by Bonnie Vanak
He tasted like coffee and the promise of sex. He kissed like a man who knew what he wanted and would not stop until he had it. The kiss of a man who intended to tip her back on the bed, spread her legs and love her until the soft rose of sunrise peeked through the windows.
Kelly made a humming noise of pleasure deep in her throat and slid her hands around the thick muscles of his neck. He muttered something against her mouth and pulled her tight.
She played with the fine strands of his hair, enjoying the silk slipping through her fingers...lost in the sensation of his mouth and his hands on her bottom, drawing her tight against his hips, his erection.
The silk beneath her fingers was much shorter now....
She drew up short and gasped into his mouth. Sam broke off the kiss abruptly. Green flared in his eyes, overriding the brown. Though he was equally affected, his pulse was steady and his breathing unlabored.
Male voices outside. Sam jerked away, alert and aware, his expression hardening. Stunned, she stepped back as he withdrew his gun. She’d known this man for years, had given him her body, had listened to all his hopes and dreams...
Watching him turn from a passionate lover into a dangerous warrior, Kelly realized she didn’t know him at all.
She shivered. The focused stranger before her, cupping a pistol in his hands with a warrior’s expert stance, was a man she’d never want to call an enemy.
“Stay back,” he whispered and crept to the doorway.
Kelly dressed in silence. With the back of one hand, Sam lifted the curtain fluttering in the breeze, his sharp gaze scanning outside. A shaft of sunlight glinted off the pistol’s muzzle. Craning her neck, she glimpsed a man outside wearing a stained white cowboy hat and carrying a shotgun.
Sweat streamed down her temples. If she was caught this time, it would be bad, making the beatings on the island feel like kisses.
They’d do far worse to Sam.
Quiet, so quiet, only the distant cackle of birds in the trees, the hum of insects, the murmur of voices and the rapid pounding of her heart.
Sam let the curtain fall as the voices drifted down the pathway.
His expression was grim as he turned. “We’re leaving.”
“Who were they?”
“Locals. But they’re clearly searching for you, and they’re armed. They asked Rosa if she’d seen a woman with bright red hair, shiny like metal. Someone is paying a very nice price to find you.”
The curtain jerked aside and Rosa poked her head into the room. She spoke a volley of Spanish Kelly could barely understand. But Sam nodded.
As the woman returned to the yard, Sam shouldered his pack.
“Rosa told the men she heard of a woman with such hair who was headed to the main road, looking for a bus back to Tegus.”
“She put them off our trail,” Kelly said, relieved.
“For a while. And they’re only searching for a woman traveling solo. Not a couple.” Sam was grim as he checked his weapon.
“Did Rosa ask who wanted to find me?”
Anger glittered in his eyes. “El Gran Jefe. A man with dark eyes like the dead, skin stretched over his skull. A powerful man with whispered magick. He’s paying enough cash to keep a village fed for five years.”
El Gran Jefe. The big boss. Kelly thought of the shimmering Death Mask she’d seen at the bar. Was this Mage here, tracking her down?
“This bastard isn’t taking any chances. He probably hired a few ex-army soldiers to find you, in case the ambush failed.”
Digging into her pack, Kelly found a fistful of lempira notes. The money would be enough to buy food for a month for the woman and her son.
Sam would balk. If they left money, whoever was searching for them would know foreigners had been here. But she couldn’t leave this hungry family without helping them.
Turning back to explain, she caught his startled expression.
Wallet in hand, he’d withdrawn several lempira bills.
Sam gave a sheepish grin. They laughed.
The laughter faded, pinching her hard in the chest. How many times in the past had they shared moments like this? When they did things in secret to amend a situation, only to find out the other one had done exactly the same thing?
“Remember when we tied up my dog because he kept following us, and I felt so guilty about it, I returned later to untie him, telling you I’d be right back, and when I got there...”
“He was already gone and the ropes were in my hand. Oops,” Kelly finished.
Sam’s deep chuckle filled the room. “You were always one step ahead of me, Kel.”
Except the night his family died and he was plunged into the abyss.
“What—” She cleared her throat. “Whatever happened to Whiskey Sour?”
Sam tensed. “I gave him to a neighbor who promised to take good care of him. I had to make sure he had a good home. Whiskey was the only member of my family your father didn’t kill that night.”
Stung, she stared at him. “I told you before, my father couldn’t have set that fire. That wasn’t him we saw running from the house that night.”
“Sure looked a hell of a lot like the man.”
“My father never would have hurt your family. He resented working for your father, but he didn’t hate him. But your father...” Damn, this hurt, and she knew it would hurt him, as well. Sam had idolized his father. But he had to know.
“Your father hated me. He wanted me off his property. He offered me money to leave.”
Incredulity filled his gaze.
“He offered fifty thousand dollars if my father and I moved away, Sam.” Her voice dropped. “And if we didn’t take the money, he’d find a way of making us leave.”
Sam shook his head. “He’d never do that.”
“He made the offer to my father the night before the fire. I overheard them talking. They were both angry.”
“You never said anything to the authorities.” A line dented between his brows. “Why, Kelly? Because you knew it would implicate your father? It looks like he had a damn good reason for getting rid of my family, before they got rid of you.”
Her hands went cold and clammy at the fury flashing in his eyes. “If I’d told them, they’d have used it to lock me up for good. I wanted to tell the truth.” Kelly drew in a trembling breath.
“You didn’t tell me,” he said slowly.
“You’d already been hurt enough.”
“No, Kelly. You didn’t trust me. After everything we’d shared, you thought I’d turn you in. Because I’m an Elemental, the race your kind has been taught to loathe and fear.”
Silence draped between them.
“Blood ties.” Sam gave a bitter laugh. “How the hell could I be so damn blind? You chose your people over mine, after I was willing to give up everything for you.”
“Don’t judge me. You’re the one who left.”
He went still, watching her with a guarded look.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Maybe I didn’t tell you right away, but you never gave me the chance to try. You didn’t stick around long enough to say goodbye.”
His chest heaved, as if he struggled to contain everything inside him. Sam turned. “I couldn’t.”
No more words. Words got them mired in a past they both wanted to forget. Kelly glanced around for a place to hide money for Rosa.
The bed was a pile of boards covered neatly by a hand-stitched quilt. He stuffed his money beneath the cloth. When she went to do the same, he shook his head.
“Keep it. There’s enough to buy food for a month and get herself a little business. If something happens to me, you’ll need money to get out of trouble.”
Rosa gave a real smile as they left, the lingering sadness gone. Sam’s manner was professional, and when he told her about the money, he said it was in exchange for the clothing. Nothing to make her feel humbled. Rosa straightened. In her stance, Kelly saw a pride previously lacking. She went to a woodpile, removed a machete and handed
it to Sam.
“Use this as a weapon,” Rosa said. Anger filled her brown eyes. “Those men, they are not bad men. They only want to feed their families. But hunting people like animals is not the way. I’d starve before turning over another. My husband would not approve of men hunting others. He survived the war in El Salvador, and he saw what humans can do to each other.”
“Where is your husband?” Sam asked gently.
Moisture filled the woman’s eyes. “He fell ill from disease. By the time we found enough money to take him to the hospital, the doctors could not save him. I fear sometimes that the same will happen to Miguel. I don’t know how I’d survive if I lost my son.”
Kelly pressed the woman’s hands. They were thin and bony, bearing the scars of a hard life. “When we are safe, we will return and check on you and your little boy.”
Rosa hugged her and gave Sam directions. She waved goodbye as they took a barely perceptible pathway behind her home. A shortcut through the forest, Rosa insisted. It would lead to a road seldom used by anyone but villagers on market day.
The thin ribbon of worn grass wended through a thatch of banana trees and scrub. Sam used the machete to hack through the bushes. It was slow, and knowing there were desperate, impoverished men after her made Kelly even more anxious.
She glanced around at the sadly neglected field, the dying and dead banana trees choked by dust and drought. No wonder men were willing to turn her over for money.
“Money makes life easier. You don’t live in fear of being evicted, or making a mistake and losing your job. My father sometimes said...”
She bit her lip. Sam didn’t want to hear about his enemy.
“What?” Sam sliced another banana leaf. “Are you telling me now that blackmail wasn’t all my father did? Because my father was an Elemental who hated your kind?”
The sarcastic tone stung.
“You don’t know, Sam. You’re not an Arcane, you’ve never faced discrimination or lived with the fear of getting kicked out of your home or losing your job. Your family did treat us well enough. But...”
He turned and looked at her. “But what?”
Kelly shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
Sam sighed. “It matters to me. I want to know.”
“Leave it. It’s in the past.”
“I need to understand, Kelly. We’re facing issues a hell of a lot larger than the two of us. A war that could wipe out both our people.”
He cut a few leaves, and they moved forward again.
“Arcanes have no rights. Your family was kind, but it was still your land, your home.” Kelly held down a branch so Sam could cut it. “We had no voice if your father decided to turn against us. I was taught if I didn’t obey an Elemental, he could have me tossed into prison. Our lives were always on the edge because of what your father could do to us.”
He turned to look at her, his expression fierce. “I’d never have allowed it. If I knew, I’d have fought tooth and nail to keep you there.”
Her heart skipped a beat at the determination in his husky voice. She believed him. But now circumstances had pulled them apart for good. Sam was a dedicated soldier, calling the navy and his SEAL teammates family now. He’d managed to move on with his life.
Kelly just wished she could, too. But no matter how hard she’d tried, he still remained in her heart, a small ache in the night.
Chapter 10
Sweet gum, elephant’s ear and mango trees peppered the wooded hillside, but the brush slowed them down. Cutting through the overgrown bushes frustrated Shay. He itched to move faster, get to higher ground. Too many threats. Though he spared the amount of cuts he made, he knew they’d left behind a trail obvious as a billboard.
Sam only hoped the peasants trailing them were more desperate than skilled.
“Am I slowing you down?”
He flicked away a mosquito. “We’re doing okay.”
His first concern was getting Kelly to safety. And that meant risk.
She’s survived just fine without you these past years, his inner voice mocked.
Burning curiosity made him ask the question. “What happened after you left the estate?”
He had to know. All those nights roaming the forested mountains out West, his heart shattered, he’d never ceased worrying about her. When the stars came out, he’d lie down in a grassy meadow, hands fisted beneath his head, and gaze skyward. Wondering if Kelly saw the same stars, felt the same desolate loneliness.
Finally, he’d shifted into a wolf, trying to forget his pain. Forget Kelly, the sweetness of her mouth on his, the feeling of absolute peace after they’d made love and lay tangled together like entwined branches.
He’d shifted into a wolf because he’d lost not just his family, but her. And then he’d gone feral. Losing control to the animal side of his wolf finally dulled painful emotions.
Stupid. It hadn’t made him forget. Instead, he’d turned into a phantom roving in wolf skin. Not living, just existing.
Kelly ducked beneath a low branch. “I headed south to Florida. Drifted from job to job for a while until I knew what I wanted with my life. I settled in Miami and opened Sight Finders, hired staff and we began rescuing Mages who needed help.”
“It takes financing to start a nonprofit. You had the money I gave you to start over again. Did you use it to start the agency?”
“I gave your money to another charity. I had to do it on my own.”
Perspiration coated the machete’s handle. Sam raised and lowered the honed blade with a vicious downstroke. Had to watch himself, if he didn’t want to cut his thigh.
“I gave you the money to take care of yourself, Kelly.”
“The money tied me to you, Sam. Things were so completely severed between us that I felt like a hypocrite using it.”
Guilt stabbed him. Lowering the machete, he took the silver triskele between his fingers, feeling the humming power in the pendant. “But you kept this. My gift to you.”
Her expression blank, she tugged it away and then removed the necklace, pocketing it.
“I kept it as a memory to cherish what we once had. Not as a reminder of what we’d lost. And that we separated for good.”
Despite the sweltering heat, she looked pretty and achingly sexy, her red hair hidden by the bandanna, Rosa’s shirt plastered to her breasts and flat stomach. Even sexier was her relentless spirit, that damn refusal to give up and the drive to keep going despite the incredible odds.
Sam admired stubborn people who persevered. He had the same ability, and it got him through the intense training all SEALs endured.
But hell, he’d never intended for Kelly to face hardship.
This damn heat, it was sucking out every drop of moisture. Or maybe it was emotion turning his throat dry as desert dust.
“We’re together now,” he said. “Until I remove the bond, I’m taking care of you.”
“It’s not necessary,” she began.
Shay put a finger to her lips, feeling their warmth and softness. “It is.”
Grimly he focused on blazing a trail. Concentrate on the mission. Nothing else mattered. No emotions. Forget what you once shared.
It worked for a while. Sam used his intense concentration to forge ahead. These woods seemed safe. Dark, but unused.
An odd, foul stench filled the air. Suddenly a hissing sound came from their right. The bushes parted as a creature jumped from a low-lying mango branch and landed on Kelly’s head.
* * *
Don’t scream. Screams would echo through the hills, alert whoever stalked them. Bile rose in her throat as she fought the creature pecking at her head, its claws raking into her skull.
The stench closed around her throat like a fist. Bending over would enable her to see it, but the claws sank deep, making her eyes water from pain.
“Stay absolutely still.”
Kelly struggled against the impulse to fling away the creature clawing at her head. Sunlight glinted off the pistol Sam p
ointed at her head. Her blood pressure plummeted. If he missed...
“Trust me,” Sam told her.
Closing her eyes, she did.
Slime splashed over her face and shirt. The creature’s claws sunk into her skull. Sam came over, helped her pull it free and flung the remains to the ground. He squatted down and examined it. Once it had been an ordinary black crow, but now what was left of the bird had daggered claws and a nasty hooked beak.
“Ilthus?” he asked, glancing up.
She nodded, studying the gun he held with practiced ease. A tube protruded from the barrel.
“Why the hell did you put away the triskele? It couldn’t have hurt you if you wore it around your neck,” he scolded.
Kelly flushed and put on the necklace. His gaze softened.
“You’re bleeding.” He holstered his weapon and fished out first-aid supplies from his pack. Sam steered her over to a swath of sunlight. He wiped her face, removing the creature’s slime, and then packed away the stained gauze. Sam gave her an apologetic look as he soaked fresh gauze with antiseptic.
“This’ll sting. Sorry. But you can’t risk infection.”
Kelly winced as he swabbed her wound. “Good point. Always when wounded by something that smells like a sewer, apply disinfectant. A gallon should suffice.”
He smiled as he dabbed the lacerations. “The cuts aren’t that deep. How long do you need sunlight to heal?”
“Not long. Good thing you’ve got a steady hand. I must admit it was a little nerve-racking, having you point a loaded gun at my face. Of course it’s not as scary as the stench that thing emits when it gets really going. If I had to keep breathing that, I’d have wished for you to shoot me instead.”
Pinching her nose with a thumb and forefinger, she made a face.
A quiet, deep laugh from Sam. “Kelly Denning, you’re something else.”
She touched her head, feeling the wounds starting to knit together beneath the sun’s healing rays. “Your gun doesn’t make much noise.”
