The Reckoning (The Sentinel Series Book 4)

by Holly Martin

  ‘What are you doing?’ he hissed as I continued to struggle vainly against him.

  I opened my mouth to scream again and he pressed his hand firmly over it, muffling my attempts at drawing attention.

  I bit down hard on his hand, and though I could tell I had hurt him, he didn’t release me. I kicked and fought against him, but he just exerted more of his weight against me, restricting my movements to barely a flutter, but I didn’t relent, I continued to struggle even though it was making no difference to my attacker at all.

  He shifted his weight the tiniest of fractions as, to my horror, he reached down to his shorts. I screamed as loud as I could against his hand, but it was clamped so firmly against my mouth that barely a sound escaped.

  To my relief, minimal relief though, he brought back a knife. I thought he might press it to my throat and force me to be still, but he put it down on the bedside table.

  ‘What are you playing at? I know you’re angry, but this is ridiculous,’ he hissed.

  I breathed in through my nose, ready to scream again, but I caught a whiff of his glorious, woody smell and froze. I stopped struggling as I looked at the shape shifter in confusion.

  I sniffed again, the glorious woody smell, filling my nostrils, my lungs, my heart.

  He tentatively released my mouth.

  ‘Seth?’ I asked. ‘Is that you?’

  ‘Of course it is,’ he snapped. ‘Who do you think it is?’ then his face fell. ‘Oh God Eve, you thought I was a shape shifter didn’t you?’

  I nodded. ‘Well that would explain the reason why I’m drugged and tied up.’

  ‘Oh Evie, I’m so sorry, I never meant to scare you.’

  Tears smarted my eyes with relief. ‘I thought you were going to…’

  Seth looked horrified as the true realisation behind my screams sank in. ‘Oh Evie, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’

  I let my head fall back on the pillow, groaning loudly. ‘Seth, what have you done?’

  He didn’t answer.

  A wave of nausea rode over me. ‘I feel sick,’ I muttered.

  ‘You do? Why?’ Seth asked, with concern, though he still lay on me, pinning me to the bed.

  ‘Why? Well let me think, it could be because of the sheer panic I just felt being touched by someone that wasn’t my husband, or the horror that I was going to be killed, or it could be the disbelief that my husband has just done something really stupid like kidnap me or it could be the fact that my husband has drugged me and my body is fighting the effects of at least two different drugs right now. All of those are pretty good reasons for feeling sick, take your pick, Seth,’ I muttered, angrily.

  ‘Eve… Look—’

  I groaned. ‘Seth I am actually going to be sick…’

  Seth hesitated, wondering if I was just saying that so I could escape. A second later, he found out as I vomited violently over him, me and the bed.

  Unfortunately, lying on my back, meant I ended up choking on it, Seth scrabbled off me, trying to help me sit up, but the ropes held me fast, as I struggled to breathe.

  Seth tore the ropes away from my wrists and I sat up, ready to run for the bathroom, but my legs were still bound. As I contemplated hopping, my stomach heaved, and Seth quickly grabbed me and carried me through to the bathroom, where I was sick again.

  When I had finished, I lay on the cool floor, trembling slightly.

  ‘I hope this isn’t your idea of a romantic honeymoon,’ I muttered into the cool tiles.

  Seth helped me out of my T-shirt and put it in the bath with his, then carried me back to the bed. He pulled off the top blanket, which I had also managed to hit with my vomit, and placed me down, sitting me on the edge of the bed, as he knelt before me.

  Seth watched me anxiously for a moment, then picked up his knife from the side.

  Another wave of nausea washed over me, and I quickly tried to push Seth away before I threw up on him, but I stopped when I saw the pain cross his face.

  ‘Evie, I’m not going to hurt you,’ Seth said.

  I moved my hand from his shoulder, to his face. ‘I know that silly, I was trying to stop you getting splattered with sick again.’

  ‘Oh,’ Seth said, quietly, bending to cut the ropes from my ankles.

  ‘Why did you tie me up, anyway?’

  ‘I thought you might try to run away from me, before I could talk to you. I couldn’t lose you here in Mexico.’

  ‘But it just confirmed what I thought about you being a shape shifter.’

  ‘I’m sorry, in all of my plans I didn’t even think about that, I just thought you were angry at me.’

  As soon as I was untied, I curled up, lying on my side.

  Seth leaned over me, his hands either side of my head, as he nuzzled against my neck. ‘Are you not well?’

  My head was pounding, the bed was spinning, my stomach was churning and I was sweating profusely. ‘I’ve been better,’ I muttered, weakly.

  ‘This wasn’t such a good idea was it?’

  I rolled over towards him, taking his face in my hand. ‘What were you thinking?’

  Seth lay down on top of me, resting his head against my heart. ‘I guess I wasn’t.’

  I sighed as I ran my fingers through his hair. ‘Have you at least told my Guardians that I’m with you, they’ll be worried sick?’

  ‘Yes, they know I have you… I’m not the most popular person at the moment. Eli has kindly informed me of several horribly painful ways he is going to kill me, once he gets hold of me.’

  I smiled, weakly. ‘And Quinn, is he OK, is he angry?’

  Seth laughed. ‘Who do you think got me these drugs?’

  ‘Quinn was involved in this?’ I asked incredulously. Seth had always been impetuous and passionate, but I’d kind of thought that Quinn had a bit more of a sensible head on his shoulders. I never thought he would be handing his brother-in-law a load of drugs and telling him to go kidnap his wife.

  ‘I just… I can’t let you die Eve, I won’t.’

  ‘I’m sorry, that’s the hardest part about all this is knowing how much this will hurt you, how much I’m already hurting you.’

  Seth moved his arms round me, clinging tightly to me.

  ‘I wish I could do something to lessen your pain, to make it easier for you,’ I said.

  ‘Take me with you,’ Seth said. ‘We can die together.’

  ‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ I sat up angrily, pushing him off me. ‘Do you think we’re in some bloody Shakespeare tragedy or something? Don’t you realise that’s what I’ll be fighting for, fighting to keep the world alive for you, fighting to keep you alive. I’m going to die, but I’ll die knowing that you, my friends and family will live on, that in a few years you will probably fall in love again, and have the life you want so much, the children, the house on the beach—’

  ‘Evie, how can you think that? I will never fall in love again. I could never love anyone as much as I love you. When you’re gone, my life will be over, there’ll be nothing worth living for.’

  I pushed him away angrily and stood up but as I did, my legs gave way, and I smacked my face on the bed post.

  Seth was at my side instantly, helping me up.

  Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Seth looked up in alarm. My head was spinning and the warm wetness around my nose was a sure indication that my nose was bleeding.

  ‘Where are we anyway?’ I whispered, the room spinning around me.

  ‘An apartment, part of the hotel, I rented it before we came,’ Seth returned his gaze to me, and held my nose gently to stop the bleeding.

  ‘You thought it through then,’ I muttered thickly. I was so hot now, I thought I might actually pass out.

  ‘You OK?’ Seth said, wrapping his arm round my waist.

  The door was knocked again, but more firmly this time.

  ‘You better answer it,’ I said.

  Seth felt my head. ‘You’re burning up.’

  He rooted round in his pocket an
d pulled out another syringe, he pulled the cap off.

  ‘Seth, no! No more drugs,’ I struggled against him, but he held me firm.

  ‘This will help Eve, Quinn said that if you had adverse effects to the drugs I gave you, then this would help to reverse them, a sort of antidote, then you can heal yourself.’

  I struggled to free myself from his grip. ‘Please no, let me just sleep it off, I feel so rotten. More drugs are not going to help.’

  Seth released me and I stumbled away from him, he caught my arm to stop me from falling. ‘I’m sorry Eve, I never meant for any of this to happen. I was trying to save you and I’ve ended up poisoning you.’

  The door suddenly burst open and the Mexican police came in. My screams earlier had obviously brought some unwanted attention down on us.

  The police stood there taking in the situation. It didn’t look good, even I could tell that. Seth was obviously restraining me and he still had the syringe in his hand. We were both half naked and I looked like I was about to keel over, not to mention the blood that was now streaming from my nose.

  It took them about three seconds to decide. Suddenly they were shouting, pointing their guns at Seth, as they moved further into the room.

  ‘Alejate de ella,’ one shouted. Get away from her. I was thankful for my lessons in Spanish that allowed me to understand.

  ‘Deja la ir,’ shouted another. Let her go.

  Seth of course did neither. Instead he did the exact opposite, stepping towards me and wrapping his arms tighter around me.

  ‘Please, it’s OK,’ I said, trying to force a smile on my face. ‘Yo se que esto se mira mal, pero este es mi esposo.’ I know this looks bad, but he’s my husband.

  ‘Ma’am, we have had reports that this man brought you in here unconscious, and screams have been heard coming from the apartment,’ said the oldest one in Spanish.

  ‘I’m not well,’ I insisted, that part was true. ‘And I er… was screaming in my sleep.’

  ‘She’s terrified,’ muttered the younger one. He wasn’t wrong, but not for the reason that he thought. And my heart racing with this new threat was doing nothing to quell the dizziness and sickness.

  ‘Sir, we’d like you to come down to the station with us, maybe we can straighten all of this out.’

  This was not going to end well. If Seth went quietly I would be left unprotected, but he was never going to do that. This would mean a fight, innocent people would get hurt.

  ‘This is my wife, I’m not leaving her when she feels so sick,’ Seth eyed the syringe in his hand, asking for my permission. If I could heal myself, I could get us out of here, without anyone getting hurt.

  ‘Are you sure about this,’ I muttered, under my breath.

  ‘Quinn was,’ Seth said, quietly, as the police moved closer.

  I felt rotten, surely I couldn’t feel worse. I nodded my consent, and surreptitiously, Seth slipped his hand under my hair and injected me.

  My heart was suddenly hammering like rain against my chest, and my blood bubbled in my veins.

  The police realised what Seth had done and started shouting again.

  The room swirled around me and I closed my eyes against it.

  The next thing I was aware of was the bed beneath me, and a cold, wet towel being pressed gently round my face. My eyes shot open and Seth was leaning over me.

  I reached up to hold his face. ‘What happened, have they gone?’

  Seth kissed my head. ‘No, baby,’ he gestured over his shoulder. I looked over at the door way. They were no longer pointing their guns at Seth or shouting, they were talking quietly between themselves, though they were still keeping an eye on us. I looked back at Seth in confusion. ‘You passed out,’ he explained. ‘I told them you hadn’t been well, that you just needed rest. I also said that I was happy to go with them and answer any questions as soon as I knew you were OK. I think they realise now that I don’t mean you any harm. They saw how careful I was with you, how concerned I was about you and they backed off a bit. Eve, they’ve called an ambulance. We need to get out of here before it comes.’

  I nodded.

  ‘How are you feeling?’

  My headache and sickness had gone, though the tiredness remained. ‘Better.’

  Seth lowered his voice to barely a whisper. ‘Can you heal yourself, slide us out of here?’

  I reached for my healing powers and was surprised to find I could access them, as my other powers and my link with my Guardians was still blocked. I nodded.

  Seth smiled sadly and then sat back. He looked so dejected, his big plan had failed. Once I healed myself we would go home and the end of the world would come and I would die.

  But for now, we had to get out of here.

  I closed my eyes and started to heal myself, but as an afterthought, I kept the link with my Guardians blocked.

  I opened my eyes and looked at Seth and nodded.

  Seth frowned. ‘I still can’t feel you.’

  I sat up and the police looked over at me.

  ‘Cómo te sientes?’ How are you feeling?

  ‘A bit better thank you. I’m going to have a shower, I might feel better once I’ve freshened up,’ I said in Spanish, as I got up slowly and headed towards the bathroom.

  The oldest policeman nodded. ‘We’ll let you know when the ambulance gets here, a doctor really should take a look at you, you had us all worried when you passed out,’ he said.

  I nodded.

  ‘Seth will you help me?’

  Seth nodded, taking my hand and following me in. The police didn’t seem too bothered about letting us go. The bathroom didn’t actually have any windows so we couldn’t go anywhere. I closed the door behind us, grabbed our T-shirts from the bath and reaching for Seth’s bond, I slid us both to our tiny island.

  Seth looked at me with confusion. ‘Are we not going home?’

  ‘Not yet.’ I walked out to the sea and washed our T-shirts in the warm water then came back and hung them from the branches of the nearest tree. I lay down on the sand and reached out a hand for Seth, who lay down next to me, tentatively.

  ‘Are you not going to shout at me, tell me how stupid I am?’

  I smiled as I curled up in his arms. ‘Oh I will, but I thought we could have some time together first. Our honeymoon that we never had, we could have that. A few hours alone together, maybe a few days, before we go back and I shout at you. I want some time with you where we don’t have to think about the end of the world or me dying, just you and me, you holding me and kissing me, can you do that?’

  ‘I’ll try,’ Seth said, sadly.

  ‘No Seth, I’m serious. I don’t want you lying here thinking about how much you’ll miss me when I’m gone, feeling sorry for yourself, there’s plenty of time for that. If you’re here with me, then all of you is here with me, you will just enjoy this time that we have now and we can think about tomorrow, tomorrow.’

  Seth nodded.

  ‘Then stop dawdling and kiss me Seth,’

  Seth smiled sadly, but did what he was told.

  The next few hours were amazing, without interruptions or distractions, we really took the time to be with each other. Seth touched, caressed and kissed every inch of my body. At first I thought he was trying to show me what I would miss once we were parted, the beautiful prize I could have won had I not chosen the world over him, but then I realised he was actually saying goodbye, I could see it in his eyes, this was the closure he needed. And as the sun set over the island, leaving trails of scarlet and blueberry in its wake, we became still, our legs and arms entwined. I closed my eyes, sleep taking me.

  ‘Evie?’ Seth whispered, his breath tickling my forehead.

  ‘Mmmm?’ I muttered.

  ‘Goodbye.’

  I woke a few hours later and immediately sat up, concerned at the lack of my husband, though he was crouched nearby, poking at what looked like a fish that hung over a small fire.

  He turned and smiled when he saw me awake. ‘Brea
kfast?’

  It was still dark and I had no idea what time it was here let alone what time it was back at the fort but I nodded, I was ravenous.

  He broke the fish into pieces and gave me a big piece served on a large leaf. I tucked into it and with the smoky taste from the fire and the salt of the sea it tasted delicious.

  ‘Sadly I don’t have any chips,’ Seth said, as he bit into his smaller piece.

  ‘It’s lovely, thank you.’

  We ate in silence, I didn’t know what I could say to make this any better. Finally we finished eating and I moved to sit on his lap.

  ‘I have to do this, you know that, don’t you. As much as I would like to stay here with you and never leave, if I do then we’ll both die anyway, as will all our friends, and everyone else on this little rock. I can’t let it happen.’

  ‘I know,’ Seth said, quietly.

  ‘I know this is hard for you, and if the situation was reversed I would be a mess and I don’t know how I can make it any easier.’

  He kissed me softly. ‘It’s OK Evie, I understand.’

  This calm acceptance was even worse somehow. I hated seeing him like this. Completely and utterly defeated. He had given up and I couldn’t bear it.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my forehead against his cheek, tears falling from my eyes. I sobbed even more when he started trying to comfort me, stroking his hand down my hair and holding me tighter against him. It should be me comforting him. He’d be the one left behind.

  ‘We should go home,’ I said, eventually. ‘My Guardians must be worried sick.’

  ‘We haven’t been gone that long actually. It’s still the 28th, although it’s in the evening back at the fort. We’ve been gone about twelve hours, though that still hasn’t lessened the anger that the others are feeling towards me.’

  I smiled slightly against him. ‘I’ll protect you if they try to hurt you.’

  He laughed a little. ‘Come on, let’s go face the music.’

  Holding him tight, I slid us both back to our room, opening my mind to the Guardians as I landed.

  Lucas slid to me a second later, not realising that I was back at the fort. Eli quickly followed. But where Lucas ran to me to hug me, Eli threw Seth against the wall, pinning him by his throat.