by J. D. Light
Why is he just lying there? What if he's sick?! My fear drove me forward faster than I normally would have entered an unsecure room, and I paid for it, when something heavy smashed into the back of my head.
I stayed on my feet, but just barely, stumbling slightly to the left, nearly falling over the figure on the bed.
That I now realized was a wadded up blanket made to look like someone sleeping.
Turning, I caught the wrist of my attacker just before he stabbed my eye with a fork. So stunned to be looking into the beautiful green eyes of my gorgeous mate, I almost didn't stop the shin to the groin.
"Shit!" I breathed, when he caught me in the front of the knee with his foot. The little shit would have bent it backwards too, if I'd had it locked.
"Need some help there, Har? Seems you have your hands full." Carpenter spoke softly, chuckling as he released one of the scared, shaking chosen from their bonds. "This would be a lot easier if Kinsey was here."
Holding my hands up, in a placating gesture toward the man who stood in front of me, his face cold and emotionless, I tried to calm him. "I'm not here to hurt you," I whispered. "We're here to get you out."
"Just grab him, Har." Boston grumbled, ushering two chosen to the door, before glancing into the hallway and leading them out.
"Yeah. Stop fucking around." Carpenter cackled, leading the young girl with wide, scared eyes out behind the other two, and taking up the rear for protection.
I sighed. "Yeah, easy for you to say. Yours weren't armed." Turning back to my mate, who'd thankfully stopped assaulting me, I begged, "Will you please not try to kill me? We're just trying to make sure you get out of here safely. But we have to do it quietly. We can't let them know we're here."
"I'm not getting in your van. I don't care how much candy you have." His voice was sexy. Rich and soothing.
"Wow," I said stupidly before shaking my head and trying again. "Okay. What about a dark SUV? Would it help if I told you I was FBI?"
"You can tell me you're fucking Santa Clause. Doesn't make it true," he grumbled, and even though I couldn't make out the features of his face at the moment, I knew he was glaring. "Show me your flip card thing."
"Wow, you're not what I expected. You're actually kinda a dick." I cringed. I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to call your mate a dick. Sighing again, I admitted, "I didn't bring it, and you wouldn't be able to see it anyway. It's too fucking dark."
Maybe you shouldn't cuss at your mate either.
"Hmm. That's convenient." He crossed his arms, clearly ready to stick by his word of not going anywhere with me until I gave him some credentials.
"Not really," I mumbled. When he just continued to stand there, unmoving, I rubbed my chin. "Listen, I don't feel right about knocking you out. It actually kinda makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. But if we don't move out of here…quietly. The people who have been holding you here are going to realize something isn't right, and contact their people before we can arrest them. That means that the other groups of cho…people they kidnapped and are keeping in other shitholes like this one, might get hurt because they'll just shut the whole operation down."
His arms dropped, but I could still read the tension in the way his shoulders didn't relax. "Fine, but you go first. I don't trust you behind me."
Groaning, I rubbed my eyes. "Fuck. Okay. But you have to stay close to me. I need to know you aren't falling behind and getting left here. Here," I said, holding out my hand. "This way I know for sure."
"I'm not holding your hand, Santa Clause. I'm not four. I'll be right behind you."
Sighing again––I sure was doing that a lot in the five minutes since I'd met my mate––I nodded, taking comfort in the fact that I'd be able to smell if we drifted away from me. "Let's go, then. Parker should be finishing up right now, and that means Carpenter and Boston will have to go back in while Parker and I sit with you and the other three. I'm so not used to being a babysitter. They usually keep me away from the people we rescue."
"What?" Carter asked dryly. "But you're so charming. You must have all the babysitting gigs."
I frowned in his general direction, still not able to see that well, before slipping out into the hallway, hearing my mate follow behind me quietly.
It was only a matter of a few turns and one really long hallway until we were racing outside in the dead of night, Carter's footsteps lighter and quieter than mine as we worked our way to the hidden SUVs.
When we arrived, Carpenter and Boston headed back to the building, not even pausing, as I opened the passenger side door of the one I'd driven, waiting for Carter to climb in.
The cargo light was turned off, so nobody would see a random light in the woods and come looking, so I couldn't see his expression, but the crossed arms and unmoving body language was familiar.
"I'll walk."
Hanging my head, I clicked the button to talk into the walky-talky device on my shoulder. "Foster, you're mate can be an ass sometimes. What the fuck do you do with him?"
Growling sounded in my ear, where the receiver device was located. "Don't call Burke and ass, you dumb shit. But I've found the only way to shut Burke up when he goes off on one of his tangents, is fuck the shit out of him."
"Uh, yeah. I somehow don't see that as being a viable option at the moment. I'm pretty sure he's plotting my death as we speak."
"I have the other three in the back of my car," Parker said, coming around the side of my SUV. "Do you need help with this one? Or should I go ahead and take off?"
"Go ahead and get them back. As soon as I know Boston and Carpenter are clear, I'm going to figure out how to get the little shit moving." Again I cringed. I really needed to get a handle on my mouth. But we'd all been saying that for years. "Should we burn it, or just leave it?"
"You do realize you shouldn't call your mate a little shit, right?" Parker sounded amused, which was better than annoyed, I guess.
"But it's so hard when that is exactly what he is." I might have whined a little.
Shaking his head, parker chuckled. "There wasn't anything in the runners' room but a TV and a couple lap tops. I got those in my bag. Carpenter and Boston are supposed to make sure they get the cell phones you saw them using earlier. We can just leave the structure as is." Parker turned heading toward his car.
"Thanks, Parker. I really owe you one."
Waving me off, Parker disappeared into the darkness. "Good luck. And maybe don't give him anything sharp for a little bit. See you back at the cabin."
"Thanks," I grumbled. I was going to need all the luck I could get. Sighing, I turned back to my mate. "Okay. What do you need me to do to get you in that car?"
"Are you planning on holding me captive like they did?" Again, I felt a warm tingle skate along my skin at the sound of his voice.
"No. We'll have to question you, to get as much information as possible, but once that's over, you're free to go."
I decided I wouldn't tell him just yet about his roommate, or the fact that I would no doubt stalk him if he decided to leave. For once in my life, I somehow managed to keep my mouth closed.
