Runner's Moon: Yarrolam (8 page)

            The trail led to a back area of the store and out through a loading dock. Pausing, he stopped to center himself, reaching out for her and their connection.

            And found it. Desperate, he grasped it and locked onto it.

            They were moving swiftly, most likely in a car. They were going south where there was nothing but swamps, marshland, and beyond, the Gulf of Mexico.

            Steeling himself, Yarrolam took off after them.

Chapter 11

Reveal

            Their connection was like the merest breath of wind, tangible but almost nonexistent. Yet Yarrolam got the feeling it would never break. Not as long as Cherron lived. Not as long as he lived.

            It guided him through the streets, and eventually out of town. As the miles increased, he noticed they were drawing closer and closer to the small bayou towns that rimmed the southernmost area of the state. Places where only the locals went and who called it home. Places tourists avoided because the weather-beaten wooden shacks and sun-faded vehicles looked too much like the poverty-stricken side of town.

            His Ruinos body thrived from the chase, although his heart pounded with worry. He hadn’t detected any pain coming from her, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t brutalize her. She was meant to be the bait to lure Aaron out of hiding. Furthermore, if they had orders to torture and kill her in order to discover where the man had vanished, Yarrolam believed those men would have no compunction about following through.

            He stopped only once at a Gas-N-Go for a bottle of water. Pausing at the end of the walkway, near the pumps, he closed his eyes to re-center himself and refocus. They were definitely heading south, but they would soon run out of road. A wave of nausea momentarily roiled in his stomach. What would he do if there was a boat waiting for them once they reached the gulf? Spurred on by renewed fear, he kept going.

            The kidnappers were hampered by the need to keep to the roadways. He figured they weren’t familiar with the streets, and for once Yarrolam was thankful for the amount of road construction which blocked their way, forcing them to backtrack and take an alternate route. He was not restricted that way. Dashing through alleys and yards allowed him to keep to a nearly straight line course, and their delays helped him gain ground on them.

            Less than an hour later, he sensed a stoppage. Cherron’s apprehension increased, meaning something was being done. The monotony of the drive was over, and she apparently was being transferred somewhere else. As incredible as it felt, Yarrolam thought he could smell water. The air held the tang of rot and dead sea creatures. Although he stood on solid ground, his equilibrium undulated, as though he was stepping from land and into…

           
A boat. They’re putting her on a boat!

           
And they weren’t too far ahead of him.

            He discovered himself on a narrow road covered in a layer of crushed oyster shells, something a lot of counties used as an alternative to paving with tar or cement. The road was lined with simple homes, and eventually led down to a small dock where a few boats were tied up. At the end of the dock sat a houseboat, and Yarrolam knew that’s where Cherron had been taken.

            A late model SUV sat off the road, facing the dock. The vehicle looked out of place in the neighborhood, but so far he hadn’t seen any people come outside to investigate.

            Wind feathered the leaves of the trees. In a few short hours, the sun would set, and he would be free to shed his human skin. He dared not approach the houseboat in his human persona, which meant he’d have to wait until dark.

He had a plan. He just hoped the kidnappers didn’t try to hurt Cherron before then, or try to take the houseboat further out into the waters. If they did, he’d have no choice but to go in and try to save her as Liam.

For him to get her back, he needed to be Yarrolam Porthus Vost. Prime male Ruinos, and Arra survivor.

Powerful, deadly, and determined to claim and protect his mate.

* * *

            They’d kept her bound, blindfolded, and gagged the entire time they were in the car. Regardless, she struggled every time someone put their hands on her, which either earned her some laughter or a growled threat to stay still. But no one struck her, and no one tried to molest her, for which she was grateful. Hopefully, whoever was behind this wanted her undamaged.

            She knew she was being used as a decoy, or for ransom. Since Aaron hadn’t paid his first installment, maybe the guy behind this hoped to get his money the old fashioned way. Through extortion.

            She was hungry, she was thirsty, and she needed to pee, but none of that mattered. She didn’t know what had happened to Liam, and worry kept her nerves tightly strung.

            At first, she’d thought the men had killed him. Her bodyguard had said something about Liam and his partner going outside to wait for them, since she was taking a bit longer to pick up what she needed. It would have given her kidnappers the perfect opportunity to ambush and kill him. She’d fought the men after they’d knocked her cop unconscious, struggling and scratching them as she screamed for help. Plenty of people had witnessed her abduction, which made her wonder how soon security would get involved.

            It quickly became clear her kidnappers weren’t familiar with New Orleans or the surrounding area. Rather than use the navigational screen in the vehicle, they relied on the map on their cell phones to give them directions. Even with their electronic guide, they met with a lot of closed roads, forcing them to find alternate routes to wherever they were heading.

            The big bald guy sitting next to her in the back seat constantly berated the man driving. They obviously weren’t the best of friends. She listened intently, hoping to catch a name or anything, which would clue her in as to who was responsible for her being here, but the men were either professionals, or they’d been trained well. They only referred to each other as “Hey”, and there was never any mention of another individual.

            At one point, as they were stopped at a red light, Cherron thought she’d felt? Sensed? Had her intuition kick in? Whatever it was, she thought she could hear Liam talking to her. No, not talking. There was no speech involved. No whispers. But in her head and her heart, she was reassured he was coming to free her. At first, she thought she was imagining it.
Wishful thinking. That’s all.
Yet, a few minutes later, she would swear she’d received another silent communication from him.
There’s no way. I’m hallucinating. Oh, God, Liam, I hope you’re okay! I pray they didn’t hurt you too badly!

           
She gave a fervent prayer for his safety, then realized what she’d done. She hadn’t thought about where Aaron was, or whether he was all right. Her concern was for the tall man with the average looking face who had done everything in his power to protect her, and to take care of her. At no point had she felt he would desert her. He’d done everything he could to reassure her he wouldn’t.

            Would Aaron had done the same if their roles were reversed?

            The car slowed down and finally stopped. The driver turned off the engine and got out of the vehicle to open the back door. He grabbed her by the arm and half-dragged, half-pulled her out. She heard crunching underneath her feet, and the smell of dead fish and plant rot filled the air.

            They guided her onto a wooden walkway where they paused, and the blindfold was removed. She glanced around at the small cluster of houses next to the boat dock where they stood. The thin, dark-haired man gave her arm a tug and led her down to the end of the platform where a houseboat was moored.

            “Watch your step,” he muttered, stepping over the gunwale first and dragging her behind him.

            They went inside the small, box-shaped interior. Thin man shoved her onto a chair, threading her bound hands through the openings in the chair’s back.

            “I hate to be a bitch about it, but I really need to use the bathroom,” she informed the two men.

            Bald man snickered. “Go ahead and pee on yourself. We don’t care. We just have to deliver you alive.”

            “Deliver me where?” Cherron asked. She didn’t expect them to answer, and wasn’t surprised when the two men chose to ignore the question. “Can you at least tell me when?” They didn’t answer that one, either.

            They took turns watching her. One man would remain inside the cabin with her, while the other kept watch outside. After an hour or so, they’d switch. Neither man mentioned food or water, but she got the impression they were snacking on something. They probably had a cooler in the back of the SUV.
Bastards.

           
She must have fallen asleep. When she awoke, she noticed it growing dark outside. Bald man was sitting on a cot at the opposite side of the cabin and reading something on his cell phone. The door opened, and thin man stuck his head inside.

            “Anything?” bald man asked.

            “Not yet. We may need to light a lantern so they can find us.”

            Bald man nodded and got up. He walked over to a set of cabinets built into the wall and opened doors until he found a small camping lantern. After a few minutes of struggling to light the thing, he finally succeeded, and brought it over to set it on the table in front of Cherron. That done, he resumed his place on the cot and went back to reading his phone.

            Not much later, thin man re-entered the room and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “My turn,” he muttered.

            Bald man gave him a confused look. “Already?”

            “Bugs are getting bad out there. I was ready to come in.”

            Bald man shrugged and left without further argument. As soon as the door closed, thin man stood and walked over to gaze out the window overlooking the dock and road. Suddenly, he hurried over to Cherron and bowed over the back of her chair. She felt a hard tug on her hands, and they were freed.

            Gasping in surprise, she started to ask him why he’d cut her bonds, when he held a finger to his lips, then gestured for her to follow.

            “Jesus! The mosquitoes are driving me nuts!” Bald man suddenly burst into the room, slapping at his face, when he saw Cherron holding up her loosened hands. “What the fuck?” He glared at thin man. “Why’d you cut her ties?”

            Thin man walked over to him. Without saying a word, he started to walk past bald man, when he turned, raising one arm. Cherron saw the huge talons on the thin man’s hand a split-second before it came down, ripping the bald man from his throat to his stomach. The bald man screamed and clutched his chest as he dropped to his knees. She watched, horrified, as the bald man writhed on the floor, smearing blood across the wooden planks, when the thin man brought his foot down on the guy’s head, knocking him out. She stared at the unconscious man when then man hurried back to her.

            “Come on! We have to hurry!” He reached for her, but she scooted backwards, away from him.

            “No! Don’t! Get away from me, you son of a bitch!” She glanced around for something she could use as a weapon. Her eyes lit on the chair, and she reached for it when a familiar voice spoke.

            “Cherron, it’s me.”

            Hefting the chair, she held it up to block the man, and froze. To her shock, the thin man’s face began to change. Shift, melt, and reform until he was no longer the thin man.

Seconds later, she was staring at Liam. Liam, with his plain face and unusual eyes with their sparkling stars.

Chapter 12

Escape

            “Cherron!” He understood her hesitation. “Cherron, I’ll explain later, but we have to get out of here. Now!”

Her eyes examined him from top to bottom. Then, miraculously, she accepted his proffered hand, and they raced out of the houseboat. Yarrolam shoved her toward the SUV.

            “Get in!” he yelled, and hurried around to slide into the driver’s seat. She was clicking on her seatbelt when he tore down the road. At the first paved street they reached, he turned right.

            He knew she was still staring at him, at his profile, which was illuminated by the dashboard lights. Twice she glanced out the passenger window and at the roadway flying behind them, to disappear in the dark.

            “Liam?” Her voice was soft, hesitant. Questioning.

            “Yeah?” He braced himself as he forced his attention to remain on the road.

            “Where’s the other guy? The thin one you…imitated?”

            A momentary sense of relief went through him. She was curious, but cautious. Yet, the simple fact that she’d trusted him enough to come with him, even after what she’d seen, gave him hope.

            “He’s back there behind some trees.”

            “Did you…”

            He shook his head. “No. I didn’t kill him, but he’s going to need a few stitches when he wakes up. When he comes to, he’s going to think his partner bashed his skull.”

            The car’s engine was loud in the dark, but he caught her reply. “So will the guy in the houseboat.”

            They continued to travel down the county roads, neither meeting nor passing any other vehicles as the miles sped by. At one point, he reached over and turned on the navigational screen. He also noticed she didn’t flinch or move away from him when he did. It was a positive sign.

            “Where are we going?”

            “Away from here. Out of the city. Out of Louisiana. For good.”