Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

We were both winded, but wouldn’t stop. After more long minutes of climbing, we reached the top.

I bent over, gulping in air.

“Stand up straight and put your arms over your head,” Gavin said through wheezes. “It helps.”

I did as he’d instructed, though it was agony at first. I leaned my head back, gripping my wrists at the back of my neck. I inspected the sky. No longer an inky black, it was dotted with stars. The Milky Way split the center, its mass of blooming light like a road we could follow. A beautiful path, but cold and distant.

The burning in my lungs subsided as I scanned the bright dots marking the heavens. I dropped my gaze earthward as Brianne sank to the ground at our feet, soiling her dress as she gasped for air.

The moon was lower now, and I could still make out the gleam of lights from the cabin over the last ridge. We were too close. We needed to travel faster.

“Brianne, get up. We have to move.”

“I can’t.” She wiped her runny nose with my glove. “I can’t go any further.”

“You have to.”

“I don’t. It doesn’t matter. They’re going to catch me. They’ll catch all of us.” She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. “There’s no way out.”

I knelt. “Brianne, if you just sit here and don’t move, you could die of hypothermia before they even find you.”

She dropped her gaze to her knees. “Would that be so bad?”

“Yes.” I pulled up my sleeve and showed her my scars. “Yes. It would. Trust me. Now get the fuck up and let’s go.”

Gavin offered his hand, and Brianne took it. We were on our way again, moving down into the next valley, skidding on leaves and climbing over fallen trees. Once at the bottom, we decided to cut even farther sideways instead of continuing straight up the next ridge.

The moon lowered, its disappearance heralding the coming dawn.

“What’s that?” Gavin stopped ahead of me.

I came to stand beside him. “What?”

“You see that light?” He pointed ahead.

Something glimmered between the trees, maybe fifty yards ahead. “Yeah. What is it?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go. Maybe it’s help.” He took off faster, his steps becoming less careful at the promise of salvation.

“No, Gavin, wait.” Foreboding took hold inside me, and I struggled to catch up with him. “Don’t.”

“Stella!” Brianne fell to her hands and knees behind me. “I can’t feel my feet. I-I can’t walk.”

“Shit.” I dashed back to her, my feet sliding over the leaves and stones. I gripped under her arms and pulled her upright.

“Gavin, don’t!” The frigid air swallowed up my voice. I could barely see him through the trees now, but I spied the light. It infused me with dread.

I slung Brianne’s arm over my shoulder and half-dragged her.

Gavin’s scream sliced through the air, through my mind.

Brianne stiffened at my side. “What happened? What was that?”

He screamed again, agonized and frantic.

“I don’t know. But you have to keep walking.” I dropped her arm and scrambled over a boulder before taking off toward the light and Gavin’s screams.

“Stella.” Brianne’s voice cracked behind me, but I couldn’t stop. Gavin’s cries compelled me forward. I tripped as my muscles burned and my lungs struggled to pull in enough air, but I kept moving.

The light grew brighter as I lurched from tree to tree, trying to get a look at what it was.

Gavin’s screams subsided into a gasping “Stella” that he repeated until my heart was shredded.

I slowed and crept closer. The light appeared to be a gas lantern hung in a tree. Beneath it dangled a bulbous net bag of clothing—knit hats, jackets, gloves—all warm and welcoming. Gavin lay beneath the bag in a shallow, concealed pit, a narrow bamboo shoot piercing his calf.

“Oh, shit.” I dropped to my knees at the edge of the hole and reached down for him.

He grimaced and raised up on his elbow. “I am so stupid. So fucking stupid.”

“No, no.” I bent over toward him. “Can you get up? Give me your hand.”

“It hurts.” He stared at his calf, his eyes wide with shock.

“I know. But we have to keep moving. They’ll come here first. Please, Gavin.” Desperation colored my voice.

He nodded and turned on his side, more bamboo shoots rolling beneath his large frame.

“Is it just your leg?” I asked as he took my hand.

“I think so. Isn’t that enough?” He pulled hard enough on my arm that I thought it might come out of the socket, but he managed to perch himself on the edge of the pit next to me. “So fucking dumb. I saw it and thought… I don’t know what I thought.” He examined the injury. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

The bloodied shoot had been sharpened into a curving tip, penetrating Gavin’s flesh cleanly.

“We have to pull it out and keep moving.” I took his booted foot in my hands and placed it on his other knee so I could get a better look at the spear. Blood soaked into the white fabric around the wound.

Gavin shook his head, a dazed expression in his eyes. “I don’t know—”

“Oh, god.” Brianne caught up and retched into the leaves behind me.

“I’m going to pull it from this direction, okay?” I gripped the longer end of the spike. “Just hold still.”

“Fuck! I don’t think I can do this.” Gavin clutched my hand.

I put my gloved palms on his cheeks and stared into his amber eyes, now awash with pain. “We can do this. I’ve got your back.”

He nodded, sweat running down his face.

I bent over him and gripped the underside of the shoot again. “On three.”

He took a deep breath.

“One, two—” I ripped it free in one smooth jerk.

Gavin’s scream pierced my ears, leaving them ringing long after the air was gone from his lungs.

He lay back and pulled his knee to his chest, his hands clutching at the punctured leg. I fought back my tears and glanced to the lightening sky.

“Here.” I ripped the thin edge of my dress, tearing off a long strip. Wrapping it around Gavin’s wound, I pulled it tight to try and stem the flow of blood. He grunted as I tied it off.

“Brianne, help me get him up.”

She sat on the stony ground, her chest heaving and her hands clapped over her ears.

“Brianne!” I took her forearms and shook her. “Snap the fuck out of it.”

“I can’t.” She shook her head and her tone was reminiscent of a tired child.

The moon was gone, time running away from us just as we ran from our hunters. Bitterness welled in my stomach, then a seething hatred. I wasn’t angry at Brianne, but I needed her to function. I grabbed her hair where it flowed from beneath her cap and ripped her to her feet. She screamed. I didn’t care.

“Stella—” She protested.

I shook her again, this time by her hair, putting every ounce of nastiness into it that I could. “Shut the fuck up and help Gavin.”

Her lip trembled, but when I released her, she didn’t fall. Instead, she knelt next to Gavin. I took his other side and we lifted him.

“Can you walk?” I asked.

“It hurts, but I think everything still works.” He grunted. After a few steps, he was able to walk on his own with a pronounced limp. Our pace slowed to a crawl, but we keep plodding through the never-ending trees.

My legs burned, the pain in my arm now a dull throbbing ache. My cheeks were wind-chapped and stinging. And, above all, I was cold. The sort of cold that nothing short of a soak in a hot bath or a long shower could alleviate. It was in my bones.

We trekked and trekked before coming to another shallow ravine crossing up the hill in the direction we were going.

Gavin and I turned and started heading up the slope when Brianne collapsed behind us.

We rushed back to her. Her chest heaved, big white plumes of her breath floating in the air.

“You okay?” I asked. I yanked a glove off and smoothed her hair from her face. Her skin was cold and clammy. Had I pushed her too hard?

“No. I can’t. I can’t go on.”

“You can.” I wrapped my arms around her chest and lifted. “Get up.”

She remained limp, every last bit of fight expended. “No, I can’t. I’m tired. I’m too tired. Leave me.” Her voice was weak.

I glanced up to Gavin. “What are we going to do?” I didn’t want to face the truth. “We have to take her with us.”

He leaned against a tree. “I would carry her, but I can’t. I just can’t.” He gestured to the crimson stain on his pant leg.

“Just go. Please. It’s all right. I knew what would happen. I knew.” She closed her eyes as I kept my palm on her cheek. Her words came in shuddering breaths. “You did all you could. It’s okay. I was never going to make it.”

The knowledge that I couldn’t save her ate at me like acid. She put her hand over mine and leaned into my touch, her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry.” I choked down my sob.

“You did all you could.” Her voice stuck in her throat, but she shed no more tears. She peered at me, her light eyes unfocused. “Run.”

I scanned the hollow for any sort of camouflage, something to at least give her a chance. A fallen branch caught my eye. Several limbs sprouted from it, and the crisp leaves were still attached in places.

“Gavin, if we can get her to that limb, maybe we can hide her under it and cover her with leaves to keep her warm.”

He stared up the hill. “That’ll take time. Sunrise is soon.”

“I know. But we have to. We can’t just leave her.”

He wiped a hand down his sweaty face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re right.”

I pulled my glove back on and dragged her to her feet. We made it to the fallen limb, and she climbed under the branches. I gathered up armfuls of leaves from a little farther up the slope and piled them around where she lay curled up. Gavin helped as best he could, and after a while, she was completely hidden. I got on my hands and knees and spread the leaves out around where we’d taken them to hide the disturbance.

The sky was brightening, the sun threatening. The hunt would begin soon.

I clambered back up from my aching knees. “Okay, Brianne. Just stay there until the sun is high. It’ll be okay.”

“Thank you.” Brianne whispered her absolution, though I would never forgive myself for leaving her behind.

“Let’s go.” Gavin started ahead of me, using saplings to help pull himself up the steep incline. He groaned with each heavy step on his injured leg, but he kept moving.

I turned and followed, using the same sapling technique.

When we got to the top of the ridge, my legs shook, fatigue settling into my deepest parts.

“What’s that?” Gavin pointed down into the next valley. Smoke rose through the darkness, floating along the tops of the skeletal trees. It must have been a cabin of some sort.

“I don’t know, but it’s probably another trap.”

“A warm trap.” His gaze lingered on the plume of smoke.

The smell of wood burning floated in the air, and I had never smelled anything more wonderful. I forced myself to scan farther down the ridge, away from the toasty lure of a roof and a fire.

“Come on.” I trudged away from the beckoning cabin, toward the west and the dark azure sky.

Gavin fell in behind me, his injured leg crashing heavily with each step. We stuck to the crest of the ridge until it started sloping down into a ravine with hollows running up either side.

The sun peaked over the farthest ridge I could see, and a gunshot cracked in the distance.

Gavin gripped my gloved hand and squeezed. “This is it.”

“I know.” I leaned into him and we just stood together for a moment.

“We’ll be alive, Stella. On the other side of this, we’ll still be alive.” His voice shook.

“My heart will still beat. I’ll still draw breath, but I don’t know if I’ll still feel alive.” My words flattened in the air and sank to our feet as we began to pick our way down the embankment.

Once we reached the relatively flat bottom of the ravine, we were able to pick up more speed. Maybe it was our second wind, or maybe fear fired our nerves and muscles to push harder. We continued a slow trot. Gavin favored his bad leg, but powered through all the same. Several hollows fell away as we continued deeper into the gorge. My heartbeat thundered in my ears until a buzzing noise cut through the rapid thump.

Gavin hauled me sideways until we hid against one of the large rock outcrops that dotted the forest. A square drone flew by, its four helicopter blades whirring as it eased down the ravine. The machine passed us by, then hovered for a moment. I held my breath and closed my eyes. I was in Cuba beneath the pool’s surface again, the vines snaking around my ankles and holding me under.

The noise of blades cutting through the air increased, and Gavin pressed my fingers until I lost sensation. Then the sound retreated and the drone kept going, the morning light reflecting off its metal surface as it purred away in the lessening gloom.