by J. L. Weil
Cyan had arranged for us to have two rooms. Ember balked at the idea of having to share with Ryker, claiming she’d sleep outside before bunking with scum, but secretly, my sister had a thing for the shifter. I saw it in the way she watched him when she thought no one was looking.
The problem was, most of the time, Ryker was staring at me, which caused Ember to seethe. If the Heights weren’t in deep shit, I’d be playing matchmaker with those two.
As we walked over the pebble pathway in silence, I considered what kind of scheme I could come up with to stay behind. How could Dash not see we were stronger with more of us? I was always safer with him. The idea of being separated, even for a few days, sent me into a tizzy; combine that with being alone at the Institute, and I was a hot mess.
We were barely inside the little hut before I spun on him, throwing my hands on my hips. “You can’t make me leave.”
Dash looked down at me. “Yes, I can,” he replied in his “it’s final” voice. His eyes flashed in the dark.
“You’re being utterly ridiculous. I’m not a little girl.”
“You’re going to be the death of me,” he added with a groan.
“You’ve said that before.”
“It’s still true.” He struck a resolute pose. “You leave tomorrow. The full moon is in just two days. I need you safely back at the Institute before then.”
“We just got here,” I argued, grasping at straws.
A brow arched at me as he pushed a strand of my hair to the side. “This isn’t a vacation, Freckles. Now, get your butt into bed. It’s late, and we’re both tired. You’ll think clearer in the morning.”
Me?! Of all the arrogant nerve. I wasn’t the least bit tired. My head was crystal clear. I was fired up and ready to kick Dash’s bossy and adorable ass. “Me?” I shrieked, echoing my thoughts.
“Charlotte,” Dash warned, his voice rumbling like an avalanche about to happen.
“You can growl at me all night long, but nothing good happens when we’re apart.” I needed to see with my own eyes that he was okay, not being eaten alive like a zombie buffet dinner. How could he not understand? My desire to stay was for the same reasons he wanted me to leave.
He sighed, forking a hand through his hair. “You’re not going to go to bed, are you?”
I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest.
Under his scrutiny, my body started to tingle, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was enjoying this. “Have it your way.” Dash dropped his shoulder slightly and reached for me. This was a classic Dash maneuver—tossing me over his shoulder—and one I could anticipate.
I squeaked and jumped out of the way before his arms could snatch me up. “Don’t you dare,” I warned him from across the room.
With long, purposeful strides he stalked toward me. “Maybe I should have had your father lock you up in your room.” A thump from outside the hut distracted him, and he turned his back to me.
I grabbed his shoulders with both hands and launched myself on his back. My legs wrapped around his waist. “You’re not my father,” I hissed in his ear. “If you try to lock me up, I’ll never forgive you.”
“It might be worth the risk if it keeps you breathing,” he stated, his voice rough.
I tightened my grip around him stubbornly. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He stood in the middle of the room, not unbothered by my weight. “I’m going to give you ten seconds to calm down.”
“I don’t need ten seconds,” I seethed between my teeth, feeling the current of power pulse under my skin, but regardless of the anger fueling me, I would keep the electric energy from unleashing. I wouldn’t hurt Dash. Not even when he was being the world’s biggest douche-sicle.
“Ten,” he started counting out loud. “Nine.”
“Wow, you can count. Congratulations. Let me get you a freaking medal.”
“Eight,” he continued, completely ignoring me.
I hated being ignored. “This is so childish”—coming from the girl who clung to his back like a monkey.
“Seven,” he said. His thick arms came up over his head, clasping my hands.
And then I was sailing through the air, up over his shoulder, and into a flip that landed me on the hay mattress. I lay flat on my back, staring up at a smirking Dash. Blinking slowly, I gave myself a second to catch my breath. “That wasn’t ten. I take back what I said about you being able to count.”
He laughed wickedly.
Two could play at this game.
Weaving my feet behind his legs in an x I squeezed, and I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down. He managed to change direction, landing on top of me instead of beside me on the makeshift bed as I had intended. “Argh. Get off me, you big oaf.” I wiggled, attempting to break free, but his firm body held me pressed against the bed.
Wrong move.
I instantly became aware of every part of him. My body went completely still as heat bloomed in my core.
Dash loomed over me, his eyes burning.
I breathed in through my mouth. What is he going to do next? Take me over his knee and spank me like a bad little girl who mouthed off? The idea wasn’t all that horrible.
Charlotte, get a grip on your hormones.
It seemed like it had been weeks since Dash and I had kissed more than just a peck. We slept together, but just that, slept, nothing more.
And I so wanted more. My anger quickly turned to ferocious lust.
Neither of us said anything, caught in the hum of tension between us, and after a few prolonged seconds, I grew tired of waiting to see what he would do or say next. Lifting my head, I ran my lips over his chin. My breasts mashed against his chest, sending my pulse racing.
Dark flecks of need flashed in his eyes as I deliberately wiggled again, rubbing against the hard length growing in his pants. “You’re not playing fair,” he murmured, his voice hypnotic.
Before I could respond, his hands encircled my wrists, and like he had all the time in the world, he brought my arms over my head. His sultry eyes roamed my face, eventually landing on my lips. My insides went gooey at just a look. Dipping his head, his mouth swept over my cheek. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” I breathed, arching up into him.
He took my mouth in a long, unhurried, and deep kiss until I was tingling straight down to my toes. All the pent-up energy inside me released, and it was a wonder either of us survived the passion we shared.
His hands rushed over my body, then slowed and lingered. “I love the way you look all fired up.”
The muscles in my belly quivered as his fingers climbed under my shirt. I needed to be touched, and with Dash, he seemed to know what I wanted, what I needed, before I did. “I’m still not going,” I mumbled stubbornly as my eyes drifted closed. I didn’t want him to think he had won.
Even as my heart cartwheeled, he changed the mood. His lips took mine again with an unrestrained urgency that shot waves of hot need through my system.
We could argue and disagree all day, but here, wrapped up in each other, we were helpless to resist the hunger and love between us. It was a kind of phenomenon and deepness I had never expected to find in a post apocalyptic world.
His body felt familiar, broad shoulders, lean hips, muscles that bunched at my touch. The shape of his lips and the feel of his hands—every part of Dash was burned into my memory.
With a motion too swift for me to anticipate, Dash had my clothes off. He rolled so my slender body was on top of his. “Freckles…” He broke off with a sigh as his thumb gently brushed over the tip of my breast.
I was drowning in his attention. A soft whimper escaped my lips to fill the air. I had every intention of making him suffer, but it was torturing me as well. And I no longer had the patience to wait. “Now,” I demanded.
“This is one topic I won’t fight you on,” he softly said, shifting his body.
Our gazes locked as he joined our bodies with one smooth stroke.
Rainbow lights danced behind my eyes.
God almighty. Dash was magic. I could think of no other word to describe the way he made me feel. I forgot everything but the shattering pleasure and the overwhelming amount of love I had for him.
Afterwards, he held me tight in his arms, watching over me as exhaustion finally came to take me. I thought I heard him apologize for his earlier behavior, but a dream of the future took me under.
The vision was the same as before. Zombies were invading Hurst. Screams echoed throughout the valley, the sounds carrying up into the night where the full moon glowed brightly.
But our arrival at Hurst had changed something. Star was no longer in danger. In fact, she was nowhere to be found, and relief trembled through me. It meant we had succeeded in getting her out of Hurst.
If only that sense of relief could have lasted.
Through the shadows and mist materialized a warrior with dark hair, his bow drawn. As the mist thinned, I saw a circle of Forsaken surrounding him.
Had I saved Star only to sacrifice Dash?
No!
My eyes popped open, my heart jackhammering in my chest. The sudden ache I felt was so intense, I wondered if I was dying. A rumbling motion jarred me.
What the hell?
It took my brain a few moments to catch up. I jerked upright, sending my head spinning.
Why wasn’t I in the hut with Dash? Had I been kidnapped?
It wasn’t that farfetched of a conclusion nor would it have been the first time I’d found myself abducted. I searched my memory, trying to recall what had happened because I had no recollection of leaving Hurst.
I remembered fighting with Dash and then making up with him… sort of, but after that, nothing. Just a big black hole in my memory.
My eyes glanced around. Why was I sprawled out in the back of an ATV that looked eerily like the ranger?
Scratch that. It was the ranger. I propped myself up higher to look around. The driver was none other than Ryker Thorndale.
Chapter Nine
“Look who finally decided to wake up,” Ryker said to the person in the seat beside him.
“We thought you were going to sleep for the whole journey,” Star added, turning her head around to look at me in the back seat.
Were they both on crack?
Had I dropped into a rabbit’s hole and landed in an alternate universe where everyone had lost their freaking mind?
A wave of disorientation rolled through me, but I shook it off, fighting to stay lucid. “You drugged me?” I asked, steadying myself with a hand on the seat in front of me.
Star tilted her head to the side, watching me with concern. “She’s going to be okay, right?”
“No, I’m not,” I replied before Ryker could answer her. “Where’s Dash?”
Star and Ryker continued to ignore me, talking amongst themselves. “Dash said she wouldn’t remember,” Star said.
“You better explain yourselves. What happened to me?” I demanded. Sparks crackled in the air as my irritation rose, my powers leaking out. My control seemed to be out of sorts, for I hadn’t meant that to happen.
Star flinched.
Ryker scowled. “There was no other way,” he finally said, addressing me.
It only took one look at Star’s sympathetic expression to know Dash had done something. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. “Bastard,” I hissed between my teeth. “I’m going to zap him from one side of the Heights to the other. How dare he.” Dash had found a way to get me far from Hurst and the danger.
“Now, Red—”
“How did he do it?” I barked at them. Cutting Ryker off, without wanting to hear any excuses, because in my mind, nothing warranted being hijacked against your will.
Ryker kept his eyes on the woods ahead, and I could see him wrestling with how much to tell me. I was about to add some electric incentive when he sighed. “There is a witch in town who owed the Slayer a favor. He had located her daughter for her some months back, but never had a use for the woman who claimed to be able to cast charms. After you fell asleep, she came in and put you into a deep sleep.”
I was so sick of people constantly hexing me and injecting me with sleeping aids. Hadn’t I been unconscious long enough? “And you let him?” I accused Ryker, ready to knock out his front teeth. And Star—how could she have gone along with such a stupid plan?
Cringing, Ryker’s hands tightened on the leather of the steering wheel. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Pain flashed across my eyes. My heart refused to believe Dash would do such a thing to me, but my mind knew he would go to desperate measures to keep me alive. “Star, you too?”
She fidgeted, rubbing the palm of her hand over her knee. “I don’t want you to die. After everything you’ve done for me… I only wanted to help.”
My fingers dug into the side of the seat. “And what about Dash? And Ember? We just leave them there to fight?”
“If anyone can face a pack of the Forsaken, it’s the Slayer,” Ryker assured me, overconfident in Dash’s abilities.
That wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear.
The air vibrated with energy humming from my skin. “For the love of zombies, turn around. We have to go back. There’s still time.” The sun was beaming through the tree branches, which meant it was still daytime. We could get back to help before it was too late.
Ryker slowed down and my heart rejoiced. “Charlotte, get control of yourself,” he said to me in a calm voice as if trying to talk me off a ledge. I should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.
I realized then that he wasn’t going to turn the ranger around. We weren’t going to offer our support to Hurst… to Dash. I was done asking nicely. Instantly pissed off, a spear of light shot from my fingers, hitting the dashboard on the ranger. Sparks flew, the engine sputtered, and smoke puffed up from under the hood, making visibility difficult. Ryker let out a string of colorful swear words, glaring at me. The ranger gave one quick jolt before dying and rolling to a complete stop.
No one said anything for a few breaths. The three of us stared out the windshield. I had just broken Ryker’s baby. “I hope you both feel like walking,” he grumbled.
Shit.
This wasn’t any better. In fact, it might be worse. Now I didn’t have a mode of transportation to get to Hurst, and on foot, it would take me three times as long.
Shit.
“Can’t you fix it?” I asked, my shoulders slumping.
Ryker rested his head on the back of his seat. “I could if we were at the Institute. It’s not like I keep a toolbox in my back pocket.”
Well, why the hell not? My mind wondered. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t bewitched me.”
He twisted his head to the side. “Oh, so this is my fault?”
“If the shoe fits.” I didn’t know what my deal was lately, but it seemed as if I was doomed to butt heads with everyone in my life.
“Fighting is not going to get us out of here,” Star spoke up, and I was surprised either of us heard her. She didn’t have a commanding voice.
Ryker stared at me before sighing and opening the door to get out.
“Can you believe him?” I muttered, glaring at him.
Star shook her head. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have two guys who would go to the end of the world to save you?”
I opened my mouth and then clamped it shut. “I’m not sure it’s luck.” My attention was drawn outside to where Ryker had his dark, messy head stuck under the hood. He was making a lot of grumbling noises I didn’t doubt were directed at me.
He stomped back over to the ranger and leaned down inside. “We have two choices and neither are going to leave you tickled pink.”
A frown pulled at the corners of my mouth, as Star giggled, and I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she flirting with him? What had happened between them while I was asleep?
“We can hike back to the Institute and take ou
r chances through the woods, or I can go ahead and get what I need to fix the ranger,” Ryker said, laying out our options.
A devious plan began to weave inside my mind. “It would be faster if you went without us. We’d only slow things down, and I don’t want to be stuck here longer than possible.”
Star’s eyes scanned the towering trees, unease settling over her face. She would agree with me.
Ryker wasn’t so easily swayed. “Why do I not trust you alone?”
My arms folded over my chest. “Probably because I might break something else on your precious mode of transportation before you get back.”
“There is that.” I’d anticipated more of a fight, but Ryker surprised me. His eyes moved from my face to the engine and back to me. “You both need to stay inside the ranger,” he warned us firmly. “I should be back within the hour. Do I have your word that neither of you will leave?”
I placed my hand over my heart. “I solemnly swear not to leave the ranger.”
He shook his head. “If you both aren’t sitting in the exact same spots when I get back, I’m going to cuff you, haul you back to the Institute, and lock you in the dungeons. Think about that while I’m gone.”
I scrunched my nose as he stalked off. “Don’t worry, Star. Ryker is all bark and no bite.”
My words missed their target as Ryker flipped off his shirt and shifted into a Blinken before our very eyes. The black bird let out one long screech as he spread his massive wings, taking to the sky in a whoosh of feathers.
“D-did he just—” Star stammered.
“Turn into a bird? Yup.”
She scratched her head, staring at the sky. “I’ve seen it all.”
The corners of my lips twitched. “Not even close. Wait until you have your first encounter with a zombie. Pro tip: bring a Tic Tac.”
Shuddering, she wrapped her arms around herself. “They’re that bad?”
I jumped over the seat and slid behind the steering wheel, running my hands over the worn, patchy leather. The master plan could now work its magic. One little problem: the dead engine.