Mitch peered around the mound, looking back at Ronin. “He collapsed.” He turned back to Kate. “You must have hit him directly in the artery. Good job!” He lifted his hand for a high-five. Kate smacked her palm into his, heat creeping into her cheeks.
Mitch smirked. “He’s down for the moment. Hopefully he’ll stay that way long enough for us to get away.” He jumped to his feet. “You ready?”
Kate slipped her hand in his again. He closed his fingers around hers, his warmth spreading into her palm. His gaze darted to hers, his lips quirking into a smile. “If you keep sending so much positive energy my way, Kate, I’m not going to be able to keep my hands to myself. You make me feel good for the first time in a long, long time.” His eyes glowed hotly, then dimmed as he turned away. Kate sucked in a breath. Her face burned. Heat pooled in her core. Dear God, he made her hot everywhere. He made her want to find out exactly what he meant by that.
Quietly they slipped away, sneaking out into the savannah and away from Aftermath. Kate repeatedly glanced behind them, expecting Ronin to materialize out of the darkness at any second. But he never did.
After about thirty or forty minutes, Mitch drew to a halt. “We’re here.”
Kate glanced around. It was dark out, but she was able to make out the shape of a small building in the darkness. “Where is here?”
“Ethan’s dinosaur dig. He may be hiding out here. I don’t think Ronin knows about this place. Or if he does, he hasn’t figured out its importance yet. Come on, let’s see if Ethan’s here.”
Kate detected the urgency in Mitch’s words. Who was this Ethan person? Would he help them hide from Ronin? Would he put himself in danger for them?
Mitch dragged her into the small, tent-like structure. “Wait here. I’ll go see if anyone is around.”
Kate felt her way around in the darkness, then lowered herself into a chair. Mitch flipped the tent flap aside and went out, leaving her alone. Kate wished she had his night vision. It would make it easier to see what was around her.
Five minutes passed. Ten.
A hyena laughed somewhere out in the savannah.
She shivered. Hyenas scared her more than any of the other African predators. Their creepy grunts and calls, their eerie laughs made chills spasm down her spine.
And then, suddenly, she was swept back in time to the day she’d woken alone, the morning after the asteroid shower had decimated Africa…
A hyena cackled somewhere close by, its creepy laughter jerking Kate back to consciousness and sending a chill down her spine.
She bolted upright, her head pounding furiously. Kate lifted a hand, pressing her fingers against her throbbing scalp. She pulled her hand back, sticky blood staining her fingers. Her stomach heaved. Nausea slammed into her, causing her to hunch forward and retch, the contents of her stomach spurting onto the ground.
Kate wiped her mouth and glanced around. What had happened? Where was Mom and Dad? Where was Kirk? Where was the African safari guide? How long had she been passed out?
A smoky black haze shrouded the area around her, leaving everything in shadow. She squinted, searching the savannah, trying to make out shapes. Her lungs burned from the smog. Her eyes stung. She was on the riverbank, not far from the water.
The safari Jeep materialized out of the gloom, laying on its side in the river, blackened and charred from the asteroid that had slammed into the back end of it. Water flowed through the vehicle, washing over the burned seats, and rushing back out again. A charbroiled body lay immobile in the driver’s seat, strapped in by the seatbelt. Another body lay sprawled in the passenger’s seat, scorched and blackened.
Kate’s stomach heaved again and she retched and retched. Oh God, the driver was dead. And the passenger, her father, was nothing but a charred black corpse. She retched again, and again, but there was nothing left in her stomach.
Kate glanced back at the Jeep, trying to see through the smoky haze.
There! A third body was seat-belted into the backseat. Burnt to a crisp.
Her mother.
Horror slammed through her. She squeezed her eyes shut.
No! No! No! No! No!
Kate let out a sob. Then another.
Oh Mom. Dad. Why? Why? This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Her heart pinched so tightly she could barely breathe. She sucked in a breath.
Wait! Where was Kirk?
Kate hadn’t been wearing her seatbelt and neither had Kirk. Dad had told them it was okay to remove their seatbelts since the Jeep was traveling slowly as they took pictures of the safari animals. But her parents had left their seatbelts on.
And now they were dead.
Kate leapt to her feet. She wobbled as dizziness swam in her head. Then she stumbled forward, heading for the Jeep.
“Kirk! Kirk! Are you here? Kirk! Answer me!”
The hyena laughed again, closer than before.
Kate shivered. She glanced around, finally locating the animal several yards to her left. It was huge, about as tall as her best friend’s St. Bernard. Its beady black eyes stared at her, assessing, trying to decide if she would be an easy kill.
“Go away! Leave me alone!” Kate picked up a rock and hurled it at the hyena. The beast grunted and darted away, disappearing into the black fog.
“Kirk!” she shouted again, glancing around. “Kirk!”
The hyena whooped again, somewhere off in the fog. Another one responded, moaning and grunting in that creepy hyena way. Kate scrambled around, looking for a place to hide. There weren’t any trees close by.
Hot air rises, dummy. The smoke will be thicker up in a tree. You need to hide underground. In a hole. A cave. A den of some kind.
Kate remembered that from science class. See, Kirk. I’m not as dumb as you say.
Her heart pinched.
Where are you, Kirk?
“Kirk!” she screamed again, but the only response was another hyena cackle.
Kate snatched up a couple more rocks and hurled them at the hyenas whenever they got too close. She searched along the riverbank, high up, looking for a place to hide from the hyenas, a place where her lungs wouldn’t burn so much. She looked and looked and looked, for over an hour, her eyes and lungs burning from the smoke. The hyenas kept circling around and coming back, creeping closer and closer. Kate counted six of them in the semi-darkness, her heart pounding in terror.
“Get back!” She tossed another rock at them and they grunted, bouncing away.
At last she discovered a cave in the hillside. It wasn’t very big. But it was big enough for her.
Kate scrambled inside.
And just in time.
A hyena followed her, its head entering the cave and sniffing at her. Kate kicked out at the beast, her shoe connecting with the animal’s nose.
The hyena leapt back, disappearing into the smoky air.
Kate crawled to the very back of the cave and waited.
It was easier to breathe in the cave, the air less smoky. She could do this, right?
What if the hyenas came in the cave after her and dragged her out? What if they ripped her body apart and feasted on her innards like she’d witnessed them doing to a wildebeest the first day of the safari trip?
A tear forced its way loose and trickled down her cheek. Then another. Soon, she was sobbing like a baby, like her stupid little brother.
Oh, Kirk, where are you? I’m sorry. You’re not stupid. I didn’t mean it.
Kate stayed in the cave for days, hungry, thirsty, shivering with fear, too afraid to come out, and waited for the hyenas to leave. Their eerie laughter filled the savannah day after day after day. They were just waiting for her to die. She knew they were. Then they would come into the cave and eat her.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the hyenas left.
And when Kate summoned up enough courage to leave the cave, the first thing she discovered was her little brother’s remains: his blue T-shirt and a black tennis shoe. The hyenas had eaten him
. All of him. Leaving only his clothes behind.
From that moment on, Kate hated hyenas.
And she feared them more than any other creature on earth.
* * *
“Kate!”
Kate jerked out of her thoughts, the past shrinking away like the hyenas into the mist, the very same hyenas that had consumed her nightmares for years afterward. The horror of what had happened to her family, to her little brother, still clung to her even now. It was something she would never be able to forget.
Mitch leaned down, his eyes glowing golden as his gaze searched hers. She let out a soft gasp, pulling back.
He lifted a lantern and glanced around the small tent. “You okay? I can feel your terror. What happened?” He turned back to her with a frown, his gaze intense and probing.
Kate drew in a deep breath. She rose from the chair, forcing Mitch to step back. The tent looked like an equipment tent of some kind and contained various electronic devices that couldn’t possibly work anymore. “Nothing happened. I just…had a flashback. Sorry.” She wiped at a tear, lowering her gaze. “What is this place? What are all these things?”
Mitch lowered the lantern, yet he continued to study her. Kate turned her face away, uncomfortable with his close scrutiny. “It’s Ethan’s equipment tent. None of this stuff works anymore, but he refuses to let it go. He’s convinced that one day he’ll be able to use it again.” His gaze narrowed on her, scrutinizing. Trying to read her thoughts? “We all have flashbacks from time to time, Kate. It’s okay.”
She pulled her gaze back to his. Compassion glowed in his amber-gold eyes, along with sympathy and understanding. Her throat tightened with emotion. She nodded, swallowing hard. “Thanks.”
He smiled, though she could tell it was forced. Could he feel her pain and sadness, the remnants of her terror? Did it hurt him?
Please don’t ask me about it. Not right now.
Mitch cleared his throat. “No one’s here. We’ll be safer down in the crater. It’s pretty amazing down there. There’re several rooms, a kitchen, and a bath. Come on. We can hide out here tonight.”
He held his hand out to her.
Kate hesitated.
Be positive, Kate. Don’t cause him any more pain than you have to.
She forcefully pushed the pain aside, shoving the memories from her mind. The past belonged in the past. It didn’t do any good to think about something she couldn’t change.
Be positive. Be brave. Be strong. We will survive this.
She took Mitch’s hand, her gaze meeting his. His eyes smoldered with an unknown emotion before he turned away. His fingers closed around her hand and he tugged her after him.
Kate followed him down into the crater. It was huge, she guessed at least forty or fifty feet deep. Mitch led her down a rocky, circular path, deep into the ground. He paused to light several lanterns that hung on hooks high up on the wall.
Kate blinked as the crater lit up. Tunnels led every which direction around them. Everywhere she looked—in the walls, the ceiling, the floor—were dinosaur fossils. Or at least what looked like dinosaur fossils.
She sucked in a breath. “Oh my goodness! Are those real?”
Mitch nodded. “This is Ethan’s dinosaur dig. Not many people know about it. He’s very protective of this place, but under the circumstances, I don’t think he’d mind if we stayed here tonight.”
Kate stepped away from him, looking at what she imagined was a huge leg bone that had been partially excavated from the wall to her right. “Is he a paleontologist or something?”
“Yes. The guy’s a total fossil freak. But there’s more down here than just fossils. Much more.” He turned away. “Come on. There’s a bedroom through the tunnel on the right, and he has a bathtub and fresh water. The first thing I’m doing is taking a bath. Water is easy to come by this deep into the earth. The water table is only a few feet down, which is why sometimes the floor gets kind of moist and mushy.”
Grabbing a lantern off the wall, he carried it into a tunnel.
Kate’s cheeks heated at the thought of Mitch’s naked, muscular body in a bathtub. She followed him, her eyes taking in all the fossils on the walls as she passed. Several sections of the tunnel were indeed moist and the mud sucked at her shoes, causing them to make squishy, squashy sounds as she followed Mitch. The tunnel opened into a small room that contained a bed with a frame and posts made out of logs, and a mattress and pillows that looked like they’d been stuffed with dried vegetation. A hand-made wooden, two-drawer dresser and a tree stump nightstand completed the room’s furniture. Three tunnels exited the bedroom, each veering off into a different part of the crater. Mitch set the lantern on top of the nightstand and turned back to her. He had obviously been here before. He knew where to find things. He knew where each tunnel went.
“Is this the only bedroom?” she asked, avoiding his gaze.
“Yes. Ethan spends a lot of time here, so he made himself a home. I’m sure he won’t mind if you sleep in his bed.”
You. Not we.
Kate jerked her gaze to Mitch. “I, uh, where will you sleep?”
His smirk returned. Kate was beginning to think the smirk was a defense mechanism to hide whatever he was really feeling.
“I’m not tired. You can go ahead and get settled in while I go take a bath.” He strode for the entrance to the tunnel directly to the left.
“Wait.” Kate raced after him. “I, uh–” She broke off, her cheeks heating.
You what, Kate? You’re afraid to be alone in this place? She had to admit it was a bit eerie with all the dinosaur bones everywhere.
“You want to take a bath too?” Mitch turned back to her. “Sorry. I should have asked you if you wanted to. You can go first.” His eyes blazed gold again, but he lowered his gaze before Kate could determine what emotion smoldered there. “Or you can join me. We can wash each other’s back.” He lifted his gaze to hers again. There was a teasing glint there, but also desire. He smirked.
Kate’s heart did a crazy flip-flop in her chest. Her mind went blank. She couldn’t remember what she’d been about to ask him, but she certainly hadn’t been trying to invite herself into his bath. Her cheeks flamed as she envisioned washing those hard, sexy muscles, running her fingers through his dark hair as she rinsed dirt and shampoo away.
Mitch chuckled. “Just kidding.”
Did his voice just catch? Was that hoarseness she detected in his words?
Oh. My. God.
Her breath caught. Her gaze collided with his again, then bounced away. Her heart pounded. Heat ignited in her core, spiraling through her. She turned away, embarrassed. If Mitch could detect her feelings, did he know how desperately she wanted to take a bath with him? She’d never been that close to a man before. She’d never wanted to. But Mitch made her long for things she’d never even imagined before.
“I’m sorry.” His voice came from directly behind her. Kate froze. She hadn’t heard him stepping up to her. The man moved as silently as a stalking cheetah. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I was only teasing.”
Kate sucked in a breath and forced herself to turn and face him. He was close. Too close. His eyes were guarded now. Wary. But his smirk was back. Kate was convinced now that he used that smirk to mask his true feelings, to act like he didn’t care.
“A bath…would be nice. I can…wash your back for you.” Heat flushed back into her cheeks. Had she just offered that? What the hell was the matter with her?
His eyes smoldered with lust. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. His gaze bored into hers. Then he turned away, muttering, “fuck” under his breath.
Embarrassed heat crept back into her face. She tried to think of something to say, to apologize for her bold words, but nothing would come out. So she stood there, silent, immobile, waiting for his next move.
Mitch heaved out a sigh and turned back to her. His eyes still smoldered. He cleared his throat.
“The bath is
this way.”
Kate felt like a hapless gazelle being lured closer by a hungry leopard so he could pounce.
But she followed him anyway.
CHAPTER SIX
Kate didn’t say a word as Mitch turned on the water and filled the tub. He struck a match and lit the kerosene-soaked coals underneath the cast iron tub, then sat back to wait while the coals heated the water. Mitch didn’t need to use matches to make fire, but he didn’t want to scare Kate any more than she already was. If he were to use his gift of fire, it would probably scare the hell out of her. Once she’d gotten more used to him, he might show her all his gifts. Until then, it was best to keep his secrets.
The bathroom was nothing more than a small room with a cast iron tub in the center, shelves against the walls containing soap, shampoo, and towels, and a bowl for a sink that sat on a tree stump next to the tub. A single faucet swiveled between the tub and the sink as needed. The floor, walls and ceiling were dirt and rock, as was the rest of the crater.
Ethan had set this place up perfectly. The crater contained everything a person needed to survive. Food. Water. Shelter. A bed. A bathroom. Kerosene lanterns. Hiding places. Extra clothes. Mitch and Ethan were close to the same size, so Mitch could borrow some of Ethan’s clothes until he was able to get more of his own. He was sure Ethan wouldn’t mind.
But more importantly, this place contained drifter secrets that no one except Mitch and Ethan knew about.
Kate watched silently, her eyes wide as the water heated. Her nervousness slid over him, into him. She was afraid of him. He felt it. Yet she was curious and excited too. He felt all of that, her emotions, her energy seeping into him until he couldn’t tell if it was her emotions he was experiencing or his own. He wanted her. It had been a long time since he’d wanted a woman. He intentionally kept his distance from people, their emotions too much for him to bear most of the time. He hated being an empath. Hated feeling other people’s emotions. The majority of the time, he didn’t even know how he truly felt, because he was consumed with other people’s energies and unable to decipher what his own were.
Drifter Page 5