The Escape

by Teyla Branton

  “Erin,” he murmured. His hands slid around to my back and up to my arms. I let him push my coat to the ground with a heavy clunk and stepped closer.

  He picked me up and this time I didn’t protest at being carried. Crossing to the bed, he laid me down, sinking next to me. He kissed my mouth, trailing over my face and down to my throat. My arms went around him, pulling him closer. His hand slid to my stomach and around to my leg, my catwoman suit feeling like a mountain between us.

  He met the resistance of a knife and I heard it hit the ground. Two more knives and a pistol were next, followed by my boots, my backup pistol, and the ballistic knife. Then his own shoes. His mouth found mine again, and my arms went under his shirt, feeling the heat of his flesh. His mind was open and not only could I feel what he was doing to me, but I could feel what touching me did to his emotions, what my touch did to him. The flames threatened to consume me with pleasure.

  I pushed the thoughts toward him, wanting to share it all with him. He groaned and a new thought entered his mind. Me with a stomach full of his baby.

  Suddenly the thin material of my catwoman suit was too little between us. Ritter had asked me once if I was ready to have his child because that’s what an Unbounded relationship meant, and in his mind I could see he knew what the next step would bring. Not only was he ready for the leap, he welcomed it. He’d been waiting hundreds of years.

  Ritter might want that, but did I? I was already mourning my brother Chris and his two children, who were too far removed from the direct gene to have any chance of Changing. I was thirty-one and in a hundred years, I’d look thirty-three and my niece and nephew—and probably all of their children—would be dead. It was an unnatural thing for children to die before their elders. How many children would I bury?

  I was about to push Ritter away, but he began kissing me again. The hard lines of his body felt right against mine, and I was liquid under his touch. One hand slid over my stomach to my thigh. His lips met mine, his tongue exploring my mouth. In principle I understood the horrifying concept of burying mortal children, but my body forgot to behave whenever he was around.

  No, I had a choice. I did. And I would stop him soon. But for now, I was going to enjoy his touch. I need this. Besides, I hadn’t given him my answer to his weapon offerings, except for temporarily killing Brody Emerson with the ballistic knife he’d given me last week, and Ritter had enough intelligence to understand I’d used the knife without realizing what it meant. Maybe being here so close to him would help me figure out what to answer.

  I heard a soft clink and realized that the long gold chain he wore with the rings of his little sister, his mother, and the woman he was to have married had come out from beneath his shirt. The memories he carried shouldn’t bother me but for some reason they did. He wasn’t still hung up on their deaths as he had been when we’d first met, and I knew he no longer dreamed of the woman he’d loved, but I didn’t want her old band anywhere near his heart. Stupid. She was dead and couldn’t compete against me. Even alive, she’d never heard of anything like the Unbounded, and if she met the man Ritter was now, she wouldn’t even know him. Not like I did.

  His hand burned a trail up my side, finding yet another knife, the tiny one Keene had given me. I expected to hear another thump as he tossed it to the ground with the others, but he paused, looking it over. My body felt cold without him pressing so tightly against me.

  “What’s this?” he asked, his voice deceptively soft.

  I saw in his mind that he knew the switchblade hadn’t been in our arsenal, and besides, he’d trained me on all my weapons. “Exactly what it looks like. But watch out. It’s coated in poison. Keene thought it would—” I hadn’t even finished before he was rolling away and coming to his feet, his shield clanging into place around his thoughts. I lay flat on my back, watching him, my head raised. I was still inside his thoughts, but I pulled out. If that’s the way he wants it.

  He set the knife carefully on the bedside table. “Did you use it?”

  I flopped my head back on the bed and groaned. “No, I didn’t use it, but wouldn’t you rather me use it than get killed? This isn’t a game we’re playing.” He didn’t respond, so I turned to my side, propping my head up on my hand and bent elbow. “Look, Stella told me about the weapons, but you have to understand it doesn’t mean the same thing to me. Three months ago, I hadn’t even heard of Unbounded, and certainly not their mating rituals. In my world a man asks a woman out, and when he wants to propose something, he uses his mouth.”

  Ritter stared, his eyes glittering under the single light I’d left on by the door. In two swift steps, he was back on the bed next to me, pulling me into his arms as if I weighed nothing more than a small child. His lips fell to mine, his shield dropping, and once more fire consumed my mind and body. He kissed my mouth, my eyes, my neck, my ears, and every inch of my face until my body sang with his touch. I was soaring and I never wanted to return to earth.

  All too soon he drew away. “Okay, I used my mouth.” There was a little quirk to one side of his lips that told me he’d purposefully mistaken my meaning.

  “Arrrr!” I collapsed back on the bed. “So not what I meant.”

  That’s when I noticed there were only two rings on his chain, those belonging to his mother and sister. The other ring I’d dreaded seeing was gone. What had happened to it? I couldn’t pretend it didn’t have something to do with his feelings for me. A lump formed in my chest. I’d told myself I didn’t want a ring from him because it would be impractical to wear, but the part of me that had been so recently mortal thought it might be nice to have one on the days we weren’t in battle.

  Ritter smiled fully now, amusement in his eyes. “Oh, you know you loved it.” He strode to the door and yanked it opened. “I’ll see you in the gym at four.”

  As the door closed firmly behind him, I groaned again. He was such a ridiculous, egotistical jerk! Yeah, I’d enjoyed it. A lot. So had he. Neither of us could deny the chemistry between us, or how we felt when we were together. There was an intrinsic satisfaction at being close to him that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

  I chuckled into the quiet of the room. Well, two could play that game, and I’d make my next move as soon as I took a shower and got some sleep.

  RITTER CAME AT ME WITH a sword, and I flipped out a sai, blocking him, careful not to have my fingers over the guard. My arm reverberated with the shock. He wasn’t holding back, but then he shouldn’t since I was channeling his ability. His height and extra weight meant that I’d never be likely to beat him, but I could hold my own in this controlled setting. Occasionally, I even got in a lucky strike.

  I’d spent most of the workout under my own steam, because that was the way I progressed the most, but Ritter wanted to make sure I also had practice channeling while fighting. He’d made me channel Jace instead of himself during part of the workout so that I could become used to fighting my own battle while also being aware of Jace’s fight going on separately. It was the only way, Ritter insisted, that I could overcome the weakness the double vision naturally created.

  I had even tried channeling two abilities at the same time, but that was a complete failure, so I was limited to my own and one other. Still, it was more than most Unbounded had. Ava had so far been unable to channel any of the others’ abilities. She mused that I might be the only Unbounded alive who could channel at all.

  “Good,” Ritter said at last, lowering his sword. Sweat ran from both our bodies. Around us, the others were stepping away from each other and putting down their weapons. Ritter lifted his voice. “Great workout. Hit the showers.”

  Only Jace seemed disappointed that the workout was over as he walked toward the row of curtained showers in the adjoining room. Oliver made no show of hiding his happiness at being finished, which was generally the case, but today he’d made decent progress. It was as if his usefulness at the compound had made him more receptive to the demands upon him and his future as a guardian of h
umanity.

  I began gathering up the inordinate amount of weapons we had trained with that morning. Ritter hadn’t been with me the entire session because he was in charge of everyone’s training, but next to Jace he pushed me the hardest. This morning Dimitri and Mari were missing from our numbers, having relieved Jace and Cort at the compound shortly before the workout. I knew Ritter planned to join them soon, but I hoped to convince him to go with me to find Patrick Mann. Discovering what that black snake contained might be the only way we could learn what was going on. I wished I could figure it out without breaking into what I was sure was Delia’s little concoction, but what choice did we have?

  Soon only Ritter and I were left in the workout room, and we finished putting back our bo staffs at the same time. I hadn’t looked into his thoughts, despite channeling his ability, which had taken every bit of my willpower, but I could feel the heat from him now as our eyes met. I smiled and reached out, running my finger along the base of his throat, slick with sweat. His eyes burned.

  “Hey,” I said, making a show of looking at the moisture on my finger, “I’m going to talk to Mann. I’d like you to come.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And if I say no?”

  “I’m still going.” I loved the way my response made his surface emotions even more apparent: frustration, anger, desire, and admiration. This last surprised me and made me feel a little guilty.

  “I’ll have to talk to Ava first. We need to make sure the compound is covered. And don’t forget that we need a plan that will get our people out before the real Delia visits. Or everything we learned last night for our surprise attack will be forfeited.”

  I nodded. “Any idea about why I couldn’t get inside that guard’s shield in the lobby? Or reach you once I was in the building?”

  “No. Cort took readings after we left, and he’s hoping to analyze them.”

  With his scientific ability, Cort would make a connection if anyone could. “If we could get through whatever it is, I could warn Willis and the others when we’re coming in. Maybe I could anyway if I made it to the roof like you did last night.” My stomach clenched at the thought of the climb that was likely involved, but I kept my voice calm.

  I didn’t fool Ritter because a tinge of sympathy rolled off him. “We’ll see,” was all he said. A good thing because anything more might drive me to do something irrational, like going up there by myself.

  Maybe he knew that, too.

  There was a shift inside me, but I didn’t understand exactly what it meant and I tried not to let it make a difference. “I’m going to shower.” I stood on tiptoe and kissed him until his sympathy turned into something quite different. When I pulled away neither of us was calm. But we were both grinning.

  “We’d better hurry or there’ll be nothing but cold water left,” I said as I started toward the showers.

  “That’s okay. I think I’m going to need some.”

  I laughed at the teasing in his voice, glad he wasn’t going to let my acceptance of Keene’s gift stand between us. Of course that didn’t mean I was off the hook. Ritter wasn’t a man who’d wait around forever. His eyes dug into my back all the way to the showers.

  Ten minutes later as I stood before the mirror in front of my shower stall combing my hair, Keene came rushing into the narrow room. The switchblade he’d given me seemed to burn a hole in the back pocket of my jeans where I’d put it only seconds before. I glanced at Ritter where he stood down a few stalls, but his eyes were on Keene’s face. “What’s up?” Ritter asked.

  “It’s the Hunter, Davis Emerson. He contacted me fifteen minutes ago and I came right here.”

  That meant Keene hadn’t been here at the safe house last night because with only four floors in use, we could get anywhere within five minutes. Had he been watching the Emersons all night?

  “His Hunter friends,” Keene continued, “the ones he called in to help protect his son, figured out what was going on, and apparently they’ve disappeared with him. Emerson believes they plan to take him to their local headquarters and kill him.”

  My stomach lurched. “Oh, great. Just great.” Taking my Sig from the metal shelf attached to the bottom of the mirror, I tucked it into the holster at the back of my jeans and pulled down my red shirt to cover it.

  “What happened to watching him?” Ritter emerged from his shower stall fully dressed, his hair wet. He reached for his weapons.

  “Tenika’s people took over early this morning,” Keene said. “A bunch of cars left twenty minutes ago, but they saw only Emerson’s friends. No sign of Brody. Probably threw him in a suitcase.”

  I winced at the image. “I’m taking it Emerson wants us to go and get him.”

  Keene nodded. “I don’t know that he trusts us exactly, but we seem to be the only Hunters not out to kill his son. At least not permanently.”

  “Good thing I removed the memory of Mari using her ability, or he probably wouldn’t have called us at all. What does he expect us to do with Brody after?”

  “We certainly can’t let him go back to Emerson.” Ritter finished placing his last weapon in the depths of his clothes and came to join us. “Between the Hunters and the Emporium, he’s not safe there.”

  “Emerson knows that.” Keene shook his head. “Actually, he wants us to contact the Renegades and give his son to them. I guess faced with the choice between you guys and the Emporium, he’s choosing you.” It didn’t escape me that once again Keene avoided placing himself among our ranks. He might have thrown in with us, but he still had reservations.

  “It’s the only possible choice,” I said. “Good thing Emerson’s smart enough to know that. And Tenika’s group can certainly use Brody here.”

  “Where’s this Hunter headquarters?” Ritter started for the door.

  Keene moved to join him. “According to Emerson, it’s more of a meeting place than an actual headquarters. A rented house in Goshen. About an hour drive from here. Lots of open space from what I hear and not many people.”

  Perfect for disposing a body.

  Ritter reached for his phone. “I’ll call Ava and fill her in while I grab some supplies. We may need heavy firepower.”

  “Heavy firepower?” Jace emerged from a shower, still dripping, a towel around his waist, his blue eyes radiating excitement. “Count me in.”

  Ritter nodded. “I’ll need you and Cort. I know you’ve been up all night. You can catch a nap on the way.”

  “What about Mari?” I asked. “Her shifting may come in handy.”

  “She can’t shift in without having been there first, and can only get herself and you out. We’ll need something more.” Furrows appeared on his forehead. “In fact, Oliver may be the biggest help. He could project that SWAT team like he did before. Hunters hate law enforcement for the most part.”

  Jace kicked at the ground. “Man, just don’t play it up too much or he’ll be insufferable.”

  Amusement chased across Ritter’s face, but he made no comment as he turned away. “I’ll meet you all in the dining room. You can grab something to eat if you want, but make it quick. I won’t be long.”

  Jace grabbed his clothes and started back inside his shower stall. “Be right there.”

  That left me alone with Keene, or at least in semiprivacy, his green eyes intent on my face. His hair had fallen forward and obscured the scar on his face. Was that what was different about him? Or was it the switchblade burning in my back pocket? I could tell he wanted to say something, but he wouldn’t. The next move had to be mine. I tossed my towel into the hamper, removed my coat from the open rack near the door, and followed Ritter out. He was already halfway to the arsenal in the main room, but I didn’t think I imagined the glance of relief he shot in my direction.

  I needed a few extra magazines myself, but I didn’t need to ask. Ritter would come prepared. He always did.

  I headed for the elevator, Keene close on my heels, and before the elevator shut, Jace ran toward us, a mound of weapons still
in his hands. We waited for him and I held his jacket as he tucked guns, knives, and other odds and ends in his specially made blue jeans that Stella must have found for him. Even his dark green T-shirt had a few subtle pockets, one of which held a backup pistol under his arm.

  Keene laughed. “You remind me of your sister.”

  “You don’t carry so many?” Jace finished dressing and reached for his jacket.

  “Oh, I carry enough, but I’ve learned my real strength is in my hands and feet.” Keene spread out his fingers.

  “That makes sense.” The elevator arrived on the first floor and Jace started toward the door. “How are you feeling anyway?” he asked Keene. “I miss sparring with you.”

  Keene’s hand briefly brushed his middle where I imagined his bandage still encircled his chest. “I’m feeling good. Thanks.”

  “You shouldn’t go with us today,” I said as we left the elevator.

  He gave me a flat stare. “I am going. Remember, I’m the one who knows the secret handshakes.”

  “Can’t we just blow them up?” Jace looked over his shoulder at us.

  “Only if we want the whole city to hear,” Keene said. “Though it might save us trouble in the long run.”

  I snorted. “It may come to that. While Brody Emerson may not know how to use his blasting ability, he might discover it really fast. Remember how Oliver discovered his ability when the Emporium attacked us in Oregon?” The Unbounded sense of self-preservation was unparalleled.

  “Oh, I really hope so.” We couldn’t help but laugh at Jace’s exuberance.

  Cort and Stella were having breakfast when the three of us entered the dining room. They listened as Jace eagerly explained about Brody Emerson’s abduction.

  Cort abandoned the rest of his meal. “I’d better grab a few things.” He didn’t look as if he’d been up all night, but maybe he was accustomed to going without sleep.