Knot (Road Kill MC #2) (13 page)

CHAPTER 12

Cole ran with me in his arms. It was graceful considering the awkwardness of the hold and him taking every back trail in existence. Finally we were skirting around the city and he set me on my feet where the woods ended and suburbia merged with the perimeter.

I swayed where I stood, my shoulder a throbbing wasteland of pain. I bit my lip to keep from crying but useless tears fell as I stood there.

Cole brought me into his body. “We need to make haste to your dwelling and assemble your belongings to take with us.” He looked at the neat lawn of a human's backyard and returned his gaze to mine. “I think there may be something I can do to ease your suffering, heal what was done to you. I am sorry I could not stop it.”

I shook my head, negating his guilt. “You killed them so they couldn't take me.” I swiped a tear away using my good arm. “If it hadn't been for you, I'd be with them even now. I'd be going from the frying pan to the fire.”

I twisted in his arms to look into his face and he cocked an eyebrow.

I smiled. “I'd go from one bad situation to another.”

“Ah.” He nodded in understanding.

He gathered me to him again like a precious commodity.

*

We made our way to my apartment, which was located on the top floor. When we arrived at the door I saw the bright yellow crime scene tape barring it like a sad ribbon.

I frowned, remembering my text with Michelle. So, the cops
had
crawled all over my apartment. I let out a breath and looked at Cole.

But he only had eyes for our surroundings. He was scanning every dark corner of the hall. Expecting the devil to spring out like a jack-in-the-box.

He tried the knob and it was locked. He gave a vicious twist and it snapped apart and the door swung soundlessly inward.

Moonlight filled the inside of the apartment and I swung my good arm to hit the light switch but Cole grabbed my wrist softly. “Do not.”

Right, don't alert the troops I'm back. Duh. I let my arm drop to my side and went straight to my medicine cabinet. I caught my reflection in the mirror. Startled pale blue eyes floated above what looked like bruises from the combination of lack of sleep and pain. I opened the cabinet quickly and grabbed the Ibuprofen. Grabbing three, I slugged them back with some water, gulping greedily. My nose felt cold and my hands shook with the effort to not go into shock, get warm, stay sane.

I shut the cabinet and Cole was in the reflection behind me. I yelped and dropped the bottle.

“I did not mean to startle you,” Cole said, putting a hand on my shoulder and I winced.

His eyes met mine in the mirror and he moved his hand up my neck while bending down until his lips met where his hand had been. I sighed, loving the feel of his palm on my flesh.

I turned into him and he kissed the fragile length of me, his lips moving to my jaw and working their way until they were pressed against my mouth. He worked over the top of them, lifting and feeding off them until they felt almost swollen.

He pulled me into his arms and lifted me. He took me to my bed and laid me down. His large hands brushed the few hairs that impeded his kisses away.

But he did not kiss me, instead he said, “I will heal you now.”

He removed my parka, which was a terrible struggle made even more so with the slowness necessary to keep the arm immobile. I bit my lip and whimpered. I hated my weakness but couldn't help it. He lowered his head to kiss me, raining soft pressure on my face, cheekbones, everywhere his mouth touched he worshiped me with it.

Finally, when Cole thought that he'd given me enough of a reprieve, he removed the most difficult part and I screamed my pain and he captured it with his mouth, gently pushing me back onto the bed.

His warm mouth left mine and he got a pair of scissors and cut off the shirt so my bare skin was revealed. As was the delicate lace of my crimson bra. His eyes held mine then traveled across my breasts and finally to the wounded shoulder.

He placed his palm on my shoulder and I gasped. His flesh felt feverishly hot. I started to pull away and he looked at me. “Keep still, Rachel.”

I stayed where I was by sheer willpower. The heat radiated from the point of contact and spread throughout my entire body. At once the shoulder ceased its endless throbbing, which was replaced with heat. The warmth radiated and as the pressure increased from his hands there was an interior explosion of pain and my body bucked, fighting the sensation.

I looked up at him with frightened eyes. He reassured me, “Your body is mending the wound.”

“Why does it hurt?” I asked in a small voice.

Cole shrugged and the leather he wore rubbed against itself, making a pleasant crackling sound I'd always associate with him.

It went on forever but when I glanced at the clock it had only taken twenty minutes. It was nearly five in the morning.

Daylight was coming.

Cole saw me look at the clock. “Almost... there,” he said, his hands easing on my shoulder. They began to make lazy, light circles in the injured area and I clenched my fingers as he lifted his hands from me.

I sat up and rotated my shoulder, lifting it to my ear in an exaggerated shrug then letting it fall.

A stupid grin filled my face.

I watched Cole grin at me for the first time, his fangs glowing softly in the faded moonlight that speared my room.

A feeling of happiness burst within me for this man.

The vampire
.

Some of the worst of my tiredness began to fall away as the pain left. I got to my knees and hugged him around his neck. His arms wrapped around me instantly and I breathed into his ear, “I want to be with you.”

He pulled away and it was the only time I'd seen his face soft. “And I you. Had you stayed, I could have helped you. Do not run again.”

I laughed. “I don't think you have to worry about that.”

We gazed into each other's eyes, making an unspoken commitment.

My breath caught in my throat as Cole stiffened in my arms, his eyes widening.

I looked over my shoulder and there stood Erik with a gun.

The creeper from my work.

Cole pushed me violently away from him and turned to Erik and that's when I saw it. A dart stuck out of his back like an evil exclamation point.

Zach filled my doorway and saw me lying on the bed.

Cole staggered into Erik, trying to get the gun and Erik shot him again.

I jumped off the bed and Zach calmly walked around the bed and pointed a gun to my chest.

I threw my hands up and screamed, “No!”

Too late, Cole, drugged and slowed, threw his fist into Zach's temple. But the force was too little. Zach turned and used both hands to shove Cole halfway across the room. He landed against the wall, dazed. A huge dent caved in where he'd hit.

Erik said, “I want to fuck her bad.” His eyes swung to the bed as I rushed to where Cole lay. His head lolled to the side and his eyes were glazing over.

Zach gave Erik a look and he cringed away from him. He stalked over to us and crouched down to face Cole, their faces inches away from each other.  He grabbed a fistful of Cole's black shirt and jerked his face even closer. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, Reaper. Know this... she will be mine within the week.”

Cole struggled weakly and tried to grab me to him but Zach chuckled, wresting me away from his weak grasp.

“I gave him enough tranquilizer to put two elephants to sleep. He'll be out when the sun rises; a crispy critter in three hours,” Erik said with smug satisfaction.

I was wrapped in Zach's arms and didn't struggle, my heart felt like a dead lump in my chest.

The first, hot tear made its way down my face. It trembled on my jaw then fell onto the hands that held me captive. My eyes never left Cole's. He shook his head like a dazed bull, trying to rid himself of the fog that he found himself in.

Struggling to stand, Erik came to Cole and slammed the butt of the tranquilizer gun into his temple.

I screamed as Cole staggered back against the wall.

“Enough,” Zach said. “You have your uses, Intimate. Don't make me rethink them.”

Erik was breathing heavily, I could see he wanted to lay into Cole but Zach was his master here.

Erik looked at me. “You're so stupid. The
rogue
used me for months to spy on you. They were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to take you from underneath their noses,” he said, gesturing with the gun at Cole.

“You talk too much. Your singular job is to watch the Reaper. If he moves, shoot him.”

“He ain't gonna move. He has two darts stuck in him!”

Zach's hand lashed out so fast I couldn't track it but Erik's head rocked back and he stumbled. A spot of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Do not underestimate the Reapers. They are the elite of the Vampire. He will try to reacquire this one. It appears that he has bonded with her. Fool... do you not understand what that means?”

Clearly, Erik did not but continued to give Zach his sullen regard.

“As long as he lives, he will seek her.”

“Then let me do him right now!” Erik said in frustration.

Zach shook his head. “It is best to leave him. Let him live or not. Let the others deal with him. He is as sought as us now. He cannot return after he has bonded with this female. He is obliged to share in his kiss. Correct?” Zach swung his gaze to Cole.

Cole just stared back at him.

Zach dragged me backwards and Erik trained the gun on Cole. Cole's dull eyes were full of rage and grief as they flicked from the human that held the gun on him to mine, anguished.

Zach laughed at Cole's look and he surged forward.

To rescue me.

I watched in slow motion as Erik depressed the trigger, the meaty sound of the impact striking through the inky cloth of Cole's shirt.

The light died in his eyes, as he slid down the wall.

Erik looked at me with triumph and turned to Zach.

I struggled to get away, to go to Cole, to be away from Erik and the
rogue
.

It was futile. I was tossed over his shoulder as they moved down the stairs. As we exited the stairwell I saw the long black SUV waiting at the curb.

Smoke from its exhaust curled lazily in the chilled night air. Erik opened the door and from my view it looked like a huge mouth waiting to swallow me whole.

I beat at Zach with my fists and he held me to him so tightly I couldn't breathe. Finally when he tired of my struggling he looked at Erik. “Give it to me.”

An evil smile overcame his face from the front seat and he handed back a cloth soaked with something foul. Zach covered my face with it and my last thought was of Cole. I was in the hands of the enemy.

The
rogue
.

I saw, as if through dark water, a huge figure stagger down the staircase, a blurred silhouette in black.

Zach saw him too and a smile curled his mouth. With two fingers he pointed them ahead of the car and said to the driver, “Go... now.”

Cole rushed the car as it sped away and the last words I heard before consciousness left me was, “You did not use near enough tranquilizer.”

Cole's howls followed me down into the endless spiral of unconsciousness and I knew no more.

THE END

When Rachel is taken by Zach of the rogue she is determined to resist him. But her unique Druid biology controls her and she slips perilously close to succumbing.

Cole searches for the one Druid that can make his life complete. While his comrade Nathan, in a heroic maneuver to help him, suffers at the hands of their sadistic ruler, Alexander.

While searching for Cole, Nathan discovers another Druid in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could she be the catalyst that brings two enemies together?

Is Holly more than she seems?