by Unknown
“Stop jacking off and help me get his pants down,” Zaden ordered.
Kane frowned. “Just kill him and be done with it.”
From the corner of his eyes, Blake saw the one called Zaden turn toward Kane. The man’s eyes reminded him of a snake’s, lifeless and inhuman.
“Help me.” Zaden positioned himself behind Blake. “I’ve got a load to get rid of and he’s pretty enough for me.”
Kane didn’t argue. He unfastened Blake’s jeans and jerked them down around his legs taking his briefs with them. Blake grunted and twisted, but Zaden’s lock on his neck prevented his escape. “You sonsofbitches,” he groaned.
“Stick a gag in his mouth,” Zaden ordered. “I don’t want him bringing down the motel manager or nosy guests.”
Kane grunted, wadded a handkerchief and crammed it in Blake’s mouth. Dragging a second one from Zaden’s slacks pocket, he knotted it behind the deputy’s head. “There. That outta keep him quiet.”
“Take a walk,” Zaden said, unzipping his pants and freeing his cock. He picked up his knife and dragged it slowly down one side of Blake’s spine, then up the other side. Blake twisted in agony, moaned, but the sound was muffled. He shuddered, praying for a quick death. He’d join Anna Leigh soon.
His little girl.
God, please take care of my baby.
Blake blinked, fighting the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him. Lord how his gut burned. He wondered how long it’d take for him to die.
Kane clenched his jaw. “For God’s sake, Zaden, are you planning to skin him alive? Here?”
“I might. Now, walk.”
He hesitated.
“I said, take a fucking walk. Give me a couple of hours. I should be finished by then and so will he.”
* * * *
Kane closed the door to his room with a soft click and hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the door knob. Sometimes he really hated Zaden. The man could be an animal when the mood struck him. He had a feeling it was going to take his partner longer than two hours. It was going to take some time for that deputy to die the very slow and painful death Zaden planned for the man.
Kane walked away, hunching his shoulders deeper inside his coat. Shit! He hated the cold. But he really detested the bloody mess that would be waiting to be cleaned up in the motel room when he returned.
Zaden tended to get a bit carried away.
He almost felt sorry for the deputy.
Almost.
Three hours later, Kane returned to the rundown motel. Entering the room, he paused and wrinkled his nose. Bad didn’t give enough credit to the scene that greeted him or to Zaden. The man was a coldblooded exterminator. Kane swore Zaden had slush running through his veins instead of blood. He’d forgotten just how meticulous his partner could be with a knife, how exact when he butchered a man or a woman.
For some reason, he hadn’t anticipated the strong, coppery scent of blood mixed with the musky scent of sex to lie like layers of smoke in the air. He licked his dry lips and tasted both on his tongue. They usually did their killing in the jungles and plenty of fresh air. Enclosed inside this small room, the smell of death smothered everything. Nearly gagging, Kane turned his face away from the grizzly sight of the deputy’s body. He’d never much cared for seeing the end results of Zaden’s viciousness.
Still naked and covered in the lawman’s blood, Zaden picked up the knife on the bed, leaned around the deputy, and dragged the sharp blade across the man’s throat. “Fait accompli,” he muttered, shoving the lawman down on the bloody sheets. A soft gurgle, and it was over, finished. “You timed your return just right.”
“Well, it took you long enough,” Kane said, bored.
Zaden shrugged. “I like to take my time. Wrap him in the sheets while I shower. His scent saturates me.”
Kane doubted that. More likely it was Zaden’s odor bombarding the air, at least the reeking stench of sex part. The blood was entirely the deputy’s. He busied himself rolling the body onto a sheet, tied a knot, then dragged the deputy higher onto the bed. One of these days, Zaden was going to have to clean up his own messes, but he guessed today wasn’t that day.
Piling the comforter and pillows on top of the lawman, he stepped away from the bed. He didn’t like this shit. He hadn’t come here to kill a fucking lawman. He wanted Jayla. He wanted to make her pay for what she’d done. Make her shut up for what she’d witnessed in the bloody elevator. He sighed. Hell, if he was honest, he just wanted her.
He’d never fucked a man. Sure, he’d watched Zaden pump away inside a male several times when they’d captured guerilla soldiers in the jungle. His partner knew how to extract information from their prey, but he’d never got Zaden’s desire for men.
To each his own, he supposed.
He’d much rather screw a beautiful woman. Zaden had no preference. He liked either.
To him, that was just freaking crazy. It was a fucked up world.
Grabbing Blake’s jeans, he took out the wallet and prowled through it. Three hundred bucks. He folded up the bills and stuck them in his pocket. Curious, he flipped through the pictures. A beautiful woman with long, ebony colored hair stared back at him with dark, accusing eyes. He flipped it over and read the writing scrawled on the back.
To my wonderful husband, Love, Anna Leigh.
He frowned at another picture of a gravestone with the woman’s name engraved on it. Too bad. She’d recently died. He wondered how a woman so young had come to an early end. A third picture showed the deputy, his wife, and a dark haired little girl standing between them.
Shit! The child was now an orphan.
Kane took the folded bills from his pocket, crammed them back inside the wallet and stuffed it inside the discarded jeans. Very carefully, he shoved the jeans inside the sheet with the body. Hell, he was guilty of a lot of bad things, but stealing from a little girl wasn’t one of them. The kid would need the money.
Zaden returned with a towel wrapped around his hips. He eyed Kane’s handiwork. “That’ll work. If a maid glances in, she won’t even see the body.”
“That’s the idea,” Kane said. “Do you think next time you can manage not to spill so much damn blood? I had to flip the fucking mattress over. I come across those snowmobiles when I was in town.”
“Did you, now? Where?” Zaden fished out shirt, socks, and a pair of jeans from his suitcase. “I bought thermals. Did you?”
Kane nodded. “Found the snowmobiles behind the local drinking establishment. The two men bellied up to the bar looked like they were going to be there for a while. I paid for several rounds that’ll help keep ‘em busy for a long time. And, yes. I bought warm clothes. This isn’t the first time I’ve hunted in a blizzard or the fucking mountains.”
Zaden finished dressing, grinning. “You’re out of sorts. Maybe you should have stuck around and took a turn with that deputy.”
“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” Kane said. “This place gives me the jitters.”
“I’m ready.” Zaden slid his knife in its holder and strapped it round his lean waist. “First, we gotta take care of that nosy old man at the store. Don’t want him gossiping, now do we?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far.
~Paulo Coelho
Montana
West side of Dancing Star
February 22, Sunday
7:00 a.m.
“How long’s it gonna take to reach your brother’s ranch?” Jayla yelled from the travois. Bouncing along on the rough ride was not her idea of fun, but she guessed it was better than hours in the saddle. The wind, which had started to rise a half hour earlier, carried her words away.
She wasn’t sure if Wild heard her or not.
She shoved a strand of hair inside the lady’s Stetson covering her head. Wild had shoved it on her head just before they left the cabin.
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“Compliments of my sister,” he’d said, jamming his own hat in place.
Jayla adjusted the Stetson to suit herself. She hoped the soft rose color complimented her, and that she didn’t look like an idiot wearing it. “Does your sister always leave things behind when she visits?”
“Yep. Dianna has her wardrobe scattered from here to New York. Whatever she brings with her, whether she’s visiting me or one of my brothers, stays behind. She hates packing.”
“Well, thank goodness for your sister.”
Wild had agreed. “I’ll be glad when she’s back in Montana where she belongs.”
Curious, Jayla looked up from packing clothes for their journey. Wild so rarely mentioned his family. When he did, she wanted to learn everything she could about them. They were important to him, so therefore important to her. “Where is she?”
For a moment, Wild had looked away and she’d known whatever he felt, his emotions ran deep. “She nearly got killed in a plane crash in Australia. She’s in a hospital there. It’s going to be a long time before she can fly back home.”
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
He nodded. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it so she hadn’t push him for details. Jayla sighed. Wild wasn’t a man who easily shared the things that deeply affected him. Maybe one day he’d trust her enough with his heart. Maybe.
Now, he turned in the saddle his gaze tracking over her. “Stay under the furs. I don’t want you getting frostbite.”
She wiggled back under the covers, but kept her head stuck out like a turtle so she could see him. Besides, the Stetson helped protect her face and ears. “I take it this is it going to be a long journey?”
“Depends on the weather or if we have to hole up for any length of time. It isn’t going to be an easy journey, Jayla, but if all goes well we’ll reach Dancing Star in four, maybe five days.”
“We have enough food for that many days?” Terror struck her with the swiftness of an arrow. With her diabetes, she had to eat or her sugar would bottom out on her.
“There’s enough for six days. After that, I’ll hunt if I need to.”
He faced back around.
Jayla glared at his back. “Hunt? The higher we climb, the fewer animals there’ll be to hunt,” she said to his back.
“You’d be surprised at just how many animals remain in the higher elevations,” he flung over his shoulder. “We won’t starve.
“I don’t eat meat.”
“Huh. Guess you will if you’re hungry.”
She nodded. He was right. She’d have little choice. She had to eat. She shivered and snuggled deeper into the furs. The higher they climbed, the colder it got. The wind buffeted the trees with gale force winds, howling and racing through the timber, slashing into them and the animals like the blade of a knife.
Jayla was cozy riding on the travois, but Wild was taking the brunt of it exposed as he was on the mare. He’d made sure she had plenty of covers, plus, he’d loaned her one of his flannel shirts to wear over the thermal top she wore. Both items were much warmer than any of her thin shirts even if the flannel was several sizes too big.
This idleness drove her nuts, lying here, riding along without contributing anything made her feel pretty useless. Suddenly she realized what a burden she was for him. If it was just him, he’d travel faster. But then, if it was just him, he’d have no need to travel at all. She’d really dragged him into her messy life without considering the serious consequences to him.
“I’m so sorry I got you into this,” she cried.
He looked over his shoulder, pulled his Stetson down a notch, and gripped the reins a little tighter. “You had…have a baby to think about. You didn’t get me into anything I wasn’t willing to jump into feet first. Now get under those covers and stay under them.”
She grinned and saluted.
“Smartass,” he muttered.
Jayla burrowed under the furs as he’d ordered, but she wasn’t used to beinginactive. Normally she kept busy, rushing about D.C. There was always something to occupy her mind, her time. Three hours since they’d left the cabin and already she was bored and tired of looking at the ass-end of the mare Wild called Rosie. What she wanted was in that saddle either in front of him or behind him. She didn’t care which, as long as she was close to him.
She hated this gap. Her on the travois. Wild on horseback.
Was it his way of erecting yet another barrier between them? She prayed not.
There wasn’t much she could do about it since he’d insisted she ride on the animal-pulled sled. Damn it, she knew he was right. Four or five days in a saddle were insane for her to attempt.
Since leaving this morning, the only time he’d looked back was when she said something first. No matter how many times he made love to her, kissed her, held her close, he kept that invisible wall erected so high, she couldn’t possibly climb over or break it down.
Jayla tried to ignore the hurt deep inside. She’d made a bad mistake with him when she hadn’t agreed to marry him. He’d withdrawn the proposal and crawled back inside his old shell. She could have wept, except she knew her tears wouldn’t move him, not enough. Once again he was on guard with her.
Wild twisted in the saddle, looking back at her. “We’ll hit the first mountain trail in another hour. From there, things will get a bit hairy.”
“Why?” She didn’t like the sound of that.
“The trail’s narrow, steep, and sure to be icy…a dangerous combination, plus, it’s one-sided. The right side is a sheer drop-off. If one of the animals slips, bail out of that travois.”
Jayla shivered. This was so not good. “We better stop now then, huh?”
“For?” he inquired.
“I gotta pee.”
The pained expression on his face made her giggle even though she realized there was nothing about this journey funny or remotely entertaining for him. Poor man. He might as well get used to it. Pregnant women had to pee and they had to do it rather often.
“You going to be doing this much?” he inquired in a gruff voice.
She grinned. “What?”
He coughed, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. “You know…taking a trip behind the bushes.”
“‘Fraid so.”
Wild climbed off the mare to help her up from the travois. The horse nickered and pawed the snow. Chunks of ice flew through the air landing a few feet away.
“Whoa, girl. Steady there.” He tightened his hold on the reins, narrowed his eyes, and searched the trail they’d just broke through the timber. Jayla followed his gaze but didn’t see anything to upset the mare.
Letting go of the reins, Wild locked his hands around her waist and lifted her off the bedding. For a moment, he hung onto her, his fingers digging into her flesh. “Don’t wander too far. There.” He pointed to the nearest clump of bushes. “Go behind there.” He moved back to the mare and slid the rifle out of its boot. Working the lever, he stood there, fierce, and on guard.
“What’s wrong? Did you see something?” God, had Kane caught up with them?
“Wolves. They’ve picked up the trail. Damn.”
She whirled and stared in the same area he was watching. “I don’t see anything.”
“Nope. Neither do I. I know they’re there and so do the horses. Go on. Get behind those bushes and let’s get the hell outta here.”
Jayla picked her way through the virgin snow. She wasn’t cold, not really, but she couldn’t undo the button on her jeans with the thick gloves covering her hands. She jerked them off and flung them on the ground. Crossing her legs, she hopped up and down as she unfastened the tight denim hugging her waist. God, if she didn’t get them down, she was going to wet herself. Skinning the jeans down her hips, she squatted behind the bushes, sighing with relief. With her having to make frequent stops, this was going to be a longer trip than Wild had figured on. The cold didn’t help matters either. It just made her have to go that much more often.
I
t didn’t take her long to do what she needed to do. She rose and refastened her jeans. Looking around, Jayla was certain she’d dropped her gloves nearby, but she didn’t see them. Where were they? Ah, there they were several steps away. She hadn’t realized she’d tossed them so far away. Heading toward them, she caught a movement from the corner of her left eye. Jayla swiftly turned in that direction. Gasping, she clutched her heart.
“Oh, shit.” Her breath caught in her throat. She literally danced up and down on the snow, unable to run, unable to stand still. “Shit! Wild,” she screamed.
“What is it?” He called to her, but for the life of her, she couldn’t answer him. Her voice had closed as tight as a clam guarding its pearl.
“Jayla?”
She wasn’t hopping about like a crippled rabbit now. Instead, she stood there like a statue. Should she run? Or stay put?
“Don’t move.” Wild’s voice came from behind her. He locked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his body.
“Shouldn’t we run?” she inquired, barely able to get the words past her frozen lips.
“No. He’s just sizing us up. He’s not going to strike without his pack. Go on,” Wild shouted at the lone wolf. “Get outta here!” He waved the rifle, yelling, and whistling. Startled, the wild animal took off at a lope, but stopped a short distance away and stared at them with burning yellow eyes.
“He’s not afraid of us,” she whispered.
“Nope. He knows he has us outnumbered.”
“He’s that intelligent?”
“They’re that cunning. When it comes to hunting, they’re a sophisticated unit working as one. They can bring down an elk with little trouble.”
“Oh. I don’t think I needed to know that,” she replied.
“Let’s get outta here,” Wild said and pulled her along with him.
Jayla stumbled a few steps before she remembered. “Wait! My gloves. I left them behind.”They turned and her heart jumped into her throat. “Oh, it has my gloves.” The wolf playfully tossed one of the pink gloves in the air before ripping it to shreds.