by Rose Wulf
By the time she’d given a rough estimation of where, exactly, on the interstate they were, Dean had managed to find the nearest turnout. It was shallow, meant to be very temporary, but it was good enough. He’d nearly lost control over another ice patch just in the half-mile it had taken to get there. He wasn’t about to risk driving any further.
He cut the engine and couldn’t help but notice how trapped they were. Always before he’d considered the cab of his car to be fairly spacious. He’d never felt confined or boxed in. But now, without warning, there didn’t seem to be enough room to breathe. With the windows rolled up, the radio off, and the engine silent, there was nothing to hear beyond the confined storm still raging around them. He knew, logically, this feeling was all in his head. That it was probably the best way his brain knew to translate the less-literal form of entrapment he’d found himself in. That didn’t mean he wanted out any less desperately.
“Now what?” Arianna breathed, something like discomfort and fear coloring her voice. She didn’t need to tell him she was experiencing the same sensations he was. The waver in her voice said it all.
It was exactly what he needed to hear to snap to his senses. He could sit around and wallow in his own uncertainty when someone else’s life wasn’t on the line. Right now, in this moment, Arianna’s was. He wasn’t about to stand for that.
Pulling in a steadying breath, Dean released his seatbelt and said, “Now you stay in here and wait for that backup. I’m gonna show these sons of bitches how dangerous it really is to play with fire.”
“Dean,” Arianna began, her tone stronger this time, as she reached out for him, “it’s still more dangerous out there. You could get hurt.”
He paused and looked down at the gently restrictive hand she’d placed on the crook of his elbow. Covering it with his and giving her hand a squeeze, he met her gaze and said, “We’re guaranteed to get hurt if we just sit around. I have to do something.” He lifted her hand from his arm, brushed his lips over her knuckles, and released her. “Please stay in the car,” he added before popping his door open.
****
Arianna watched, a painful lump in her throat, as Dean jogged across the interstate. There were a thousand and one reasons why his actions might qualify as reckless and stupid, and a part of her already wanted to scream at him for it. Mostly, though, she was quickly realizing how scared she was. The good mood she’d been in since he’d first pulled her into his arms at the airport was nearly extinguished, and she wasn’t used to the fear that was building up to replace it. Fear wasn’t something she was especially accustomed to. She’d always been careful not to get attached to anyone or anything. But there was no denying that she was attached to someone now. The thought was frightening in its own right, but the kind of frightening she could ignore for a little while and deal with later. Right now the only fear she could focus on was the fear of losing Dean.
She sucked in another breath when he disappeared from her line of sight. The hail crashing down on the car had lessened and become sleet. Thunder still roared overhead and the sky still flashed with lightning, but her instincts told her the focus of the storm was shifting. Following Dean and either leaving her behind or just leaving her for later. She wasn’t okay with either option.
Beyond the car, a pickup truck rounded the corner, pointing the same direction they’d been going. It was towing a boat and clearly having a difficult time navigating the already-sharp curves with the new layer of ice on the road. For a horrifying second she thought there was a chance the boat was going to swing too wide and slam into the Camaro, but the moment passed and the driver of the truck regained control. He tapped his brakes, slowing some more, but didn’t stop. Soon enough he was out of sight altogether.
Arianna released a nervous, frustrated breath and unfastened her seatbelt. “Stay in the car my ass,” she grumbled as she hauled her purse from the floor and began digging through it. Soon enough she’d managed to extract her keys and the stun-gun she’d only just retrieved from Dean’s glove box, and then she dropped the purse back to the floor. Dean wanted to confront their foes, chase them off or beat them down, and she understood that. She understood his motivation and the temperament that made it easy for him to go charging after them in a storm of their own making. What she didn’t understand was how he could actually expect her to sit in the car like some damsel in distress, just crossing her fingers that he would be all right.
Apparently it was time she made it clear she wasn’t that kind of woman.
The sleet-rain was ice cold, instantly chilling her body when she swung out of the car. She clenched her hands for a moment, bracing herself against the cold, and shut the door. She had the foresight to lock the car behind her before dropping Dean’s keys—which he’d left in the ignition—into her pocket. With two sets of keys, a cell phone, and a stun-gun in her front pockets, she felt a little weighed down, but that was all right. The weight was strangely comforting. Still, she did sort of wish she had a jacket—or had at least thought to snag Dean’s from the backseat.
Fortunately, no vehicles came barreling around either side of the curve when Arianna jogged across. It was fairly hard to see between the slanted, pelting sleet and the sharp bend of the road. Once she was safely across, she set off in the direction Dean had gone. He’d disappeared from view behind some foliage to the left so that was the way she went. It only got harder to see as nature closed in around her, but she kept pushing forward. The sleet was hardening again into hail, so she assumed she was close—if not to Dean, then hopefully to the enemy.
Another round of thunder cracked overhead and she tensed, holding perfectly still to wait for the lightning. The thunder was so intense it shook the ground beneath her feet, jarring her already cold body. Then the sky lit up, blindingly bright for a brilliant moment, before going dark again. She’d heard an accompanying snap and, though she hadn’t been able to see anything, could only assume the lightning had touched down somewhere. Somewhere near Dean, I’m sure. She clung to that terrifying, motivating thought and pushed forward again, doing her best to keep beneath the scattered trees.
More booming, rolling thunder sounded above her, but this time Arianna paid it no attention. What captivated her was the simultaneous, echoing sound of someone’s laughter. She pressed her back to the tree beside her, aware that having heard the laughter meant she was nearing at least a portion of her goal, and slowly edged around.
“You’ll never catch me that way!” It was Eric’s voice. Taunting and overconfident and exactly the way she remembered. For a second, her breath hitched in her chest and she worried he’d seen her coming. But then she spotted him through the deluge of hail and she realized he wasn’t even glancing in her direction. He was standing just in front of a large, jagged-edged boulder and holding his arms out wide. “Come on, Dean! Hit me! I know you’ve got it in you!”
Arianna’s eyes snapped in the direction Eric was facing, knowing Dean had to be there somewhere. But it was dark and she had to squint to see anything. The most she could make out were the outlines of some trees. She couldn’t see him. Couldn’t see any movement at all. At least, not until something the color of flame flashed near one of those trees and shot forward. The flame illuminated the form behind it, revealing Dean and curving with his movement as he hauled the fireball back and let it fly with the expertise of a well-practiced pitcher.
Eric dodged the projectile by dancing to the far side of the rock, still laughing. “Seriously, Dean? If you keep trying to spare the forest you’ll never beat me!”
“Keep running your mouth, shithead, and we’ll see who beats who!” Dean returned angrily, barreling forward as his fists ignited.
Chapter Sixteen
Arianna opened her mouth to call out to Dean, to warn him that Eric probably wanted him to come in close, but stopped herself before a sound could fall free. She didn’t want to distract Dean at the wrong moment. She also didn’t want to give herself away. If Eric didn’t know she was there sh
e could use that to her advantage. She had to keep quiet, and see if she could get a little closer. Not that that was going to be easy.
Her heart leapt into her throat, blocking her airway, as a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground less than a foot from Dean. She heard his curse above the raging storm, watched as his flaming fists snuffed out, and felt her insides clench in dreadful anticipation as he went flying. The world may as well have stilled in that moment, because she could no longer hear the storm—or Eric’s renewed laughter. She could no longer think. She dug her fingers into the bark of the tree to hold herself in place, knowing nothing good would come of throwing away her slight advantage by running to him.
Dean crashed, hard, into the ground and rolled twice before coming to a stop. He was face down in the dirt, head tilted to the side and facing away from Arianna. He didn’t move.
Dean … get up. He had to get up. She’d been looking forward to nothing more than falling into his arms and staying there for as long as was possible. That was the thought that had bolstered her strength in Italy. If he didn’t get up … if the past couple of hours was all she’d get of him…. No. He had to get up. At the very least keep breathing long enough for their backup to arrive and rush him home. She had enough faith in Angela’s healing abilities that she was sure, as long as Dean kept breathing, he would eventually be all right.
Arianna didn’t snap out of her trance until another man, one she’d never laid eyes on before, stepped into her line of sight. He was nearly as tall as Dean, with dark hair, dressed in dark clothes. He held himself straight and fairly oozed arrogance, but it was arrogance mixed with something she couldn’t describe. Something that made her stomach turn. And she didn’t need to hear him speak, or hear Eric address him, to know that this was Jacob Matthews. All of a sudden, Dean’s ridiculous description of him made perfect sense.
“Good work, Eric,” Jacob declared. His arms were loose at his sides and he stood nearly parallel with Dean’s shoulders, facing his sibling. It wasn’t until she’d registered his words that Arianna realized the storm had started to lessen.
“Let me kill him,” Eric demanded as he started forward. Violent hatred shone in his dark eyes so strongly Arianna could see it even from her poor angle. “He’s got this coming a dozen times over.”
Arianna’s heart seized in her chest as Jacob inclined his head and took a step back, giving Eric room. “Very well,” Jacob said as he moved. “One more strike should be enough.”
A sneer was already forming on his lips as Eric turned his back entirely to Arianna’s hiding spot. “I’m going to enjoy this,” Eric declared coldly as he slowly raised one arm toward the sky. Another clap of thunder sounded above them as the storm responded to his mental command.
She knew this was it. If she was going to make a difference—if Dean was going survive—she needed to make her move. And she knew exactly which target to aim for. Surprise was going to be her only saving grace. If she gave herself away too soon her efforts would be for nothing. But Dean’s life was on the line, dammit, so she would just have to make sure to do it right the first time.
Her feet were moving even before her hand slipped into her pocket in search of the stun-gun. She wrapped her fingers around the device easily and tugged it free, keeping it flat against her palm. The ground was so soaked that her racing feet barely made a sound, let alone enough of one to echo above the storm. In that way, at least, she was lucky. She swallowed heavily as the brothers came within reach, and she willed herself to ignore Jacob as she darted past him. Turning her back to the enemy was stupid, she was sure, but the reward was worth the risk.
She crashed full-force into Eric, disrupting his focus and throwing them both to the ground. They nearly collided with Dean’s immobile body and Eric started struggling practically before they landed. He could struggle as much as he wanted. She wasn’t about to release him. Not yet.
“Bitch!” Eric snarled on a choke as he attempted to overpower her.
“Woman,” Jacob called, voice darker than it had been previously. “Release him if you want to survive.”
Arianna grunted as Eric’s booted toes found her shin. Fortunately his angle was poor and his momentum nearly non-existent. “Don’t take me,” she snapped breathlessly, simultaneously wrestling to keep her target pinned, “for an idiot!” She finally managed to slam her knee into Eric’s abdomen, knocking the breath from his lungs and loosening his hold on her. Jerking her arm up, Arianna stabbed the prongs of the stun-gun into the side of his throat and pressed the button.
Eric made a startled, choked, gurgling sound, twitched violently for a second, and finally went limp. His eyes rolled up in his head and only then did she remove the stun-gun from his skin. How does it feel, asshole? She kept the words inside, though, and instead chose to shove his unconscious body away from hers.
“That was a foolish choice,” Jacob snarled as he started forward. “There isn’t anyone here to protect you, Ms. Carosella.”
Arianna sat up, fully prepared to see if she could get a second zap out of her weapon, but she didn’t get the chance.
A wall of flame burst to life between Arianna and Jacob, largely obscuring her view of her enemy. Her heart leapt, tripping over itself as she realized what the unnatural flame had to mean. Movement in her peripheral vision drew her attention and she looked over in time to see Dean climbing to his feet.
“You’re wrong on that one, bastard,” Dean declared.
“You’re still conscious?” Jacob asked, amazement coloring his voice.
Arianna watched as a smirk lifted the corner of Dean’s lips and he said, “Never lost consciousness. Just figured it’d be easier if you morons came to me on my terms.”
“Fool,” Jacob bit out. “I can still kill you.” The ground shook with another, bigger clap of thunder up above.
“Maybe,” Dean allowed calmly, “but can you kill me fast enough?” He swung an arm out, pointing beyond where Arianna remained crouching on the ground, and added pointedly, “Seems to me your idiot brother might have a little difficulty dodging my next flame.” He splayed his hand and the fire wall separating them from Jacob flared higher before dropping again, emphasizing his threat. “Choice is yours.”
A bluff. Relief poured through her and Arianna let her eyes close for a precious second. Dean hadn’t really been hurt—at least not terribly. He’d been faking it. Granted, he’d also terrified her in the process, but she could forgive in light of the fact that he was okay. Maybe later she’d even be able to admit it wasn’t a half-bad idea.
Jacob held his ground, glare never breaking from Dean. “What makes you think my aim is so poor?”
“What makes you think I’ll wait?” Dean shot back. The words were barely past his lips when a spear of fire blasted out of the wall and slammed straight into Jacob, throwing him backwards. The wall of flame died down almost immediately and Dean’s arm dropped to his side as he watched Jacob crash onto the ground, crying out from the pain of the flame wrapping around him. Seconds ticked by before that fire receded, snuffing itself out and leaving its victim groaning and twitching on the ground.
Arianna watched with a strange sort of detachment. Jacob was clearly still alive, and just as clearly badly burnt. It occurred to her that a better person might take issue with watching someone almost get burned alive. But all she could feel was satisfied relief. With Eric unconscious and Jacob most likely wishing he could join his brother, the fight was over. Not for forever, she was sure, but for now. And they had won.
“Ari,” Dean called, strained relief in his voice as he dropped to his knees beside her. A hand landed on her shoulder gingerly and he was frowning when their gazes met. “Are you okay?”
She smiled, the stun-gun slipped from her fingers, and threw her arms around his neck. “You scared the crap out of me, you jerk,” she admonished with her face properly buried in the curve of his throat. “Don’t you dare do that again.”
His arms came around her, pulling her close,
and he tangled one hand in her loose hair. “You were supposed to be in the car, remember?”
Idiot. She pulled in a breath, reveling in his scent and his warm embrace, and then eased back in order to frame his face between her palms and kiss him breathless. Seconds, or minutes, passed before she released him and met his gaze again. “Let’s argue about this in the car, okay?”
He smiled at her—not a grin or a smirk or even a silent laugh, but a genuine, sweet smile—and realization slammed into her not unlike the way his flame had crashed into Jacob. Somehow, without even thinking about it, she’d gone and restructured her entire world around this man. That was why she’d missed him so badly—or maybe it was the missing that had solidified it—and that was why the idea of him dying just minutes earlier had been so terrible. He wasn’t just some guy she cared about and enjoyed being around. He was so much more than that.
“Deal,” he said, unaware of the wild thoughts rampaging through her head. He rocked back to his feet, wrapped her hands in his, and hauled her up with barely any effort on her part. And he kept one of her hands tucked into his as he turned to lead the way back to the car, careless of the moaning man a handful of yards away or the unconscious boy behind them.
Arianna’s gaze dropped to their joined hands. She knew now how to explain her should’ve-been-odd reactions. She’d fallen in love with him.
****
If he were being honest, it was possible Dean was still feeling the effects of the lightning strike that had nearly hit him. He’d certainly thrown himself backwards on purpose, but he was pretty sure most of the momentum he’d gained had been from the blast and not his own strength. Still, all in all, his impromptu plan to play dead and draw them in—because he’d known Eric wasn’t out there alone—seemed to have been a success. Except for the part where Arianna had gone and nearly gotten herself electrocuted. But, he supposed, he ought to have figured she’d ignore his request to stay in the car. From the day they’d met she’d made it clear she didn’t play damsel very well, and that was something he found surprisingly attractive. He’d always thought he preferred a woman who wanted to be protected.