Page 16 of Under Control

She’s spirited as fuck.

As they moved farther away from the streetlight, they found themselves in deeper darkness, on the side of a deserted road in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for her, night raids were his bread and butter. He wasn’t in danger of losing her.

“Go away!” she yelled back at him, as if her snarling voice could deter him.

Frowning and dogged, Carrick trailed her without pause, as though he were hunting challenging prey. The more she told him to leave, the more he wanted to stay.

It wasn’t but a little farther down the road before Carrick heard a sound he knew well—one he’d never forget. Very much like a person whistling or a bird chirping, a strange sound emanated from the bushes on the edge of the road where a thick brush of trees sat, leading up the mountainside. Alarms rang in his mind—emergency. He immediately lunged toward Danica, reaching back into his waistband to grab his pistol.

Probably startled by his sudden movement, Danica whipped around to find him in the darkness. The unmistakable sound of a mountain lion charging out of the bushes echoed through Carrick’s ears, and acting on pure instinct, he took a shot, pushing Danica down to protect her under his body.

Goddamn, he would fucking save her if it was the last thing he did.

The bullet tore through flesh, resulting in a yelp from the mountain lion and a hot mess of blood down Carrick’s arm. Yet Carrick felt the unmistakable pain in his arm from teeth sinking in, resulting in a deep, angry groan from his own throat. The mountain lion fell backward, growling low and raspy. Carrick moved Danica farther back behind him, guarding her, and all grew still on the roadside. Slowly, the mountain lion slunk backward, the shuffling of paws and a low whine the only audible sounds. It was too dark to assess the wildcat, but Carrick guessed the animal wouldn’t survive.

A damn shame.

After a moment, with enough space between them and the predator, Carrick turned slightly, putting his pistol back in his waistband, tactical and precise, then dropped to pick up Danica. He kicked up dust in the sandy dirt of the roadside as he marched back toward the truck, holding a trembling, terrified woman to his chest.

Carrick couldn’t believe how the night was unfolding. Yet he had to admit that it still wasn’t the worst Valentine’s Day he’d ever had.

Without a word or asking permission to touch her, he heaved Danica into the passenger side of the truck, only to find that his arm was covered in blood—but he realized it wasn’t the mountain lion’s blood. Wrapping the wound in his sweater, unable to feel the pain, he made his way to the driver’s side.

Starting the engine, he cocked his head to her. “Are we doing this?”

Danica nodded quickly as she looked up and over to him. “Where to?”

Carrick searched her beautiful face. Her innocent gaze was pleading and frightened, but then the air shifted, and for some reason, he no longer was looking into Danica’s eyes but saw crisp blue eyes surrounded by brown lashes—blue eyes that weren’t there. What he was looking at wasn’t real, but he couldn’t stop the vision. His entire body stiffened in the driver’s seat as all he could see was Lauren’s face—with her head on the hospital pillow. She was scared. She was helpless. She was dying.

And there is nothing I can do to save her.

Chapter Seven

Danica

Danica anxiously ran her finger up and down the scratchy bedsheet on the motel’s lumpy mattress, trying hard to quell the rollercoaster of emotions she was experiencing. Even though it was dark inside the room, she still avoided the corner where Carrick was sitting, because she knew he was watching her. She was still damn mad that he’d forced his presence on her, but she’d grown equally glad that he’d shown up.

And it was exactly that juxtaposition that irritated her. She just didn’t know how to react.How am I supposed to feel?While her mind spiraled, she could hear him stirring and crossing his arms in the corner of the dark motel room. Was he going to spend the rest of the night in that chair? Just looking at her?

“How am I supposed to fall asleep,” she finally asked, narrowing her eyes on his darkened frame, “with youwatchingme like this?”

“Just close your eyes,” he ordered her, cold and emotionless. “We’ve got just about six hours until check out.”

“Then what?”

But he didn’t reply.

Trying to get comfortable curled up under the starchy white duvet of the room, she flitted her eyes back to the red numbers on the digital clock—four o’ clock in the morning. Her eyes felt weighted and her skin cold. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. Nothing seemed easy. Nothing.

“I’m not going to run,” she lied.

“Good.”

She exhaled, wishing she hadn’t said anything at all and that the words would stop coming out of her mouth. But, in her heart, she knew there was something else she had to say. She had to stay true to herself—and true to the natural world around her.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, needing to express her gratitude.

“What was that?” he asked, much louder than she’d spoken.

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