“I am not undressing for you, so you can forget it.” she bit out, twisting her wrist free from his grasp. Rolling his eyes, Robert huffed in mocking humor.
“You still think that’s what I am doing?” Scoffing, he shook his head. “You flatter yourself too much, Doctor. If I wanted you like that, don’t you think I could have done it to my evil little heart’s content when you were unconscious? You said you injured your shoulder; I’m trying to take a look at it to determine the damage. If you want to be stubborn, that’s on you. Either way in a minute we’re going to be running on foot before those soldiers get down here.” When she simply glared back, Robert took the decision from her and ripped her shirt open the rest of the way. Before she could gasp in surprise, he slapped his hand over her mouth.
“Keep your mouth shut and hold still.” Dropping his hand, he shoved her right sleeve down her arm to uncover her shoulder. Already a dark purple bruise was forming and the area was swelling. Lightly his hand trailed over the area with caution. “Does it hurt when I touch it?”
“I believe I’m the doctor not you.”
“Just answer the damn question; does it hurt? A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will be good enough.”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she sighed before turning her face from him. “Yes, it hurts. Ouch! Stop moving it!” She hissed out as he attempted shifting her arm.
Unaffected by her ire, he shrugged his shoulders. “I had to check and see if it was broken or dislocated. Congratulations, it’s neither. You must have rammed it pretty good on the way down.” Dropping his hands from her, he lifted the bottom of his shirt before jerking it over his head.
Eyes widening at the sight of his naked chest, Gabriella struggled not to become distracted. “What are you doing now?”
Gripping his shirt between his hands, Robert gave it a sharp tug, causing the material to rip from the collar to the bottom. Not raising his eyes to her, he mumbled. “I’m making you a sling. Your shoulder may not be seriously injured, but I can’t take the risk of you injuring it further.”
“What’s it matter and why should you care what happens to me anyway?”
“Maybe I’ll tell you later if we survive the night.”
Reaching out, he looped the ripped material under her arm before lifting it toward her neck. At her whimper of pain, his teeth mashed together in regret for her agony. Already his bear was fighting to take over. The scent of his mate’s blood, pain, and fear were too much to ignore. The primal need to claim her was almost too much.
Tying the two halves into a knot at the back of her neck, Robert sat back to observe his work. It would do, at least until he got her to Darkwood Springs. At the compound, Doctor Pavel would be able to fix her up in an instant, but out here his doctoring skills were limited.
Rising to his feet, he held out a flat hand to her, silently telling her to stay. Not bothering to wait for her agreement, he carefully strode around the area. Taking deep an inhale, he searched for any scent that would alert him to the presence of another. A mile or so away, he could smell Malca’s soldiers and they were moving quickly. He had to get her somewhere safe before Malca’s soldiers found them.
Spinning around, he quickly made his way back to her. “Get up; we’re getting out of here.”
When she made no move to get up, Robert grew concerned. Was she too weak to stand on her own? The storm brewing in her eyes told him differently. This was no time for another show down with his feisty mate. He grimaced at the word. She wasn’t his mate nor would she be his mate. Dr. Vega was just a job and he intended to keep perspective on that.
“Come on,” he urged impatiently. “We’ve got to get out of here and find a safe place to lie low.”
Moving closer, his hands reached out to help her onto her feet. He was surprised as her stubborn look turned into a full blown glare. Batting his assisting hands aside, Gabriella rose onto her shaking legs. Several times her knees attempted to buckle, but her hand reached out to grip the choppy edge of the rock wall at her back.
“I’m not going with you.” She whispered looking away. Gabriella hated that she couldn’t look at him and say it as she stood her ground. Her limbs began to quake from the adrenaline as a thousand thoughts flooded her mind. Shaking her head, she groaned at the pain the simple movement caused.
In the last forty-eight hours she’d been drugged, kidnapped, tied up, shot at and nearly killed in a madman car accident. Not to mention the strange changes that she witnessed come over her captor. Was she really safe with him? At least with Malca’s soldiers she knew what the outcome would be, but Robert was an anomaly.
After what she’d seen, she knew that Robert couldn’t be one of Malca’s enhanced soldiers. Though many that had submitted to taking the enhancement serum had developed gifts; Robert was different and possessed gifts that she’d never seen before. She’d seen his eyes glow with a strange gold light. He seemed to be incredibly strong and possessed claws that he grew one moment and hid the next. Out of all of it, the strangest thing was his injuries, or lack of. Here she stood with deep cuts, bruises, and covered in her own blood while he stood before her with just minor scrapes.
What was he? Whatever he was; she didn’t have enough information needed to trust him. Besides who’s to say that she still didn’t stand a chance on her own—once she could get away that is.
“Dr. Vega.” Robert began gently. Jerking her head around to face him, her eyes flashed with anger at that particular title. There was a time once that she loved hearing herself referred to as a doctor, but that had changed.
“Don’t call me that.” she bit out. “My name is Gabriella.”
Huffing out a tired breath, Robert planted his hands on his hips while he regarded her. “Gabriella then,” he amended. “We need to go. We’re both worse for the wear but I’m not too beat up to throw you over my shoulder and carry you once more. Personally; I am hoping you will listen to reason this time, because I doubt you will be comfortable in position with a beat up shoulder.”
“No, I don’t.” she conceded softly. Though her glare felt like sharp daggers fly straight for him, Robert watched as her warm brown eyes began misting up with tears.
Oh God, no. Anything but that!
Both he and his bear shared the rush of panic and hopelessness when it came to weeping females. He’d rather take a bullet then watch a female cry. It wasn’t that he was an insensitive jerk, he simply didn’t know how to handle those gut wrenching tears. How other men did was a mystery to him.
As if sensing his horror, Gabriella turned her face from him, blinking against the burning tears. Shame filled him instantly. Upon accepting this job, Robert had known that it wouldn’t be easy. He’d expected it to be a strenuous battle to get Gabriella back to Darkwood Springs. He’d pictured the good doctor cursing him, fighting him; hell he’d even pictured her attempting to kill him. However; he was now faced with the one thing that he never imagined he would see; hopelessness. He didn’t want her to be defeated. He wanted the woman from the hotel room at fought him like a hell cat on caffeine.
Deep within her eyes he could see a pain that went beyond the aftermath of the crash. More was at work here than what Aria and Doyle had told him, but none of it mattered now. He didn’t have time to figure out why her own people were hunting Gabriella. He needed to get the both of them as far from the accident site as possible and hide somewhere safe until he could contact Doyle to send help. But to do that he needed Gabriella to trust him and follow his lead or else they’d both wind up dead.
“Listen to me.” He pled softly while taking a step closer to her. “I know you have no reason to trust me. In fact; I’d think you were crazy and incredibly stupid if you did. But the truth of the matter is; sooner or later, Wyatt and his team will make it down here. Once our bodies are not discovered in that car, it will be open season on us and I have no intention on dying today.”
Scoffing, Gabriella rolled her eyes. “What other choice is there? I either stay here and Malca’s sold
iers kill me or I go with you and get tortured and killed later.” She bit out bitterly.
Scowling at her assessment of what she thought he planned to do with her, he replied. “Trust me. Just for a while forget everything else but those two words and I promise to you I will get you to safety.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll protect you until you no longer need me.”
Eyeing him skeptically, Gabriella clenched her good hand into a fist to stop herself from reaching out to him. Did she dare to trust him? “What makes your promise any different from one that Malca’s people would give me?”
Robert shrugged his shoulders. “Only you can determine that,” catching her by surprise, Robert reached out to cup her chin, lifting her eyes to look at him. He ignored her soft gasp of surprise and her wary look as he spoke. “One thing that I can promise you with everything I know is that there is no way I could ever harm you or allow harm to come to you. No matter what, that will never change.” He whispered honestly. Allowing hand to drop from her face, he held a hand out to her in offering. He watched her with such intensity that she could feel the heat of his gaze all the way to her soul.
“Whether you can trust me is up to you. What will it be, Doctor?”
* ~ * ~ *
Wincing, Gabriella leaned heavily against a tree as she took a moment to catch her breath. A short distance ahead of her was Robert. God, she hated him in that moment. He moved up the climbing terrain like he was completely at home, the crazed Wildman. Meanwhile, she was simply struggling to keep pace with him.
Ignoring Robert’s retreating form as he moved on, she took a moment to observe her surroundings with mild dismay. She wasn’t built for the outdoors, she never was. Even as a child she was a city girl at heart. She’d take a crowded, noisy city over this any day of the week.
“What’s the problem?”
Glancing up, she watched as Robert made his way back to her. His brow was drawn in concern. Shaking her head, Gabriella took a step forward. “Just catching my breath,”
Coming to a stop directly in front of her, Robert wasn’t convinced. “Is it your shoulder? If a simple hike is too much for you; I can simply carry you.” He said, baiting her with a smirk. His words had the desired effect as her temper leapt to life.
“I don’t need your help.” She hissed, moving around him before marching forward.
Smirking at her back, Robert shook his head. For a mile more they walked and much to his amusement his unwilling companion was leading the way. Not that she knew where she was going; mind you. Gabriella was headed away from the direction of Darkwood Springs. Not that it mattered at the moment to him. They simply needed to put distance between themselves and the crash site.
Coming to a stop at the top of a hill, Robert smiled at their fortune as he spied a dug out shelter beneath a towering ledge.
“We’ll stop here for the night.” he stated with a nod.
“What do you mean?” Gabriella asked after turning to eye the cave with a note of distaste.
“We’ll take shelter here. Soon it will be getting dark and once it is, I plan to go back for our things.”
“What things? You mean your clothes?”
Shaking his head in denial, Robert dropped down onto a nearby stump with a weary sigh. “No. I have other supplies stashed in the trunk. Including my satellite phone and some stuff of yours, which I grabbed.” His words dangled in the air between them like a treat that she was tempted to reach for.
“My stuff?” Jerking her eyes to him, confusion and hope mixed together inflated inside her chest at his words. “What do you mean?”
“The night I took you from your apartment you had a suitcase and your purse lying about, so I grabbed both.”
Excitement didn’t come close to what she was feeling in that moment. She began to feel dizzy as her brain struggled to take in what this meant. If he did in fact have her things—most importantly; her laptop, then there was still hope that she could go through with her plan to expose Malca. Working to conceal her lifted spirits, Gabriella turned away from him, keeping her gaze on the ground.
“Why did you bother to grab my things in the first place?” she asked, briefly turning to look back at him.
Shrugging his shoulders carelessly, he easily replied. “Why not? I knew that there was no telling how long it would take to get the information Aria thinks you possess. I thought it would be better for you to have what you needed to be as comfortable as possible.”
Scoffing, Gabriella rolled her eyes before pacing a short distance away. Why did he still talk about Arianna like she was some paragon of virtue? As far as she was as concerned, Arianna was no better than Malca herself.
Without thinking; her traitorous tongue began lashing out. “You make it sound like my meeting Arianna will be a peaceful one.”
“Won’t it? The way I see it; it’s you that will make it into a battle. What do you have against her?”
“Just stop defending her!” she hissed out between clenched teeth. “You don’t know the true face of her like you think you do. She’s evil.”
She expected him to rebuff her words instantly, just like he had at the motel room. Instead he slowly rose to his feet, stalking towards her. Bravely meeting his cold gaze, she took several steps back until a tree bit into her back, preventing any further movement. Leaving barely enough room for her to lift a hand between their bodies, Robert stopped in front of her.
“I’m only going to say this once more and never again.” His hard words cut though the air between them like a blade. “The Aria I know isn’t the person you think she is; at least not anymore.”
Flashing a hard look, he scoffed. “Besides, hypocrite; you’re the one on the right hand of the devil here. You’ve worked for Malca for five years if I’m not mistaken. How many people have you drugged and forcibly experimented on?”
Flinching at his harsh words, Gabriella’s startled gaze dropped from his. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that.” she whispered weakly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t know what I was getting into.”
“How could you not?” Watching her closely, he saw shadows of a haunting memory flash behind her eyes. Was there more to what they knew about the woman before him? Robert already knew that Malca was a master manipulator. With little effort she’d convinced Aria to submit to experimentation in hopes of exacting vengeance for the death of her twin. What had she done to convince this prickly female to work for her?
“How did Malca get her claws in you?” Robert gently asked.
Eyeing him suspiciously, Gabriella sighed heavily before answering. “I was born in a small town in Mexico. After my mother died, my father worked hard to raise me on his own. He worked at a small grocery store. After years of saving, he helped me pursue an education in the states. It wasn’t long before graduation that I received news that he’d been killed during a robbery. After graduation I searched everywhere for a job in genetic research. Without a job and once my student visa expired, I would have been sent back if it hadn’t been for Dr. Malca. She approached me about a position as a government funded researcher that she wanted me for. So I accepted.”
“Just like that?”
Shrugging her shoulders she nodded. “At the time I didn’t ask too many questions. She helped me get citizenship and I believed her when she told me I’d be helping people. It wasn’t until a year or so later that I saw what was really going on.”
“Yet you did nothing to stop it.” He stated harshly.
Eyes flashing dangerously, Gabriella took a threatening step forward. “Don’t you think others tried to stop her? If I would have done something I would have ended up just like them—dead.”
Huffing in disgust, she stabbed a hand through her tangled tresses as she shoved past him. Keeping her back to him, she refused to see what his reaction was to her words. Did he believe her or did he see her as being no better than Malca herself? The mere thought for some reaso
n twisted at her insides. Why should she care if her captor believes her or not? Closing her eyes with a silent groan, Gabriella felt her stomach twist into knots as flashes of memories of the labs rushed though her mind.
…you did nothing to stop it… His words echoed in her mind, hitting her over again with the force of a punch.
During her first year working for Malca she’d worked in a lab just outside of New York City. She recalled how everyday she awoke with a sense of purpose in her life. She’d buried herself in her work and she was content…and ignorant. After a year of heavy testing and research, Malca had informed all the scientists that it was time for human trials.
Though the first enhancement serum was new, Gabriella had never thought to question Malca’s decision. It wasn’t until she was sent to another facility with a group of scientists that her eyes were truly opened. Men and women were locked up like animals and treated far worse. The worst part of it was that she was the only researcher that it seemed bothered by it.
One by one they sedated and injected each with the first serum. Within hours half of the prisoners were dead. “Acceptable losses,” Malca called it. That day she had become a murderer. Robert was right. Why hadn’t she done anything? The truth was she didn’t because she was a coward. But she couldn’t abide standing back, fearing repercussions. Malca would answer for everything that she’s done and her victims would finally know peace. Fingering her cross that still hung around her neck; she jumped as she felt a pair of heavy hands settle on her shoulders. She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even heard him move.
“Sit down and get some rest.”
Slipping out from under his hands, she turned to face him with a look of confusion. “Excuse me?”
Nodding at the packed dirt and grass behind her beneath the overhanging ledge, he replied. “There. Sit down and get some rest while you can. We should be safe here for the time being, but that can change at any time. If those soldiers pick up on our trail, we’ll have to move on quickly. The sun is starting to set and it will be dark soon.”
Big, Bold & Bearing (Grizzly Affairs Book 2) Page 7