Skin Walkers: Leto (16 page)

The cowboy turned to Shy then, “Is that your man?”

“No,” Shy responded pushing on the cowboy’s chest in
attempt to shove away from him before responding angrily, “but you’re not either so let me go.”

The cowboy smiled up at Leto, “See friend, she’s not interested in you.”

Leto didn’t say a word.  One minute Shy was trying to wrestle free of the cowboy’s bruising grip and the next thing she knew the cowboy was on the ground out cold.  Leto rose from where he was hunched over the man’s unconscious form and slowly approached Shy. 

She
took a tentative step backward, then another as she slowly backed away from him.

Then
the waitress burst out the doors of the restaurant, “Hey, what’s going on out here?”  She looked at the cowboy on the ground and saw Shy backing away from Leto.  “Honey is that the abusive boyfriend?”

Shy felt humiliation wash over her as Leto’s expression darkened and he titled his head to stare at her accusingly.  “Th-that’s not what I told her Leto.”

Shy heard the waitress yell over her shoulder, “Jimmy call the cops!”

Shy held up her hands as she continued to back away from
the large Walker, “I-I don’t want any trouble.  I’m just leaving.”

“With something that belongs to me
?” His tone was harsh, accusing, but the hatred that typically burned in his eyes when he looked at her was absent.

Shy dropped her hands to cover her belly
and spoke softly.  “Th-the baby’s mine Leto.”

Leto froze then, his eyes shifting and he inhaled slowly before dropping his eyes to where her hands attempted to shield his child, their child.  “
Mine!”  The word, while barely audible, was laced with conviction and carried to Shy on the cold wind that stung at her cheeks and held the faint sound of sirens in the distance.

If
only she could bide her time until the police arrived.  The thought died nearly as soon as it was formulated.  Leto would kill the men before allowing them to take him in.  Shy’s eyes dropped to the unconscious cowboy still sprawled out in the snow.  She watched his lifeless form for several tense moments, and she sucked in a sharp breath when she failed to see his chest rise or fall indicating he still lived. 

Her eyes shifted to Leto, imploring
him.  “You have to let us go Leto.  The police are coming.”

He advanced a step, his eyes still locked on her abdomen.
“
Never!
”

“Jimmy,
Ronnie get out here!”

Shy felt panic flare to life. 
You stupid bitch!
  Shy cursed the waitress silently even as guilt washed over her.  She knew the waitress was only trying to help, but anyone that stood in front of Leto right now risked his life by doing so.

When two young men shot out of the restaurant Shy held up her hands and screamed, “STOP!”  She was trembling even as she spoke, “It’s…it’s okay.”  She turned imploring eyes to the Waitress.  “Please, all of you go back inside.  This has nothing to do with you.”

“Look honey,” the waitress challenged propping one hand on her ample hip, “We won’t let him hurt you.”

Leto turned his head as if finally realizing he and Shy weren’t alone.  The sneer that formed his features indicated he didn’t appreciate the
woman’s insinuation, but his words fortified the look, “She carries my child.”  He turned back to stare at Shy, “I don’t hurt what’s mine.”

“Hey,” the Waitress yelled, “She’s a person too Mister and
she has choices.”

Shy shook her head, “Jesus!  Just stop.”  She frowned at the waitr
ess.

“She does have choices.” Leto responded to Shy alone, drawing her eyes back to his.  “Right now Shy you have two choices.”

Shy gnawed her bottom lip nervously.

“Either get in the car or I’m going to kill them all and
take
you to the car.”  He didn’t smile as he held her gaze.

Shy eyed him then turned to stare at the group that was speaking among themselves formulating some plan.  Shy cringed when she thought of the outcome. 
No matter what they did or how many there were, it would all end the same.  They’d be dead and Leto would have her.  Or she could go with him now peacefully and spare the lives of the three morons that had foiled her escape with what they perceived as a kind gesture.

Shy’s eyes shot to the road just behind her.  She wasn’t sure if the police and their fire power would stand a chance against an angry Walker
, but with them still not in sight she was rapidly running out of options.

“Shy, you have five seconds to decide then I start hurting people.”

“Honey?”  The waitress called.

Shy
watched Leto’s jaw bunch in annoyance as he spoke, “I’m going to start with her.”

Shy lifted terror filled eyes to Leto then let them slide to the trio still standing in front of the restaurant before being drawn back.

“Three seconds.”

“
Okay!”  Shy wrapped her arms around her midsection and dropped her head as she whispered, “Fine Leto.  I’ll go with you, just let them be.”

He turned sideways and Shy inched slowly past making her way to the car.

“Honey you don’t have to do this!”

Shy didn’t even look at the waitress as Leto opened the passenger side door
ushering her inside before closing it just as quickly behind her.  He crossed to the other side quickly and within minutes they were back on the highway headed straight back to StoneCrow.

The ride was long and silent.
  Shy kept her eyes glued to the window, her arms still wrapped over her belly.

Leto cast her a sidelong glance before reaching down and flipping the heater to high.  “Where’s your coat?” His tone held that familiar
condescension.

“I don’t have one.” Shy barked back in annoyance.  She was done trying to convince him she wasn’t the enemy.  He knew she wasn’t.

“Where were you going?” he demanded.

Shy turned to frown at him, “It’s really none of your business.”

“Careful Shy,” he warned dangerously, “you know not where you tread.”

Sh
e turned her face back to the window.  “I’m not staying at StoneCrow.  You can just tell me what it is you want and take me back to the city.”

“You’re coming home.”  The reply, made quickly, brooked no refusal.

“StoneCrow is
not
my home.”

“It is now.” 

The statement sent a chill of foreboding washing over her.              Shy thought long and hard before she tried to appeal to his sense of decency…if he had any.  “You know making me upset isn’t good for the baby.” 

That caught his attention.  His head turned to her before his eyes slid to her belly
, his nostrils flaring.  “I’m sorry.”

The words, nearly a whisper had Shy turning to stare at him in shock.
 
He actually knows how to apologize?

“I don’t want to hurt the baby.”

Shy clamped her mouth shut and turned sad eyes back to the window.  “Yeah, just me.  I get it.”

“Not you either.” Leto countered angrily.

“Well that’s a change,” she responded sarcastically and received a low warning growl in return.  She frowned at him, “So what’s the plan, hold me prisoner until I have my baby?  What then?”

“
My
baby,” he amended.

“If you think…” she’d been about to challenge his claim to her child when something pinked off
the car.  She silenced to listen for the noise but forgot it as soon as Leto’s hand wrapped around the back of her neck and forced her to bend down seconds before the vehicle swerved violently.  Gasping, she reached for the dash with one hand while the other clamped to the seat.  “What’s wrong?”  She turned to Leto and instantly recognized the rage that tensed his features. 

He struggled to control the vehicle while reaching toward
Shy.  One large hand fisted in the front of her shirt and he pulled her forward off the seat.  “Get down!”

She did as he commanded while blurting, “What if the car flips.”  She could only watch his intense gaze.  His hands fisted in
a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“We’re under attack.”

Chapter 22

Attack?  Oh my God!  From who?
  She didn’t need to ask, she knew.  The Megalya had successfully impregnated her with a Walker child.  They’d go to any lengths to re-capture her.  It all made sense now that she knew that Walkers were real.  It explained why the technicians had begun feeding her more and beating her less the last few weeks she’d been at Megalya, they’d known she was pregnant.

Leto too seemed to know their intent.  “
They won’t get our baby.  The Sentries are coming.  Hang on Shy!”

Not knowing if he meant figuratively or literally, she braced her hands on the underside of the glove box and ducked her head.  More sharp pings rang in the interior and she heard the distinctive sound of thick glass as it began to fissure.

“Leto?”  Panic laced her tone.  She didn’t want to go back to the Megalya and she was equally as terrified of them getting their hands on Leto.  She’d witnessed firsthand the torture he’d endured at their hands.  She too was familiar with their viciousness.  They couldn’t go back.  A sob escaped her when she thought of her son being subjected to them.

“I won’t let them take you Shy!”

Her mind worked frantically.  If they were able to stop the car, Leto would surely fight to the death to protect her and their child, but then what?  She and the baby would be defenseless left to the twisted machinations of the Megalya.  She knew she’d never survive their torture a second time and she certainly had no intentions of allowing them to do to her child what they’d done to her and Leto, but she couldn’t allow Leto to be tortured again either.

“Shift!”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” he growled through clenched teeth, his eyes riveted on the road.

“No.  Shift and leave.  Fly away!”

“What?”  Shock was evident on his features as he ripped his gaze from the road long enough to pin her with a dazed expression.

She remembered seeing Leto strapped down in the exam room at Megalya.  She hadn’t been able to help him then but by God she’d help him now. 
“Turn into a bird and fly away Leto.”  Her tone was imploring, “There’s no reason for them to take us all.”

Leto’s shock quickly dissipated as rage contorted his features.  He clamped his jaw so tightly together that Shy could hear his teeth creak.  “You think I’d leave you and my unborn child defenseless?”
 

On
e hand clamped over her belly, Shy lifted tear-filled eyes to stare at him, “I won’t let them have my son.”

Leto’s enraged expression
instantly softened.  “Son?”  The word was barely a whisper.

The world seemed to stop for a fraction of a second as she stared up at him and re
membered that Jenny hadn’t told him the sex of their child.  All was silent as they simply stared at each other and she swore that for just a second she saw the corners of his lips lift in awe.  Then the noise came and her world was turned upside down. 

Her shoulder was slammed up under the dash as Leto turned his head back to the road.  A vicious snarl left his lips and Shy could only watch in horror as he threw his hands up to brace against the
ceiling of the car as it was jolted savagely onto its side then onto its roof. 

Her own body was flung mercilessly back and forth.  Banging hard against the underside of the dash before her body was slammed against the seat.  She too lifted hands to brace herself when her body suddenly felt weightless
and her belly heaved when she began to fall. 

It all happened so quickly, in the space of one breathe, but it seemed to last forever.  Glass shattered and rained onto her even as sparks flew and the sound of scraping metal could be heard.  Then everything was quiet and still.

Shy opened her eyes without even realizing she’d slammed them shut.  “Leto?”  Her voice didn’t even sound like her own, it was weak and breathy.  She struggled to free herself from where she was huddled in a tight ball on the ceiling of the overturned vehicle. 

Her body
hurt, she felt battered.  Her ribs ached where they’d slammed into the seat and one of her wrists wasn’t working after it had bore the brunt of her weight as she’d tried to prevent herself from landing on her head when the vehicle flipped.  Luckily, her belly felt fine.  She rubbed her working hand over her abdomen and felt no pain.

“Leto!” she urged more loudly, but there was no response.  It was dark and cold.  She noticed that she was now able to see her breath inside the car as most of the windows had been shattered. 

Righting herself, she crawled through broken glass, not caring when her good hand began to sting with multiple tiny incisions.  “Leto?”  She was near hysterical now. 
Why isn’t he answering?
  Inching forward she brushed his bulk with her forearm.  Blindly, she felt for him and realized his body was twisted into a huddled mass.  Half trapped under the steering wheel, he was partially hung upside down while his arms hung limply over his head.