by S. E. Smith
Concern gripped her that she was beginning to succumb to hypothermia. Her mind was growing foggy and her fingers and toes had become numb an hour ago. She tried to shift to ease the burden on her aching arms, but instead her knees trembled and threatened to give out on her. Locking them, she clenched her jaw. Her head was starting to sag when she suddenly felt a surge of warmth and energy flood her.
Avery, ku lei, I am coming. I need you to guide me to you, Core’s tender voice filtered through her mind.
She lifted her head and looked over the open area. Hope and a renewed determination filled her. There was about to be a war and she wasn’t going to miss it if she could help it. A small, dry chuckle slipped from her lips at the thought.
I’ll be chilling out and dreaming about how we’re going to kill all of these bastards until you get here, she responded.
She closed her eyes and focused on pulling on the mental silver thread that connected them. She’d lead him to her position and once she was free, they were going to do some serious ass-kicking. Focusing on the details of the route the men had taken earlier to her location, she kept the image in her mind so that Core could access it.
Breaking into a fast run, Core’s long legs covered the uneven ground. He heard the startled shout from one of the men in the turret when the man saw how fast he could run.
Ordinarily he would have preferred to keep such a skill hidden from the humans since the surprise factor might have come in handy later. Such luxuries were not an option at the moment. Besides, he reasoned, Markham had been involved with the experimentation on Merrick. He probably already knew how fast a Prime could run.
His connection with Avery pulled him to the north. He could see the rough road in her mind. Concerned that the road would not be a straight path to her, he focused on what she was mentally envisioning and compared it to the holographic map that RITA had shown him.
He estimated that he would have approximately seven and a half hours before the next satellite passed overhead and he could contact the others. Once he had Avery and could access the beacon in his heel, he’d know for sure. The beacon had a visible count down until the next satellite sync. Regardless of how much time they had left, it would be a moot point unless he could remove or deactivate the capsule inside Avery. There was no way he could risk alerting the others while Markham could still activate the device.
A thick blanket of menacing clouds had rolled across the sky since he arrived on the island. The wind had also picked up and the temperature was beginning to significantly drop. A new concern struck him as he ran. Avery was exposed to the elements.
Avery, love, I am almost there, he promised.
Fear rose inside him when she didn’t answer. He could still feel their connection, but it was very weak. He pushed his body faster than he’d ever gone before. Behind him, he could hear the whine of vehicles. They were using motorcycles instead of the large, slower transports.
Running uphill, he maneuvered through a series of boulders. Once he crested the top, he could see a narrow valley. In the center of the valley was a platform—beneath which Avery hung limply between two poles.
Avery, I see you, he urgently said.
What… took you… so long? she tried to tease, but the words were slurred and broken.
Relief swept through him when he saw her head lift for a moment before she lowered it again. He covered the ground between them swiftly, thanks in large part to the fact that he was moving downhill. He estimated he had only minutes to free her and disappear into the rocky terrain surrounding them.
“Avery, my love,” Core said, reaching the platform.
He jumped up onto the wooden structure and cupped her frozen face between his warm hands. A soft moan escaped her. She turned her lips into his palm.
“Key… Key on post,” she forced through stiff lips.
He turned to look for what she was talking about. In front of her was a low post with a hook. On it was a key. He quickly released her to retrieve the key.
Seconds later, she was lying limply in his arms. Her face was white and there were pinched lines of pain around her mouth. She was breathing with quick, shallow breaths.
“Avery, I have to get you out of here. The other men will be here shortly,” he urgently murmured, hoping his body heat would raise her temperature quickly.
She forced her eyes open. “Markham… is hunting us,” she whispered.
“He only thinks he is,” he teased.
A hint of a smile tugged at her lips. “Can you carry me until I get my body to work?” she asked.
“To the ends of the universe and back if necessary,” he promised.
“God, I’ve been such an idiot,” she muttered.
He rose to his feet with Avery cradled in his arms. Regret poured through him when he jumped down from the platform. He hated jarring her, but at the moment, speed was essential to their survival.
I wish I could block all of your pain, he said with regret.
Don’t. It helps remind me that I’m alive. How far behind you were Markham’s men? she asked.
Not far, he replied.
She trembled in his arms. He needed to find a place to hide them so he could tend her injuries. His gaze swept over the rugged surroundings. They were in a narrow cut between the rocks that he was sure would abruptly end. Their only option was to go up.
His assumption was proven correct when he saw the dead end ahead. He slowed and gently lowered her to the ground. She leaned back against a boulder and held her left arm close to her body.
“Please tell me that you have weapons or a miracle or two in your back pocket,” she sighed.
He grinned down at her and pulled one of the buckles on the side of his vest free as well as a strip of leather that he wound around his wrist. Pinching the end, he pulled some of the fine wire free. He created a knot and slid it over the notch of a small, black grappling hook that looked like a decoration on the strip of leather he had wound around his wrist.
He pressed the release, and the slender grappling hook shot upward. When it disappeared over a large rock outcropping, he jerked on the wire.
Satisfaction coursed through him when he felt it snag and hold. Bending, he hooked the wire to the side of his boot, and created another loop so he could slip his foot into the stirrup that he’d created. Next, he pulled a fingerless glove from his vest and slipped it on.
Turning, he reached down to Avery. In the distance, they could hear the roar of the motorcycles drawing closer. She looked up at him with a confused expression.
“I don’t think that piece of sewing thread can handle our combined weight,” she protested.
He wiggled his fingers and winked at her. “Maybe not if it was from your world—or from someone other than Cosmos,” he teased.
Her lips curved into a rueful smile. She placed her icy fingers in his, moaning softly at the pleasure of the warmth in his hand. He pulled her up and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“I’m not sure I have the strength at the moment to hold onto you,” she admitted, shakily standing on his boot.
“I’ll do the holding,” he promised.
Looking up, he pulled the thread taut. Immediately, they rose up off the ground. He could feel the friction warmth of the wire as it slid against his protected palm.
When they reached the top, he braced his legs against the side of the rock face, and steadied Avery as she clumsily crawled upward, using his body as a ladder. Only when she had disappeared over the edge did he pull himself up and over after her. He quickly retrieved the grappling hook and replaced the buckle on his vest.
Avery sat huddled next to the boulders. He could see her slender shoulders shaking and hear the chattering of her teeth. He unbuttoned his vest and pulled off the long-sleeved shirt under it. Kneeling, he gently helped her slip on his warm shirt over her clothing.
“What… what about… you?” she asked.
He smoothed his hand over her cheek. “Our body temperatures run warmer
than yours. I’ll keep the vest as it has most of our weapons integrated into it. You can have the shirt,” he said.
They both turned their heads when they heard the motorcycles in the valley below as they reached the dead end. Core stood and peered over the side. Three men sat on the machines looking around them.
“They had to have come this way,” one of the men shouted above the noise.
A second spun his motorcycle in a tight circle until he was facing the way they had come. Core pulled back, his gaze on the cliff wall across from them. There was a fissure. If he could set off an explosive in it, there was a good possibility that the entire shelf would collapse. He reached down and pulled one of the buttons off of the front of his vest. Twisting it first one way and then the other, he threw the small explosive with the precision of a major league baseball pitcher.
The tiny black button disappeared into the black hole before slowly rolling back down. It caught on the bottom edge against a small rock. Core bent and grabbed his vest. Sliding it on, he turned and scooped Avery back up into his arm. Ahead of him was a sheltering cluster of trees.
He had only taken a few steps when the explosive detonated. He listened to the hoarse shouts of alarm before they were drowned out by the avalanche of rock. A flash of lightning lit the dark sky. They made it to the cluster of trees just as the first cold raindrops began to fall.
22
“What I wouldn’t give for one of Cosmos’ Gateway devices right about now,” Avery murmured with a sigh.
She stared out at the rain. How Core had created a shelter out of the limited natural materials available was beyond her. She was good at a lot of things, but creating an adequate shelter out of tree branches and leaves would be pushing it. If he started a fire with two sticks, she would be completely in awe of him—not that she wasn’t already.
“I like that you are in awe of me,” he chuckled, settling on the ground next to her.
“You aren’t supposed to hear things like that,” she grumbled.
He reached over and brushed her hair back from where it was stuck to her damp cheek. He frowned when he felt the heat radiating from her skin even though she was still shivering uncontrollably. Lifting her chin, he gazed into her glazed eyes with a worried expression.
“You are running a fever,” he said.
She nodded. “I know.”
“Lay back and let me look at where Markham inserted the capsule,” he instructed.
Avery nodded. Pain radiated through her shoulder as he helped her lay down on the chilled ground. She tried not to groan when she felt the dampness seeping through her wool pants.
Her fingers curled into tight fists as he gently released the fastenings on the shirt he’d given her, then unfastened the buttons on her silk blouse. He pushed the soft material to the side, and caught sight of the bloodied gauze. His eyes blazed with fury. She caressed his cheek.
“At least the tape won’t hurt when you pull it off,” she tried to joke. Her body convulsed into a mass of shivers, which she was sure didn’t help lighten the mood. The only good thing at the moment was that his fingers were warm. She just wished she could bury herself in him to chase away the ice that had settled deep in her bones.
“I need to open the wound to see if I can remove the capsule,” he said with an apologetic expression.
“Do it. I’d rather you tried to get it out than leave it to burst inside me,” she replied through gritted teeth.
He gave a sharp nod, reached down, and pulled a small razor-sharp blade the size of her little finger out of his boot. She looked up at his face as he leaned over her. A weak smile curved her lips when she felt him in her mind.
I will try to block as much of your pain as I can, he tenderly promised.
“I know you will,” she whispered.
Avery closed her eyes and focused on the silver thread that connected them. She fought to keep her body still as he sliced through sutures that were still intact. Warm blood flowed sluggishly over her chilled skin.
A tear escaped and she bit down on her lip to keep from making any noise. The sound of rolling thunder and the torrential downpour would probably conceal any noise that she made, but she didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances. Markham was not the type of man to delay because of a rain storm.
Black spots danced behind her eyelids when she felt Core probing her wound. The blackness exploded into a fiery display of red when his finger finally touched the capsule. Her lips parted in a gasp before Avery sank into the inky black abyss of unconsciousness.
Core shifted Avery on his lap and slowly withdrew his teeth from her jugular. He held her close against his warm body and made sure that his shirt still covered as much of her as it could. Relief washed through him when he noticed that her skin did not seem to be radiating quite as much heat as it had been. The nanobots were doing their job.
Lifting his shirt, he gently pulled back her silk blouse and peeked at the wound on her shoulder. The skin was already beginning to heal. Readjusting her clothing, he leaned back against the tree and laid his cheek against her hair, his strong arms holding her close.
The thumb-sized cylinder had been difficult to pull out. His gaze moved to the blood-covered piece of metal shaped like a lozenge. He hated to think of what Avery would have endured if Markham had followed through on his threat to release the acid.
He lifted his hand and looked at the readout on the small beacon. They had six hours before it could be triggered—six hours to evade Markham and his men. They had two choices. They could run, hide, and hope they could stay alive long enough to contact Cosmos and have a portal opened. Or, they could turn the tables by hunting and taking out Markham and his men.
I like the second option better, Avery silently voiced her preference.
A deep laugh shook his body and he rubbed his cheek against her hair. Has anyone ever told you that you are a bloodthirsty woman? he inquired.
No. They all wanted to live, she replied.
How are you feeling? he asked, tilting his head so that he could see her face.
She smiled up at him. “Bloodthirsty—but I wouldn’t say no to a hot shower,” she murmured, sitting up.
She reached for her shoulder, and felt where the capsule had been. She locked eyes with Core, her surprise evident in her expression.
“I removed it,” he replied to her unspoken question.
Her fingers probed the affected area. “It feels like it is completely healed! How can that possibly happen?” she asked.
He smiled and brushed a kiss across her parted lips. “Nanobots. Terra injected me with them. I transferred them to you. They are designed to repair any injuries and destroy infections. They are only effective for a short time. I will have to let Terra and Cosmos know that they worked as they predicted,” he mused.
“I’ll have to add my personal approval,” she said before laying her head against his chest. “I finally understand why after all these years.”
He frowned and grasped her fingers when she lifted them to rub against his chest. He pressed a kiss to her fingertips.
“What do you finally understand?” he asked.
“Why my parents did the things they did. Why they were willing to give up everything—to have everything. Why they were willing to risk their lives to have a life,” she quietly answered.
“Why?” he murmured.
“Because they understood how empty life was otherwise. They knew that love, marriage, having a family—me—was worth any risk. I couldn’t understand why they would believe that—until I felt it myself,” she confessed.
He nudged her fingers open with his nose and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm over the mark that declared they were a match. A sense of peace flowed through him and he knew that it was not his emotions that he was feeling, but Avery’s.
“I can’t have children,” she said with regret.
“If we want children, we can borrow one. The good thing is we can give them back and I can have you all
to myself,” he assured her.
Avery chuckled. “How long before we can get off of this miserable piece of rock?” she asked.
“Six hours,” he ruefully replied.
He hugged her close when she softly cursed. His mate didn’t whine; she cursed and fought like a warrior. She didn’t run from her problems; she met them head on.
“What kind of weapons do you have?” she finally asked, sitting up and looking at him.
“Enough to make Markham wish he’d chosen someone else to hunt,” he commented.
“You have a plan, don’t you?” she said more than asked.
He nodded. “Yes. It is time for Markham to encounter a true predator,” he said with a flash of his sharp teeth.
23
Avery scanned the area, trying to find Core. She kept her hand pressed against the patch like he’d told her to. She hadn’t understood why he’d given it to her until he’d demonstrated how it worked. Cosmos always made the coolest toys.
Now, she knelt on the ground, invisible to the two men as they slowly ambled closer to her location as they searched for her. They each wore a black knit cap that completely covered their heads, leaving only their eyes clear of the fabric. Their eyes were shielded by clear goggles. She really hoped that they weren’t thermal.
A slight movement caught her attention. She would have missed Core crouching on the limb above the men if she hadn’t known he was somewhere close by. The moment the second man passed under him, Core silently dropped down. His large hands grasped the man’s head and he snapped the mercenary’s neck with a firm twist.
The man’s partner turned with his weapon at the ready. Avery stood up and pulled her hand away from the patch so she would suddenly appear in the man’s peripheral vision. Core reached out and grabbed the end of the soldier’s rifle as he reflexively turned toward Avery. Caught off guard between the two of them, he hesitated. That hesitation gave Core the opportunity to shove the end of the weapon into the enemy’s nose.