Page 36 of Marked

“We can’t stop.” I closed my eyes briefly.

“Bullshit. There hasn’t been any gunfire in about five minutes. We either lost them or they’re regrouping.” Noah knelt in front of me. “How far are we from the cave?”

“Not far.”

Pain sliced through my side when he eased up the bottom of my shirt, gently probing my battered flesh. Slow, deep breaths helped to stave off the sudden nausea, but I couldn’t stop the flinch when he touched a particularly sensitive spot.

“Sorry,” he grimaced. “Looks like the bullet grazed you. I can’t be positive until I get it cleaned up though.”

“Then we better keep going.” I pushed to stand.

“Whoa.” Strong arms caught me around the waist when my knees buckled, the dizziness having returned with a vengeance. “New plan.”

To say I wasn’t a fan of Noah’s plan was a gross understatement, however, arguing with the incensed male didn’tseem like a good idea. So after he swung his backpack around to his chest, I tucked my displeasure away and carefully climbed onto his back.

Less than ten minutes later, we reached the mouth of the cave. The outside was covered in a thick patchwork of vines and was surrounded by an overgrowth of bushes and plant life. Unless you knew what you were looking for, it was almost impossible to locate. It was the perfect place to hide.

“There.” I pointed.

“Do you think you can stand?”

“Yeah. My head’s better.”

“It’s not your head I’m worried about.”

Noah eased me off his back, holding on to my arm until he saw I was steady. Unzipping the bag on his chest, he dug around inside, pulling out the burner phone.

“Maybe we should just keep going,” he mused. “I’ll call Waverly and get her to alert the local PD. They can meet us at the farm in a few hours.”

“That’s not gonna work.” I tilted my head back, peering up through the treetops at the quickly darkening sky, just when the first raindrop splashed onto my forehead. “Storm’s moving in.”

Noah frowned. “Fuck.”

“Welcome to springtime in Colorado. If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”

“No, I meant fuck because there’s no signal to get a call out.”

“Oh.” My shoulders dropped. “That is fuck worthy.”

An incoming storm, no way of communicating with the outside world, not to mention the unknown number of Russian hit men tracking us through the woods. Oh, and Ihad a freaking bullet wound. Things were looking bleak, until I remembered something important.

Pushing up my sleeve, I looked at my watch then grinned from ear to ear.

“It’s four-thirty.”

“And that’s relevant to our current predicament, how?”

“I’ll bet you a hundred bucks, Waverly already has the team mobilized.”

He returned my smile with a brilliant one of his own.

“Does it make me a bad person to hope your dad greets them in the buff too?”

“Noah!”

“What?” He smirked. “I shouldn’t be the only one traumatized.”

Being extra cautious not to disturb the area surrounding the cave, we made our way inside. We’d no sooner cleared the entrance when the skies unleashed an impenetrable curtain of rain, followed by a rumble of ground-shaking thunder.

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