by Teagan Kade
He nods. “A little warning next time before you take on another creature of Satan, huh?”
I laugh, overwhelmed by the adrenaline and the incredible thing that just happened. “That was amazing… I hope he’s okay. Hurt the way he was—”
“Something tells me no cougar or bear is stupid enough to take the chance,” Deric mutters. “Ow, shit.”
I look over, alarmed. He’s grabbing his arm. I realize there’s blood on his sleeve.
“You’re not okay.” I grab his hand and pull the arm towards me. “Come on, I’ve got some first-aid stuff in my pack.”
“Whatever you say, Florence Nightingale,” he says in his usual smooth voice but there’s a crack there that tells me it’s for show and leaves me concerned. The fact I can tell the difference is alarming.
I reach into my pack and pull out my kit, motioning for him to sit down. Rolling up his sleeve, I realize he was bitten. “How did that happen?” I ask, surprised.
“Well, it was about to take your head off, so I stopped it,” he says nonchalantly, as if he’d only held the door open for me. I’m stunned. I don’t know what to say, so I focus on cleaning his cut out with my travel-sized hydrogen peroxide. He flinches, barely.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“It’s fine,” he grinds out, as I splash it again for good measure. Animal bites are laden with nasty bacteria. A little pain now is better than losing the limb later. Still, I feel horrible he got bitten because of me.
“We’ll need to get this checked out, and you should get a rabies shot to be safe,” I say, placing gauze pads over the torn flesh gently and binding it in place with adhesive medical wrap. I place my hand over the wound and look up at him. “I’m really sorry… I don’t know how to repay you.”
I can see the flash of white teeth as he grins. “How about you put on a cute little nurse’s outfit and give me the shot yourself?”
I roll my eyes. “I’m being serious here. I didn’t mean to put you at risk too.”
“But you’re okay with putting yourself in serious danger.” It sounds like an accusation. My walls go up instantly in defense.
“No, I just didn’t… I didn’t think about it. I just acted. Like you don’t know what that’s like?”
His eyes narrow back at me. “Meaning what exactly?”
“Oh, come on, you’re exactly the same. I’ve heard the stories about you and the ‘devils,’ I know you all fly by the seat of your pants, put yourselves in crazy situations, that you’re adrenaline junkies. Jasper told me too how you go out on climbs alone without any ropes or anything. Then there’s your other reputation, so don’t try and get all high and mighty with me.”
Deric’s head tilts and the golden streaks in his hair flash as he does. “Hell of a way to say thanks for the help, or sorry, was this an apology? I forget, since it sounds a lot more like a lecture.” His voice is casual, but… something about his energy feels hurt. He stands up and turns away, back towards the direction we came from.
I swallow, feeling immediately guilty, and reach out, stopping him. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to insult you. You’re right… I’m not used to having help.” My hand is on his bicep and it feels so full and hard in my hand. I lick my lips to finish what I’m saying, but he’s turned to look back at me. The moonlight catches the blue of his eyes, reflecting silver and blue back at me in a mesmerizing display.
His mouth quirks in an easy grin. “Go on… you’re off to a good start.”
“Thank you. That’s all I’m trying to say here. Thank you.” I drop my hand from him and pull back, frustrated out of my mind.
“Well, now hold up there just a moment.” He reaches out with his good arm and his hand catches mine.
My breath catches. I can’t resist the pull as he brings me closer. “What?” I ask, but it comes out as more of a sigh than anything else.
“You’re welcome.” His fingers twine in mine and the abrasion of his rough callouses against my hands is a thrill in and of itself.
I’m up against his chest now, nervous and excited, all the residual adrenaline still in my veins. It all feels surreal… like I’m in some sort of waking dream. Our eyes meet, and in that moment I know there is no way this is real life because in real life I don’t react like this to someone I barely know. I don’t go into the woods at night with strange men and look into their eyes and feel like I’m being swallowed whole.
No, this is definitely a dream, so I might as well enjoy it.
He leans toward me, his face angling and I close my eyes, expecting the same soft pressure as before, but this time it’s frenzied and wild. The instant his lips touch mine, all my nerve endings fire at once, shocked to life.
Before I realize what’s happening, there’s something rough pressing against my scalp. His forearm is behind my shoulder blades providing a buffer, but I can tell we’re pressed against a tree. It’s wanton and crazy and, somehow, forbidden. This isn’t the kind of guy I should be kissing, and this isn’t the time for kissing anyone.
I should be focusing on work, but when his hips grind against mine and drive a gasp from my throat, the sound of my own voice, so uninhibited and wild, is strangely arousing. Right now, work is the last thing on my mind.
Deric’s kiss is intoxicating. The more he angles into me, the more he seems intent on devouring me. His mouth traces the line of my jaw down to my collarbone, setting my skin on fire and building a matching hunger inside of me that’s pushing to take control.
Oh god, yes…
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The sound of gunfire brings the whole thing crashing back into reality. It’s close, as are the sounds of engines.
“We need to move… now,” Deric says, pulling away from me.
I nod, but we both see the lights starting to flicker through the brush.
There’s no time to run.
Whatever, whoever, is coming.
And they’re coming fast.
CHAPTER TEN
DERIC
The sound of the engines is growing louder and the bright headlights which flickered through the low-laying vegetation are now clearly outlined. There are several vehicles out there and they’re armed—bad news for us.
My breath comes in a few shallow bursts as panic sets in. My childhood asthma rarely bothers me now, but every now and then I get a brief reminder.
I grab Edie’s hand as we sprint through the underbrush, but soon enough some of the riders break off and circle wide around the area, cutting off our path back up to the ridge. I stop for a moment, trying to assess.
“What are you doing?” Edie whispers to me, her hand still twined with mine.
I crane my neck around, trying to listen and get a sense of where exactly they are. “I’m trying to get us out of here. We can’t go back the way we came. They’re ahead of us.”
“Shit.” I hear her breathe. I squeeze her hand as an idea comes to me.
“Can you climb?” I squint through the darkness, looking for a tree to scale.
“Of course, but I hardly see how that’s relevant right now. Maybe let’s find our way out of here and then chat after?” Briefly, I smile at the irritated tone in her voice. Goddamn, she is difficult.
At least one of the vehicle’s headlights are coming upon us. It’s dark, so that gives us some cover, but if they have night vision we’re not going to be hidden from them for long.
I reach into my pack and pull out the thickest rope, tying it quickly around my waist before grabbing Edie, looping and knotting it as fast as my hands can move.
For a brief moment, as I loop it between her slender thighs, my mind goes to other things I’d rather be doing there, but I push the thought out.
Another time… Definitely another time.
Now that I’ve had a teaser, there is literally no chance I’m not hanging around for the full meal. But for now, we shouldn’t be around when whoever is shooting guns while very illegally driving some kind of four-wheeler in this closed section of
the park at night comes by.
Once we’re both tied together well, I reach up and fit myself as close into the massive split in the trunk of the nearest Great Sequoia and start climbing quickly up. After a few minutes I finally reach the lowest branch. The next branch is only a couple feet up, but the rope is taut, so I wait to feel the slack from Edie before moving on.
But it stays taut. I look down. “Are you coming or what? Start climbing.”
I can’t see her face well, but I can hear the hesitation in her voice. “Climb what? There aren’t even any branches!” Her voice is a whisper and yet it still somehow sounds like a shout.
The engine is getting closer. My heart is beating faster and faster. “Wedge yourself sideways in the split trunk and use it to inch your way up. I’ve got the rope. I won’t let you fall.” Nothing happens. “Hey, if you can beat my ass up without breaking a sweat, you can do this.”
I hear her breathe heavily. “Okay…”
I grip the rope between both my hands and brace myself against the trunk in case she drops, but the rope gradually slackens.
I can finally see the white embroidery on the logo of her fleece when I see the brush twenty feet below us light up as a vehicle roars through. The rope slips just an inch as I sense her tense up. I react instantly, pulling her up the last few feet in a rush, hoping we’re not spotted.
I pull her into my arms and we stand there on the branch for a moment, both of us silent and still.
I can make out an ATV down below as it bounces over the uneven ground. It doesn’t stop but combs through the area like the rider is searching for something.
“Come on,” I whisper into her ear. I reach up to the next branch, and we climb higher into the tree, hiding better behind the cover of the needles.
I sit back against the trunk, legs straddling either side of a thick branch. I reach my hand to Edie to have her settle in against me, but she turns away, looking uncomfortable.
“No, thanks…” She starts to reach for another branch, but the one she chooses cracks and bark sloughs off, so she recoils.
“Relax and sit next to me, will you?” I can see her bite her lip when a second vehicle gets closer. “Or do you want to go hang out with them?” I nod below.
She sighs and takes my hand. I pull her in snug against me, her back to my front so we’re anchored on the strongest part of the branch. We sit like that, quiet and frozen in awkward intimacy, for a while.
I can tell her heart is still racing and the nearness of her body and the fresh memory of that last kiss is making me all kinds of uncomfortable—in ways she’d have to be brain dead not to recognize. I scoot my hips back as much as possible and slip a hand below my waistband to adjust myself. The distance between us is only a couple inches, but at least a certain part of me isn’t pressing up against her like I’m some horny thirteen-year-old at a middle school dance. Instead, it’s stuffed uncomfortably between my waistband and my abs, and even that discomfort isn’t enough to make it go away.
We can hear the vehicles moving around below us, but they’re not super close, so I decide to break the ice.
“Your dates usually go like this?” I whisper.
She jerks. “This is not a date!”
I smother my laugh. “Right, of course.”
“As far as my work goes… no, I don’t do a lot of field surveillance. As far as dates… not that it’s any of your business—”
“Says the girl who just kissed me like it was going out of style…” I can’t help but sneak in.
She huffs. “And that, that cocky ego, is exactly the kind of attitude that makes me not date. Not very often anyway,” she answers defiantly.
For some reason, that makes me grin like an insane idiot. The mental image of her with another guy isn’t one I’m enjoying.
“Of course, my brothers might have something to do with that too. Well, my family legacy in general tends to put guys off.” Her shoulders relax.
“Your family legacy? You have some kind of cool family curse or something?” I ask, brushing aside a wisp of her hair that has somehow worked its way into my mouth.
She twists to look at me, surprised. “You don’t know? Wow, I figured in a small town like this it’d be common knowledge by now. My last name is Ness. As in Eliot Ness, the famous FBI agent who helped take down Al Capone.”
“As in the Untouchables? Holy shit…” I exhale loudly.
She settles back against me, this time leaning more fully. “Yeah, you can say that again. It’s a family trait. Pop is in the FBI and all my brothers are some variation of cop in addition to being hawkishly overprotective of me.”
“What about your mom?” I ask.
She clears her throat. “She died in labor with me. It was preeclampsia. They delivered me early, but she still died. I spent two months in NICU and sometimes I think my family still thinks of me as that same level of helplessness.”
“I’d have thought your ninja moves would have disabused them of that belief by now,” I joke, coaxing a chuckle from her.
Absentmindedly, I realize my hand is against her leg and my thumb is rubbing circles through her technical pants. Her voice is softer now and it’s mostly quiet around us, with the occasional revving engine. She keeps talking and, surprisingly, I find myself more and more interested.
“Shockingly, no, they haven’t. I’m pretty sure I gave Pop a heart attack when I said I was going into law enforcement too.” I feel her shoulders move as she laughs on a quiet breath. “But there was no way I was going to be the one person in our family who didn’t. It was all I dreamed about as a kid. I don’t think there was a night when there wasn’t some police procedural on the TV or we weren’t hearing stories of my dad’s work. It just became part of how I saw myself. All my brothers took the same path. I had to work twice as hard to make up for the size difference, be twice as sharp, twice as fearless, but it was the only thing I truly wanted and I knew I had to make it happen.”
“You’re lucky you succeeded. Failing sucks. I always wanted to be a firefighter like my dad, but from age three that was pretty much a doomed dream.” I hear myself answering her, surprising even myself with the admission. Dean and Dex know of course, but outside my family, I don’t talk about this with people.
“I had asthma as a kid. It doesn’t bother me really anymore, but if there is one thing you have be able to do as a firefighter, it’s breathe well. Even though it stopped really being an issue in my teens, no firehouse wanted to take the chance or the risk. People’s lives are on the line. Didn’t matter how hard I worked at everything else, my lungs went and fucked it up.”
“I’m sorry,” she answers softly.
“Hey, you know, it is what it is, and it probably saved my life.” I shrug, pretending the memory doesn’t still wrack me with pain. “Dad was fire chief, so when a wildfire broke out a few hours away, he was first to volunteer. I’d have been with him if I’d been able to and then we’d both be dead.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as her hand closes over mine, squeezing.
What am I doing talking about this with her? I don’t know why, but it just feels good to talk about it with someone who doesn’t already know the whole story and I get the sense that she understands the drive to prove yourself.
I blink the emotion out of my eyes and look up at the sky. We’ve been here a while. The sun will be rising soon. The sky is still dark but it’s the color of denim rather than pure black.
“Oy!” A shout sounds out from the ground below, much closer than I expected.
I tense up and Edie sits forward, her head leaving my chest. I didn’t even realize it was there until it wasn’t anymore.
A light passes directly under us as an ATV with a rider in blacked-out clothes crosses under us. Five more vehicles pull up and stop not far from where we’re sitting.
“What the fuck, Ignas? You said these steel traps would work!” Someone calls.
“It did job! Look. See blood trail. I test already, thi
s thing work on carcajou. Give me this thing.” This guy has a heavy accent I can’t identify and there’s a moment of silence before, “Somebody have tamper with this. Look see!”
“Shit!” A third voice sounds out before the words become quieter and too difficult to make out. Someone whistles, an obvious signal to the others, and the engines rev again.
For a tense few minutes the group fans, searching the area. Their lights collide in the darkness as they crisscross the forest floor, before finally moving on. Still, once the lights are gone, we stay in place for what feels like an eternity, both of us tense, waiting for the sound of the ATVs to fade into the night.
The threat has mostly passed, but even once it’s gone, my pulse doesn’t seem to quiet down completely because I’m suddenly aware of her again, marveling at the fact I’ve somehow ended up with her pressed against me twenty feet up in the air in a tree that is probably a thousand years old.
Not much surprises me, but damn if tonight hasn’t done just that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EDIE
My hand is on Deric’s thigh. That’s the first thought that comes to mind once it stops racing from everything that happened on the ground. It took a while for me to come back to the moment after the ATVs finally left, but now that I am, I’m not quite sure what to do.
I clear my throat and move my hand at the same time. “We should probably get out of here.”
I can feel him nod. I shouldn’t be able to feel that, but I’m snuggled up against him like we’re spooned on a couch for a Netflix marathon, so any movement from him is obvious. Good lord, how did this night turn into this?
He climbs down first and I follow, glad my pants are thick enough that when I slip it’s not shredding my skin along with the fabric. I stumble the last way. Deric steadies me.
“Thanks,” I swallow, and straighten my clothes, brushing the crumbled pieces of bark clinging to me.
“We should hurry out of here, just in case they come back. Once it’s light, we’ll have a much harder time hiding.” Deric waits for me, watching as I adjust my pack.