And she was about to walk right into the line of fire.
Rayne would fight. He would kill. Abby, no matter how strong, didn’t stand a chance against a determined vampire. She would face off with him, but in the end, he would win.
The truth made Brent pace that much faster, praying for the time to pass quicker so that he could get to her before all hell broke loose.
If only he didn’t have the sinking feeling that he was already too late.
SHE WAS WALKING into a trap. The truth struck as she stepped inside the ancient barn and noticed the footprint just in front of her. Just a smudge in the dust that no one else would have noticed except for Abby.
She came to a dead stop.
Her ears tuned to the sounds around her and then it struck her. There were no sounds. No early morning buzz of insects. No birds chirping in the distance. No sizzle of the early morning sun on the frost-covered ground. Nothing.
Just the stillness and the inexplicable feeling that someone was waiting for her.
The barn door slammed shut behind her, plunging the barn into near darkness, and Abby knew her hunch was right.
Someone was already here.
“I see you came back early,” she called out, her gaze spanning left and right. “Who tipped you off?” She blinked, adjusting her eyes to the faint light. Only a spiral whispered through the cracks overhead and she wished she’d thought to grab her flashlight.
But then she’d been certain she would be one step ahead of him.
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here now and you’re going back. Jimmy and Mac almost died because of you. Because you just took off and left them without any extra ammunition.” She reminded him about their mission. They’d been doing recon, staking out a local militia. She’d taken half the team and circled back to an opposite vantage point. Rayne had followed so that he would know their location. He’d been expected to circle back around. To take extra weapons and join the two they’d left behind. To fight. “You left them there to die.”
But they hadn’t died.
They’d been captured.
They’d been spotted and attacked, and they’d run out of ammo in the first fifteen minutes trying to defend themselves. “You abandoned them.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Rayne’s voice carried from the dark rafters. “I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t get to them. I was attacked myself.”
She had to keep him talking. Then she could pinpoint his location and get the jump on him. “You were captured?”
“Changed.” The voice came from the opposite side of the rafters this time and stopped her cold.
Wait a second.
She whirled, her gaze trained overhead, searching for a glimpse. The hair on the back of her neck prickled and her hand went to the gun she’d stashed in the small of her back.
“I didn’t have a choice. I had to leave the unit.”
“For Lucy,” she reminded him, eager to keep the conversation going. To find him in the darkness. Her interrogation certainly had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted to understand what had happened to him. “There’s no explanation for poor performance.” Her father’s voice echoed in her head. “No room for mistakes or excuses.”
“Lucy came later. After what happened outside of Kabul.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t expect you would. I’m AWOL and you’re worried about covering your ass. It’s that simple. You’ve always been a stickler for following procedure. I had no doubt you would show up here. I just didn’t think it would be so quick. I figured you would follow my fake paper trail like the MPs.”
“I’m smarter than they are and I know you better.”
“Then you know that I’m not going back with you. If you’re as smart as you think you are, you’ll walk away and forget you ever found me.”
“That’s not a possibility.”
“I don’t think you understand.” From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of black and then just like that, he was standing in front of her. “You don’t get to make the call on that, chief. I do.”
“You are going back,” she told him. With the flick of her wrist, she pulled the gun free and aimed it at him.
He smiled. “You really don’t understand what happened to me, do you?”
She cocked the trigger and held steady. “Should I?”
“Considering you’ve been shacking up with a vampire for the past few days, I would expect that you might.”
The comment sent her reeling, but she didn’t so much as blink an eye. She held her hand steady. The gun ready.
Her gaze narrowed. “How do you know about Brent?”
“He’s one of us.”
His words echoed, followed by his earlier comments.
“Attacked.”
“Changed.”
“You’re a vampire,” she murmured as the pieces all fell together and started to fit. “You didn’t leave the unit willingly. You were attacked.”
“And killed. But then my attacker decided to really punish me by feeding me his blood, so here I am.” His gaze met hers and she saw a flicker of the old Rayne. The man who’d fought beside her and had her back for so many years. “I had to leave. I couldn’t endanger the team. I didn’t understand what had happened to me. I just knew that something was wrong and that I couldn’t control it. The hunger was overwhelming. It still is at times, but it’s different now. I call the shots. I learned that from Cody.”
“Brent’s brother?”
Rayne nodded. “My wife is Miranda’s sister.” He held up his hands and stepped toward her. “I don’t want to hurt you, Abby, but I will. I won’t leave my wife to go back and face charges for something that wasn’t my fault.” He took a step forward, but she refused to be intimidated.
She held her ground. “You can explain what happened.”
“And end up in a county hospital somewhere, locked in a padded room? That’s not going to happen.”
“They won’t think you’re crazy when they find out there are others like you.”
“No, they’ll torch the entire town.” Determination fired his expression. “I won’t endanger my friends. And I won’t let you jeopardize everything they’ve worked so hard to build. This is their home. My home.”
“So what are you saying? That you’re going to kill me?”
“That you’re going to walk away from here and forget all about me.” He stared deep into her eyes as if trying to impress his will.
Which was exactly what he wanted to do, she realized.
It didn’t work for him any more than it had for Brent. He glared and stepped forward.
“Don’t.” She held the gun steady. “I’ll pull the trigger if I have to.”
“No, you won’t.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because I won’t let you,” came the soft, determined voice directly behind Abby. “I won’t let you take my husband and punish him for something he didn’t do.”
A crack on the head punctuated the sentence.
Abby felt her knees wobble and the ground tremble. And then everything went black.
19
BRENT FELT THE BLOW to the back of his head and he staggered to his knees. The floor shook and for a long moment, his vision clouded.
He had the sudden image of Abby crumpled on the dirt floor and then it disappeared.
His nerves stopped prickling and dread settled in the pit of his stomach.
He forced himself to his feet and walked over to the window. A quick peek and his fingers started to smoke. Pain shot through him, but it was nothing compared to the ache in his chest because he could no longer feel Abby.
The connection had been broken.
She’d been broken.
The realization plagued him as he paced for the next few hours, waiting and hoping he would feel her again.
Her feelings.
Her thoughts.
Something.
He felt
nothing and finally the waiting was too much. His gaze scrambled around the room before focusing on the blanket. He snatched it up, draped it over his head and grabbed his keys.
And then he did the only thing he could think of.
He hauled open the door and went after her.
“I DIDN’T MEAN to hit her that hard.” The woman’s voice peeled back the layer of sleep that smothered Abby and pounded through her already pounding head.
“You did what you had to do. She had a gun.”
“I know. But I don’t think she would have used it,” the woman insisted.
“You don’t know Abby.” It was Rayne’s voice this time. “She does what she has to do to get the job done. It’s reassuring when you’re in the field. Not so much when you’re holed up in a barn.”
“I knew we shouldn’t have come here.”
“We didn’t have a choice. She would have found us eventually. If not here, then somewhere else. It was better we faced her now. We’re just lucky Cody was able to warn us.”
Silence settled for a few moments before Abby felt a tentative touch at the back of her head. Soft fingers prodded, checking to see the damage that had been done.
“At least there’s no bleeding.”
“Stop worrying about it. The longer she’s out, the bigger a headstart we’ll get.”
“She’s tied up. Even if she comes to, she can’t do anything. Speaking of which, maybe we should loosen the ropes a little. I don’t want to cut off her circulation.”
“You worry too much.” Rayne’s voice was softer this time and Abby watched through barely closed eyes as he touched his wife’s face. “She’ll be okay. We’ll stash her over behind the hay bales and then we’ll get out of here. By the time she wakes up, we’ll be long gone.”
“Where will we go?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure something out. I’m sorry about your school. I know how much Monday meant to you.”
“Not half as much as you.”
The woman touched her lips to his and for a split second, the world faded. They forgot all about Abby and the fact that her hand was slowly moving toward the knife that sat only a few inches away.
Abby’s hand stalled as she watched Rayne hug the voluptuous blonde. Her own chest hitched and she thought about Brent and the fact that she’d walked out on him rather than risk her heart, her career, her life.
This woman had chosen to take the risk. To gamble everything for the man she loved. And here she was, losing everything, yet it didn’t seem to matter.
He was all that mattered to her.
And she was all that mattered to him.
Regret knifed at her as she realized that she might never get the chance to take such a risk with Brent. And while that would have been okay a half hour ago, it wasn’t now.
Not after seeing two people fight so hard to be together. To stay together.
Abby suddenly wanted to take the risk if it meant having even half of the happiness she saw in front of her.
She shifted her attention to the knife and inched forward. Her fingers had just clasped the handle when Rayne finally noticed.
He flew at her, snatching the knife from her hand and throwing her onto her back. A hiss sizzled in the air and his mouth opened. His fangs pulled back and she knew she’d pissed him off royally. This was it.
The end of the line.
She clamped her eyes shut and braced herself.
But he didn’t rip her to shreds. Instead, the barn door crashed open.
In a flash, Rayne flew backwards and Brent leaned over her.
At least she thought it was Brent. Smoke surrounded him, his face red and charred, his hands nearly unrecognizable.
“You’re okay,” he murmured, his green eyes clouded with pain. But there was something else in them, as well. Relief glimmered, hot and bright, and she knew that he wasn’t as destroyed as he looked. “I was so worried about you.”
“I’m okay.”
“You shouldn’t have left—” he started, but the words ended in a fierce groan as Rayne grabbed him by the back of the neck and tossed him to the far side of the building.
Hay scattered and dust smoked. Brent stumbled, stunned for a long moment before he seemed to gather his wits.
With a furious cry, he retaliated and the two vampires went at each other for several moments before a gunshot exploded and cracked open a piece of ceiling.
A circle of sunlight spilled down into the room and both men jumped back out of the burning blaze.
“Stop!” Abby heard her own voice and realized her gun trembled between her bound hands. “Get away from him,” she told Rayne who stood dangerously close to Brent.
She aimed the gun at Lucy, intent on making her point. Rayne’s eyes flared for a quick second, but then he backed away.
Brent swayed for a few seconds, but then the floor seemed to give way beneath him. He toppled over in a heap of charred flesh and panic rushed through Abby.
“Untie me,” she cried, motioning to Lucy. She held the gun at the woman’s forehead, determined to do whatever she had to do to get to Brent. The blonde obeyed, working at the ropes for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Abby was free.
She struggled to her feet, the gun still pointed at Lucy.
“I’ll go back with you,” Rayne said quietly. “Just don’t hurt her.”
“I’m not going to hurt her.” She tamped down the fear rushing through her and turned the gun upside down. She handed it over to the blonde, then turned away.
Her gaze riveted on Brent, she rushed toward him.
She dropped to her knees beside him and gathered his limp body in her arms.
“Don’t leave me,” she murmured, her gaze roaming his body. He was so badly burned that she couldn’t imagine him climbing behind the wheel and making it all the way out here, much less surviving. “Please.”
It had been the exact plea she’d whispered to Hockey Hunk all those years ago, but this was different. This wasn’t the naïve love she’d felt way back when.
This was as real as it could get. She loved Brent. He was her life. Her love. Her man.
She was his woman.
And she wasn’t letting him go.
Her eyes blurred then and she blinked, feeling the tears slipping down her cheeks and not caring one way or the other who saw her or whether they thought she was weak.
She was weak compared to Brent.
“I walked out on you. You had no obligation to me. You shouldn’t have risked your own neck.”
“Sometimes it’s worth taking a risk. You’re worth it.” He gazed up at her, into her and this time she let him.
She didn’t put up any fences. She didn’t have to. She loved him. And while she’d been hesitant to believe that he really and truly loved her back, there was no doubt in her mind now. He’d braved the sunlight for her.
“I love you,” she murmured.
“I know.” He touched her face. “I’ve always known and now so do you.” Then he closed his eyes one final time.
20
“DRINK UP.”
The deep, familiar voice pushed into Brent’s head and lured him back to reality.
He forced his eyes open. His head throbbed and the light hurt his eyes. Even more, his skin felt like he’d been set on fire. Pain gripped him like a vise, clamping tighter, building the pressure and urging him back toward the sweet peace of oblivion.
“Come on, bro. Stay with me long enough to get this down.” A hand slid under Brent’s aching head and the hard edge of a glass pressed against his cracked and swollen lips.
The first few drops of intoxicating heat touched his tongue and his gut twisted. His skin started to tingle. Then the hunger took control. Whereas he hadn’t been able to move a muscle just a moment ago, an instinct as old as time took over and he reached out. His hands reached for the glass and he held on, his mouth open, eager for the sweet salvation drenching his taste buds.
“Easy. You’ll make yourself
sick drinking the bottled stuff so fast.”
“More,” Brent groaned when he finished the last drop of the life-renewing liquid.
His head dropped back to the pillow as he waited for Cody to slice open another bag of blood and refill his glass.
He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pain that beat at his temples. He hadn’t had nearly enough sustenance to heal. Rather, he’d consumed the minimal amount to clear the cobwebs fogging his brain.
His heart sped, beating a fast, furious rhythm as he started to think. To remember.
The images started back at the motel. He felt the hardwood floor beneath his feet, the anxiety ripping up and down his spine because Abby had walked away and he couldn’t go after her—
“Holy shit.” He bolted upright, only to be knocked back down by a rush of pain that gripped every nerve and had him gnashing his teeth.
“Take it easy. It’s only been a few hours since Rayne brought you here. You need to heal.”
“Where is he?”
“He went home with Lucy once the sun set. Until then, they were stuck in that barn with you. He’s okay, but he got a little burned, thanks to the hole in the roof. Now stop talking and have another drink.” Cody held up the glass. “This stuff works, but not as well as the real thing. Unfortunately, it’s all we have at the moment.”
He handed the glass over and Brent took it. He gulped the contents and handed the glass back.
“You need to get some sleep. You’ll feel better tomorrow night.” Cody went to kill the light, but Brent stopped him.
“I can’t sleep.” His body tensed and suddenly he needed to move. He forced himself upright, pushing his mangled back up against the wall. The movement felt like he’d taken a sharp knife right between his shoulder blades and he clenched his teeth. A hiss sizzled past his lips.
His gaze skittered around the basement and for the first time, he noted the big screen TV sitting against the far wall. A red bow sat center stage, along with several boxes of surround sound equipment.
“Where did that come from?” he groaned.
“It was a wedding gift from the guys last night. Garret, Dillon and Jake took me to see the bull riding preliminaries over in Travis County to celebrate my last night as a free man.”
The Braddock Boys: Brent Page 12
