“Han has his own starship.”
She pursed her lips, losing steam with her argument for the first time since they’d started talking about the best all-time movie heroes.
The sun was almost down, the fading light giving more than enough for him to clearly see every sexy expression play across her face. His favorite was when her nose scrunched up right before she got good and worked up, like when they’d debated who would win a verbal sparring match—Sherlock Holmes or Captain Jack Sparrow.
A humming sound broke the lull of the waves rolling up the beach, and he sat up, hunting for the source.
Looking sleepy, Darby sat up. “What is that?”
A dot on the horizon started to take shape. “Is that…” squinting as if it might bring the object into better focus, he crawled out from under the shelter and stood, “…a boat?”
Launching herself to her feet, Darby threw herself at him, wrapping an arm around his neck. “A boat! They found us.”
He frowned. “Why haven’t we seen Alex or Tate? Wouldn’t they have teleported directly to us and told us someone was coming?”
Darby’s smile fell, but she shook her head, yanking on shorts and a shirt. “Maybe they still can’t. Maybe there was a functioning transmitter on the plane after all.”
Telling himself to hurry, he yanked on his own clothes, his excitement slow to rise. He should be relieved that they’d be getting off the island and he could get his leg looked at, but all he could do was stare at the blanket that had been wrapped around Darby only moments ago. He could still feel her warmth curled against him and the slow sweep of her fingers as she drew them back and forth across his chest.
Faced with returning to their families, all he wanted was to stay right here, alone with Darby. They’d only finally made their peace with the past and already the present was going to shove its way back in before they’d had enough time together.
He knew their families weren’t the only reasons things had gone all to hell in the past, and if Finn and Bree could get past it, so could he and Darby. But he couldn’t shake the doubt that when they were back home, away from all this, they’d end up right back where they’d left off.
They could make things work here, but their track record in the real world left a little to be desired. What if what they had, what they’d found, wouldn’t be enough when they left?
No, he couldn’t let himself worry about that. They’d be fine. They had to be.
“What’s wrong?” She paused at the entrance to their shelter.
“Nothing. Just my leg,” he lied.
A grin flashed across her face. “Hurry,” she hollered then ran down to the beach.
Unable to keep up with her, he watched her wave her arms. “They’re going the wrong way,” she said when he reached the water’s edge.
“The fire.” Pivoting around, she sprinted for the signal fire.
He limped after her. “We won’t get it lit in time.” The boat was moving too fast and would disappear around the point in less than a minute.
“Yes, we will.” She pulled her arm out of the sling. “I think it’s healed enough.”
“Darby, wait—”
“Incendia exuro.” Her amulet brightened, but quickly fizzled out.
Nothing happened. “It’s still too soon.” Not wanting to lose sight of the boat entirely, he grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of the point. “This way.”
“It’s moving too fast.” Her breath came in pants as they moved through the shallow water, wading up to their knees at a couple places to get past the rocky point.
“There are other beaches. Maybe they’re just guessing which one to land on.” A biting heat sank its teeth into his leg with every step, but he didn’t slow down, especially not when Darby moved ahead of him.
They didn’t spot the boat around the next point, but he was sure he could still hear the engine running. It couldn’t be much farther. The beach turned increasingly rocky, forcing them onto the shore and inside the shadows of the trees. Keeping as close to the water as they could, they moved at a steady pace, slowing only when the fading light made it hard to see the branches crisscrossing in front of them.
Twice more Darby tried to use her magic, determined to light their way with her amulet. The second time he thought she’d pulled it off, but only sparks the size of fireflies chased back the darkness—for a whole five seconds.
“Damn it.” She wiped at something on her forehead, and he didn’t tell her he thought she might have just walked through a spider web. She was already moving fast enough that he struggled to keep up.
The ground sloped away from them, forcing them to go slower. He should have been grateful for that, but it meant putting more weight on his bad leg to maintain his balance.
“I can hear the boat. We’re getting closer,” she called back a short time later.
He could barely make her out, the dense underbrush all but devouring any of the light from the rising moon. Darby disappeared through the trees ahead of him. Voices carried from out on the water, and he pushed himself to move faster. He shoved through the last tangle of branches, the sharp ends scratching his bare legs.
“Wait.”
Darby’s hand shot out from the left, grabbing his arm. If not for his leg, she might not have been able to stop him before he stepped beyond the tree line.
“What?”
“It’s not them.” She tugged him deeper into the surrounding vegetation, pointing through the trees to where four people climbed from the illuminated boat to the smaller craft tied up behind it. It reminded Bryce of the inflatable boats that organizations like Greenpeace used to slow down whaling ships.
Darby pointed to the hull of the boat anchored just offshore, her voice lowered. “The boat’s called the Sea Witch.”
Why did that sound so familiar? He waited for her to elaborate.
“It’s the boat that Patrick gave his girlfriend Tiffany for an engagement present. The same Patrick that was shot the other night and whose father pretended otherwise.”
With that kind of attention to detail, Darby would have made an impressive lawyer. Still, he shook his head. “We don’t know—”
“I do,” she interrupted. “I know it was him, Bryce. He was bleeding all over me. It was Patrick, and for some reason his father didn’t want anyone to know.”
“You think he was involved,” he guessed. Darby’s insistence that night, coupled with Mr. Dunham’s arrogance, had stuck in Bryce’s mind, but after fighting with his father and then dealing with Darby, he been too exhausted to think about anything else.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Either way, that boat being here… It’s just weird.”
“It could be just a coincidence. Maybe it just has the same name.”
“And our plane crash?” She glanced back at the small boat that was almost to the rocky beach. “There was a man you didn’t recognize outside the plane the morning we took off.”
Brows drawn tight, he kept his attention fixed on the boat. “He was just filling in for the regular maintenance guy.”
“Which one of us are you trying to convince?”
The inflatable boat reached the shore, and Bryce thought he heard crying. Two people stumbled out of the boat, followed by two men.
Bryce tensed. “They’re armed.”
“Jesus. They’re pirates,” she hissed, then as she realized what was about to happen, she shot him a terrified look. “They’re going to shoot those people. We have to do something.” She bolted to her feet, but that was as far as she made it before Bryce snagged her arm and yanked her back down.
“They have guns, we don’t. And our magic isn’t working.”
“We can’t just sit here—”
A gunshot, followed by a woman’s scream shattered the calm night. The man pitched forward in the sand, the woman crumpling next to him after a second shot was fired.
But the worst sound of all—a small, frightened gasp—was the one that had the two armed m
en moving in their direction.
* * *
“Don’t move,” Bryce whispered against her ear, his arm sliding around her, heat-covered steel that promised no one was getting near her.
A move not to shelter her, she realized, as much as to propel her into a run if it came to that.
A sound, a horrible whimper that came from down by the boats, stopped the two men from advancing. Without a word spoken between the two, the man farther away turned back around and fired another round into the woman’s body.
Darby jolted, pressing closer to Bryce. She didn’t want to look anymore, didn’t want to be here, but didn’t dare take her eyes off the men.
Could they have been the same two who’d chased them through the woods? Had Patrick discovered that his father was part of a pirating ring? Or maybe he’d been part of it and something had gone wrong.
The closest man continued to advance, peering into the jungle, a predator on the hunt. Frozen in place, her last breath held hostage by her lungs, she could only squeeze Bryce’s hand.
“The boss is waitin’,” the farther guy called out with an accent that might have been Jamaican or another Caribbean dialect.
She didn’t recognize his voice, but there was no denying the significance of the Sea Witch’s presence now.
Had that boat belonged to the couple that had been left for dead and set adrift in the raft that ended up washing ashore in St. Lucia?
Bryce didn’t loosen his grip until the two men climbed back into the inflatable boat and started the motor.
“They’re just going to leave them there.”
“We can’t do anything about that.”
The boat pulled away from the shore, heading back toward the Sea Witch.
“What if those people are still alive?”
Bryce didn’t say anything.
She heard a larger motor start up moments after the two men reached their destination, but didn’t take her eyes off the two motionless figures lying on the beach.
“We need to go.” He waited for the Sea Witch to go back around the next point before standing.
Her legs shook as he tugged her up next to him. He turned back in the direction they’d come from.
“Bryce.”
He glanced from the gunned-down couple to her. “You will not move. I’ll check on them, but only if you promise not to take a single step.”
Recognizing his courtroom tone that left no room for debate, she gave a sharp nod.
His expression betrayed the level of pain he had to be feeling as he shifted his weight. “I mean it,” he warned, then carefully picked his way along the short slope that led to the beach.
He’d almost reached the couple when a branch snapped directly behind Darby.
Her heart torpedoed into her throat, and she whirled around.
“You’re okay!” A muffled squeal preceded the hug that drove the last of the oxygen out of Darby’s atmosphere.
“Tate?” Darby’s cousin was drenched and covered in mud, her long brown hair hanging across her face, barely masking the scratches on her cheeks. “What happened to you?”
“I’d ask you the same but we’re all pretty sure we know that story. I almost couldn’t believe it when I sensed you again. Then I got a little lost trying to find you two. Would have helped if you guys had crashed on a slightly smaller island.”
“Next time,” she joked, relief sliding through her.
“Where’s Bryce? Is he okay?” Tate glanced around.
“He hurt his leg pretty bad—”
“But, I’m okay,” he finished. He shook his head at Darby, letting her know neither one of the people on the beach had survived.
Unaware of the events that had taken place moments before her arrival, Tate let out another half squeal and hugged Bryce, too. “Everyone’s been so worried about you guys. Alex even cut off his cast, determined to find you first. And Dante,” Tate began, “I don’t need to tell you what he’s been like.” She pulled in another breath, looking almost as excited as Darby felt.
“We’re glad you found us.”
She hugged Darby again. “Here.” She shoved a device into Darby’s hand that looked a little like a stopwatch. “Keep this with you. It’s transmitting your location. It’s how we’ll find you as soon as we can get mobilized.”
“That will be interesting to explain to the local authorities.”
“Dante or someone will just make it look as though the beacon on the plane kicked in or something.” Tate frowned. “Where is the plane, anyway? Is that where the pilot is?”
“He didn’t make it,” Bryce answered, his face stoic. “The plane is a little less than a half hour from here.”
Tate frowned. “Weird time to take a walk, isn’t it?”
“We were scavenging for a fresh-water source,” Bryce lied.
“Need anything else?”
The two of them looked at each other, shrugging. If rescue wasn’t far off they could make do with what they had.
“Be right back.” Tate took a long look around, mentally cataloging their immediate surroundings, Darby guessed, and then vanished.
Darby shivered and leaned into Bryce, tucking her face against his chest. “How long do you think until they’ll get to us?”
“Depends.” He ran his hand up and down her back. “A few hours maybe or by morning. I imagine your brother will have them en route as soon as he can manage it.”
“Here.”
She jumped at Tate’s sudden reappearance, having had her fill of unexpected company for one day.
Her cousin waited while Darby stuffed the transmitter in her pocket then took a couple bottles of water Tate handed over. “I’ll be back to check on you guys later. I want to stay, but everyone will want to hear that you guys are okay first.” After another hug, Tate stepped back and vanished.
Waiting a few seconds to be sure her cousin was really gone, she glanced at Bryce. “You didn’t tell her what happened to those people.”
“It’ll only make her and everyone else worry. We’re okay and soon enough they’ll be here to pick us up.”
“Maybe we should just wait here.”
Bryce shook his head. “My bandage needs to be changed and we should try to sleep. It could still be hours before they show up.”
At the mention of the bandage, she glanced down to see blood running down his leg. “Guess we should have asked Tate for some of those too. Or some stronger meds for the pain.”
Bryce slipped an arm around her shoulders, leaning on her as they headed back to the plane. “I’ve lasted this long.”
The hike back took twice as long, and they were both limping by the time they rounded the last point. All Darby could think about was getting off her feet, curling up next to Bryce and forgetting about what they’d witnessed tonight.
Tomorrow they’d be headed back to the real world, for good this time, and she wasn’t quite sure where she and Bryce stood. They’d definitely made some strides in healing old wounds and moving forward, she just wasn’t sure what exactly they were moving toward.
As far as she knew, Bryce didn’t know what to do about his career. Had the crash given him some perspective? What if he changed his mind when they got home and went back to working for the DA’s office?
She hated the thought of being on opposite sides of anything when it came to Bryce, especially work. She’d seen firsthand exactly what that did to them, the people it made them, and she couldn’t do that again.
Wouldn’t do that again.
She knew she was getting ahead of herself. They hadn’t even been rescued yet, but with every step, every minute that brought them closer to going home, she felt the doubts creep in.
Bryce’s feet stalled, and she glanced up to see what the problem was.
The signal fire, the one her magic had refused to light—at least she thought it had—blazed like a campsite bonfire.
Yes! Darby grinned. “All that’s missing are the s’mores.”
Bryce d
idn’t look nearly as thrilled about the return of her magic.
She tried not to let that bug her.
He scanned the water, then looked back at the plane. “We need to hurry.” He picked up the pace as they reached the last stretch of their beach. “Gather a few things we need for the night. That fire could lead the pirates right back to us. We can’t stay here.”
“A little late for that,” came a voice from the shadows, halting her and Bryce in the sand.
The two men stepped from the cover of the surrounding jungle. “You two will need to come with us.”
* * *
Darby’s magic was still not working.
She gave Bryce a frustrated look from where she sat across from him, on the other side of the small kitchen table belowdecks on the Sea Witch. Her latest attempt to melt through the zip ties that secured her wrists behind her back left only the smell of burnt plastic on the air—and half-melted salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table.
“They hurt your arm again,” he growled, looking ready to again attack the guy who’d nearly dislocated her shoulder getting the restraints on. “Now I know how Dante felt.”
He was bringing up Dante now? “Which time are you talking about?” Half hoping she’d managed to at least weaken the ties, she tugged despite the flare of discomfort that ripped through her shoulder.
“Shut up!” a voice hollered from above.
She arched a brow, waiting for Bryce to explain.
“I’ll tell you about it later.” He kept his voice at a whisper.
“There might not be a later.”
They’d been onboard the Sea Witch for at least an hour as far as Darby could tell, with no idea where they were going. The transmitter still safely tucked in her pocket would have made her feel better if she weren’t worried they’d end up like the couple on the beach before their families caught up with them.
“We survived a plane crash. We’ll survive this too.”
She couldn’t tell if he really believed that or if he was just trying to keep her positive. She really wanted to be, but somewhere between the shooting and their abduction she’d lost some of her usual optimism.
Must Be Magic (Spellbound Book 4) Page 19