PS02 - Without Regret (43 page)

“Please be breathing, baby,” she said, struggling not to cry. He had to be okay. He was a big tough guy and this was just a

minor setback, nothing more.

Somehow she managed to drag him halfway out of the water, but that was all she needed.

“Chris? Baby?” she said, trying to figure out what to do.

Why the hell hadn’t she taken that First Aid course at the Y? Oh, because there was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer nightly mini

marathon on television that she just couldn’t miss, she remembered, wishing she wasn’t such a geek.

She wiped the water off his handsome face and ran her fingers through his hair as she tried to figure out what to do. A raspy

sound caught her attention and she sighed in relief when she realized it was coming from Chris. The sound of his breathing

should scare her and in fact did, but right now she was just so damn happy that he was breathing that she decided to just take

what she could.

“Baby, can you wake up?” she asked, leaning over him.

He groaned, but other than that just lay there. She looked around the thick woods for help that she damn well knew wasn’t

coming. It was up to her to get him out of here, through the woods and to safety.

They were so screwed.

She didn’t know First Aid, didn’t know squat about navigating her way through the woods and she was pretty damn sure she

wasn’t going to be able to lift him.

The man was solid muscle, more than a good foot taller than her and had to outweigh her by a hundred pounds. God, what the

hell did they feed him? she wondered, as she struggled to step out of the water and drag him along with her.

It became pretty clear that she wouldn’t be able to get him all the way up the dirt and rock slope to level ground. She needed

help that much was clear, but first she needed to get him out of the water before he got sick, not that he wouldn’t get sick from

the combination of the cold crisp air and being soak and wet, but it was the only thing she could think of to do.

Five minutes later she had him out of the water and lying on the damp sand as she searched his pockets. It didn’t take long to

find the baggie with his two phones and his wallet. She grabbed the one on top, the silver one that didn’t impress her and make

her drool with geek-like need.

“Damn it, no signal,” she said, tossing the phone back in the bag. She grabbed the sleek black one and noted the blinking green

light. He probably had a message, she thought as she tried to figure out how to open the damn thing.

Five minutes later she was pissed and kind of impressed, but pissed nonetheless that she couldn’t open it. She tossed it back in

the bag, sealed it and gently slid it back in his pocket before she turned her attention to his bag. Of course he had a small

survival kit with matches and stuff, but that stuff would have to wait until she figured out a way to get him on solid ground and

further away from the water.

Or maybe she should just start a fire and hope someone saw it and came to help, she thought as she looked through the rest of

his bag. When she spotted a large black handgun she paused. If he didn’t wake up anytime soon it would be up to her to defend

them.

Her hand shook as she picked up the gun, careful to keep her fingers as far away from the trigger as she could manage as placed

it on a flat gray rock beside her.

She pulled a large black tee shirt out of his bag and laid it over his chest, having absolutely no idea what to do, but she knew

she had to get him dry and warm, but that meant getting him up the hill.

She had to try. There was no way she could leave him to freeze. She didn’t know much about survival, but she knew being wet

in the cold September night air was bad. It might take her half the night, but she needed to try.

Hoping like hell that she didn’t make his injuries worse, she squatted behind him, grabbed him by arms and nearly whimpered

when she couldn’t wrap her hands around his massive biceps. She gave up her hold and grabbed his backpack once again,

praying that it wouldn’t snap.

**********

He opened his eyes and was met with pitch black. Oh shit, was he blind? he wondered as the mattress beneath him shivered.

His chest hurt every time he inhaled, but at least the sharp stabbing pain in his lung was gone.

By the feel of it, the ribs were still broken, but his lung felt healed, at least healed enough not to make him wish he was dead.

That was progress. Soft tissue injuries always healed the fastest, but they still required rest and time.

“Munchkin?” he muttered, his voice coming out as a hoarse whisper.

His mattress let out a relieved sigh.

“You scared the hell out of me!” she whispered accusingly, sounding both relieved and scared.

“What’s going on? Where are we?” he asked, wrapping an arm around his chest as he tried to sit up, but his damn ribs

screamed in protest, keeping right where he was.

“Oh, you mean besides you scaring the ever loving hell out of me?” she demanded.

“Yeah, that,” he said dryly as he tried to look around and failed.

Going by the cold air being softly blown over his body and sound of water rushing by they were still by the river. Did she ever

fucking listen?

“I thought I told you to run, Munchkin. You shouldn’t be here,” he bit out, wishing he could haul her over his knees and spank

the hell out of the beautiful ass of hers.

She let out a cute little snort as she hugged his shoulders more tightly against her. “Did you really think I was going to run off

and leave you defenseless?”

Defenseless………

That was the wrong fucking choice of words to use on him. Long ago hated memories threatened to surface and he shoved them

away and focused on the woman that ignored him and pissed him right the fuck off.

“I wasn’t defenseless,” he spat out through chattering teeth.

“Oh, really? Then what would you call passing out and remaining unconscious for probably twelve hours?” she asked and he

didn’t appreciate the sarcastic tone one bit.

“I didn’t pass out. I was resting.”

“Riiiiiiight,” she said, sounding as though she didn’t believe him. “So when you almost drowned, got dragged for an hour and it

down poured for probably three hours you were just catching a catnap?”

“Exactly,” he said, trying not to smile at how cute she sounded as his anger faded away. How the hell did she do that to him?

He was pissed, beyond pissed that she hadn’t listened to him and hauled her ass out of here and now he was…….calm. He still

wasn’t happy that she hadn’t listened to him and worried about her safety, but he wasn’t angry, at least not at her.

He was angry with himself for failing her. When she needed him the most he’d fucked up and left her alone and vulnerable. He

didn’t even want to think about what could have happened while he was out. Her abilities might be starting to surface, but she

was a weak, untrained female, a pregnant female.

When he started to wonder if the baby was okay he forced those thoughts away. It wasn’t a baby, it was a problem, he

reminded himself. It was something he couldn’t allow himself to think about or want. Her pregnancy was just another fuckup in

recent fuckups and one they would take care of when they reached a compound. He didn’t care what she said, she wasn’t

keeping it.

He couldn’t be there for her and he couldn’t stomach the idea of her struggling to bring up a child alone. He didn’t want to think

of a child crying itself to sleep at night, wondering where its father was and he sure as hell didn’t want to find out the hard way

that he inherited more than just his dark hair from that bitch that gave birth to him. He could never take that chance.

“Do you think you could walk?” Izzy asked, pressing a kiss to his forehead and it acted like an immediate balm to his soul.

No. “Yes, we need to get out of here,” he said, praying he could fucking man up and get her somewhere safe before heThe

sound of a twig breaking caught his attention. Izzy went perfectly still behind him. As quietly as he could he reached out and

felt around him, looking for his bag.

When he came across mud, sticks and wet leaves he cursed silently.

“Where’s my bag?” he whispered, praying that whatever they were dealing with didn’t have enhanced hearing or sense of

smell.

“Please tell me that’s just a rabid squirrel,” Izzy whispered softly.

If he wasn’t afraid that they’d been found he would have smiled. His mate was just so damn cute. “My gun, Munchkin. I need

my gun,” he whispered back as he scanned the area.

He couldn’t see a fucking thing and normally that wouldn’t bother him. He’d use it to his advantage, but this wasn’t one of those

times. He could hardly move, couldn’t breathe without pain and he had to protect his mate.

“I may have left it on the river bank, but it’s okay. I can get it!” she whispered excitedly just as he felt her shift beneath him.

Before he could stop her, she scurrying away from him and he was left grabbing his side and falling onto his back, biting back

a scream of agony.

“Get back here!” he whispered harshly as he struggled to get up, but his damn ribs threatened his lung again and kept him

prisoner on the fucking cold wet ground while his mate went and pissed him off by doing something stupid.

There was no doubt about it in his mind. He was going to spank her ass until his fucking hand fell off.

“Munchkin!”

He heard another twig snap and he prayed that was her. It didn’t matter if his rib lodged itself in his lung, he couldn’t just sit on

his ass while his mate risked her life. It was his job to take care of her, not the other way around and the fact that she’d been

left to care for him for god only knows how long irritated the shit out of him.

Biting back a scream of agony, he sucked in a breath and rolled over until he could use his knees and hand to push off the

ground onto unsteady legs. He didn’t allow himself anytime to get his bearings, he moved his ass towards the river, but he

didn’t get far when her scream broke through the eerily silent night followed by the flash of a gun firing.

“Izzy!” he yelled, ignoring the searing pain in his side as he took off at a clumsy dead run towards the sound of her screaming.

Fear for her and the baby shot through him before he could control it or stop it and when it did he used it push himself harder

and faster towards her as he prepared to kill the son of a bitch with his hands.

Chapter 37

A hand clamped tightly over her mouth and pulled back against a large firm body as the gun in her hand was gently taken away.

“Shhh, Izzy, it’s okay,” a familiar voice said.

It took her a moment to figure out who it was, but when she did she shoved his hand away, turned and yanked the much taller

man down for a hug. She’d never been so happy to see anyone in her life.

She was so worried about Chris, worried about him making it through the night, keeping him warm and safe and trying to figure

out how to get him safely out of here. She loved the big jerk so much and was so scared that something bad was going to

happen to him. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want her or the baby, all she cared about was making sure that he was okay.

Then again she did keep promising herself that once he was better and they were safely out of here that she’d kick his damn ass

for scaring her and pushing her away. She was so sick and tired of people pushing her away. She was done and she sure as hell

wasn’t going to put her child through the same kind of pain. He said he didn’t want them then he wasn’t going to have them.

“Where’s the surly bas-shit!” Joshua yelped as he was suddenly torn away from her. The sound of water splashing, grunting,

and what had to be punches reached her ears.

“You’re fucking dead,” Chris said coldly and Isabella knew he was probably seconds from killing his own brother.

“It’s Joshua! Let him go!” she screamed, moving towards the sound of the fight. “It’s Joshua!” she screamed again as she

stepped into ankle deep ice cold water, wondering how the hell she was going to stop a fight that she couldn’t even see.

“Let me handle this,” Ephraim suddenly said as he gently cupped her shoulders and guided her back onto dry land. She looked

over her shoulder not really expecting to see much since she hadn’t been able to see anything in hours. She gasped when she

spotted the two small bright red lights among the pitch black night.

“It’s okay, Izzy,” Ephraim said as the two lights moved past her towards the sound of fighting.

She really needed to find out what other cool things he could do. While she waited on the shore nervously she wondered if

he’d show her that flying trick again.

“Get off your brother,” Ephraim said with the exasperated tone of a parent who’d done this one too many times before.

“He started it!” Joshua snapped, surprising the hell out of her. Never in a million years would she have imagined that Ephraim

would have to pull the much smaller man off of Chris. Then again, knowing how much Chris cared about his family, he

probably stopped fighting his brother the second he figured out who it was.

“He’s also not breathing,” Ephraim snapped.

“Oh, shit,” Joshua muttered as Ephraim’s words hit her and when they did her knees nearly buckled beneath her grief.