by Jayne Rylon
Her thrashing weakened as horror bogged down her reaction time.
Hyperventilation didn’t help either. Lightheadedness mixed with agony and despair.
She cowered on the ground, flinching from the fist that flew toward her face.
Ten
Tosin had barely stumbled out of the cave and onto the beach, his foot throbbing worse than it had that time a sea urchin had used it as a pin cushion, when he heard Kahori scream.
It wasn’t a sound of anger or frustration.
No, it was fear.
Terror with pain mixed in.
Fuck! Had she fallen? Hurt herself in the darkness worse than he had? “Kahori!”
The following silence nearly frightened him more. Then another cry rang out, this one more urgent. It came from within the jungle. How the hell would he find her in there?
Glancing down, he tapped the face of his watch, a dive model complete with compass. He was an expert at navigating with it. Sometimes the divemasters tested themselves. One of them would keep his eyes closed as his partners hauled him to a random spot on the reef to see if he could find his way home. Tosin had never lost that little game yet.
Tosin took off after her.
He might not know where he was headed, but he could damn sure make it out again once he’d reclaimed Kahori. There was no doubt in his mind that he would. He wasn’t letting her go that easily. And he sure as shit wasn’t going to let her suffer out there, alone, because the thought of burying himself in her pretty pussy over and over had caused him to lose his motherfucking mind and say stupid stuff.
Tosin had spooked her bad.
Ironically enough, he seemed to have done the damage with words most of his other playmates would have killed to hear him speak. He tried to think about how he would fix things when he found her to distract from the anxiety her escalating shouts caused in him.
He needed to stay steady, keeping track of his landmarks and compass readings, in order to find her then bring her out again safely. Losing his calm and charging toward her might get him there faster, but then they’d be stuck. And it sounded like she might need immediate medical attention.
Tosin wiped sweat off his brow as he grew closer. Except maybe someone had beat him to her? He could swear he heard the rumbling of a masculine voice up ahead.
“You bastard! HELP!” Kahori begged.
Then nothing could stop him. It hadn’t been a simple tumble that had downed her. Someone was mauling her! A person? Who the hell was out here hunting her?
Tosin took one final reading off his compass then crashed through every bit of foliage in the direct path between it and the struggle he could now hear clearly. A worthless motherfucker threatened her, spouting a bunch of nonsense, and then more rustling and grunts followed.
Was that Kahori fighting so viciously?
Pride and panic swirled together as he burst into the tiny clearing where she was being abused then launched himself at her assailant.
“Kahori!” Tosin roared her name like a war cry as he flew across the open area and intercepted one hell of a punch. It didn’t do much more than inconvenience him as it drove into his side, but it could have smashed the delicate bones in her cheeks or caused irreparable damage to her more delicate parts, like her eyes or her brain.
Fury the likes of which he’d never experienced before surged within him. He kicked the fucker directly in the chest, throbbing foot be damned. The impact knocked the asshole back at least ten feet from Kahori, onto his ass. He must not have been as stupid as he was evil because he took one look at Tosin’s unholy fury and took off, scrambling into the dense foliage. His cronies followed right behind.
Tosin looked between their retreating forms and Kahori, who sprawled in the dirt. She spit out a mouthful of blood then covered her bared breasts with one arm before attempting to stand.
“Catch them,” she ordered.
He might have tried if she hadn’t collapsed to the ground again, disoriented and wounded.
With a final lingering glare in the direction the men had disappeared, Tosin cursed viciously. He ignored her command. Instead, he rushed to her side and gathered her into his arms. “Fuck them. I’m not leaving you.”
He didn’t waste time with stupid questions like “Are you okay?” when she clearly was not okay.
Tosin cradled her as carefully as he could, somewhat alarmed that she didn’t object and instead burrowed her face into the crook of his neck while she trembled in his grip. He glanced at the compass on his wrist then began to work backward.
He still had a ways to go when familiar voices called to him. Archer yelled, “Tosin!”
“Over here,” he shouted in return, still angling for the shore.
“What the fuck, man?” Miguel asked when they practically collided with him.
Apparently he hadn’t been the only one who’d heard Kahori’s screams.
“I’ve got her. Someone jumped her. They ran away, heading northeast.” He turned down the volume when Archer, Miguel, and Banks came into view. “Where’s Waverly?”
“Standing by at the chopper with Sabine,” Archer replied. She’d spent the afternoon giving kids rides and admiring the aerial view. They’d never expected they’d need her services for an evacuation tonight. “She’ll be ready to take off the moment you get there.”
Banks crooned to Kahori while the guys made their plans. He inspected her for obvious injuries as he tried to calm her. “Poor girl, look what they did to you. Tosin’s going to get you fixed up, okay?”
She nodded then clung to him tighter, as if the twitch of movement was enough to cause her more suffering. They had to get the fuck out of here.
“Will you guys find her father for me? Let him know what’s happening. See if anyone can figure out where those guys went and who they are, why they did this to her. I’m not waiting around in case they come back. I’m taking Kahori to the doctor on the Divemaster. Then I’m locking her in my cabin where she’ll be safe.” Tosin had already started walking.
Though he trod carefully, each step jarred Kahori enough to elicit groans from between her split lips. She stirred, seeming like she might object, so he added, “Convince him to come to the ship with you guys. She’s going to need him by her side.”
“Thank you,” Kahori managed to croak. It seemed to sap the last of her energy. The next time her eyelids drooped, they didn’t reopen.
So he gave up trying to be gentle and sprinted for the makeshift helipad.
Eleven
Kahori gasped as she came to. Something tickled her nose and the back of her throat. She coughed and flailed as her brain stem flashed warning signals throughout her body.
“Calm down. There’s no need to be frightened.” A warm female voice soothed some of her panic. “Those were smelling salts. Strong stuff, I know.”
Kahori blinked, trying to focus on the people surrounding her in a well-lit room that smelled slightly of lemony disinfectant. She attempted to sit up. A hand rested on her shoulder, keeping her in place. Though she wanted to swat it away, her arms felt heavy and sluggish.
“It’s just me,” Tosin said. “I’m not trapping you here. I just don’t want you to fall off this gurney and injure yourself more.”
“Where am I?” She tried to remember what had happened after she left him in the glowworm cavern. Had she hit her head on an outcropping of rock as she fled like an idiot from the pleasure he’d tried to give her?
It certainly throbbed like a bitch.
“I brought you to the Divemaster so Dr. Kleveno could evaluate you.” He ran his fingers lightly through her hair, thankfully avoiding the side that ached. “It doesn’t look like anything’s broken. Some of those bruises and scrapes are pretty nasty, though.”
Bruises and scrapes? “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” the doctor asked, sounding slightly more concerned. “You might have a mild concussion.”
As the woman prodded and poked Kahori, testing her reflexe
s and the dilation of her pupils with a penlight that stabbed her eyeballs as if it were an ice pick, bits and pieces began to return to her. By the time she remembered everything, her fists had bunched and she shoved past Tosin’s restraint to sit upright.
“Those bastards!” She turned to Tosin, regretting the jerk of her head when the room wobbled a bit. “Please tell me you caught them.”
He grimaced then shook his head. Negative. “Archer, Miguel, and Banks stayed behind to give it a go and fill in your dad. They’re going to bring him here when they’re finished with the hunt.”
The fact that they weren’t back already meant they probably hadn’t been any more successful in rounding up her attackers than Tosin had. Damn!
Mostly she wanted to understand why they’d done it.
A light knock sounded at the door. Tosin plucked her pareu from a plastic chair next to the hospital bed and flapped it to fling off most of the dirt and sticks. The blood would never come out. Besides, it had ripped in a couple spots. It had been her favorite. Ah well. Could be worse.
Kahori lifted her arms so he could wrap it loosely around her like a giant bath towel. It would do for the moment.
Then Tosin went to the door and opened it a crack. Even here he didn’t seem to be taking any chances with her security. Despite the evening’s trauma, she felt protected and sheltered. Immune to the fear that would probably grip her while dreaming for a while.
“It’s our captain,” Tosin said over his shoulder.
“Let him in.” Kahori shrugged. It seemed silly to make them talk through a gap in the door when she was decent and he might have information she’d like to hear firsthand.
“You’re sure?” Tosin asked. She nodded.
When he admitted the man, who was probably around Banks’ age, she smiled. Or at least she tried to. When her lips stung, she thought she might have reopened one of the cuts there. Dr. Kleveno was quick to daub some petroleum jelly on the area to keep it pliable. Kahori lifted her finger to the tender site, shocked by how puffy it was. Hey, maybe it gave her a sexy pout, she thought, trying to make the most of an awful situation. It was that or break down, and she didn’t want to go that route. It would only make her pounding headache worse.
The new arrival studied her intently as he approached. “Captain Alex,” he said in an efficient, staccato greeting that seemed as no-nonsense as the man himself. Fine silver lines in his otherwise dark hair and well-trimmed beard granted him an air of authority appropriate for the person ultimately responsible for the entire Divemaster. He was a little taller than average and sturdily built. He wouldn’t be easy to push over in any sense of the phrase.
Kahori knew men like Archer, Miguel, Tosin, and Banks wouldn’t entrust the ship and their own lives to just anyone. Dr. Kleveno stared at the captain as if he were a legend in his own right. Though she was easily ten—or even fifteen—years younger than the captain, Dr. Kleveno seemed awfully interested in him. She pushed her purple glasses up her freckled nose with her index finger. Possibly so she could see him better.
Trying not to grin, Kahori peeked at Tosin. He was glancing between the two crew members with interest. Meddling matchmakers on Aitutaki would have hooked those two up in a second.
When the captain held out his hand to Kahori, she shook it. He held her in a surprisingly gentle grip. She figured her torn nails and bruised knuckles had something to do with his overabundance of caution. Either that or she looked like the kind of woman who required a delicate touch.
Compared to Waverly, Sabine, and Dr. Kleveno, Kahori wasn’t sure she stacked up to the strong females he was used to, though she planned to change his mind. “Nice to meet you, though I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“I have a feeling we would have been introduced to each other soon enough no matter what.” He looked pointedly at Tosin, who had parked himself at her side like a guard dog. Then Captain Alex asked, “If it’s not too upsetting, can you tell me anything you remember that might help identify the people who hurt you? Either of you, really. The guys radioed in. They could use direction.”
“When I ran up, I heard one of the guys threatening her. They were interrogating her.” Tosin punched his fist into his opposite palm. “I couldn’t quite hear it all. More of their tone than the specifics, really.”
Her memory was still sort of foggy, but his nugget of information jogged her recollection. “They kept asking me where he was. Where the good stuff was, too. They also called me some kind of insult when I couldn’t figure out who or what they meant. It sounded like yariman, which isn’t a Māori word or one in any of the Cook Islands dialects that I know.”
Captain Alex tensed, his face turning purple. He didn’t look at her when he explained, “It’s Japanese for slut.” When Tosin shot him a bewildered look, the guy shrugged. “I was stationed in Okinawa for nearly four years during my time in the Navy.”
Kahori shuddered. “I guess that makes sense. Tosin’s right. They did threaten me. They said something about getting what they were owed, even if it meant…uh…selling me.”
There really wasn’t a more polite way to say that they’d planned to whore her out to rapists, was there?
Tosin growled. He breathed hard, reacting more strongly than she would have imagined to that bit of news.
“I’m sure they were only bluffing.” She patted his forearm. “Trying to scare me.”
Which had worked, by the way. Though she didn’t intend to highlight her cowardice for them.
“Have you had dealings with any Japanese buyers lately?” Captain Alex asked her.
“Thanks to modern technology, I do ship all over the world. We send out orders once a week. I don’t remember there being any to Japan in the past month or so, though. Nothing major for certain.” She shrugged halfheartedly. “It has to be some sort of mix-up.”
“That’s a hell of a swing and a miss if so.” Tosin wrapped his arm around her and scooted her closed to his side. “Regardless, no one’s getting near you again. I swear it.”
Kahori leaned against Tosin, closing her eyes. All she really wanted was to lie down somewhere dark and comfortable until her pāpā arrived, hopefully with some explanations.
“Can I take her to my cabin now? Is it okay for her to sleep?” Tosin asked Dr. Kleveno, who nodded.
She spoke directly to Kahori when she said, “Unless you’d prefer to stay in here. We have rooms set up for the people en route to participate in Sabine’s trials.”
“Thank you.” She appreciated the out ,though it wasn’t necessary. “I’d rather go with him.”
“I don’t blame you.” Dr. Kleveno grinned. “I would too if I were you. The offer stands if you change your mind. There’s room and I can keep an eye on you. Otherwise, I’ll come check on you in a few hours and bring your next dose of painkillers.”
Then she turned to Tosin. “Don’t let her get out of bed unless it’s to use the bathroom.”
“I can do that.” He nodded, taking his caretaker duties very seriously.
When Kahori would have hopped down, Tosin scooped her into his arms instead. Captain Alex opened the door so they could pass. “I hope you’re feeling better soon. It pains me to admit it, at the risk of overinflating their egos, but these kids have excellent taste in women. You’re going to fit right in here.”
Kahori winced. She wouldn’t be onboard long enough to become integrated into their gang. Why did that thought upset her? The captain’s compliments meant a lot in any case. “Thank you.”
She tried to stay alert as Tosin carried her through the ship. It was gorgeous. Beyond anything she could have imagined even after the luxurious hotel stays she’d splurged on every once in a while for her business trips.
“I can’t believe that Archer—all of you—have pockets deep enough to own all this, and yet he chose to buy Waverly a ring from my shop. Now I get why he asked you about whether he was doing the right thing by not opting for a more traditional stone.” She sighed. “He coul
d always give her my ring for her birthday or Christmas or something and pick up a mega-diamond worthy of a billionaire’s wife.”
“Believe it or not, he’s not like that. Waverly isn’t either.” Tosin laughed. “None of us are. I hope it doesn’t disappoint you that I might technically be rich, but I’m still a poor slob at heart. That ring is perfect for her. You’ll see when he gives it to her.”
Kahori winced. “Yeah. You’ll have to videotape his proposal if you can. I’d love to see it.” Because surely they’d be long gone before he popped the question.
In fact, after today, maybe they’d be departing sooner than scheduled. She wouldn’t blame them for leaving this mess in their rearview mirror. If megayachts even had rearview mirrors.
Staying silent, the craftsman in her settled for observing the fine woodwork and blown glass waves that enhanced the interior of the space as they made their way to the other side of the ship where the owners’ quarters were. Right about the time she suspected Tosin had walked halfway back to Aitutaki, he stopped in front of his door and keyed in a code.
Unlike Dr. Kleveno, he didn’t ask her where she wanted to sleep. Which was fine by her.
If she was being honest, she couldn’t stomach the thought of being alone when she drifted off. Didn’t care to wake up by herself in an unfamiliar place, either.
He set her on her feet long enough to slip the pareu from around her and toss it into a wad in the corner of his enormous quarters. She didn’t blame him. It horrified her that she might stain something in his gleaming, pristine personal space. The linens on the enormous bed were the same steel blue as his eyes. Drawings of fish and sea creatures hung in shiny metal frames, and the modern shelving around the desk held an assortment of orchids and nanogardens.
It immediately felt like a place she could be comfortable.