Page 3 of Lure

Thirty seconds was an eternity when you couldn’t get air or stop the bleeding, when the world began to blink in and out as it faded. It was long enough for the very real fear to punch through the adrenaline.

I gripped his hair and yanked his head back as I stared down at him. “Burn in hell,” I told him. “Enjoy the downtime, because when I get there—I’m going to make it much worse.”

His mouth moved, the gasps of air punching more blood and bubbles from him, but no sound. He made it to almost forty-five seconds before his struggle ceased and he collapsed. I stared down at him. Slick with his blood, I gave it another ten seconds to make sure his chest didn’t rise or fall and that the gasping sounds truly ended.

Then, and only then, did I retrieve my gun. I cut a look over to where Goblin stood guard over Gracie. The good boy hadn’t left her. Not even once, his whole body seemed to tremble though. It was a lot to ask him to stay out of the fight, but if I’d lost—I needed to make sure she was safe.

I cleaned the knife off on the guy’s pant leg as best I could so I didn’t sheathe a bloodied knife. I’d have to clean it later regardless. Then searched the guy for ID. All I found were some keys for what looked like a four-wheeler. That would explain why we didn’t hear him arrive.

Asshole.

Phone out, I shoved the guy over and took his picture, then I got closeups of his hand. It wasn’t perfect, but I could use it to simulate prints and then I’d run them. Leaving him for the trash he was, I crossed over to Gracie and Goblin. My right leg protested and I was feeling the blows and the bruises.

“Goblin,vrij.” The release command had his tail wagging as Goblin glanced between me and Gracie. He let out a little whimpering noise and nudged her face. She didn’t react, but her chest rose and fell. I wiped my bloodied fingers on my jeans to try and clean them as much as possible before I pressed them to her throat.

Pulse.

A little uneven, but definitely there.

With care, I searched the back of her head. There was a lump and when I pulled my hand away, there was fresh blood on my fingers. I glanced over at the corpse. Too bad I couldn’t kill him twice.

“Let’s get her out of here,” I told Goblin. She needed medical treatment. The girl had taken way too many blows over the past few days. I didn’t doubt she’d had at least one concussion before. This would be another.

She weighed next to nothing as I lifted her. The blood on my clothes easily transferred to hers. With a grimace, I braced her against me. There was nothing to be done for it. I needed to get Gracie and our gear packed up and out of here.

It took me a minute to get her back to the house, I left Goblin guarding her as I retreated for the ancient van they’d left parked in the shed behind the barn. We’d only used it to get across the border. That wasn’t how we planned to return.

For now, it worked to evacuate us as swiftly as possible. It took me twenty minutes to load the gear and equipment in. I had three messages from the guys, but I ignored them all. I could answer once I had her on the road.

Each time I returned to the house, I checked on her. She was still out, but her breathing had steadied, as had her pulse. There were fresh red marks on her face and her throat.

Every glimpse of them just fired my temper hotter. Once I had everything in the van, I grabbed her bag and threw it inthere, then I carried her out with Goblin following. I sent him to pee and then he hopped inside with her. I did one last sweep before I climbed in.

The engine gurgled to life and let out a backfire as we pulled out. Tired slammed into me in waves, but I ignored it and the vibrations of my phone until I’d put a solid couple of miles between us, the house, and the body.

It took effort to not glance back at her. I’d secured her to the bench seat with the ancient seat belts and Goblin lay on the floor right in front of her. Once I made it out to a paved road, I was able to accelerate.

The phone ceased its fits, and I had to call them when we’d gone far enough.

“What happened?” Bones demanded when he answered.

“We had one attacker. No idea who he was. Gracie is down. Assailant is dead. We’re on the road. I’m also covered in blood, so we need at least one stop and medical before we head anywhere else.”

Chapter

Two

GRACE

The scent of oil, gas fumes, and something far more noxious…

“Damn, Goblin,” Alphabet grumbled. “What the hell are we feeding you, my dude?”

I’d never been so damn happy to hear his voice. The van, we were in the van. I cracked my eyes open, but squeezed them shut almost immediately. It was dark, but the light from the dashboard stabbed me right through the eye like an icepick.

My stomach chose that moment to roll as I burped something distinctly hot and unpleasant. I hated vomiting more than this so I did my best to try and quell the all-out rebellion in my gut.

Goblin licked my face, the roughness of his tongue grounding me in the present. I raised a hand to rest it against the side of his head. He went from nuzzling gentle kisses to licking me from chin to eyebrows. It was almost funny, except it was making the pounding inside my skull worse.

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