by Rae Rivers
She was also exhausted and it showed in the way she relented as he pinned her against the tree, her wrists trapped in his hands.
“If you’re here to harm me you’ll have to get in line,” she said, seething with anger.
“Honey, after the crap you’ve pulled on me, I’m the front-runner.”
He wouldn’t harm her but she didn’t have to know that. For some reason, despite what she’d done to him, she’d not only triggered all his protective instincts, but his curiosity too. Call it Keeper duties or stubborn male instincts, but when the bad guys messed with an innocent woman, it made him furious. Though she wasn’t entirely innocent.
He felt the fight lessen as she calmed down. Her heart pounded against him and her shoulders heaved as she sucked in air. “Declan, please let me go.”
“You can’t run, Kate.”
“No.”
“You can’t scream.”
“I know.”
His head close to hers, he brought her wrists up between them, nestling her slender hands beneath her chin. Her gaze was pinned on him and he didn’t need the light to know their beauty. Big brown eyes, guarding secrets he’d always sensed but could never define. Long lashes and dark eyebrows that curved into a sexy frown whenever she was mad. Right now, she was glowering at him, despite the heat that sizzled whenever they got this close.
Unable to stop himself, he grinned.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, lowering her eyes to glance at his lips.
“I followed you.”
“Again? From the house? After what I did to you?” Surprise flashed in her widened eyes as they lifted back to his. “But how? The herbs –”
“Didn’t keep me down for long. You make crap coffee. I never finished it.”
“I can’t believe you found me.”
“It was smart to stay close to the river.”
“I figured it was my only chance of ever getting out of these mountains.”
“How did they even get up here?”
“There was a 4x4 trail that led to a cabin. It’s a tricky road and overgrown so I doubt it’s used very often.” She arched a brow, hesitating before asking her next question. “Where are we?”
“Still in Canada.”
Her eyes rounded. “Why would they bring me to the mountains?”
“Isolation. They could’ve killed you but chose not to.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed.” She tried to break away but he kept his grip on her.
“Harper could have your powers for himself just by killing you, Kate. Do you know why they want you alive?”
“Maybe they like a pretty face,” she said, exhaustion and sarcasm drowning out her words. “I don’t know and I didn’t stick around to find out why!”
Declan ran a gaze along the length of her as he processed the warlock’s motivations. If Kate’s powers were all Harper was after, they wouldn’t have made it out of her rented house. But he’d drugged her and kept her guarded in a wooden cabin.
Alive.
That meant his use for her went beyond her powers.
Releasing her wrist, he hooked a finger in the seam of her jacket, giving it a quick tug. “You’re not equipped to travel these mountains alone, so that puts you squarely on team me.”
She slapped his hand away but didn’t deny it.
“But drug me again, wildcat, and you’re definitely on your own. In fact, all witchy joo joo is out of bounds for now.”
“I’m not a witch.”
“Yeah, right, and all humans have a stash of magical sedatives in their kitchen and can immobilize magic at the drop of a hat.” He laughed.
“Stop it, Declan. I’m not –”
“Have you forgotten that my entire adult life has been devoted to protecting the very thing you deny? I live every day with one goal in mind, Kate, and that’s to protect my witch. I know witch crap when I see it.”
“I may have witch powers but that’s not who I am!” She yanked out of his grip and shoved him hard. “Forgive me if I’m not excited about being part of a world I was taught to fear. A world that wants to tear me apart.”
“Embracing your abilities is the only way you’re going to stay alive.”
“You think I haven’t figured that out yet? Embracing them is all I’ve focused on for the past year, Declan. How do you think I escaped?”
“Did they follow?”
She gave a brief nod. “Until I drove my getaway car off the cliff.”
He lifted a brow, ignoring the ripple of horror at the thought of her going off a cliff.
“Harper will never stop looking for me,” she explained. “So I made sure they saw me hightail it out of there like a frantic lunatic. They followed but the distance between us gave me enough chance to stage the accident. I sent their car tumbling off the cliff and escaped into the forest before they got back.”
“Unless they find your body, it won’t be long before they come for you.”
She nodded. “The distraction was enough to give me time to get away. I hiked back around the house in the opposite direction, found the river, and began the descent.”
No wonder she looked exhausted and frozen.
“The chances are slim they’ll be on the move in the dark so we have a few hours until sunrise to warm you up and get some rest.” He went to his rucksack and pulled out the sleeping bag.
“And then, Declan?”
The quiet sorrow in her voice chipped at his frustration.
“At the first sign of light, we’re getting out of these mountains.” Ignoring her suspicious look, he slipped the sleeping bag around her shoulders. “But if we don’t set up properly for the night, we’ll be frozen by morning.”
She didn’t comment but snuggled into the warmth of the sleeping bag and stood watching the fire.
Thanks to the abundance of wood, it didn’t take long to prepare a fire, plus matches had never been necessary for him. Declan held out a steady hand, channelling enough heat to counteract the damp wood. Moments later, the flames caught momentum and a fire roared to life.
Kate’s face brightened as a wide smile broke free, her features masked in an orange glow. Her gaze flickered between him and the flames. “Do all Keepers have your ability to manipulate an element of nature?”
“It differs from Keeper to Keeper and depends on the connection they have to their witch. Archer – the one you stabbed, I might add,” he grimaced at the memory, “has a connection to water. Ethan, to air. Mine is fire.” And he loved it. Without the ability to manipulate fire, Declan would feel as though a sacred part of him was missing. Water, air, and fire. All elements of nature, all their playing field, and Sienna was the fifth element that bound them together. Not only were the Bennett brothers duty-bound to defend her, they were also magically bound to their witch in a way few people understood.
“And earth? Was that your sister’s power?”
Her words tugged at the thick wall he’d built around the sadness evoked by Sarah's memory. He felt the familiar flash of self-loathing that overrode the pain and was quick to shove aside both. He gave a brief nod but didn’t say anything more.
She didn’t comment, for which he was thankful. She pulled the sleeping bag tighter around her shoulders. “My mother was a witch, although she never practised magic.”
“Seems a shame for all that power to go to waste.”
“After my father’s death, she loathed the magical world. His death was an accident but she blamed The Circle.”
A group of ancestral witches who governed the laws around magic, witches, and their Keepers. According to their rules, witches and their Keepers were forbidden to have a relationship.
“She could never understand how the witches would risk harming one of their own.”
Declan studied her in silence, noting the quiet edge to her voice. Sadness? Resentment?
She reached up to brush a strand of hair from her eyes.
He caught sight of dried blood matted in her hair and
moved around the fire, stopping in front of her. Lifting a hand, he pulled back her hair, eyeing the wound on her temple. It bothered him, more than it should have. He shouldn’t care. He hardly knew her. Hell, if anything, she’d been more of a pain in the ass than anything else. It shouldn’t matter.
But it did.
“You’re hurt.”
“It happened in the struggle.”
Alone with four men in a mountain cabin. Declan’s stomach flipped and for a brief moment, air evaded him.
“Did they … ?” The idea of one of her attackers having touched her sent heat spiralling through him madly. He stepped closer, caught her wrist. “Did they hurt you?”
Her eyes widened as she realised he was talking about more than scratches and bruises. Slowly, she shook her head. “Not in the way you’re asking.”
The bolt of relief swept through him with more force than he’d anticipated.
“How did you find me here?” she asked.
“I had some help from my witch.”
“Sienna?”
“A locator spell. She was able to pin a vague location.” Thanks to the spell, his heightened senses and accelerated speed, tracking her hadn’t been all that hard. Until they’d hit the mountains where he’d lost the trail.
Declan released her, and went to his rucksack.
“After everything I’ve done to you, you still came for me,” she murmured. “You must really want the same thing Harper wants.”
Her soft words tugged at something vague and guarded inside. He glanced at her, the feisty woman who was in fact so vulnerable and alone, hunted by both sides.
“I won’t deny why I came for you, Kate, but I know Harper and the warlocks he supports. They’ve destroyed my family on more than one occasion and continue to threaten my witch.” He was unable to keep the bitterness from his tone – or the nagging anger that the very men who’d played a role in Sarah and Rose’s deaths were now after Kate.
“I know their goal is to disrupt our world. We’ll never let that happen, which is why they’re so desperate to get their hands on you. You tip the balance in their favour.”
“And by siding with you, I tip the balance in yours. You’re no different from them, Declan.”
Her words sparked a flush of anger. “That’s insulting.”
“Will you let me go?”
He didn’t reply, didn’t have to. She knew his answer and her shoulders fell as she sighed and looked away. He went to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her nearer when she tried to take a step back. “As much as you hate to admit it, you’re part of this world. But you get to choose which side you want to be on. I know this is all new to you, Kate, but there’s something you should know about Keepers and their witches.”
“What’s that?”
“We take care of our own and we stick together.” His gaze unwavering, he dipped his head so she could see how serious he was. “I’ll give you one chance to leave. One chance. If you go, I won’t follow and you might have enough time to make it out of these mountains. You can run, start a new life for yourself, but don’t for one moment think they won’t find you.”
Without a sound, she lowered her long lashes and looked away.
He slid a finger beneath her chin, lifting her head. She opened her eyes and the sadness he saw in them tore at him. “Or you can stay with me and together we’ll face them.”
“Declan … ”
“We’ll protect you, but if you stay, then no more games or lies. So what’s your answer, Kate?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Kate considered his last statement, unable to break away from his smouldering gaze. His words stilled her with their passion and conviction. She looked at him, considering her options – although options was not quite the word she’d use. Trouble was brewing and right now she was in deep. How she’d survived this far was becoming something short of a miracle.
He was offering to help.
A Keeper. According to the stories she’d heard, a Keeper resembled everything pure and good. Warrior men and women, destined to protect their witches, striving to maintain the balance of nature. Power, honour and courage.
Everything she struggled to achieve.
Her stomach churned, and she looked at the one man who was offering to help her.
“Kate?”
Her name rolled off his tongue in a gruff tone that gave her an unwelcome surge of excitement. His blue eyes sparked with intensity, keeping her grounded to the spot, but they also held mischief.
His hand still gripped her chin, his body so close to hers that she felt his heat even through the sleeping bag. It still smelled of him; the manly, musky scent affecting her in ways she couldn’t ignore. She almost edged forward, seeking his warmth, but kept her back rigid. It was tempting. Everything about him was temptation.
And everything inside Kate cautioned her to run.
Sensing she was about to say no, he stroked a thumb across her chin, his touch oddly gentle. “Think about it, Kate. Side with them. Side with us. There isn’t really a door number three.”
She hated that he was right and bit down on the flare of objection, giving a brief nod.
Declan’s expression remained even, but his eyes flashed with something she couldn’t decipher. Relief? Satisfaction?
“On one condition,” she added. “I may need your help but that doesn’t make me helpless. You’re not to confuse the two.”
“Good, ’cause a helpless chick only pisses me off.” He released her and took a step back, his absence bringing a sudden cold.
He turned away to tend to the fire, the blaze brightening in response, and Kate sank to the ground in silence. Reaching for a nearby stick, he stoked the fire and added more wood. The tension that had riddled her for the last few weeks subsided and the shivering increased, a sure sign that she’d lowered her guard. Fatigue and hunger finally took their toll.
Reaching for his rucksack, he settled beside her, the close contact of his body sending a familiar thrill through her. Three months later and the man still rattled her senses.
When he unzipped the bag and pulled out an apple and an energy bar, Kate’s hopes soared. Food.
He saw her delighted expression, the corner of his mouth hitching in a smile. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“It’s not much … ” he said, opening the energy bar and holding it out to her.
Her brow shot up. “You’re going to feed me?”
“Call it Keeper witch loyalty crap.” She smiled at his disgruntled tone and reached out but he held on to the end of the wrapper, refusing to let go. Her gaze flickered to his. “Never bite the hand that feeds you,” he warned and released the bar, his husky voice rumbling through her.
She rolled her eyes, unable to suppress a grin, and peeled off the last of the wrapper before taking a small bite. She brightened for the first time in days – and refused to consider whether it was because of the warrior or his food.
He rummaged through his rucksack, withdrawing a brown paper bag, and tossed it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, swallowing.
He motioned toward her messy appearance. “Necessities.”
Euphoric, she pulled out a toothbrush and a pair of clean clothes. “You brought me clothes?”
“Only one change. Your bag was by the front door. I grabbed it on my way out.” He threw her a bottle of soap and glanced at the nearby river. “The water’s freezing –”
“I’ll be fine!” she gushed. God, it had been days since her body had seen soap.
After everything she’d done to him, he’d thought to bring her clothes?
She fingered the fresh material and sniffed the musky soap that smelled like him. “Careful, warrior boy,” she said, her smile widening, “you might just be turning out to be my hero.”
He tilted his head to look at her. His face, rough from stubble, was softened in the gentle orange light. “I’m not the hero, Kate.”
“So if
that makes you the bad guy, can you wait until morning before chopping me up into tiny little pieces?”
“Why morning?”
“Because by then I’ll have regained enough strength to kick your ass.”
His lips twitched with the promise of a grin. “Honey, you’re going to need a lot more than an energy bar for that.”
“I kicked your ass before, didn’t I?”
“You surprised me.”
“I thought a warrior never lowered his guard.”
“I was having an off day.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?”
“Just eat your damn food, Kate.”
She smiled and bit into the apple.
****
The moment Kate stepped into the water, her quiet squeal echoed through the darkness, provoking a smile from Declan.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he called out, settling on a nearby rock, his back to her as he tried to tune out the half-naked woman.
“I can’t feel my toes.”
“You’re such a girl.”
“A desperate one.”
“No kidding. You should have waited until tomorrow when it’s warmer.”
She snorted and splashed some water onto her arms, gasping at the icy temperature.
Declan scanned the trees, unable to lower his guard. The forest was clouded in darkness and the moonlight was dim. The whistling of wind, the hooting of an owl, and the gentle trickle of water permeated the silence. It was peaceful, yet ominous.
A louder splash had him looking over his shoulder.
Shielding her breasts with her hands, she tiptoed further into the water, her hair a cascade of curls around slender shoulders. She was breathtaking.
And naked.
His breath caught and he stared in silence, knowing he should look away. The darkness shielded her body like a cloak, but he knew her loveliness.
He’d had first-hand experience and remembered every inch of her.
Until his blackout.
Renewed frustration swirled through him, reminding him of the vixen beneath the beauty, and he took pleasure in her next gasp.
Served her right.
He froze at the sound of a twig snapping nearby, all thoughts of the woman forgotten. He cocked his head, his Keeper instincts shifting to attention as though a switch had been flipped.
