by Maya Banks
“I’ll be gone for a while,” he said casually, ignoring the awkwardness of her rambling. “Why don’t you hang out with D and recover so we can go kick some Esteban ass together?”
Her eyes flashed and brightened and a broad smile lit her face. Trust her to get all excited over the prospect of a good fight.
And then she sobered and touched his cheek with her slender fingers. “I want you to come back, Eli. I hope you know that. It’s not that I don’t want you here. It’s just that I hate for you to see me this way. So helpless. I hate seeing me this way.”
He captured her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “I won’t be going immediately, and don’t worry. You’re going to have to do more than whine to Jonah to get rid of me.”
She growled under her breath. “I didn’t whine to Jonah.”
He raised his eyebrows and quirked his lip at her. “Oh? That’s not the way he tells it.”
“Rat bastard,” she muttered.
“Oh, and Tyana? I assure you, Mad Dog and Jonah will be every bit as watchful as I am. So don’t get any crazy ideas.”
She actually looked disappointed.
“Now, you want me to carry you downstairs so you can drink and smoke weed with the other fools?”
“Carry?” she sputtered. “I’m down but not dead, Chance.”
Chapter Nine
Katie shoved her hair out of her eyes as she stared out the window into the darkness. Where the hell had Braden gone, and for that matter where had Ian disappeared to? Was he out looking for her?
Honest to God, she’d never met two more bizarre men in her life, and lord knew she’d met some doozies.
She pressed her palms to the glass, but Braden had disappeared. She frowned as she realized she was worried. What should it matter to her if he got his ass killed?
Then it dawned on her that she was in the truck alone. And she was sitting here harboring ridiculous concerns for a complete stranger when she should be driving as fast and as far away as possible.
She clambered over the seat, settling behind the wheel. To her dismay, the keys weren’t in the ignition. Of course. Because God forbid anything be easy.
A snarl of frustration ripped past her lips. She placed her hands on the wheel and rested her forehead against the horn.
She was starving, she hurt like hell, and she’d give her eyeteeth for a bed and a good night’s sleep.
Whiney ass. Just be glad you’re alive and not in bed with Ricardo right now.
That sobered her quickly.
The door swung open, startling her. She let out a yelp and threw up her arms in defense. Braden stood outside, a smirk on his face.
“You don’t think I was stupid enough to leave the keys, now do you?”
She scowled even as relief hit her so hard she went weak. She wasn’t glad to see him. Not at all. And she wasn’t worried about where Ian was or that he’d been eaten by whatever the hell was out there.
“You don’t look happy to see me,” he said dryly. “Is that the thanks I get for saving your pretty ass again?”
She started to hit him until she figured out he was yanking her chain. Royally. She took a deep breath and smiled sweetly at him.
“I’ll be happy to take this pretty ass elsewhere. Just get the hell out of my way.”
He leaned in, his body pressing hard to hers. She shoved at him, but he was intent on reaching beyond her to the other seat.
“Get off, damn it,” she gasped out as he squeezed the air from her lungs. “Big oaf.”
He snatched a duffel bag then slowly eased away from her, a cocky grin on his face.
“I wouldn’t get out if I were you. Your delicate sensibilities might be offended.”
Then he was gone, shutting the door behind him. What the hell? What sensibilities? Then she glanced in the rearview mirror to see a naked Ian thrusting a leg into a pair of jeans.
Naked? What the ever-loving fuck is he doing naked?
She continued to stare until she realized she was still staring, and then she jerked her gaze away, looking at the windshield, the seat, her hands…anything but back at the naked man.
What is he doing naked?
And why was she sitting here like a docile moron?
She peeked up at the mirror and to her relief saw that Ian was dressed and talking to Braden. Braden gestured toward the truck and her and then both men started toward the front.
Shit.
Ian reached her door first and yanked it open. He took one look at her and a feral light entered his eyes. A shiver skated down her spine and sent an odd tingling into her womb. She honestly didn’t know whether to be terrified or intrigued by the dangerous fire in his gaze.
He sucked in air through his nose, his nostrils flaring and quivering. His fists curled and clenched and then he rubbed his open palms up and down his pants legs.
Braden jerked him backward, and the truck shook as Braden thrust Ian against the hood.
“Goddamn it, Ian, what the hell is wrong with you?” Braden demanded.
“It’s her,” Ian said hoarsely.
Braden snapped his gaze to her and scowled. Then he quickly turned his attention back to his brother. “You’re getting an injection and then you’re going night-night. Are we clear?”
Katie watched in open-mouthed fascination as Braden strode to the back of the truck and then returned a moment later with a syringe. She winced when, without preamble, he stuck the needle in Ian’s arm. There was so much wrong with this scene she didn’t even know where to start. And she’d thought things were weird with Ricardo.
Braden left Ian leaning against the truck as he headed to the backseat to open the door. Katie’s gaze was drawn to Ian as he stared up at the sky, his face a brooding mold.
“Slide over,” Braden ordered.
She blinked and yanked her concentration from Ian to stare at Braden.
“Ian’s going in back. You get over in the passenger seat. No arguments.”
She immediately bristled but forced air through her nose and stifled the protest dancing on her lips. Part of survival was knowing when the hell to keep your mouth shut. This was one of those times.
She moved into the passenger seat as Braden went back to Ian. A few seconds later, Braden herded him into the backseat and shoved him into a lying position.
As she glanced casually over her shoulder, she saw Ian staring at her, those eyes flashing despite the lethargy from whatever Braden had injected him with.
Determined not to back down, she boldly met his gaze. For a long moment, they just stared at one another until discomfort skittered over her skin. When Braden opened the driver’s door, it gave her an excuse to look away.
He slid in beside her and started the engine. His hands curled around the steering wheel, but he made no move to put the truck into drive.
She shifted uncomfortably and forced her gaze away.
“This shit has to stop, Katie,” he said in a firm voice.
That pissed her off. She whirled around to glare at him. “Where the hell do you get off giving me orders? I don’t even know who you are or why you’ve taken it upon yourself to irritate the living shit out of me. Don’t you think you’ve caused me enough grief?”
He rammed the gearshift down and took off, the SUV rocking over the bumpy terrain.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
She gaped at him, speechless.
“You haven’t even asked about Gabe.”
Rage and grief grabbed hold of her throat and squeezed. Hard.
“You said he was dead,” she said through gritted teeth. “What else is there to know?”
He glanced sideways at her. “You’re a cold bitch. He was your brother.”
She shook her head and turned away. “What do you want me to do, cry? Would it make you feel better for me to fall at your feet in a weeping, wailing mass of femininity? Would that appeal to your manly ego?”
Her fingers curled into tight fists in her lap. “We
ll, let me tell you, none of that is going to keep me alive, and if Gabe taught me nothing else, he taught me to survive. The last thing he’d want is for me to rely on a complete stranger. Trust no one.”
“Christ, you even sound like him,” Braden muttered. “The most suspicious bastard I ever knew.”
For a moment she wanted to do just what she scorned and ask Braden about Gabe. Details. Information she was hungry for. Yes, Gabe was her brother, and he’d saved her, but she hadn’t seen him in two years. Their phone calls were always brief and to the point.
“Gabe sent us to find you,” Braden said. “Now, you can believe that or not, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to risk my ass or my brother’s just because you can’t decide whether you’d rather hang out with us or your buddy Ricardo.” He snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s a hard choice.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said softly. “I don’t want to hang out with either of you. Do I think you’re a better choice than Ricardo? I don’t know.”
She stopped when he sucked in an angry breath.
“I don’t deal in instincts, Braden. I look at irrefutable evidence, and I’m sorry, but so far, I’m not seeing anything that screams to me I can trust you. I’ve been burned and burned bad. If you think I’m going to put my life in your hands because you say Gabe sent you then you’re out of luck.”
Much like the Taser Ricardo had used on her, sudden remembrance hit her with enough force to knock the breath from her. Her hands flew to the back of her neck, frantically feeling for the protrusion.
“Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she breathed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Braden demanded.
All the blood squeezed itself from her cheeks until they grew tight. She was an idiot, and she deserved to die for such stupidity.
Her fingertips fumbled over her nape until finally she found the thin piece of metal.
Braden’s hand circled her wrist, and he yanked downward. “What are you doing?”
“Tracking device,” she croaked. “I fucked up. I found it but left it in because I intended to use it to throw them off my trail. That’s why they backed off, I’m sure. Because they know how to find us.”
Braden chuckled.
“What the hell is so funny?” she demanded.
“Ian and I planted the tracking device. I’m surprised you found it.”
“You what?”
She jerked her hand out of his grasp and reached for the device again.
“Leave it,” he ordered.
She stared at him in astonishment. “You’re out of your mind. Like I want you knowing my every movement? Don’t you get the whole point of escape?”
He laughed again, much to her irritation.
“You’re not escaping, Katie. But that tracking device has already saved your damn life once. How do you think we knew where to find you when Ricardo swooped in and carried you off to his love nest?”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “You didn’t save shit!”
“Ricardo is not your only concern,” Braden said quietly. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say he’s a little fish compared to what else you’re up against.”
She made a rude noise. “If this is some sort of bullshit attempt to scare me into sticking around, save it.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Braden said in a clipped tone.
A dart of fear scurried from her belly into her throat.
Braden’s hands tightened around the steering wheel as he navigated back onto the highway. She waited in silence for him to explain, to give her something other than a tersely worded dictate.
It pissed her off that he had the power to frighten her, but she’d long given up trying to deny her fears. Being helpless and powerless did scare the hell out of her.
When it was clear he wasn’t going to offer anything further, she reached over to touch his arm. He flinched and quickly glanced over at her. She retracted her hand in silent apology.
“What were you talking about, Braden? Why did Gabe send you when he’s told me under no circumstances was I to ever trust anyone? No exceptions.”
“And why is that, Katie? What the hell is going on between you and Ricardo?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about Ricardo. You wanted to talk about Gabe earlier, so talk. Why did he send you after me, and what else am I up against?”
His eyes narrowed in the dim glow of the headlights. “Seems to me we both have information the other wants. You up for a trade?”
A trade. He had to be joking. Like this was some game. Her life was on the line, damn it, and that wasn’t something she took lightly.
But still, uncertainty warred with her determination not to offer him anything at all. What if Gabe really had sent them? What could possibly be worse than being pursued by Ricardo and company?
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Look, Katie, I get that you don’t trust me and Ian. I don’t expect you to. But believe it or not, we’re trying to help you. Now, you can accept that, and we can work together, or you can keep fighting, which only puts you in more danger. We can’t protect you if we’re constantly having to chase you down.”
She sighed and looked away to stare out her window at the passing scenery. He was asking her to trust him even while saying he understood her not trusting him.
If only Gabe hadn’t died.
That was a stupid thing to say. His being alive wouldn’t change her present circumstances. He’d taught her a lot, but she’d been on her own for years. Dead or alive, Gabe wouldn’t save her. It was up to her to save herself.
“We’re not adversaries, Katie, despite what you might believe. You don’t have to trust us, but it would be stupid not to take the help we’re offering.”
And that was it in a nutshell. Stupid. She had a lot of experience in being stupid. She made such a big deal over not trusting her instincts. Well, her instincts screamed for her not to have anything to do with Ian or Braden.
God, what a mess.
She looked at what was concrete, what was tangible. Ian and Braden hadn’t tried to hurt her, and they had done their best to keep her away from Ricardo, despite her early confusion that they worked together.
She couldn’t believe she was even contemplating going along with this.
She glanced over her shoulder at Ian, who was unconscious, and then back to Braden.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know if you answer all my questions. All. But I won’t do it until he’s awake,” she said, jerking her thumb in Ian’s direction. “I want to hear what both of you have to say, and I want to look you in the eye while you’re talking.”
“Fair enough,” Braden said with a shrug. “Why don’t you get some rest. I promise not to try and kill you while you sleep.”
She slouched down in her seat, weariness seeping into her bones. She wanted rest, needed it. If she didn’t refuel, she was going to crash and burn.
“Will you be okay to drive?” she asked and immediately cursed the fact that she sounded concerned.
He cracked a half-smile. “Go to sleep, Katie. I’ll be fine.”
Chapter Ten
Ian dragged himself from the remnants of a drugged sleep. Dark images assaulted him, pulling at him. Memories of the hunt. The overwhelming urge to claim what was his.
Katie.
He put a hand to his throbbing head and shook the cobwebs free. He was losing his grip on sanity. Katie wasn’t his, and moreover he didn’t want her to be.
Slowly he sat up and blinked to bring his surroundings into focus.
“You feeling any better?” Braden asked from the driver’s seat.
Ian leaned forward to stare out the windshield. The eastern sky was lightening as the first rays of sunlight eased over the horizon.
Then he looked over to see Katie scooted over as far against the door as she could go. She was curled into a tiny ball, her hands in a defensive position
, and her eyes were tightly closed.
She slept, but even in sleep she was tense and rigid.
“Ian?”
He turned to his brother. “I’m good. I think.”
Braden’s troubled gaze found Ian in the rearview mirror. “That was a bad one, Ian. What the fuck happened?”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes for a moment. “It’s her. I can’t explain it. There’s something about her that sets me off. Been that way since the beginning.”
Braden sighed. “Yeah, I know. Me too.”
“Where are we?” Ian asked as he studied the roadway.
“Almost to Durango.”
“Pull over. I’ll drive. You need to get some sleep.”
Braden rolled one shoulder and worked his head from side to side. “I thought we’d snag a room just long enough to grab showers and touch base with Eli.”
Braden glanced over at Katie and said in a quieter voice, “She’s wiped, and she needs to eat. The bandages came off when she ran, and she needs tending to.”
Despite his irritation with her, Ian softened a little when his gaze swept over Katie’s huddled form.
“Okay, but we need to make it quick.”
Braden nodded.
Thirty minutes later, they pulled into a roadside hotel. Braden hopped out and looked back at Ian. “Will you be okay with her?”
Ian swallowed the retort and motioned for Braden to go. As his brother walked away, Ian stared down at Katie who hadn’t stirred.
What was it about her that got him so fired up? He wasn’t unused to the instability or the sudden urge to shift, but this was different. Something dark and feral came over him. A drive inside him that had nothing to do with danger or risk.
He wanted her. Badly. It pissed him off to no end. How could his body, his beast, want something so badly when his mind was screaming hell no? And why was Braden similarly affected?
Unable to stand the confines of the truck, he eased the door open, careful not to make too much noise. He stepped into the early morning coolness and breathed deep of the cleansing air. He took several gulps before he gently shut the door and walked a few steps toward the front of the truck where he could still see Katie through the windshield.
