by Zoe Forward
“OLM.” He held her tight in his arms. They slammed from one end of the seat to the other with each sharp turn, garbage piercing through his clothes. “Why are you bleeding? What happened?”
Eli glanced at them through the rearview mirror. “She’s making a bloody mess all over my seat. Can you put a stop to that?”
“Like you’d notice with all the trash back here. You drive and I’ll take care of her.”
He peeled her away from him. “What happened?” He unwrapped the towel while keeping her steady between his thighs.
“I cut myself trying to slice an apple. Stupid, really. Is that guy chasing us associated with the same guy who attacked me the other night?”
“Yes. The OLM.” He hissed when he saw the deep laceration. “You did a number on yourself.”
She nodded.
“Wildcat, I need for you to trust me. I’m going to help you. Okay?”
“Hospital?”
“No time.” He allowed a small amount of the Voice to infuse his tone. “You’re going to let me help you.”
She nodded mutely and gave him a brave smile. She whispered, “That’s why I came to you.”
The confidence and trust shining in her eyes gut-punched him. That look had nothing to do with his use of the Voice.
His eyes met Eli’s concerned gaze in the rearview mirror for a split second. He was terrified for his own hide during the time Matt unleashed his ability. “I got it, Eli. You can keep driving. I won’t steal energy from you.”
Eli nodded. The worry smoothed into concentration.
Healing power heated his palms while he concentrated on her laceration. He ran a hand over the cut until only a pink pucker of scarring remained. Her eyelids drooped in drowsiness, a common side effect after a healing session. He held her tightly as the truck careered around a curve.
“Matt, I need you to take out the bastard behind us. These stoplights are a nightmare for ditching them,” Eli said.
“A gunfight on highway twenty-seven isn’t what I’d call keeping it low-key.”
“Fuck low-key. They’re the ones shooting at us.”
Eli squealed the tire wheels on a sharp right. “Okay. I’ll try to get off the highway.”
“Just get away from them.” He opened the side window and leaned out, aiming his Glock at the dark Suburban kissing their bumper. Before he could fire, the truck shuddered and then madly swerved. “What the…?” He was thrown hard against the half-open window.
Eli fought with the steering wheel. “They must’ve shot a tire. Bloody hell, hang on!”
The truck caught the curb and entered a roll. Matt clutched Kat against him protectively as they were thrown around the backseat. His head took a numbing blow against the door. He heard her scream. I can’t pass out. Darkness clouded his mind.
Chapter Fifteen
The truck came to rest passenger side down near a stone wall. Kat worked her jaw free of its clench. A quick exam found she had a few scrapes, but no life-threatening injury. Matt had taken most of the hits as they rolled, keeping her pulled into his body. Rotating her previously lacerated forearm into view showed all that remained of the damage was a small pink line of scarring. Wow.
She shifted off him, trying to balance her weight against the back of the front seat, which was difficult given the odd angle and limited space. This man really wasn’t what he seemed. What he was…well, she still wasn’t entirely clear on that. The Pleiades myth ran through her mind, making her wonder if he was druid.
She shook him with one hand while balancing with the other. “Matt?”
He didn’t respond. A brutal shard of glass protruded from his left arm. There was a lot of blood. She assessed the amount of blood lost based on a pile of the congealing mess. That level of uncontrolled hemorrhage was not compatible with life.
She glanced into the front seat and caught Eli’s troubled stare from his position dangling in the seat belt. He had a gash on his head that gushed blood. After a momentary what-the-hell she blurted, “You’re Matt’s brother?”
“Yep.”
“Matt looks pretty bad,” Kat said, glancing down again.
“He’s more than pretty bad. He’s checking out. He gave you way too much energy when he healed you and hasn’t got anything left for himself.”
“What?”
Eli cut himself out of the seat belt. With a grunt, he landed against the passenger door.
He reached over the seat. “Fuck. He’s too damaged for me to help him. I’ve got a bit of healing ability like him, but it’s not strong enough. Listen, little Pleiad, it’s time for you to do your stuff on him. Before he’s gone. And before we have company.” Eli pulled himself to the edge of the car to see out the driver’s window. “Acquisitions is probably on its way and I’m sure there’s a nosy Good Samaritan around here.”
“What did you call me?”
“Cripes. Don’t you know anything?”
“What do you think I am?”
“You’re one of the Pleiades.”
Kat shot him a get-real glare.
“Okay, let me give you the footnotes version. You are one of the seven Pleiades. They’re like—”
“I know about the sisters, but that’s just a weird Greek myth,” she interrupted.
“Then you’re in the dead center of one of the wackiest of the Greek myths imaginable. You are a direct descendant of one of the seven.”
“I’m not a Pleiades Goddess.”
Eli massaged his forehead where a large purpling bump had appeared. “’Course you’re not a goddess. But you are descended from one. Don’t give me that you’re-a-nutter look again. You just materialized in front of us. Definitely a Pleiad trick. Listen, amnesia and identity crisis aside, what matters right now is that you are Pleiades. Each one of you lucky ladies is destined to bond to a druid. Some god oversees which unlucky bastard has to serve as sperm donor to the next generation. This God must’ve matched you to Matt. Too bad it wasn’t me. I’d happily worship that beautiful little body of yours and introduce you to the eccentricities of the Druides Society.” He smiled and scanned her chest. “Unfortunately, you got Matt who has major issues about involvement in anything that has to do with Pleiades or druids, not to mention women and permanent attachment. Those unfortunate problems are for the two of you to work out on your own time.”
Kat stared at Matt, terrified he’d die.
Eli pulled himself to the driver-side window again to glance outside and then eased back into the car. “The really bad news is he can die and is right now on the express bus to the afterlife. The irony is if he dies, then so does your line. That’s the Pleiades line. That really isn’t an option. Because the gods know this fact, they designed the bonding thing to work so that each partner has the capability to give back what the other needs to pull him back from death. Some genetic code in you knows what to do.”
“What do I do?” She ran her hands over Matt’s chest, unable to detect a heartbeat. She felt his neck and detected weak pulsation.
Eli shrugged in reply. “Don’t know. But I’d prefer my brother not die. So, get on with it.”
Panic set in when she no longer felt a pulse beneath her fingers. “Call nine-one-one!”
“He’ll die before they arrive. Hell, the Acquisitions team on its way will kill us all long before they get here.” Eli didn’t move, but continued to watch her expectantly.
“What do you think I’m supposed to do?”
Eli raised his eyebrows in a clear I-don’t-know.
“How does Matt’s healing thing work?” Kat probed a finger gently around the large glass shard.
“Requires he take energy to give back energy.”
“So, where do you think he got the energy to give to me?”
“Looks like himself since I’m feeling fine. He usually doesn’t do that.”
“What does that mean?” Kat frowned.
“He borrows energy from other living people or animals around him. He must like you a bit mo
re than he’s willing to admit, even to himself.” Eli chuckled
Why was the bastard laughing?
“I think it’s time for you to do your magic, little Pleiad. Looks like he’s not breathing anymore.” Eli smiled broader.
“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you care that he’s dying? Help me!” She started CPR, unable to recall how many breaths went with each chest compression, vaguely recalling her Red Cross training from years ago. She compressed a couple of times and then breathed for him
Eli yelled, “Stop that CPR shit and do what you need to do!”
Kat took a deep breath and relaxed. Intuition encouraged her to rest her hands on his chest and then move them in a circular motion. No compressions. A buzzing rumbled in her ears. The hair on her arms stood erect. She thought desperately, Don’t die, Matt. Not yet. I don’t trust anyone else in your world. I shouldn’t trust you either, but I’m not quite ready to let you get out of the mess between us this easily. Besides I owe you one for healing me.
Her hands burned and her world shifted like an elevator coming to a halt. On instinct she yanked the glass shard out of his arm. The wound bled, but not as brisk as expected for the wicked-long laceration. His chest rose as he sucked in air for the first time in minutes.
Her clinical mind assessed he’d been hypoxic for too long. Oxygen deprivation. He was likely to have brain damage, if he woke up. Oh God, don’t let him be a null stuck in this beautiful shell.
A few seconds later his blue eyes popped open and connected with hers. “You okay?” he asked.
Whew, not a vegetable. She pulled her hands away from him. “Yeah. I’ll be okay. But, you’re a mess.”
He massaged his forehead. “Those OLM guys are going to pay for this.”
Obviously, he knew nothing of his near-death experience. She caught Eli’s stare. His gaze was a clear what-the-hell-did-I-just-see. She silently pleaded with him to stay quiet. He nodded subtly at her.
Matt pulled himself up to look out the driver-side window. “Eli, you ready to fight? We don’t have much time. What’s her background story?”
Eli cleared his throat. “She was a vet in Virginia. Decided on a change of scenery and now works here. Grew up in Virginia. Went to that state school.”
“I didn’t go to Virginia,” She interrupted, “I went to NC State. I don’t know anything about that school.”
“Fake it. No one else knows what it’s like to be in vet school.”
“I don’t even know what city the school is in.”
Eli sifted through rubble until he came up with a gun and murmured, “Thank God.”
Matt shook his head as if fighting to stay conscious. “If they get you, try to shift back to your dimension. You got what Eli said? Stick to it.”
“What is going on?” she asked, confused. “Are you leaving me?”
“Don’t tell them anything. Don’t show them anything. I mean don’t do anything that’s not normal. Stay alive. I’ll find you. Or Jason can find you.”
“Who’s Jason? You’re not allowed to leave me!”
Before he could answer, the driver-side back door was wrenched open. Eli shot several rounds.
Matt shifted so that she was behind him, but the effect was crushing. She heard the grunts of him fighting but couldn’t see anything.
Eli ordered, “Jump. Now, Kat.”
“I can’t do it on demand.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Matt said.
Eli said, “This isn’t about me. It’s about the two of you. Go. Now.”
Kat focused on her apartment and felt power within her swell. She knew it was going to work this time. She hugged Matt tightly, hoping he’d go with her. She couldn’t leave him. He’d die here.
Chapter Sixteen
“Get off. Can’t breathe,” Kat choked out.
Matt rolled onto his side next to her. He cursed and threw his arm over his eyes. “What the hell did you do to me? My eyes… Did you blind me?”
She squinted into their surroundings. And blew out a relieved sigh when she recognized the less than pristine molding and early nineties white laminate countertops. “I brought you with me. This is my condo in my dimension.” She tried to rev up enough energy to sit, but her muscles remained as coordinated as silly goo. Guess it took a bit more energy to jump two than one. A head roll confirmed they were mere feet from where her keys rested on the floor from their slip-n-slide off the counter.
“You what?” He sat upright and groaned. “Christ, my head’s spinning. You go through this every time you dimension hop?”
“Yeah. Give it a minute. It’ll pass.”
“I thought jumping another person was supposed to be too dangerous. Thought it was banned.”
“Like anyone told me the rules. By the way, you’re welcome for saving your ass. I just wish I could’ve brought Eli, too. I hope he’s okay.”
“I’m the one who saved your ass. Eli’s a survivor. There’s not much we could’ve done if we’d stayed other than die.” She detected the worry in his voice.
“I really hope he will be okay. Whoever was chasing us… I’m worried.”
“A Sentry’s vow is to protect you…any Pleiades, with his life.” He pulled himself to a stand using the counter as leverage.
Her vision cleared and she stared at his black-jeans-clad calves. A droplet of his blood hit the floor near his shoe. Gingerly, she leaned forward and touched a wet, darkened area on his calf. He tensed. Her hand came away with blood. “Oh God. How bad are you hurt?”
“I’ll be fine.”
After an inelegant rise, she stumbled to her master bathroom, returning with her first-aid kit.
Matt eyed the Tupperware container she set on the kitchen table. “I’m fine.”
She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows in a silent, really? “Let me look at whatever’s bleeding on your leg.”
“Let’s not and assume I’ll heal.”
“I know you’ve got some sort of ramped up super-healing ability, but I would prefer you stop hemorrhaging all over my floor. So, let me at least bandage it. Sit.” She pointed at a kitchen chair.
He collapsed into the chair with a grunt.
She bit her lip against a smile when he glared at her stubbornly and declared, “Look, I really will be okay.”
She knelt and rolled up his pants. Midcalf, a small hole leached blood. The opposite side of the muscle had a similar hole. “Looks like it passed through. That’s good, I guess. I’m used to treating urban pets. I haven’t seen more than maybe two bullet wounds in my career.” She glanced upward to meet his gaze. “Thank you.” Then she focused on the wound. The act of cleansing with peroxide and gauze almost distracted her mind from the horror of him taking a bullet for her and protecting her during the car accident. Efficiently, she placed gauze pads over the exit sites and rolled a bandage around his calf. Standing, she announced, “That ought to hold for a while.”
“Thanks.” He righted his pants leg.
“Is that the only place they got you?” she asked.
Matt glared.
“That’s a no. Where else?”
“Forget about it.”
With hands on her hips she ordered, “Show me where else.”
He muttered, “Stubborn.” And pulled up his T-shirt to expose a bloody area on his right side beneath his ribs.
She frowned. “That’s got to hurt.” Gently, she cleaned away the crusted blood and then probed. “I think this one went through, too.” She put an extra-large Band-Aid over both the entrance and exit areas and replaced his shirt. Pleasure exploded in her chest at being able to care for him. She raised the sleeve of his left arm and ran her hand over the gash surrounded by crusted blood. “You almost died.”
“No I didn’t.”
Her gaze shot upward, uncertain what would greet her. His fathomless eyes met hers. She said, “After the car stopped rolling, I pulled a huge piece of glass out of here while you were unconscious. The glass almost cut through your arm.�
�
His gaze shot to the wound. “You pulled glass out of there?” He ran his hand over the area that now resembled a superficial gash. “It should’ve bled…a lot. And if that was deep enough to hit the major vessel, then when you removed it there would’ve been no stopping the bleeding.” His gaze snapped to hers. “Did you do something to me?”
She nodded and stared at the gash as the horror of his almost death crashed in. She needed Matt in a way that terrified her. Needed him to help her navigate the dangers of his dimension, and help her understand the dimension hopping. Beyond that she needed him on a soul-deep level that she’d denied for years, but now recognized as inescapable. “You stopped breathing. You really were on the way out.”
He lifted her chin to look deeply into her eyes. Softly he asked, “What happened?”
“Eli pushed me to help you by following my instincts. I’m not really sure what I did, but I didn’t want you to die. I think we shared energy or something. One minute you were almost gone. I freaked out. Eli yelled at me. And the next minute you miraculously woke up. You seriously didn’t breathe for longer than a minute or two. Your brain should’ve been damaged from low oxygen, but you woke up fine.”
…
Oh my holy fucking God repeated over and over in Matt’s brain. She’d done a magical heal on him like he’d heard rumors bonded pairs could do when the other faced death from injury.
Matt caught her as she stood, pulling her into his lap. With his free hand, he slid his fingers into her hair and cupped her jaw. Everything about her enthralled him, from the tiny freckles over the bridge of her nose, to her dilated green eyes that zeroed in on his lips. His need for her pulsated against his zipper. He wanted to feel her surround him. Perhaps that would erase the fear of her almost getting kidnapped and the panic over them possibly being destined. Nothing would ever assuage his terror that she’d get hit when bullets started flying. “Are you sure you’re not hurt? No bullets hit you? No major hurt from the car crash?”
“I’m fine. No bullet wounds.” Her sensual lips parted, and he could’ve sworn she leaned closer to him. Those lips now rested inches from his. Tempting.