And yes, Robert had been right. She’d skipped on him that night in the bar when Lucky had appeared. But she hadn’t slept with Lucky. They’d caught each other up on where their lives were over drinks, then over coffee and breakfast. She’d returned in the early morning to find Robert waiting for her inside her house. She’d never figured how’d he’d gotten in, and he’d never admitted how he had either.
At the time, it had seemed easier to let Robert think she’d cheated on him with Lucky, hoping that would finally sever their relationship. It had. Even though he’d continued to pop in whenever she least expected it.
Her sister, Raven, had suggested getting a restraining order, but then Gage had entered her life, and Robert had stayed away. It’d seemed as though her life was perfect, until Gage had disappeared, and then everything had come crashing down.
There’d been that one stupid night where she’d let Robert hold her while she’d cried her broken heart out. He’d started showing up with food and flowers, being smart enough to have his daughter in tow.
She’d done a lot of things wrong. Nobody was perfect. But had her actions brought a killer after those she loved? Was his ultimate goal to kill her after she’d suffered the deaths of the others?
Tern shook off the thoughts to dissect later, and dropped her backpack, unzipping and taking out a cloth to wash with. Filling her hands with the clear icy water from the stream, she drank deep. Next, she splashed her face, gasping when the icy water hit her skin and trickled down her neck. It helped to clear her head somewhat. She needed a baptism in this water to completely think straight.
Wetting the washcloth, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Blinding colors of pain exploded before her as something solid smacked her alongside the head.
Her last conscious thought, as she tumbled face-first into the glacial stream, was that she really didn’t want words carved into her forehead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Like frost on windowpanes, ice crystallized over her consciousness, cold and callous and fractured.
It wasn’t half bad. Numb. Quiet in a kind of blissful way. It had been forever since she hadn’t felt emotions poke at her with pinpricks. The icy darkness beckoned with a seduction that was painful to resist.
A raven cawed overhead, causing a fissure to crack the surface.
“Tern!” Gage hollered, his voice high and shaky. His arms lifted her and held her tight against his chest. “Come on, Tern. Come back to me.”
God, her head hurt. She wanted to be left alone, wanted some peace. The raven caw-cawed again, sounding impatient. She moaned.
“That’s it, honey. Open your eyes.”
She peered through an eyelid. Bad idea. Sunlight cracked through her muddled brain matter, splintering more of the ice. She tried to raise her hand to investigate the source of the slicing pain, but it was too much trouble. Her hand fell back to the ground. She just wanted to rest, to sleep the next century away, but someone who smelled and felt a lot like Gage kept shaking and shouting at her.
Inconsiderate bastard.
“Tern, don’t do this to me. Wake up!” Another hard shake. This one rattled her teeth. She tried to push him away, get him to stop, but her limbs just flopped against his stone-hard chest. It was like she was a bowl of noodles.
Overhead the raven cawed again, the sound piercing her ears. The pounding in her head increased its tempo, and she became more aware of the wet clothes clinging to her cold skin. What she wouldn’t give for another dip in the hot springs. Darkness lured her back into its embrace.
“Damn it, Tern, open those beautiful brown eyes for me.”
No, don’t do it.
It’s going to hurt. She needed to stay here, where everything was vague and words didn’t have the power to slice. Objects wouldn’t fly at her head from out of nowhere from unknown assailants.
The raven cawed sharp enough to break up the rest of the ice netting around her consciousness.
“I’m going to shoot that damn bird,” Robert said.
Robert? Aw, man, did he have to be here?
“Shh, Raven,” Tern whispered. “’S okay.”
“Who the hell she talking to?” Robert asked. “The bird?”
“I don’t care as long as she’s talking.” Gage caressed the side of her face with fingers that shook. She winced when they brushed the source of the throbbing at her temple. “You’ve got one hell of a goose egg here, Tern.”
“No shit,” she said, the words sounding like they were coming from somebody else far away.
“What the hell happened?” Gage asked.
“Somebody hit me.”
“No shit,” Robert repeated her words.
“Why am I wet?”
“The son of a bitch left you to drown in the stream,” Gage said.
“Where’s Nadia?”
“She’s…fine.” There was something in Gage’s voice that said he wasn’t telling her the whole truth.
“Help me sit up.” The world spun.
Gage held her steady with an arm behind her back.
“Whoa.” She wanted to close her eyes and give into that seductive darkness, but gritted her teeth and fought back the blackness. Her gaze landed on Nadia, propped up against the trunk of a birch tree holding blood-soaked fabric to her head.
“I thought you said Nadia was fine?”
“I lied,” Gage said, carefully running his hands along the back of her head and neck. “Anything else hurt?”
“What happened?” Tern grabbed her head, trying to stop the spinning.
“Looks like both of you got beamed in the head,” Robert said, his shotgun still pointed in the direction of the treetops. “Seems yours is harder than Nadia’s, since hers spilt open.” A raven croaked above him and he swung around. “Where the hell did that raven go?”
“Forget about the damn bird,” Gage said. “Check on Nadia.”
“I’m not turning my back on that black devil. You didn’t see the way it looked at me with its beady eye. It marked me for death.”
“Wrong tribal legend,” Tern muttered. “Raven is the bringer of the sun.”
“I thought it was a trickster?” Gage said.
“Sometimes.”
“And storyteller?”
“That too.”
“See, then it can also bring death,” Robert muttered.
“Guess you’re next then.” She was in no mood to argue with him.
“Not funny,” Robert said.
“Do you mind?” Nadia said. “Bleeding over here.”
“Robert!” Gage hollered, making Tern wince.
“Going,” Robert grumbled, but took another quick look at the treetops, waving his shotgun around, before giving it up. He knelt before Nadia, and lifted the bloodied rag. “It’s stopped bleeding. You’ll be fine.”
“Thanks for all the concern.” Nadia grabbed the rag from Robert and gingerly placed it back over her forehead.
“Want to tell me why the hell you took off?” Gage asked Tern, and then looked at Nadia. “There’s a nut out there and both of you are alone.”
Nadia adjusted the cloth. Her left eyebrow was cut and swollen, dried blood smeared her face and stained her shirt. She gestured to Robert. “This nitwit stalked off and left me alone without a backward glance. Where the hell were you?”
“I needed a moment,” Gage said. The reason why hung heavy in the early morning air.
“You weren’t the only one who needed space.” Tern shivered in her damp clothes.
“You’re lucky you aren’t dead.” Gage turned on her, fear and anger flaring in his eyes. “Both of you.”
“We aren’t, and I need a change of clothes, so yell at me later.” She was tired and hurt and cold. She wasn’t going to be interrogated until she was dry and had downed a few Tylenol. Oh, that’s right. They didn’t fucking have any. “Where’s my backpack?”
Gage stood and grabbed it, knelt in front of her and unzipped the middle pocket. “Tell
me what happened.” He pulled out a sweatshirt and her only other pair of pants.
“Can it wait until I change?” she asked, giving him a pointed look to give her some privacy.
“Forget it. You’re not leaving my sight.” His dark look settled on Robert until he gave them his back while muttering under his breath. Gage turned back to her. His touch was gentle as he lifted her t-shirt up and over her pounding head, though his face was hard and his jaw tight with anger. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“I was washing my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something, and then, bam, lights out.”
“Did you see who hit you?” He whipped off her bra like it was nothing, and then stuffed her into the sweatshirt.
She shrugged then wished she hadn’t, as that simple movement sent jabs of pain icing over her. “It’s all a blur.”
Gage turned to Nadia. “What about you?”
“Sorry. I heard the splash, came around the corner, and this log came flying at me. I screamed, which brought you guys, but to save my life, I couldn’t give you a description. It all happened so fast.”
Gage knelt at Tern’s ankles and started pulling at the laces of her hiking boots. Frustration radiated off of him.
“This is so fucked up,” Robert said. “I don’t want to be running from a goddamn killer. I have things to live for. My life is waiting for me. I need to get home.”
“We all do, asshole,” Nadia said, curling her lips in disgust. “You aren’t the only one who has a life.”
“Really? Who’s waiting for you at home, huh? I have a little girl depending on me.”
“Then why the hell did you leave her at home to begin with? Did you really think you had a chance getting back with Tern?” Nadia scoffed.
“Bitch,” Robert spat.
“Guys.” Tern grabbed her head as their voices escalated.
“So help me, if you two don’t stop your bitching, I’ll shut you up myself,” Gage threatened. “You won’t need to worry about some unseen killer, I’ll be right in front of your fucking face. Got it?”
Both gave him jerky nods.
He was quite impressive reverting to caveman, Tern thought. That shouldn’t send her heart thudding harder in her chest. Especially with how they’d ended things earlier. Maybe the bash on her head had scrambled more of her brains than she’d figured.
“Now,” Gage continued. “Robert, clean Nadia up and check her over. We need to get out of here. You want to get home, put some effort into it or I’ll leave you behind.” He rotated toward Tern, and the combination of dread and rage blistering off him had Tern wanting to scoot back.
He knelt at her feet and took off her other boot. “Think you can stand?” His eyes bored into hers. Hidden behind the rage was fear, and it had her catching her breath.
She went to nod, and then thought better of it and gave him her hands. He slowly pulled her to her feet and the world tipped. He held her against his chest until things settled back to their rightful place.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Don’t have much choice, do I?” she softly answered.
He shook his head. The only way to safety was to suck it up.
Very efficiently, Gage stripped her of her wet pants and underwear. Her body started to shake. Whether from the cold, being attacked and knocked unconscious, or from Gage impersonally stripping her of her clothes, she didn’t have a clue.
“Hold onto my shoulders,” Gage instructed. His tone sounded strained as he knelt and held underwear for her to step into. He smoothed them up and over her hips.
Were his hands trembling?
She didn’t have time to focus on that as he now held out dry pants for her to step into, and then socks and boots. Luckily, she hadn’t been submerged in the water, so her boots had remained on shore and therefore were still dry. Hiking in wet boots was never a good idea. People died of infection from raw blisters. She needed to be grateful for the killer’s oversight of not tossing all of her into the swollen stream. Her boots must have acted as a type of anchor. A splitting headache and slightly blurred vision would be easier to deal with since her feet would be dry. At least, she hoped so.
Gage stood, zipped and buttoned her pants, his eyes hot and searing into hers.
“I could’ve done that,” she whispered.
He held her gaze for a minute longer, before letting go of her completely. “You going to be okay?” he asked.
“I’ll have to be.”
His lips quirked into a half smile. “You are one hell of a woman.” He hitched her backpack over his shoulders to rest next to his.
“I can—”
“So can I.” Gage took her elbow. “It’s going to be hard enough for you to keep up. I don’t want to hear it.” He picked up her pistol where it had been sitting on the boulder next to them, checked it to make sure it was loaded and stuck it in the waistband of his cargo pants. “Stay close to me.”
The warning was clear. He didn’t want her trusting anyone but him. He held her gaze until she gave a slight nod. His expression softened for just a moment but then he turned toward Robert and Nadia and his face turned to stone. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” Robert answered. They were on their feet. Nadia’s face was clean of blood, but her brow was swollen around the cut, the surrounding flesh already turning black and blue. Nadia would have a black eye before lunch. Hell, so would she, Tern thought. Possibly two. Weren’t they a beautiful pair?
Gage led the way, but kept her beside him. She hurt too much to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. Each step felt like a hammer blow. Pretty soon it began its own kind of rhythm, with the drum solo taking center stage.
They kept to the cover of the trees, avoiding any open areas as they plodded downward. They didn’t talk. Robert didn’t even complain about not having breakfast. Tern was too nauseated to eat.
What did food matter anyway when they might not survive the remainder of the day?
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Can we talk?” Nadia asked.
Did they have to? They’d been walking at a brisk pace, or at least brisk for her, for what seemed hours. Just when she thought her body would betray her and give out, Gage called a halt and sat her down on a fallen log. He threatened her if she moved, and demanded that she drink some water. He’d placed an Almond Joy in her hand and said she’d better eat whether she wanted to or not. Her stomach bubbled at the thought of eating the little bit of chocolate.
“Listen,” Nadia continued. “I’m sorry about…you know.” She sighed and gingerly touched the cut on her eyebrow. “Hooking up with Robert was wrong. It was definitely wrong to do it with you and Gage sleeping next to us. But in my defense, I’m scared shitless out here. The last few days have been the scariest I’ve ever experienced. I guess having sex let me escape it for a while.”
“Yeah.” It was her turn to sigh. If anything this morning and the last few days had taught her was that life was too short to hold grudges. Besides, she’d never been the grudge-holding kind of woman. “Sorry I accused you like it did. I have no reasons to throw stones.”
Nadia put an arm around her. “We just need to get home, then everything will be all right.”
Tern didn’t think her life would ever be right again.
Nadia continued to babble about inconsequential things. Tern just wanted her to shut up. Didn’t her head hurt too? How did she form sentences? All Tern wanted to do was lay down and close her eyes. She wanted it so badly that she was afraid if she did, she’d never wake up. Instead, she focused on Gage. He and Robert stood a few feet away from them ‘discussing’ the direction they were going. Robert’s side of the discussion was getting louder while Gage’s voice was so low and threatening that Tern couldn’t pick up the words anymore.
Finally, Robert threw his hands up in the air, swore at Gage, questioned his parentage, and stomped off.
“Well, guess we know who won that argument,” Nadia commented.
Gage walked over a
nd stopped in front them. His eyes narrowed as he studied Nadia. “How are you both feeling?” He shifted to inspect Tern, and then went back to scrutinizing Nadia.
“What?” Nadia asked, wiping her face. “Do I have dirt on my face?”
“No. Just checking on you. Your eyes seem to be dilating fine.” He knelt down in front of Tern. His fingers lightly caressed the skin around her goose egg. “You, on the other hand, have me worried.” He took the forgotten Almond Joy from her fingers, tore open the wrapper and held the chocolate to her lips. She gave in and opened her mouth and he placed the mini candy bar inside. She didn’t have any choice but to chew and swallow. He still didn’t seem satisfied as he watched her. Next he was holding the water bottle to her lips forcing her to drink. She drank. His eyes searched hers for a moment longer, and then he straightened. “All right, break’s over. Let’s make some distance.”
“Guys!” Robert crashed through the brush. “We’re being followed.”
The black shadow of a raven flew overhead.
Gage held up his hand for silence, cocked his head and listened. Tern could only make out the sound of Robert’s gasping breath. Then she heard it, a sight rustling in the bush alongside them. Not behind. Right alongside.
Tern vaguely remembered Robert and Gage keeping a visual as they trekked through the wilderness to make sure whoever had hit her and Nadia wasn’t sneaking up behind them. There had been no sign. But obviously they were being tracked and hunted from a distance.
Gage, grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet, and pushed her behind him. Nadia scrambled and stood next to Robert. Freeing her pistol from his waistband, Gage handed it to her and slowly positioned his rifle in the crock of his shoulder. Robert did the same. They waited, while the mosquitoes buzzed around them taking cheap bites of their exposed skin. When they been moving the mosquitoes hadn’t been too bad, but now, stuck stationary in the deep forest with no breeze to reach them, the bloodsuckers feasted. Nadia slapped her arm, cursed, and then quieted from a look from Gage.
Again there was a rustling. Tern followed the sound with her eyes hoping to catch sight of the son of bitch. All she caught was a glimmer of black eyes. She blinked and they were gone. Had she imagined them? Behind her there was another rustling. She slowly turned and caught the hint of a toothy grin.
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