacks of gum chewing while he considered the body of Kappel.
“Who put you in charge, Burgos?” Clausan questioned.
“Dresner.” Burgos pulled a thin cell phone from his vest pocket and held it up. “Want to debate it with him?”
Clausan shook his head.
“Didn’t think so.”
Burgos took in the entire scene, looking like he was analyzing the angle of each shot.
“One man did this,” he announced.
Clausan looked at the bodies, trying to ascertain how Burgos had come to his conclusion.
Burgos crocked a finger at him. “Right here, the tracks are deeper. This man had Devon Ross on his shoulder.”
The man in question was lying facedown with a bullet in his chest.
“Devon pulled his gun when he went to set him down. By the time the rest of them realized their captive was armed, it was too late.”
“Kappel wasn’t easy to get the jump on.”
Burgos nodded. “He must have hesitated. My guess would be he had Devon in his crosshairs out of instinct but had to adjust because he’s our merchandise.”
“So now what?”
“That’s the interesting part.” Burgos hunched down to look at the boot marks in the dirt. “Devon Ross took off back toward the cabin he was found in. Not toward civilization.”
“What does that mean?”
Burgos straightened. “It means something drew him back there. Someone must have been taking care of him, otherwise he’d already be back in contact with his people.”
Clausan nodded. “It gives us a chance to bring him in.”
“And since the number of our team members has decreased, our share has gone up.”
The other two men waiting nearby grinned. They cradled their high-powered rifles confidently as they made sure to keep a watch on the surrounding forest. Burgos lifted a hand and pointed them back toward the cabin. They took a moment to strip their comrades of their guns before moving off to the side of the road to blend in with the trees.
Kalin had a cute ass.
He liked curves and she had nice ones. Her waist was trim but her breasts were full and round, making her in possession of one fine hour-glass silhouette.
“Stop looking at my butt.” She turned a hard look at him. “I can hear you.”
“Most people can’t.”
He grinned at her. Just couldn’t seem to help himself because it was a hell of a lot of fun to know she could hear him. She narrowed her eyes but her thoughts weren’t as outraged as she wanted him to believe.
“You’re not offended,” he said, challenging her stern expression.
She pushed her lips into a pout. “Maybe not, but at least I’m realistic enough to know we have no business thinking along those sort of lines when there are people out there who want to sell you like a prized Arabian horse.”
He took a moment to scan the forest around them. “You were the naked one when we met.”
She snorted but bit her lip and held back her reply.
“Why were you up at the crack of dawn to go up to that pool?”
“Cut it out, Devon,” she snapped when he began to probe deeper. She stopped walking and faced off with him. “We need to probe your thoughts so we can get out of this mess.”
“So get my priorities straight?”
She gave him a curt nod. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and the dark, silken strands shook.
So did her tits.
Yum…
She groaned and pointed the direction they’d been walking. “I think it’s your turn to take the lead.”
He shrugged and flashed her a full smile. “I can’t wait to feel your thoughts on the view of my back.”
She was jittery from the combo of too much soda and medication on an empty stomach.
That had to be it, because there was no way she was going to do anything close to admitting that Devon was causing the surge of sensation running through her veins.
Even if he did have a nice butt.
She groaned, actually trying to focus on her aching legs. Her calves were burning and her glutes were on fire. It was clear how Devon looked the way he did beneath his clothing—the man obviously trained far harder than her daily visit to the gym.
Now who’s thinking about things they shouldn’t?
She was guilty on that account but couldn’t seem to shake it off completely. It was humbling in a way, because she’d always shook her head over the nurses who liked to fawn over the cops and firemen. When it came to hooking up at work, they were the best bet, but she’d always shied away from it.
Now she was stuck with the ultra-deluxe version. Devon put the local police to shame. But he did it in more ways than just the physical condition of his body.
Psychic.
She should have been more alarmed. He’d certainly expected her to be. That memory triggered a response that surprised her too. No one should have to expect people to be frightened of them because of the way they were put together. Devon might be the pinnacle of perfection when it came to his physical condition but she suspected he might be wounded just as easily as everyone else when it came to being viewed as an outcast.
He’d never admit it.
She smiled just thinking about it. No, he was that type.
But she shuddered when she was left facing just exactly what he was. She’d been avoiding looking at the harsh facts. Now that her head was clear from hours of hiking, there was no way to avoid reality. She was on the run with a man who was very much accustomed to deadly encounters.
Part of her wanted to reject the idea just because it seemed surreal. Or at least, in her world it was so much against the odds that it had to be dismissed.
There was no dismissing the brush with death she’d had that morning.
The sun was dipping on the horizon and she found herself looking at it with tears in her eyes. Devon stiffened and turned to look at her.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re shutting me out.” He reached out and laid his hand on the side of her face.
The contact set her heart to racing, but she forced herself to overcome the alarm.
“I guess that’s a bit of an insult for someone like you.”
His pupils were dilating as he searched through her feelings. She felt his confusion clearly as he read her own thoughts. But her words sunk in and he seemed to pull out of his trance, blinking his eyes until they returned to normal.
“Possibly.” He withdrew his hand. “I wish I knew.”
He looked around, surveying their location.
“Any further clues as to why you’re walking north?”
“I just remembered that I don’t like nurses trying to minister to me.”
She laughed at his dry tone. “Boy, I’ve never heard that from a tough guy before. Guess you’ll just have to endure since you decided not to head toward civilization. I’m all you’ve got and I still think you need a CAT scan.”
“There’s a reason I didn’t go into a town.” He looked away, trying to concentrate on what he was recalling. “Just a feeling that I need to stay away from people. Maybe I’m on the run like you suspected.”
“You’re on the run, but I don’t think it’s from the law.” She wasn’t sure why she defended him so quickly, only that it seemed very right to do so. “Gold Tooth drove that fact home for me.”
Devon started down a slope. “We need to keep ahead of his teammates.”
“Wouldn’t that be easier among other people? Like the local sheriff?”
He shook his head. “Since I don’t know who I am or have any proof that I’m being hunted, all that would do is place the sheriff in the position for these guys to put a bullet in him because he’d be skeptical about my claim that I need protection. You can bet they won’t be playing by the rules. I’m not in a hurry to see a civilian lawman die because he’s not used to taking things as seriously as I have to.”
Frustration needled her but his reasoning wasn’t without merit. “I guess that makes sense.”
Devon kept going until he found a stream. He waded right into it, but he looked back at her as she hesitated on the shore.
“You were in a hurry to get into the water this morning.”
She gave him a withering look before stepping out into the water. Her boots were only ankle high and water soaked her socks and spilled inside.
“Why are we in the water? I thought you wanted to stay out of the open?”
“We’ll have to find shelter for the night soon. If these guys have any sort of thermal night-vision goggles, we’ll be too easy to spot. We’re in the river to mask our trail.”
Of course. It made sense. In a spine-chilling game of life-versus-death sort of way.
Nightmares were suddenly far less troublesome.
“You’re putting out a lot of negativity, Kalin.”
Devon wiped a forearm across his brow and pegged her with a knowing look when she turned a glare on him.
“Don’t you have any notion of personal space?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It’s not really a matter of deciding to hear you. I just do.”
“Like another sense?”
He nodded. “It’s a little like not being able to decide what you see. I can’t tell myself to see only the trees and not the rocks. It’s there, the information feeding into my brain.”
“That must be a real killjoy at times. No surprises.”
He lifted a branch full of pine needles and laid it on top of the shelter he was building. “True, but it’s mind-blowing to know what your partner is thinking while—”
“I’m a lady, mister.”
She turned her attention back to the small fishing pole in her hands. It was a thin travel one that she’d had in her bedroom. Once the sections were fitted together, it could be used for small trout.
“I realize my memory is gone but I recall our first meeting very well. Is skinny-dipping ladylike where you come from?”
He was teasing her. His tone was deep and brassy. It was tempting to reach down and scoop up a handful of mud to chuck at him.
“Actually, yes, it is, when one is seeking purification in a
private
pool.” The tip of her rod bent down and she pulled back. The last of the sun’s rays glistened off the body of the fish as she swung it up onto shore with the first three she’d caught.
“What happened to send you looking for relief?”
She busied herself with preparing the fish for supper. Once the light was gone, they’d have to put the fire out so she struck a flint and got it going. When the fish were gutted, she threaded them onto a stick and set them to roast. Her mouth was already watering.
“Not bad, Kalin. Only Grace shuts me out so well.”
She jerked her head up to look at him. He wasn’t looking at her though. He was lost in recollection, some fragment of his life surfacing. Frustration bled off him in a thick wave and he cussed a moment later. He turned and tossed the remaining branches he’d cut from nearby trees onto their shelter.
It was sort of a half tipi made of logs up against a granite rock face with the branches laid over them. She tried to dismiss the idea that it was full of spiders. It really couldn’t be, since he’d just cut the branches down, but she shuddered anyway.
The fish started to smell good. Her belly rumbled low and deep. Aside from her cup of oil, she’d had nothing all day. The fire drew her attention and his too. He moved closer and hunched down, his expression still full of frustration.
She served him his fish on a flat rock and burned her fingers as she tried to eat hers before it cooled. Washing up entailed a trip to the water to swish her hands about. With the light gone, she hurried back to the fire to warm her chilled fingers. Devon gave her only a few moments before he kicked dirt over the flames. He stomped the coal and dumped water over the spot to make sure there was no heat.