SHIVER (35 page)

“He’s alive,” Aidan said.

“You would have killed him if I hadn’t stopped you. You would have beaten him to death with your own hands.” Horror reflected in her face over the reality of her statement.

Aidan had to look away from the fear and revulsion in her eyes. He’d been caught up in a rage so destructive that he knew she was right. “He was trying to kill me, Raven. I had to defend myself.”

“He’s an old man, twice your age.” She gestured to Roland again, in support of her argument. “You had him on the floor. He wasn’t fighting you.”

Where had she been a few minutes earlier? “This isn’t just
his
blood I’m wearing. Don’t feel sorry for Roland.”

“This is why I never told you about Fox. This Harte rage.” She shook her head and tears filled her voice. “Why did I think we could ever work it out? My dad was right.”

“Raven—” Aidan reached out a hand—a hand coated with Roland’s blood.

She stepped away from him, her gaze glued on his bloody hands. “No. I can’t. I can’t do this.” She shook her head as though to convince herself.

“Raven, I love you. I love Fox. Please—”

“Stay away from Fox.” He felt the slap of her resolve in her hard voice. She’d retreated from him farther in more than just distance. “How could I be with the man who was responsible for killing my father? What was I thinking?”

“Please, Raven. You have to listen to me. I didn’t kill your father. I love you. You promised to give us time,” he pleaded, his heart tearing along the newly mended seams. “Don’t do this.”

“Our time was never meant to be. Whether you actually caused Dad’s death doesn’t matter, you put into motion the things that did.” She glanced at Roland’s body and then at Aidan, her eyes sad, yet full of resolve. “Stay away from us.” She turned and walked out of the cabin. The silence was like a death peal, killing any hope of a future he might have had with her and Fox.

“Well.” Roland groaned. “That was fun.” He slurred the words out the opposite side of his spilt lip. “Guess there are worse things than death, aren’t there, boy?” He slowly got to his feet, wincing at the action.

Numb, Aidan turned to look at him. Roland’s right eye was already swollen shut, but there was a twinkle of wicked glee in his left. “How long have you been conscious?” Aidan asked.

“Like you had the chops to knock me out. After that little scene, you’d probably welcome death if I offered it, wouldn’t ya? Think I prefer you living with this outcome. At least for now.”

Roland reached for the rifle leaning against the wood stove and tipped the barrel of the gun Aidan’s direction before pulling it back to rest on his shoulder. “See ya around, sucker. Oh, and I’ll be back for the gold. I figure it’ll be safe. Not like you have a need for it since your reason for living just dropped you like the pile of shit you are.” He cackled and then spat blood from his mouth onto the floor at Aidan’s feet. “Pathetic bastard.”

As Roland left, Aidan sank onto the cold, hard floor littered with blood splatters and snowy white feathers from his slashed coat. The emotional turmoil twisting loose inside him far outweighed any of his physical aches.

He wished Roland had put a bullet in him.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
T
WO

“There he is!”

Aidan heard voices come at him as though from the end of a long mine shaft. He sat huddled on the floor. Tired. So tired. Someone was pulling at him, checking his pulse.

How could he have a pulse when his heart had been ripped out of his chest?

“He’s conscious. But not responding.”

What the hell was Lynx doing out here?

“Shit, there’s blood all over him, all over this dump. What the hell happened here?”

That sounded like Pike. Nice of the guys to show up. But then they didn’t know. Soon they would. Raven would be sure to tell them. Guess, he wouldn’t be one of the gang after all.

“Come on, Aidan. Talk to me.” Lynx shook him. “Tell me what went down here.”

Slowly, Aidan turned his head. Lynx inhaled when he saw his face. “She promised me, Lynx. Promised that she’d give us time.”

“Who promised?” Lynx brows furrowed. “Raven?”

He nodded. His head became too heavy so he let it sag back to his chest.

Lynx shook him again. “Where are you hurt?”

“Hurt?” He laughed with no humor. “I’m in too much pain to hurt.”

“Who did this to you, son?” Pike asked, kneeling down next to him. “Was it Roland? Is he dead?”

“Nope.” Aidan shook his head. “Left.”

“He
walked
out of here?” Lynx’s voice was disbelieving as he took in the destruction.

“Yep. The bastard wouldn’t kill me, neither. Not after Raven was here.”

“We’d better get him to Eva,” Pike said. “He’s not making any sense.”

They pulled him to his feet.

“No. Leave me here. I belong here.”

“He’s like ice,” Pike said. “If we hadn’t gone looking for him…”

“Let’s get him back to the lodge. We’ll figure everything out there.”

Aidan’s footing gave out, so they wrapped his arms around their necks and carried—dragged—him out of the cabin to Lynx’s waiting pickup.

He must have dozed. The next thing Aidan knew he awoke to a nightmare. He really didn’t see how this day could have gotten any worse. As near as he could tell he was laid out in the guest room he’d used previously, and Garrett Hunt was standing over him, his piercing blue eyes narrowed in his fish cop face.

“Fuck.” Aidan shut his eyes hoping the man was a figment of his imagination. He peeked. Nope, still there.

Garrett’s hard mouth tilted at the corners. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” He cocked his head. “Trouble likes you, doesn’t it?”

So did heartache it seemed. “What the hell are you doing here?” His sluggish mind connected the dots. “Peter?”

Garrett nodded.

“Where is he?”

“Hiding in the kitchen with the women.”

The ache in chest, thumped.
Women?
“Sonya’s here?”

Garrett nodded again and folded his arms across his muscled chest. “Want to fill me in on what happened this morning?”

“Not really.”

“You understand that wasn’t a question?”

“Yeah, yeah. I remember the drill.” Aidan moved to sit up. Hell, he hurt. He had to give it up to Roland. The old man could sure land a punch.

“Do you need to do this now?” Eva asked, moving around Garrett.

Garrett’s imposing frame had blocked Aidan from seeing Eva enter the room. But now that she was here, Aidan started to sweat.

Eva’s pinched pixie face leaned over him from the other side of the bed. “Glad to see you’re back with us.”

“Go away,” he mumbled. Great. Damn fish cop on one side and the demon nurse on the other. Next time they ran into each other Roland was going to answer for this too.

“Did you hear that? He told me to go away.” Eva’s voice was more concerned than outraged.

“He’s been like that since we found him,” Lynx spoke from the shadows, sitting in the rocking chair in the corner. “Damn fool had to be the hero and go off on his own. Do you think he was hit on the head? That would explain a lot.”

Eva probed carefully around Aidan’s neck and head with gentle fingers.

“I can answer for myself,” Aidan said, moving away from Eva. Any minute now her soothing hands were going to dig in and make him hurt.

“Start talking then.” Garrett leaned against the dresser, crossing his legs at the ankles. He looked relaxed as though he had all damn day to interrogate.

Aidan glanced between Eva—pulling a pair of scissors out of her black bag of torment—and Lynx who slowly rocked back and forth in the chair.

There was no way he was going to get out of reliving this morning’s nightmare.

He addressed Garrett and tried to ignore Eva cutting another bloody, torn piece of clothing off of him. “How much do you already know?”

“Peter filled me in on everything up to the events of today.”

“I went to find Roland. I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt over Harte business.”

Garrett tightened his jaw, obviously remembering the nightmare the Hartes had put him and Sonya through last summer. “I take it you found him.”

“He was at Earl’s, tearing the place apart looking for gold. I surprised him.” And then Raven had surprised them both.

“Blast it, Aidan, you tore my stitches.” Eva shook her head in disgust. “You have any idea how careful I was to keep the stitching even and neat so you wouldn’t end up with a nasty scar?” She didn’t seem to need an answer as she continued to swear under her breath, grabbing gauze and disinfectant.

He flinched when she went to work cleaning and repairing the wound.

“What happened?” Garrett asked, the corner of his mouth lifted in amusement as Eva worked on him. Lynx continued to rock silently in the corner, watching.

“The usual. Insults, punches, and then Roland pulled a knife.”

“Weren’t you armed?”

“We both were. Turned out we preferred to end it personally.”

“What broke it up?” Lynx asked, quietly from his chair.

“Raven.”

“Your sister, Raven?” Garrett clarified with Lynx, putting names and faces to all the players. Then he addressed Aidan. “Peter said you and her have history. A son together?”

He nodded. No way was he going into all this with Garrett. The man could arrest him for all he cared. He was not baring his soul, laying his dreams out for the damn fish cop to trample over again.

Garrett nodded as though understanding the past was off limits.

“What happened when Raven showed up?” Lynx asked, stopping the motions of the rocking chair.

Eva poked and pinched as she re-stitched his wound, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as answering Lynx’s questions were going to be.

Aidan met Lynx’s stare. “She overheard Roland egging me on. He brought up your dad’s death.” He paused to swallow. “Lynx, I was the one who bought the explosives for the bomb that caused the rockslide that killed your dad.” Eva gasped, her movements stilled. Aidan gave that a moment to sink in before he continued, “I was also the one who planted the charges. But you’ve got to believe me, I had no idea what Earl was up to until it was too late. I’d bought explosives for him many times. If I’d known…”

Silence lay heavy like wet snow over the room. Eva got up and laid a hand on Lynx’s shoulder, giving him emotional support. Garrett watched and cataloged like the cop he was.

“How did Raven take it?” Lynx finally broke the quiet.

“Not well. She’s real angry and hurt. I don’t blame her.” He glanced down at his hands, bloody and bruised. Hands that would have beaten Roland to death if Raven hadn’t fired that gun. “I had Roland on the ground and was…was going at him heavy with my fists. She told me to stay away from her and Fox.” His voice ended on a hush. The reality that he’d lost everything in one flash of temper had him closing his eyes and wishing again that Roland had ended it all.

“Where’s Roland now?” Garrett asked, obviously not willing to leave him in peace until he had all the facts. Besides, catching Roland was the reason Garrett would have traveled through the night to get here from the Peninsula. He wasn’t here out of concern for Aidan.

“Took off. He figured leaving me alive, after I’d lost everything, was better than killing me.”

“Did he find the gold?”

“No.” Aidan opened his eyes and rolled his head toward Garrett. There was pity in the fish cop’s eyes. “I doubt there’s any gold. If there ever was, why hadn’t Earl spent it? Chalk up another lie for the bastard.”

“Are you done?” Eva asked Garrett. “I need to see to his other cuts and bruises.” For once her voice was soft, compassionate. And it made him hurt worse.

“Do you need my help?” Lynx asked.

“No. I should be fine.”

“Garrett, why don’t I get you a cup of coffee?” Lynx stood and crossed the room.

“Thanks. That would be much appreciated. Aidan, I’ll talk with you again later.”

“Can’t fucking wait.” Then he shut his eyes and focused his energy on surviving Eva’s ministrations.

“I’m going to give you a shot that will help you with the pain and allow you to sleep.” She gently inserted the needle in his arm.

Fucking hallelujah.