Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels (67 page)

“Teagan, I swear to God, I’m trying to get you out of this place. Give me your hand.”

“You knew the whole time,” I said. “You knew what they’re going to do with me. And you’re the one who’s going to do it. And you still...”

He hung his head. “I know.” He looked up. “But I’m not going to do any of that anymore. I won’t let anyone hurt you. They’ll have to kill me first.”

“Why should I believe you?” I said. I wanted to. God knew I wanted to. He was the dark man from my dream. He was the most tender lover I’d ever been with, and I remembered the heat of his body on mine, the tingle of his lips. I was in love with this man, even though he’d betrayed me, and I wanted so badly to believe that he cared about me.

He hesitated. “There’s no reason to believe me. I don’t deserve your trust. But I can’t let them ruin you. I can’t.”

I bit my lip. He sounded sincere.

He held out his hand. “Please.”

And I put my hand in his.

When we touched, a shiver went through me.

He felt it too. He pulled me closer. “Did... did they hurt you? Did Harper...” He swallowed. “Did he do anything to you?”

“No,” I murmured, gazing up at him. “I think he would have tried, but he hasn’t been here in days.”

“Oh, thank god.” He folded me into his arms like I was something precious, planting a kiss on the top of my head. “I was so worried. I’ve been working with those herbs, and this was the first chance I had to get in to find you.” He pulled back. “Teagan, I am so sorry for everything. I can’t believe that it took me so long to put a stop to all of this. If I’d acted sooner, we could have both been away from this place.”

He was right. He’d betrayed me. “I felt something between us. I thought you felt it too, but—”

“I did feel it. I
do
feel it. Teagan, I’m in love with you. I never—I was afraid—” He put his hand on the doorknob. “We can do this later.”

I stopped him. “Say it again.”

“What?”

“How you feel about me.”

His gaze met mine. He moistened his lips. His voice was a deep rumble. “I love you.”

I nodded. “Yes. I love you too.” It was the first time I’d said it out loud.

He crushed me against him and his mouth was on mine—wet, hot, urgent. My whole body throbbed in his arms. I clung to him.

“I missed you,” he breathed.

“Carter...”

He groaned. “I love it when you say my name.” He rested his forehead against mine. “I love you,” he said again.

I ran my fingertips over his cheek. “I love you.”

With effort, he pulled away. “We need to go.”

“Right,” I said.

He opened the door.

We stepped out into the darkened corridor outside of the room. Holding hands tightly, we crept down the hallway.

It was silent and dark. Carter didn’t even have a torch or flashlight, so I could hardly see where we were going. I trusted Carter to lead me. He was quiet, lithe as a cat, and we moved as quickly as we could.

We paused in front of a doorway where light spilled out. There were voices inside too.

Carter held me close, listening.

I hardly dared breathe.

He slowly peered inside the room. Then he turned back to me and nodded. Together, we darted past the doorway.

My heart thudded in my chest, expecting someone to run out after us.

But no one did.

We kept moving through the dark hallways. Carter pulled me around corners, down different passages. I had no idea where we were, but he moved with a purpose, as if he’d traced the route many times.

Finally, I recognized the stairs into the inner sanctum.

We were almost free.

Carter clutched my hand, looking around to make sure we were alone.

All I could see were shadows and stone.

We started up the steps.

We reached the top silently, but then we had to open the trap door.

Carter had a key, which he fit to the lock. It turned.

When he pushed open the door, the hinges groaned.

The sound echoed through the passageway.

“Go,” he whispered, pushing me through.

I scrambled out of the doorway, but not before I saw two hooded people running out.

“Carter?” yelled one.

He was behind me, tumbling out of the door. He slammed the door shut after us. “Run.”

I took off, pumping my legs.

Carter was at my heels.

Behind us, I heard the door opening again.

I shot a look behind us. The robed people were coming after us. There were four of them.

“Don’t look. Run,” said Carter. He was going faster than me somehow. He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me along with him.

We careened through the woods, branches snapping into our faces, thorns catching at our clothes.

Carter urged me forward, telling me to go faster.

“Stop right there, Carter,” yelled someone behind us.

“Faster,” he told me, doubling his speed.

My breath was coming in painful gasps. I could hardly keep up with him as it was. I struggled to match his speed, picking up my feet.

But I was falling behind.

He twisted to see me. “Come on, Teagan, we need to run.”

I wheezed, trying to force my body to go quicker.

Suddenly, Carter went down.

He cried out.

I stopped too.

He was clutching his ankle.

“Get up.” I pulled him to his feet.

He tried to put weight on his foot. He screamed. “It’s twisted or broken or something,” he managed.

“Put your arm around me,” I said. “Lean on me.”

He did.

We hobbled forward. Every step he took caused him to wince. “Teagan, you’ve got to go on without me.”

“No,” I said. “I’m not leaving you.”

“They won’t hurt me,” he said. “They need me for the ritual, and they won’t give up on it. But if you could get away, really get away, then you’ll be safe. And as soon as the time for the ritual has passed, I’ll come for you.”

I shook my head. “No, come on, you need to move.” I cast a glance over my shoulder. They were getting closer.

“I can’t. You can move faster without me. You have to go. If they catch you...”

“Carter, I don’t want to leave you.”

“Go.” He pushed me away from him.

Without me to hold him up, he crumpled to the ground.

I looked at him sprawled there. I looked at the robed people who were still coming for us.

“Teagan,” he said.

“But—”

“I love you. Now go.”

“The last time I tried, it hurt.”

“I took off the wards,” he said.

I looked back at the robed people.

And then I ran.

I emerged out of the woods panting, with a stitch in my side. I wanted to walk, but I kept running.

The dorm was ahead of me. I could see that someone was stalking across the parking lot, her red hair streaming behind her. It was Reba.

Great. That was the last thing I needed.

I put my head down and kept running. I wouldn’t look at her.

“Reba, wait!” yelled a voice.

I looked up. There was Harper, hot on Reba’s heels.

“Look, I didn’t tell you that stuff so that you’d run away,” he said.

What if Harper saw me? What if he ran after me too?

Reba was putting the box in the trunk of her car. “Why would I stay, Harper? This whole place is corrupt. I’m blowing the whistle on it. I’m disgusted.”

She was what? I slowed, confused.

Harper looked up. He saw me.

Shit.

His eyes widened. “Teagan?”

I turned back to the woods. The people in their robes hadn’t come through after me yet, but I couldn’t chance running back to them.

However, Harper was in front of me. I couldn’t run to him either. I felt trapped, like a tracked animal. I hesitated.

“Teagan?” Reba this time, running straight for me.

I tried to swerve, but I wasn’t quick enough.

She embraced me. “Oh my God, Teagan, it’s too horrible.”

I pushed her off of me. “Get away.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this to you.”

“What?”

“Harper told me everything. All about the ritual, and about the power the society needs, and—it’s awful.” She looked around. “My car. It’s over there. We have to get you out of here.”

I backed away. “Is this a joke?”

“Do you
know
what they’re going to
do
to you?”

“You hate me.”

“That doesn’t mean I want you raped until you go mad,” she said. “Come on.”

The robed people who’d been pursuing me broke through the woods.

Harper stalked towards us. “Reba, wait! We need your help.”

“Where’s your car?” I said.

She pointed.

We ran again, evading Harper.

She skidded to a stop at the driver’s side and threw herself in.

I ran around to the passenger side. I tried the handle. Locked.

Reba started the car.

I pounded on the window.

“Shit,” she said. “Sorry.”

She unlocked the car.

“Reba!” yelled Harper. He was only a few feet away.

I yanked the door to the car open.

“Get in,” she said.

I dove into the car, slamming the door after myself.

She screeched out of her parking space.

We took the road out of campus going at least seventy miles per hour.

That is, until we hit the first speed bump.

That kind of slowed us down a bit.

But we left Harper and the others behind. And we drove off campus, out onto the main road, putting blocks and blocks between us and Thornfield.

And nothing hurt. Carter had taken the wards off.

I sagged against the seat of the car in relief. I was free.

* * *

“See, I was right,” said Reba. “Something really freaky
was
going on. You were getting special treatment. They set you up to get that scholarship. You were tapped for Scales and Fangs so that they could keep an eye on you. It was all true. It just wasn’t for a good reason. They were doing it because they wanted to use you.”

I rested my head against the window. “You were right. Everything that happened to be was all about this ritual. None of it meant anything.”

“Oh, not that I’m saying that you’re a bad actress—”

I glared at her. “Really?”

“Okay, well, maybe you have some room for improvement,” she said. “But I still don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Right,” I said. “Like when you fed me that pot brownie and told me it was normal?”

She cringed. “Sorry about that. Did it really freak you out being suddenly high?”

“No, it didn’t feel like anything. I just got really drunk, really fast, and I threw up all over everything.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry. I only did that because I wanted you to stay away from Harper, and because I was jealous. I didn’t know that half of the theater department was involved in this horrible scheme to try and complete that ritual. If I had known any of that, I would never have come to this college in the first place. It just makes me sick.”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. Reba was not the person I would have pegged as riding the moral high ground.

“Why is that so hard to believe?” she said.

“It’s just that you were so mean to me, and—”

“Well, it’s one thing to be mean and play a few harmless pranks. It’s another thing entirely to try to really hurt someone.”

“You told Dean Surber about me and Carter when you thought it meant he’d lose his job,” I said. “That wasn’t really hurting someone?”

“No,” she said. “Besides, he deserved it. He shouldn’t have been sleeping with you. Although I have to admit it was a relief that you weren’t with Harper.”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever. Reba apparently didn’t have remorse. But she’d saved me, so I guessed I should be grateful.

“So,” she said, gripping the steering wheel, “where are we going? Should we expose these guys to the media like the dogs they are?”

“Scales and Fangs? You think we really could expose them?”

“Sure. We can get the news media into the inner sanctum, can’t we?” she said. “They’ll take their cameras down there, and they’ll show all of America the dark underbelly of secret societies.”

“I’m just not sure reporters will believe us. Rituals? Magic? Wards? It all sounds kind of crazy.”