Soul Bonded

by Meghan Malone

  “She can’t stay here.” The stranger’s voice radiated anger. “It’s far too dangerous. She’ll attract trouble. She’ll be killed.”

  Katie’s heart stuttered, then pumped into overdrive. Killed?

  “You think I don’t know that?” Rafe’s easy acceptance of the man’s warning raised gooseflesh on her arms, as did the anguish in his voice. Now she knew she wasn’t simply being paranoid. Her life was in danger.

  “Then why is she still here?”

  “What do you want me to do with her?” Rafe lowered his voice, forcing Katie to open the bedroom door another few inches so she could creep into the hallway to listen. “The roads are closed. She’s not strong enough to walk out on foot, or even travel by snowmobile, if that were possible. If we ran into anyone on the way into town, I don’t know if I could protect her. You know what it’s like out there tonight. Trouble would find us, and it wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

  “Tonight is nothing compared to how it’ll be tomorrow.” The stranger matched Rafe’s quiet tone, but she still made out what he said next: “You could kill her, Rafe.”

  She held her breath as she waited for Rafe to respond.

  “I won’t.” He didn’t sound wholly confident.

  “How can you possibly—“

  Rafe cut him off with a harshly whispered reply, too soft for Katie to hear.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” The stranger’s booming reaction shook the walls, startling her backward a step, right into the doorframe.

  “I didn’t know it would happen.” Rafe growled the words, meeting anger with anger. “That it even could happen.”

  “You should have just let her die.”

  “I couldn’t.” Rafe paused. “I know you don’t understand, but even before…I couldn’t do that.”

  “At least it would’ve been an easy death. A clean death. Now she’ll most likely be raped, tortured, and murdered tomorrow—and I still think there’s a good chance that you’ll be the one to inflict one or more of those fates. It would have been better to let her go peacefully, brother.”

  This time Rafe growled for real. “I will not let that happen.”

  “You said it yourself—you won’t be able to protect her. You know how they are. They catch one whiff of human pussy in these woods, and you’ll be up against a goddamn horde trying to get at it.”

  “Like I said, you think I don’t know that?”

  More than anything, Katie yearned to close the door and stop listening. But her feet stayed rooted to the floor as she hung on every horrifying word. Terror didn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling inside. The urgency in their voices was real, even if nothing they said made sense. They might be crazy, but each of them clearly bought into their shared delusions. That meant they were beyond dangerous. Both of them.

  “So what are you going to do?” Now the stranger sounded weary. Defeated.

  “I’m going to keep her hidden. Keep her safe.”

  “And then?”

  “Then I’m getting rid of her.” Rafe fell silent for so long that Katie thought maybe both men had left the cabin, even though she hadn’t heard a door open or close. She considered venturing farther out of the bedroom, just to take a peek, but froze in place when Rafe spoke again, brokenly. “I promise. Day after tomorrow, she’s gone.”

  “If she’s still alive.”

  “She will be.” Rafe sounded hollow now. “She has to be.”

  His ominous, sorrowful words hit her directly in the gut. Nauseated, she willed her body into motion and retreated into the bedroom. Her knees wobbled as she eased the door closed, taking care to stay silent. She didn’t want them to know she’d been listening, even if she wasn’t sure how to interpret their conversation.

  Whatever it all meant, one thing seemed clear: she was in deep, dark trouble.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Katie paced back and forth in front of the bed while she waited for Rafe to return to the room. The chicken soup had given her the much-needed energy to exercise her legs and regain some sense of physical confidence. For that she was grateful. Based on what she’d just overheard, she was going to need her strength.

  No matter how sexy Rafe was, no matter how protective he might have seemed at times, there was no non-threatening explanation for the things he and his friend had just discussed. Hearing the words raped, tortured, and murdered tossed around so casually—and with such acceptance—scared the hell out of her. That his friend had suggested that Rafe himself might commit one or more of those acts upon her was beyond comprehension. Rafe’s insistence that he wouldn’t might have reassured her more if he hadn’t seemed to indicate that something had happened between them after her rescue—something bad enough to draw his friend’s anger.

  Overwhelmed, Katie stopped pacing and forced back the sob that threatened to escape. The worst part of this whole nightmare was not being sure whether she could trust Rafe. He’d sounded sincere when he told his friend he wanted to protect her, but at the same time, he was clearly a liar. He’d been lying to her from the moment she woke up. And he was crazy. Batshit crazy.

  So how could she possibly trust him?

  “Oh, God,” she whispered. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she swiped them away, frustrated. She had no idea what she was going to do, but crying wasn’t an option. The pissed-off part of her wanted to confront Rafe and demand the truth, while her more pragmatic side urged her to hide the fact that she knew something was amiss. If he reacted to her accusations with violence, she had no way to protect herself, nowhere to hide. Even if she managed to escape the cabin, she didn’t know how to reach civilization—and the cold would likely kill her before she could.

  She inhaled deeply, trying to steady her nerves, but immediately regretted it when Rafe’s pleasantly male scent flooded her senses and turned her legs to jelly. Anger surged through her, fiery and all-consuming. How was it possible that the mere hint of his smell on her borrowed clothes could make her body forget that he was obviously a lunatic? She was at a total loss, and resented the hell out of him for that.

  At what was almost certainly the worst moment he could have chosen, Rafe knocked on the bedroom door again. “Katie?”

  Startled, she stumbled backward a few steps and brought her hand to her chest, shocked to feel her heart thumping in nervous excitement. Infuriated that her mind and body were on completely different wavelengths when it came to this man, she barked, “What?”

  The door creaked open and Rafe peeked inside. “Are you all right?”

  At the sight of his face—square-jawed, rugged, and handsome—and the concern in his beautiful eyes, Katie’s thin hold on her control snapped. “No, I’m not. I am definitely not all right.”

  Rafe’s expression changed instantly, as though he was dropping some pretense he realized she wasn’t buying. His entire countenance hardened, even as his throat jumped in a clear indication of anxiety. “Do you need another bowl of soup?”

  No, she wanted to shout, she needed to know what was going on. But she held her tongue, afraid of pushing him too far. “Who was at the door?”

  He studied her as though trying to decide why she was asking. Or maybe he sensed that she already had an idea. After a long hesitation, he said, “A neighbor.”

  “I thought the roads were closed.”

  “They are. He has a snowmobile. And he doesn’t live very far.” Rafe took a step closer, prompting Katie to step back. The complex mix of emotions on his face confounded her. “Tell me what you’re really asking.”

  Katie tamped down the urge to keep retreating. She could see a hint of danger in Rafe’s eyes and feared that the artifice of civility was about to dissolve between them. Her gaze darted around the room as she tried to decide what she would do if he came after her. He stood between her and the door. The bed blocked her only other route of escape.

  She really didn’t want to get anywhere near that bed right now.

  “Did you tell him about me?” Katie said. Tho
ugh it wasn’t what she really wanted to know, she suddenly, desperately, didn’t want to push her luck. “I was just wondering…could he take me into town?”

  Rafe relaxed slightly. “Yeah, he knows you’re here. He agreed that the roads are impassable right now, even by snowmobile.”

  “And let me guess…he doesn’t own a phone, either?”

  Rafe’s guard went back up. “No, he doesn’t.” He paused, then said, gruffly, “It’s a different lifestyle out here. We don’t rely on technology the way your kind does.”

  “My kind?” She took another inadvertent step backward. His labeling her as some sort of other reminded her of the way his neighbor had spat out the word human.

  He looked away. “City folk.”

  “Of course.” She no longer cared about getting answers. She only wanted him to leave the room. “Okay. Thank you.”

  But he didn’t leave. He didn’t even react. Instead he stood eerily still as some kind of internal battle seemed to play out, one that Katie could plainly see but didn’t understand. When he suddenly lifted his hand to reach for her, she gasped and flinched away.

  He jerked as though she’d struck him. “You think I’m going to hurt you.”

  She shook her head in weak denial.

  “You do.” Rafe moved out of her space. As he did, Katie’s attention drifted downward, to the incredible bulge in his pants. He followed her gaze and scowled, covering himself with his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “Then why are you lying to me?” Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as soon as the accusation escaped. She hadn’t meant to say that.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” He stepped closer and she backed up until she bumped up against the edge of the mattress. “Look at my face, in my eyes. I could never hurt you.”

  She did look, not that she needed to, because what she saw in his face was the same thing she heard in his voice. Utter and complete sincerity. Devotion. The scary part was that she believed him. But he still hadn’t answered her question. With courage she didn’t understand, she said, “Tell me why you’re lying to me.”

  “What do you think I’m lying about?”

  “What happened after you brought me home?” He claimed that he couldn’t hurt her, and at this point, she assumed she was about to find out. “You did something to me, didn’t you?”

  Rafe turned and walked to the door. “Do you need anything else before I turn in for the night?”

  “Are you just going to ignore me?” Somehow, his avoidance was almost worse than the anger she’d expected. Without thinking, Katie followed him for a few steps. “Rafe, please tell me what happened. Whatever it is. What did you do to me?”

  “Nothing.” He swiveled around and glared at her. “Listen to me: you are going to stay in this bedroom. Use the bathroom if you’d like. I will bring you food and water and whatever else you need. Just ask. You can keep the door closed, and I’ll only bother you to cater to your every need. If I had some way to allow you to lock me out, I’d let you do that, too. All I can do is promise that I will not enter this room without your explicit permission.”

  The genuine hurt in his tone reduced her to feeling like an ungrateful bitch. “Rafe—“

  “I don’t know what you think I might do to you, but I promise that I will not touch you, hit you, kiss you, fuck you, or otherwise injure you in any way. When I brought you back here last night, all I did was try to help you. I warmed you up. That’s all I was trying to do.”

  He sounded so genuine, but she knew what she’d heard. Disappointment burned in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She desperately wanted to believe him, to take comfort in his presence and view him as her protector, but she couldn’t trust anything he said. Not when he was keeping secrets. At the risk of insulting the man who’d saved her life, she allowed her anger to surface. “Fine. Then go. I don’t need anything else from you.”

  “Fine.” He threw open the door and stepped into the hallway. “Now be a good girl and stay in your room. Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”

  “It doesn’t need to be hard at all,” Katie snapped. “All you have to do is be honest with me.”

  Rather than answer, Rafe shut the door in her face. Stunned, she stared at the wood grain in disbelief. She was infinitely more upset about her situation now than she’d been only an hour ago. Apparently tomorrow would bring grave danger, and the man who swore he wanted to protect her was not only crazy, but also a liar. She wasn’t safe here. Not at all.

  With that thought, Katie stalked over to the pile of clean clothes and tugged off Rafe’s T-shirt. She couldn’t stand to smell him on her anymore.

  CHAPTER SIX

  She had to leave.

  When it came down to it, that was her only option. Katie wasn’t sure how she would sneak away or where she would go, but that wouldn’t dissuade her from the only course of action that made sense. Remaining here meant willingly putting her life in Rafe’s hands. Better to take her chances on her own. The bad weather and their isolated location meant escape could very well be a suicide mission, but according to Rafe’s friend, she was as good as dead if she stayed. She didn’t know what to believe anymore. In her heart she somehow couldn’t imagine Rafe hurting her, but there was no real reason to trust him. Not after what she’d heard. Maybe he was just a really good actor—sociopaths usually were, right? Given the choice between that and being raped, murdered, and/or tortured, she’d take the cold any day.

  Shilah sat on the bed at her side, ears pricked. He seemed to sense her unease, whining low in his throat and nudging her with his nose. She stroked his head to shush him, not wanting Rafe to have any reason to come back. Outside, the sky had gone dark. Rafe had indicated that he was going to sleep soon…she hoped he was at least being honest about that. Once he was asleep, she would investigate the cabin to see if he’d been lying about not having a telephone. If she could call for help, maybe she wouldn’t need to venture into the night by herself. She could just blockade herself in the bedroom until help arrived.

  Of course, she had no idea how she would direct the police to her location. Katie sighed deeply. “This just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”

  Shilah lay his head on her thigh and matched her exhalation. Laughing despite her fear, Katie flopped back onto the mattress and closed her eyes. She had some time to kill before Rafe went to bed, no doubt, and conserving her energy was probably the best way to do it. Careful not to get too comfortable, she allowed herself to doze lightly.

  Jerking awake some time later, Katie blinked in confusion, then craned her neck to glance out the window. Inky blackness stared back at her. She sat up in a rush, heart pounding as she tried to decide how long she’d been out. Shilah picked up his head and blinked, looking at her expectantly.

  “What do you think?” she whispered. “Is your daddy asleep?”

  Shilah thumped his tail against the mattress, clearly pleased by the sound of her voice. She stroked his head—he really was a very nice dog—then stood slowly, not wanting him to follow. She held out her hand. “Stay here.”

  Shilah immediately leapt off the bed and stretched with exaggerated languor. Katie rolled her eyes and stepped between him and the door, hands on her hips. “I said stay.” She gestured. “Sit.” She was relieved when he obeyed without hesitation. “Now stay.”

  She walked to the door and, when Shilah didn’t move, pressed her ear to the cool wood. Silence. She couldn’t hear anyone walking around, which could mean he’d gone to bed, or else he was just sitting quietly somewhere in the cabin. Unfortunately, the only way to know was to look.

  “Okay.” Katie took a deep breath, resting her forehead against the door. “If he’s awake, I’m going to tell him that I think you have to go outside to potty. Deal?”

  Shilah’s tail smacked against the ground a couple times, then stilled. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, he stared back eagerly as though waiting to see what she would do. With a quick plea to the u
niverse, she gripped the doorknob and twisted it open. A nightlight plugged into a socket near the floor illuminated a dim path to the end of the short hallway, leaving her to wonder what lay beyond. She closed the door behind her, not wanting Shilah to follow. Before venturing any farther, she waited to see if Shilah would bark and alert Rafe to her movement.

  The bark never came. Katie stood completely still and strained to catch any noise that would signal that Rafe was awake. Nothing. All she could hear was the sound of her pulse racing, and the rush of adrenaline through her veins. The silence quickly turned oppressive, startling her into action. Frightened or not, somehow the thought of doing something seemed so much less terrifying than continuing to stand there dumbly.

  Her legs quivered as she crept down the hall and turned left to find another hallway, this one with two doors, one open, one closed. The open door was a bathroom, which she was sorely tempted to use. She hadn’t peed in a long time, as far as she knew, and the very thought made her bladder burn. Unfortunately, she would have to wait just a little longer. If she wanted the freedom to explore the cabin without attracting Rafe’s attention, making a pit stop wasn’t exactly the height of stealth.

  Pushing aside her biological needs, Katie moved past the closed door on tiptoes. There was a good chance that was Rafe’s bedroom. The thought stirred an unwelcome tug of arousal that she couldn’t begin to explain. Surely the fact that Rafe was definitely a liar and probably a crazy person should mitigate her inexplicable attraction to him. Right? So the fact that one part of her wanted to push open his bedroom door and crawl into bed with him had to mean that she was crazy, too. Or that he really had drugged her.

  Sickened by the thought, she made her way to the end of the hallway and found herself in a large room that had been sectioned off into a kitchen, a dining area, and, separated by a long bar complete with stools, a sitting room with a couch and fireplace. The light from the nearly full moon shone in through the room’s windows, allowing her to make out the dim shape of the furniture, though not the details of the pictures she could see hanging on the walls. What struck her was that everything looked so normal. Nothing about this man’s home suggested that he was insane or murderous—though, she wasn’t exactly sure what she’d expected to find. A pile of bodies? Guns and knives? A sex dungeon?