Burning Touch

by Lindsey Hart

  “Smart of you, Jack. Not bothering to hide what you’re really thinking. I can always tell, you know. You might be able to hide in plain sight from everyone else but not from me. Nope. I know you too well, Jack. I can hear all those churning thoughts, all those words you never utter because you think they’re safer inside than out. I know you. I helped create you.”

  Jack took another step forward. Though his shadow fell over Lion, the other man refused to be intimidated. Jack expected no less. Lion knew no fear. He never had. He’d lived on the streets for far too long. He made his own laws and waged his own wars. Which, if the guy hadn’t given himself the ridiculous moniker, was probably how he’d earned it.

  “Why did you take her? She had nothing to do with you and me. You could have left her out of this.”

  “You still don’t get it. After all this time. I told you that I wanted you, Jack. Your soul. You made us a promise. A vow, with your own blood. If you care for her, then she’s become a part of you. I own you and so I own her. I can do with her what I wish.”

  Jack remained silent. What could you even say against logic like that? His hands balled into tight fists at his sides. The urge to bloody Lion grew even stronger. He had to deny it. Deny himself. It was the only way to find out what Lion had done with Luna.

  Jack sighed and assumed a submissive stance that he did not feel. He let his shoulders sag, as though he was defeated. He forced his fingers to uncurl and remain straight, hanging down at his sides. He couldn’t look at Lion. The guy would know right away that his docile attitude was an act if Jack challenged him by holding eye contact. Kind of like the way you shouldn’t look a rabid dog in the eye.

  “What do you want with me, Lion? I’ll come with you. I’ll do whatever it is you want, just please, let Luna go. We both know that a brotherhood doesn’t include women. Especially not ones who haven’t grown up tough like we did. She has no useful skills to you. Just let her go.” Jack finally looked up, in time to see Lion’s thin lips curl up into a blood curdling imitation of a bitter smile.

  “We’ll see, Jack. What happens to your little girlfriend or fuck toy or whatever she is largely depends on you. You might be willing to come with me but are you willing to become my brother again?”

  Jack’s lungs ached and he realized then that he was holding his breath, not daring to breathe. He couldn’t imagine going anywhere with Lion. That part of his life was over with. He wasn’t that man anymore, but he knew he would do whatever it took to make sure Luna was free and well. All of this, it only happened to her because of him. Because he’d been foolish enough to think she was safe with him. He should have known better. His touch turned everything good into something that was dead. He never should have gone near her.

  Jack forced his head up and stared Lion down. He could only hope that the spark of integrity shining in the depths of his eyes was enough to make Lion believe him. “Yes. We were always brothers. I never forgot.”

  A minute passed. Silence so thick it was actually tangible and oppressive. Slowly, so very slowly, Lion unfolded himself out of that chair. He stood, his worn black boots hitting the porch with a dull thud that seemed as load as any gunshot. He smiled and it was the closest thing Jack had ever seen to an honest, genuine expression on Lion’s sinister face.

  With that smile, he knew he was back in. Back to a life he’d been foolish enough to ever think he could escape.

  CHAPTER 19

  Luna slowly opened her eyes, amazed that she could have drifted off. How long had she been out? It was impossible to tell. The building she was in, some kind of warehouse, had no windows. She didn’t know what time of day it was or if it even was day. How much time had passed since she’d been taken?

  The sinister looking man had come through the back door of her house. It had been locked but he must have deftly and silently picked it. She’d started, sat up in bed. Heard the heavy footfalls in the hallway. Her bedroom door had no lock on it and even if it had, she wouldn’t have had time to get there to spring it before the intruder was in her bedroom.

  He was calm. So very eerily calm. She didn’t scream. Any sound remained frozen in her throat long after he’d held the knife to her throat, tied her hands behind her back, gagged her and threw her over his shoulder as though she weighed nothing at all. He’d walked out the back way, the way she was sure he’d entered. Traipsed through the back yard like he owned it and had no fear in the world. Threw her in the back seat of the large, old car he’d parked in the alley behind her garage.

  He drove with little care to her well-being. She was jostled painfully, thrown around with every bump and corner. The car had an exhaust leak or something. She remembered vividly the gut wrenching smell that seeped into her nose and turned her stomach. She’d been so afraid that she would be sick with the gag in her mouth, choke and die.

  Thankfully she’d pushed the bile back until the car stopped. The man had taken her into the abandoned building. It smelled dank and musty with the years of unused. It was cool. Much cooler than any other building she’d ever been in, as though the cold of the earth seeped through the floor and into what remained of the crumbling wood and metal building.

  When the man removed her gag she’d only asked him one question. The only question worth voicing. Why. She knew better than to ask about her future. She didn’t want to truly know the answer. If she believed that somehow she’d be found, rescued, safe, she could cling to false illusion.

  The man, probably in his forties, dark hair, silver at the temples, thin lips, high cheekbones, ashen skin, pitted and scarred frighteningly with souvenirs from a hard past, wasn’t one for words. Anyone could see that. He’d offered what could only be described as a smile that was completely devoid of any humour or cheer. His eyes were what scared Luna the most. They were dark, soulless. Not quite evil. No, something else entirely. Just… blank. Like he truly had no soul.

  Jack did this to you.

  That’s all he’d said. He’d left Luna laying on the floor, hands bound behind her back. She couldn’t run anywhere. He’d attached a length of rope to her bound wrists and tied it around a pillar thicker than her entire body. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  The words haunted her. Jack did this to you. Jack did this to you. Jack did this to you. They played over and over in her sleep deprived, fear riddled brain like a never ending, wretched litany.

  Luna couldn’t make herself believe it. Jack cared about her. He could be someone else. She didn’t truly know enough about him to know if what he had been telling her was false or not. However, he couldn’t lie with his body. The way he held her, caressed her, learned every plane and curve, made her feel like a glorious, beautiful woman after so many years alone… it had to have been real. She couldn’t face the alternative. That it had all been a lie.

  Hot tears burned at the edges of Luna’s eyes. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. Her lungs refused to fill with the very air she needed so badly to banish the agony that was taking over, filling her up, leaving little space for anything else. Not trust, not love.

  Love. What the hell did she know about love? All her life she’d chosen the wrong men. The kind of men that turned her life inside out and hurt her. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Jarod came close to destroying her. She’d been so broken she doubted she’d ever put herself back together after leaving him and then… then Jack walked into her life and she’d so easily set aside her doubts. He’d broken through the thick walls, the walls of pain and regret and shame.

  It couldn’t have all been a lie. It couldn’t. Yet, how well did she even know Jack? That wasn’t even his real name. He could be a very good actor, for all Luna knew.

  Before she could spiral into all out despair, a scratching noise at the far end of the decrepit warehouse alerted her to the fact that her captor was likely back.

  Luna swallowed hard. Her throat was so dry it made the action difficult. She refused to show any weakness. This man, this nameless, hateful man didn’t deserve to see her
fear, no matter how afraid she truly was deep inside. She sensed his kind fed off of it; other’s weakness. She wouldn’t give him that. No matter what he did to her, she wouldn’t surrender.

  She waited, on her side, the cold of the dirty, dusty floor seeping into her left arm. The footsteps came closer, closer. She realized, with a start, that the man wasn’t alone. Luna struggled to push to a sitting position. It was harder than she thought, with her hands tied so tightly and awkwardly behind her back. Her shoulders burned as they protested the movement and her wrists chaffed painfully as the coarse rope rubbed the already raw spots.

  The footsteps continued, sounding in tandem. Sometimes one step, sometimes two defined ones. She waited, breath held.

  She knew even before she saw him who it was walking, fallen into pace, with her captor.

  Jack. The one man she would have trusted with her life. So, it really was true then. He really had done this to her.

  CHAPTER 20

  Jack’s chest began to ache the second he saw Luna, thrown on the dirty warehouse floor. She wore only a black lace camisole and a pair of thin cotton shorts.

  Lion had obviously taken her from her bed. Stolen her in the middle of the night and brought her here, to this dark warehouse. His heart thundered hard and his sinuses burned. He realized that he was precariously close to real tears. True, honest ones. He couldn’t bear to see her like that. Tied like an animal.

  God knew what Lion had already done to her. Show nothing. Give nothing away. So, Lion claimed to be able to read him. Let him. The other man claimed to know Jack but Lion truly knew nothing about Jack at all. If he did, he wouldn’t be standing there, a mere foot from Jack’s shoulder.

  Jack somehow managed to keep his hands at his sides. His breathing fairly even. Anger crawled up his throat, threatening to turn him into the beast he wanted to be. In that moment he would have torn Lion to shreds. Squared off with him. Beat him within an inch of his life, just for laying one perverse, fucked up finger on the woman Jack cared for.

  Christ, I could kill him. The protective instinct Jack felt when it came to Luna never failed to shock him. Not that it was there, but the depth of it.

  “Where are the others?” Jack whirled, again expecting an ambush. He carefully did not look at Luna again. Not at her body, barely clad, cold and sore. Not at the hopelessness or the betrayal he’d probably see in her beautiful green eyes. Not at any part of her, or he would act on his impulses and destroy Lion.

  Perhaps that was what the other man wanted. To see Jack behind bars again for good. The one thing he’d never been able to bear. The very reason he’d left all those years ago.

  “Gone.”

  “What?” Jack growled. “You brought me here, spouted nonsense about brotherhood, and the others are… gone?”

  “It’s you and me again. How it was always meant to be.” Lion’s dark eyes blazed with a strange intensity. “I brought you here to save you, Jack. Save you from the pain of living a normal life. A life where people pretend to care. We both know people like us can’t be loved. If there truly is such a thing in the world. It’s not in the cards for us. Never was. The world, when it should have taken care of us, abused us. Taught us that you can’t rely on anyone but yourself and your brother. You’re my brother, Jack. You. We are family. No matter how many years, no matter all that’s happened. You are back where you belong now.”

  For the first time ever, Jack considered that Lion might truly be insane. The light shining in those black eyes wasn’t natural. The hateful, bitter expression that twisted his face… there was nothing behind it. Lion was just a shell. A hollow shell of someone who had never experienced love. Of course, he didn’t believe in it. He’d never known a second of kindness. He’d been making a living off the streets since he was just a kid.

  Jack just needed to get Luna out of there. Somehow. He needed to make Lion believe that he was back for good. His brother. Someone to care for in Lion’s own twisted, warped way. Someone to love for a man who didn’t understand the word. That was what he wanted. Everyone else was gone. Reaper. Wolf. Long deserted the man who had once been their leader. Gone to god knew where and Lion was… what? Lonely? He was alone, but could he truly be lonely? Could he feel anything at all.

  Jack didn’t know. The only thing that mattered at the moment, was Luna. He needed to get her out of there. See her safe. He would do and say anything to keep her safe. Even barter his own life and his own freedom.

  “Let her go.” He indicated the figure on the ground. His eyes danced over her prone form. She didn’t raise her head. She couldn’t or wouldn’t look at him.

  Lion shook his head slowly. “It’s not that easy, Jack. I know you care about her. I want you to admit that it was false. That nothing matters but brotherhood. That there is nothing else in this world that you can trust. I want you to look at her. Look at her and say it.”

  Jack’s world narrowed. The warehouse, the stacks of old wooden crates, broken pallets, dusty, filthy floor, decrepit walls, titled ceiling, old catwalks and hanging ropes, it all ceased to exist. He saw black. The urge to jump on Lion and choke the life out of the man rose up, so strong Jack almost gave in to it. His guts twisted with his own black rage. Hatred. He truly hated this man who had once saved his life.

  “It doesn’t matter what I felt,” Jack ground out. He said the words because he had to.

  Luna lifted her head. She struggled, turning, fumbling on the ground, unable to sit up because of the way she was tied. Her eyes met his and the coldness there broke his heart. There was no shine. No life. No love in those depths. Just bleak, utter hopelessness.

  “Go on,” Lion taunted. He walked a few paces away. Why, Jack couldn’t be sure. Did he finally sense the violence that simmered just under Jack’s skin? “Tell me more. No, tell her. Tell her everything, Jack.” Those long, muscled legs took Lion further away. He didn’t stop. He walked to a set of shaky stairs far to the left. The old, dubious metal treads were rusted. They creaked and groaned in protest as Lion climbed them.

  He paid them no heed. Lion was beyond fear. The man either didn’t have an ounce of common sense or he truly felt nothing at all. He continued climbing the stairs, further and further up. Mounting the catwalk that spanned the warehouse floor below. The metal groaned again, squealed and whined in protest.

  Jack was amazed that it actually held. The walk shook and swayed with every single one of Lion’s steps. He wasn’t a small man. The walk didn’t even look like it could hold the weight of air. Like the very atmosphere worked against its existence.

  “I want to see it all. From up here. Hear it all. Tell her. Tell that woman you don’t feel anything. That you can’t. That in that black heart of yours, you feel nothing. That the world beat any feeling out of us a very long time ago. Any capacity for tenderness is broken. Tell her!” Lion all but screamed. He leaned over the rail, his black eyes wide with sadistic pleasure.

  Jack’s tongue froze in his mouth. His gust twisted horribly, like a knife had been pushed into his stomach and remained there, his lifeblood slowly ebbing from the wound.

  Luna’s face blanched. What little colour there was faded from her cheeks. The wounded pain in her eyes broke Jack’s soul. A soul he wasn’t even sure he still had.

  “I…” he hesitated. His eyes swept back to the catwalk. Back to the crazed man leaning against the metal rail.

  Luna waited. Her eyes never left his face. The challenge, that old sparkle was back, as though she dared Jack to admit out loud that what they had shared wasn’t real. She dared him to say the words and slay the part of himself, and her, that their coming together had healed. To banish what little good was left in his world.

  “Say it!” Lion screamed. He shook the rail, leaned over in his sick haste to hear Jack deny the only part of himself that had ever truly known goodness. Love, even, if it was possible.

  The words that would set Luna free nearly spilled from Jack’s mouth. He forced his tongue to move, to form some coherent so
und that he hoped would be believable.

  And then it happened.

  The rail gave way.

  CHAPTER 21

  Lion’s gasp of surprise filled the warehouse. The horrible groan, the twisting of aged metal, the shriek of the catwalk as it crumbled and warped, cut through Jack’s brain.

  Luna screamed in response. She looked away, clearly not wanting to see the horrible massacre, the broken body of the man below.

  Jack couldn’t look away. He expected the worst but somehow, because Lion was a survivor, because he had always beaten the odds, he hung on. His one hand clasped the twisted rail, his other hand scrabbled for a foothold as his body swung uselessly below.

  It was a good twenty feet down to the hard concrete floor below. Lion would never survive the fall.

  Jack’s eyes swivelled to what remained of the catwalk. It was twisted, caving in, screeching and groaning as the seconds ticked by. He knew it would never support his weight. There was no chance…

  And yet, before his brain even registered what was happening, his feet were moving. Luna’s screams echoed through his ears. Her pleas and sobs echoed loudly through the warehouse, though in reality her voice was probably little more than a whisper.

  He moved, faster and with more surety than any man probably going up to his death had a right to move. His hands grasped the cool metal. The rust slicked off on his palm, staining his skin orange.

  He deftly mounted the steps and made his way to the catwalk. He was careful, dropping to his belly when the thing swayed dangerously below him, groaning and screeching its high-pitched wail of destructive protest.

  Lion was only ten feet away but those ten feet, crawling like a worm in the dust, were the longest of Jack’s life.

  Luna’s voice was silent below. He couldn’t think of her. He had to block her from his mind. He couldn’t dangle over this catwalk, inch forward, closer and closer to what could be his own death, if he so much as thought of Luna.