Running Scared

by Shannon K. Butcher

Page 7

 

  His head lowered until his nose was only a scant inch from hers. Lexi’s breathing sped, and her heart kicked hard. He was going to kiss her and she was going to let him. God help her, she needed him to kiss her. She didn’t even care anymore that it was a trick. She wanted him too much to care.

  His hand slid from her cheek to the back of her head. He tilted her head back so it was at a better angle. She could feel his big body shaking with need. Or maybe she was the one doing all the shaking. She couldn’t be sure.

  “You know I’m going to kiss you now, right?” he asked, his deep voice low in the quiet house.

  Lexi couldn’t speak. She gave a slight nod of her head. Not only did she know it, she craved it.

  Zach closed the distance another minute fraction of an inch. Lexi closed her eyes and gave in. He was her enemy, but it hardly seemed to matter anymore. If she was doomed, she wanted to go out like this—kissing a man who made her blood race and her body melt.

  “Well, you’re wrong,” he told her. “Just like you’re wrong about all the rest. ”

  With that, he let go of her and stepped away.

  Lexi had to grab onto the wall to steady herself. Her head was reeling and her body was aching with the loss of his touch. She opened her eyes just in time to see him close a bedroom door behind him. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the faded carpet, hugging her knees.

  He didn’t come back out. He didn’t attack her. He didn’t do anything. He just stayed locked behind that door.

  Lexi waited in agony. She shivered with cold and confusion. Why hadn’t he kissed her? She would have let him. Hell, she would have let him do a lot more than just kiss her.

  And what did he mean about her being wrong about all the rest?

  As the fog of lust faded from her mind, she realized that this was a good thing. She didn’t want him to kiss her or do anything else. He was the enemy. She wanted to kill him.

  Didn’t she?

  Lexi covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated growl. He’d done this to her on purpose. He was using his evil magic to confuse her. To manipulate her.

  This was what the Sentinels did. They tricked their prey into compliance. They used them and then they killed them. Her mother’s journal had been clear about that.

  Then why had he stopped? Zach had her where he wanted her. Why stop there?

  Lexi pushed herself up onto her wobbly legs. She needed to think—to get away from him long enough to clear her head. She couldn’t run away because she had to finish her mission and rescue Helen, but she could put enough space between her and Zach so her brain would start working again.

  She turned to go find something to snip this bracelet off her wrist when she heard a deep groan of pain coming from behind Zach’s door. It stopped as if cut short; then there was a thud like something heavy had landed on the floor. Maybe a two-hundred-plus-pound man?

  What if he was hurt?

  Lexi was reaching for the doorknob before she realized that this was probably another trick. Put her off balance, then make her come running to him.

  It wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t going to fall for a con like that. Her mother had taught her well, and it was about time Lexi started listening.

  She heard another groan filter through the door and had to cover her ears. Her feet felt heavy and her stomach twisted with nausea, but she managed to walk away from Zach without looking back.

  Zach was dying.

  His body heaved under another wave of pain so intense it blinded him. Sweat soaked his clothes and the clinging fabric grated against his skin until he was sure he was bleeding. He tried to crawl into the bathroom to wash the blood away so it couldn’t draw the Synestryn to Lexi, but he was too weak. His limbs shook and even pulling in another breath left him exhausted.

  He was such a fool. He should have never walked away from her like that. He’d been so close to kissing her—so close to claiming her as his own—but something held him back.

  She didn’t trust him. He wanted to prove to her she could, and the only way he could think to do it was to show her his restraint.

  Bad plan.

  And now he was paying the price. He’d had his chance to taste her sweet mouth and walked away from it, and it was killing him. Literally.

  Another pulverizing wave of pain slammed into him and forced the air from his lungs. Tears streamed down his face, cooling his hot skin. Every muscle in his body quivered under the force of resisting the agony of his swelling power. Huge fists of energy pounded on his insides, demanding that he go to Lexi and force her to let it out. Make the pain stop.

  But it was too late for that. He couldn’t go to her now. He couldn’t even lift his head. All he could do was lie there and listen to the pitiful sounds of pain welling up from his throat.

  He was pretty sure it would be the last thing he heard.

  Chapter 5

  Lexi stood on the front porch. It was as far as she could go without feeling that nagging itchiness the bracelet caused when she moved away from Zach.

  She’d wanted to clear her head, but all she could think about was the noises she’d heard coming from his room.

  He was in pain.

  She told herself she didn’t care. She told herself that he deserved it for all the lives he’d ruined.

  Well, you’re wrong. Just like you’re wrong about all the rest.

  What had he meant by that? What was she wrong about? Was it just another trick?

  He could have kissed her. He could have used his bad mojo to enslave her right there in the hallway and she wouldn’t have done a thing to stop him. But he hadn’t.

  Damn it. This was all too confusing. He’d turned her world upside down, making her question what she’d been taught all her life.

  Well, there was one way to find out if he was playing her, and she was going to call his bluff.

  Lexi marched back into the house, found a nice, sharp knife in the kitchen and flung Zach’s door open.

  The room was dark. She flipped on the light switch.

  At first, she thought he wasn’t even in here anymore because she didn’t see him. Then she heard a sound coming from the far side of the bed—a low gurgling sound like he was choking.

  Lexi hurried around the bed and found him lying on his side, curled into a tight ball. He was sweating and shaking, and his eyes were rolled up in his head like he was having some kind of seizure or something.

  Panic slid through her limbs, taking over. She dropped the knife and knelt beside him. Her hands moved over his arms and up to his face. She had no idea what to do to help him, but she remembered hearing somewhere about people choking on their own tongue.

  She moved his head so she could see into his mouth, but the instant her fingers touched his cheek, the gurgling noise stopped. He pulled in a deep, shuddering breath and his body stopped shaking.

  Zach’s eyes rolled around like they were loose in his skull, but apparently, he’d been able to see she was there.

  “Lexi,” he whispered, his voice rough and ragged like he’d been screaming for hours.

  “I’m here,” she said, at a total loss.

  His hands fumbled blindly over her body until he found her bare arms; then he pulled her to him. Lexi didn’t fight him. Whatever was happening to him, he seemed better now, and she didn’t want to mess that up, as stupid as it seemed.

  She let him arrange her body until she was lying on her side, facing away from him. He curled himself around her and held on tight. A few seconds later, she felt him tug on the back of her shirt until her lower back was bare; then he pulled the front of his shirt up. Lexi tried to straighten her clothes, but he blocked her attempts and pulled her back against him until bare skin met bare skin.

  His skin was hot and damp, tight over his corded muscles, and a flood of energy sank into her spine, sapping her will to move. It felt too good to fight him. She was totally out of her e
lement here and nothing in Mom’s journal had said anything about feeling like this. It was like touching happiness. Blissful contentment.

  Zach’s chest vibrated with a satisfied growl and she knew then that he was feeling it, too. Whatever this thing between them was, it was good. Maybe it was just one more trick designed to enslave her, but she really didn’t care. She was too sleepy to care.

  She’d give him ten minutes. Then she’d move away. He’d be better by then and she would leave him and find her bearings. She’d read Mom’s journal and remember why she was supposed to stay away from him—why she shouldn’t let him touch her.

  It was only ten minutes. She was sure that small amount of time wouldn’t hurt her.

  Nika watched Madoc through the trees. His powerful body was protected by a heavy leather jacket that did nothing to hide the bunch and swell of his muscles as he cut down the sgath that crossed his path.

  In a small corner of the beast’s mind that she now occupied, sadness and anger rose up at the death of its brothers. It wanted to lunge at Madoc and rip out his throat. It wanted to drink down his rich blood and feast on his flesh until there was nothing left but bones.

  Nika gathered her will and forced the beast to remain still while she used it. She ignored its need to kill, and watched as Madoc sliced another sgath in two.

  He moved so beautifully—a deadly, fluid grace that made her feel protected just knowing he was near. If only her human body hadn’t been so weak, she would have gone to him and told him how much she needed him, asked him why he no longer came to touch her hand.

  The mouth of the sgath she inhabited moved and she realized she was trying to speak to him. Of course, no human words could come out of her muzzle, and all she managed to do was let out a low growl.

  Madoc’s head swiveled her way. His sword was dripping with black blood, and he had to step over the furred bodies of the beasts he’d slain to come closer.

  He moved cautiously, his eyes narrowing in the darkness of the forest. A snarl twisted his blunt features as he closed the distance between them. He was only feet away from her now, and a thrill ran through Nika’s borrowed body.

  She wanted him to touch her. To hold her.

  She tried to tell him, but again, the words could not come out. How was she going to reach him?

  “I see you, you furry fucker,” said Madoc. “You’re not getting away now. ”

  He was going to kill her—or at least he was going to kill the body she now inhabited. As much as she hated feeling Madoc strike her down, she also knew it was safer for him if she stayed in the sgath’s mind until he struck, holding the beast from attacking him.

  Nika couldn’t watch. She closed the sgath’s eyes and froze it in place. The bite of the blade across her shoulder made her flinch and she heard herself let out an eerie howl of pain. Another hot slice of pain went through her chest and this time, she felt her heart sputter as blood spilled out of it, wetting her fur.

  She opened her eyes, hoping Madoc would see some piece of her inside the sgath, but instead, she saw some huge, hulking beast high in the trees over his head. It had six eyes and they were all staring right at Madoc, glowing with hungry fire.

  The sgath was nearly dead, and she leapt from its mind before it took her with it.

  As she passed by Madoc, she tried to whisper in his ear that he was in danger, but made no sound. She tried to stroke his skin and warn him, but felt nothing. She was less than air and so light, she was already being sucked back into her wasted human body.