Captive Heroes (25 page)

“Honeymoon?” Taylor questioned as, moments later, they found a quiet, sandy spot to sit near the river, out of sight from the occupants of the village.

“It’s when we spend time getting to know one another. Intimately.”

He moaned softly as she palmed his clothed, thick member. Holding his heavy erection in her hands, she leaned against him and took his mouth hard and fast, her lips melting over his in a desperate need to show him how much she’d missed him.

When she’d woken up after that wild night of sex to discover he’d left, she’d been furiously angry. She’d also been angry at him for leaving without saying goodbye. Despite Jarod’s reassurances that Taylor knew what he was doing and wouldn’t get caught, fear had crawled inside her, pushing away her anger. She’d kept voicing her concerns as Jarod and Piper had paddled her through the creepy swamp and up along the river toward the village where they said her brothers lived. She swore if Taylor hadn’t taken their boat, she would have paddled right after him.

But now that his arms were sliding around her waist, all her fears, anxieties and anger slipped away. He kissed her, nice and hungry, giving just as hard as she gave. When they both became breathless, he pulled away.

“I like this honeymoon. I wish more.” Taylor chuckled, but then he tensed. His eyes narrowed as he looked down the river. Kayla followed his gaze, but nothing was there. The intent way he stared unnerved her.

“What is it?”

“Someone comes,” he whispered.

“What? I don’t see anyone.”

“It looks as if our honeymoon is over before it began.”

He was deadly serious. He pointed to where the river disappeared around a bend about a half mile away. “There, coming around the bend. Two figures.”

From that distance, a man and a woman’s silhouettes caught her eye. The man appeared to be naked from the waist up and as heavily muscled as Taylor. Although she couldn’t make out the woman’s face, there was familiarity in her petite profile.

“Go, warn Jarod and your brothers there may be trouble. Tell him Blackie is coming.”

“Blackie?”

“Go. Now!” Taylor snapped as he hauled her to her feet.

His sudden burst of anger had Kayla spinning around and running back up the embankment.

Everyone had already disappeared. Laughter came from Joe and Annie’s hut and Kayla figured another couple had gone in to visit.

“What are you doing back so soon?” Buck chuckled as he came out of a nearby hut.

“Where’s Jarod? Taylor says there’s trouble. Someone named Blackie is arriving.”

Concern flooded Buck’s face. “Blackie? Isn’t he one of the Death Valley Boys?”

Oh sweet mercy!

The Death Valley Boys had followed them here? How could that be possible?

“Where is he?” a woman named Virgin asked as she suddenly appeared from behind a nearby shelter.

“In a canoe. With a woman. Heading this way.”

“Okay, we need to sound the alarm,” Buck said. He started toward some wooden structure in the middle of the square that housed what looked like a bunch of wind chimes when the chimes began clanging.

Jarod had appeared out of nowhere and was beating a stick against the chimes. He must have already seen the intruders approaching. Within seconds everyone appeared in their doorways, carrying makeshift weapons such as spears, and a couple of her brothers had guns.

“This is not a drill. Take your places,” Jarod called.

“Kayla! Come with me!” Piper ran up to Kayla and tried to grab her hand, but Kayla pulled away and began heading back to the river and Taylor. She would not leave him alone down there without a weapon.

“Taylor needs protection!” she shouted and, within seconds, a gun was thrust in her face.

Jarod followed her. “Get this gun to him and then get him back here. Now! He doesn’t know the drill and he could be a liability.”

Kayla nodded, accepting the heavy weapon. Her heart thundered as she jogged down toward the river. Whoever this man Blackie was she would not be afraid of him. Especially if he was a member of the Death Valley Boys. He should be ashamed of himself, treating women the way he did. And if this Blackie fellow had arrived with whom she thought he was with, then she needed to be there.

Fear raced through her as she ran. Curses followed her from the village. She assumed they were from her brothers and were directed at her for leaving, but hey, she had a mind of her own.

As she picked her way through the trees and the sudden overwhelming silence in front of her, she wondered why the others were so afraid of only one man. That is, unless he was a scout? And there were tons more coming in canoes behind him?

Shit.

Up ahead near the river came the voices of two men and a woman. Kayla’s heart slammed against her chest as she recognized the woman’s voice. She ran faster then burst through the tree line and stopped abruptly as she almost crashed into the tall, hard body of a man.

“Kinley?” she asked.

The woman who stood beside the black-haired man appeared to be her sister, yet she didn’t. She seemed different. She was quite nicely tanned. She wore her hair differently than usual, all wavy and with a bad blonde color job. She looked wild yet very sexy, wearing sandals, a pair of tan shorts and a dark blue shirt that had a NASA emblem emblazoned on it. But there was something about her eyes when she gazed at Kayla. There was no recognition or happiness to see that Kayla was alive.

Kayla’s gut knotted in anxiety. Kinley was staring at her as if she were some stranger. “Kinley? Where have you been?” she said as softly as she could.

She sensed she should tiptoe around Kinley as if she were on eggshells, but then suddenly she didn’t care. She threw her arms around her sister and to her horror, Kinley stiffened against her. She loosened her hold, gave Kinley a gentle squeeze and forced herself to move a bit away, but she held tight to Kinley’s hands, holding her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you happy to see me?”

“I’m sorry, but what’s your name?”

Chapter Fourteen

Kinley was very uncomfortable over the whole bunch of eyes studying her every move as she helped Blackie set up a tent the Hero brothers had given them.

The Hero brothers? They said she was their sister, but she didn’t remember them. In the way they’d looked at her with such concern, it almost broke her heart. That she was hurting them because of her memory loss was almost killing her.

“Are you all right? You are very quiet,” Blackie said as he pounded a tent peg into the soft ground. Worry laced his dark eyes as he studied her.

Oh great, now he was concerned too. She hated that everybody was fussing like this.

“I feel like I want to get out of here,” she admitted as anxiety raced through her like a bullet. “I want to run away and keep running and not remember who I am.”

His brows furrowed into a frown. “If another storm weren’t coming, then I would whisk you away without hesitation and we could return to the spaceship, rebuild the fucking machine and you could replicate more of this sexy clothing you currently wear. But it is dangerous. As you could see by the flickering white lights in the sky last night, we will need shelter tonight and perhaps for the next several days.”

He pounded another steel peg into the ground and pulled the tent straighter and tighter. The muscles in his arms bunched so perfectly she had to inhale a breath at how much power he had over her. Holding her down. Stripping off her shorts. Impaling her.

She blew out a tense breath and swept her gaze toward the other huts. Most of the people continued watching them. Watching
her
. Worry creased their faces and, once again, she didn’t like the fact that everybody was making such a big deal over her memory loss.

The instant she’d stepped off the canoe and onto land, the woman named Kayla had practically knocked her off her feet with a fierce hug. She’d been so excited to see Kinley that Kinley had been frightened by the happiness and relief on the woman’s face.

Devastation had flooded Kayla’s eyes and guilt had slammed into Kinley like a sledgehammer. She wished she could remember Kayla but she didn’t. Even the man named Taylor had looked at her funny, as if he’d seen or knew her.

Taylor had appeared extremely tense until Blackie reassured him they had come alone and in peace. Blackie said he was here to return Kinley and he would stay with her. Taylor had led them into their tiny village of hide houses and told the others that Blackie would wait out the storms with them. The fact he was remaining didn’t sit well with the others. They’d brandished weapons at Blackie, making Kinley very uneasy. Unfortunately her unease had only skyrocketed when several people she did not know seemed to know her quite well.

Yet she couldn’t fathom one name or place their faces. These people
knew
her. They wanted her to remember them and she had read the disappointment in their gazes when she admitted she had amnesia.

Even the woman who was supposed to be her twin…what was her name? Piper? Yeah, Piper…especially her. She’d been quite upset at Kinley for traveling with Blackie, saying Blackie treated woman badly. She’d seen the intense signals passing between Blackie, Piper and this man who wore a black patch over one eye. They’d shared something, but she hadn’t had a chance yet to ask what.

“This hide house appears to be very sturdy and waterproof. It will serve us well,” Blackie said as he pounded another peg.

“I wish they would stop looking at me,” she blurted.

“You are beautiful. What’s not to look at?” Blackie whispered, a sensual smile tilting his lips, but the smile dropped away when she didn’t return one.

“Perhaps you should speak with them? Or with Dr. Annie as they suggested earlier?”

Dr. Annie. She hadn’t met that woman yet. They’d told her she was Joe’s bride or mate or whatever these women were calling themselves. She had to admit the village of small huts did look quaint. The houses were well-hidden beneath the lush foliage of tall trees. The same type of creepy trees with those long spooky strands of brown moss that dangled from thick branches. She hadn’t liked the trek through the swamp because of those trees. At least being surrounded with cute, little houses gave those trees a less ominous look.

The shelters were strewn just behind the tree line and a meadow was everyone’s front yard. In the middle of the meadow was a wooden structure with wind chimes that apparently was the alarm bell for intruders. Beside that stood one large, stone fireplace with an iron pot hanging over a smokeless fire.

The people all looked healthy and happy. The children were all young. Four in total. There were toddlers, maybe two years of age. One was older, perhaps four. But Kinley wasn’t good at guessing ages. The children looked to be almost euphoric in the way they wobbled on their chubby legs and tried to chase each other in tag games and hide and seek. Every once in a while someone would admonish a child, telling him or her to keep it down with the noise and not to stray from the meadow. For the most part, the children listened. But hey, kids were kids and sometimes they forgot the rules.

Forgot the rules
…

Those words echoed in her mind, giving her a sense of uneasiness. Another flash of her whimpering and slaps of flesh against flesh. Panic and terror ripped through her and she automatically blocked out the moans and grunts. No, she didn’t want to go there. Didn’t want to remember what
it
meant.

“Kinley?”

She blinked and snapped back to reality to find Blackie suddenly missing and a woman with a newborn cradled in her arms.

“I’m Annie. Your brother Joe’s mate. I heard you were injured during the crash. Your sisters mentioned you’d been knocked unconscious. Blackie said you had suffered a blow to your head and you are experiencing memory loss. I’d like to examine you.”

Kinley frowned at the chick’s forward attitude. “Sorry, but I don’t need an examination. I’m fine.”

She grabbed the final tent peg, cursing Blackie for leaving her here alone with this woman, and started to pound the peg into the ground. Kinley would ignore her. Hopefully the chick would get the message and leave.

Where the hell
was
Blackie anyway?

A quick scan of her surroundings and she couldn’t see him. The slice of panic she’d just experienced with that flashback rocked through her again. Had he left her here? Abandoned her?

“Blackie is speaking with the males. Something about a replicator and reproducing parts for the spaceship that crashed into the Fever Swamps.”

How did this chick know she was looking for him anyway? Was she that transparent? That needy?

“Blackie said you had a blackout. That you tune out briefly sometimes. Like you did now. What were you thinking just now?” Annie asked in a soft voice that almost unraveled Kinley.

Emotions, thick, raw and hurtful, swelled in Kinley’s chest. “I don’t want to talk about it. Please leave me alone.”

“You don’t wish to remember? Is that it? I saw a look of horror flash on your face. There’s something holding you back from remembering.”

“I said leave me alone.” God, what was with this woman? Her insistence really annoyed Kinley.

“Maybe you’re hungry. People always get into a bad mood when they’re hungry.”

Anger slammed through her and Kinley looked up with full intentions of telling the woman to get lost once and for all, but Annie’s sweet smile warmed her insides. The chick understood her problem and she was giving Kinley an “out” with eating. She didn’t seem as persistent as Kinley had first thought.

Good. That’s what she needed. Space. And time.

“Would you like me to bring over some food? Or maybe you’d prefer to join us at the tables beneath the trees?” Annie pointed to a long line of picnic tables at the far end of the meadow.

Food was being brought there by the women. The men were seating themselves, Blackie right along with them. He seemed to be making himself at home quite nicely, didn’t he?

At the sight of their happy faces and the sounds of their cheerful chatter, something shifted inside Kinley’s heart. It only lasted a split second, but for that brief period of time, a tingle of unbelievable happiness and sense of belonging and security had chased away her unease. It was instantly dashed, leaving her more jittery than ever.

Shit.

She wanted that sense of belonging back. But the other stuff, the darkness she’d been fighting, the shit she’d been suppressing would come too. She had no doubt about it.

The baby in Annie’s arms gurgled and out from the blankets popped the tiniest, cutest arms Kinley had ever seen.

“Little Joe is hungry too.” Annie laughed. “Would it be okay if maybe I got us some food and we could eat here together? I can nurse him. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. And you could hold Little Joe for me for a couple of minutes. I would so love for someone to babysit him even for such a short time. I could pretend I’m on vacation.” Annie laughed again. “Amazing I can even think something like that when he was just born this morning.”

This morning? Kinley blinked in stunned disbelief. And the woman was out of bed and wandering around already?

The baby’s fists curled together in defiance and the kid let out an annoyed cry. Annie swayed him gently back and forth in her arms.

“Little Joe is my nephew?”

Annie nodded.

Jeez.

She was an aunt. Hell, she was an aunt many times over from the looks of those toddlers running around the meadow.

Standing, Kinley accepted the blanket-wrapped baby into her arms and the warmth from his cuddly body sifted against her. When she met Little Joe’s soft blue gaze, all the breath escaped her lungs and brought along a wave of lightheadedness unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

“Are you all right?” Annie’s concerned voice echoed from somewhere far off and Kinley was suddenly in some long tunnel. The baby was being taken from her arms and an immense loss shifted through her. An emptiness. Shame.

You forgot the rules, Kinley.

A man’s voice. Far away. Dizziness assaulted her. Her limbs grew heavy.

“Never leave your drink unattended, baby.”

Something black and horrible slithered though those words. Then there were faces. Several men. A couple she recognized from university. The others…she had no idea who they were.

“If you forget the rules, then you pay the consequences, Kin.”

She was on a bed. How had she gotten onto a bed? She couldn’t remember.

Panic sliced into her, deep and hard. She wanted to move but everything was so heavy. A man at the side of the bed was chuckling as he gazed down at her.

“You’re a nice piece of ass, Hero. Just like the boys said.”

“What?” she tried to speak. No words formed. Only a pathetic moan. She tried to cover herself. Oh my God, she was naked. She couldn’t move!

Drugged?

Helpless, she lay there. The door opened and the man who’d just been there exited. Men’s laughter echoed from behind the door, and then two of them came into the room. The door closed.

Oh God.

“She won’t remember much of anything. She’ll think she’s hungover from all that drinking,” one man said.

“The beauty of the date rape drug, huh?” Another chuckled.

“Keeps them off balance. You don’t have anything to worry about. Just use the condoms on the table. That way there’s no evidence. Enjoy. Oh and put the money in the jar over there.”

Money? What?
Did they think she was a hooker?

The man stuffed some bills into the glass jar then left. The other one turned to her and began to undress. His leering smile made her stomach clench with a horrible sickness.

“No need for condoms, heh, sweets? I like my young women skin-to-skin.”

She cringed as he palmed her breast and squeezed until pain made her moan. She began crying as he climbed on top of her. He was too heavy.

Get off! Get off!

The man grinned as she gasped.

“Forgot the rules, eh sweetie? Lots of you young ones do that. Lucky for me, heh?”

She cried out as he sank into her.

“Get off me! Get off me!” she screamed.

Hands were on her. Holding her arms. They wouldn’t get off her!

“Get off!”

Panic spiraled. Fear sawed through her so deep it hurt.

They kept holding her arms. “Let me go! Don’t touch me!”

Oh God. Help me.

“Kinley! Kinley! It’s me! It’s Blackie. You’re safe! You’re safe!”

Something painful slapped her right cheek. It snapped the terror from her body and suddenly the men were gone. The darkness and the horrible betrayal and the awful shame shifted to the back of her mind. But it stayed there, hovering, threatening to return if she wasn’t careful.

Blackie was in front of her. He was the one holding her arms. Anguish raged in his eyes. “You are safe,” he said softly.

He smiled and Kinley blew out a tense breath. She was shaking. She couldn’t stop shaking.