Uncharted by Adriana Anders

Chapter 23

Aw, hell.

She hadn’t meant to hug this guy. Just like with the kiss, she had only intended to bolster him, buck him up with some reassurance that he wasn’t alone. A friendly smack on the back. A wink, maybe.

Not this close, warm, solid thing; a connection that was more basic than anything she’d ever felt. Not like that belly nuzzle, with its million complications. This felt like she knew him on a cellular level. Like they’d found each other, two parts of a whole, puzzle pieces coming together when they’d been kept too long apart.

He bent his legs and dipped his head, bringing his mouth to her ear—no, just below it—where he burrowed in, nose pushing aside cloth, breath heating her skin…and held her.

Who’s hugging who now?

Who needed it most?

She might have instigated this, but she hadn’t bargained on the…power couldn’t be the right word, could it? The power of holding, being held, hugging, sharing.

“A lot,” he whispered, though she wasn’t sure she caught the right words.

She opened her mouth, prepared to go, take a step back, give an awkward wave, pack up, leave. Crap, maybe they should each go their own way. Whatever was going on here was too complicated. She sucked in a breath to say so, but he broke through it.

“You’re a lot.”

Was that an insult? “A lot of what?”

His exhale heated her face, sent shivers to nerve endings, made her nipples ache. “A lot for a man who’s had nothing for so long.”

Oh hell.

She should step back and give him room.

Instead, she tightened her hold, gave him her weight, and took as much of his as she could.

“You think I’m a lot, Elias Thorne?” Her fingers spread wide, encompassing more of his broad back. He was huge, football-player massive. Rough and weathered and hard as stone.

But hell if she didn’t want to hold him tighter, hide him like he was precious, keep him from all the bad stuff the world had thrown his way.

She’d have stayed like that forever if he hadn’t finally released a shaky breath and disengaged himself from her embrace. Still close, but not touching.

“Thanks.” The word was more growl than language. “Needed that.”

“Are you with me, then?” She finally caught his eye. “Promise I won’t wake up in the morning to find you gone?”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. Wouldn’t just disappear.”

“But you’d rather be alone.”

“Rather be alone? No, Leo. I’d rather save your ass, though.”

“How about we save your fine ass, too, while we’re at it?” she whispered, her fingers lifting to touch him again, then falling without having dared. Funny, given what a daredevil she usually was.

“Fine?” His eyebrows flew so high, they almost melded with his hair.

Pressing her lips together on a smile, she shook her head. And then, because she’d do something stupid if they didn’t leave soon, she took a step back, breathed in something other than him, took another, and another, until finally she tore herself away.

***

The wet, muddy terrain kept them from speaking again, which was good. Better than talking about whatever the hell was happening between them.

Though it didn’t stop Elias from thinking about it.

Obsessing, Karen had called it, back when they’d been together. Before she’d turned her back on him, joined in the world’s accusations.

Traitor. Murderer. Child killer.

He’d become a pariah once they’d gotten him in their sights. Worse than that—they’d painted him as something evil, turned his life inside out, stripped away his family’s privacy, made everything he’d ever accomplished out to be part of some sinister plot.

They’d destroyed his relationships, cut his bonds, worn away any trust he’d managed to forge.

Once they’d done that, really isolated him, without anywhere to turn but home, they’d killed his parents.

And blamed it on him.

His jaw hardened, teeth clamped together, working to maintain his inner calm.

You’re obsessing again, E, Karen used to sing. It’s just a case. Can’t you leave work at work and hang out with me?

I am hanging out.

You’re at home. I guess I should be grateful for that.She’d turn, miffed, flipping her hair before stomping off to grab her purse. Too bad you’re not spending any time with me.

Look, I’m almost done.

Right. Uh-huh.She’d slam the door, get in her car, drive off someplace. Even now, he didn’t know where she used to go when she was pissed.

“How far is it to Schink’s Station?” Leo’s voice startled him and his foot skidded off to the side before he righted himself.

“Huh?” His brain was vague and tired of battling memories he’d worked hard to eradicate. He focused on the landscape.

“How far?”

He grimaced at the mountains ahead. “’bout seventy miles, maybe eighty, as the crow flies.”

“Okay.” Seemingly unfazed, Leo took a long pull at her water, swallowing several times before she came up to breathe. His attention snagged on the beads clinging to her lips. It was a relief when she wiped them away. “How long, then, since I’m guessing you’ve not got a jet pack hidden out here someplace.” She threw him a side-eye. “Even if you are Mr. Prepared to within an inch of his life.”

“Six days, if we’re lucky and the weather holds. Maybe seven.”

“Too bad you don’t have a phone we can use. We could call my team in. Be out of here in no time.”

“I don’t.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “How long’s it take you on your own?”

“From here?” He shrugged. “Four.”

“Then we’ll do it in four.”

“Ground’s tricky right now. Never hiked it this close to breakup. Snowmelt’s a mess…” He eyed the earth warily, unhappy with the sign they left behind with every step, then allowed himself another quick glance at Leo. She looked like crap. No, that was a lie. She looked freaking magnificent. Just tired; sunken in or something, like already she’d lost muscle mass from this trek. “We’re a mess.”

“Four to six days, then. A lot can happen in six days.”

Another a series of sensory images blasted through him—experiences, feelings, flashes of emotion.

Six days.

It had taken less than six days for them to destroy his life.

Less than six days for his fiancée to leave him.

Six days to become America’s most wanted.

Six days for them to kill him off.

Or so they thought.

“Hey. You okay?” He shivered when she touched him, his mind switching to a different kind of countdown, in which six days wasn’t nearly enough time. Only six more days with Leo, whose presence had completely upended his existence. He’d found inner calm before she’d arrived. He’d been fine alone. And here she’d come and made it not enough. Made him not enough.

“Come on.” He trudged on, used a young alder to pull himself up a low rise, turned to offer his hand, but she was already beside him, already pushing forward, leaving him with nothing but a quick flash of her eyes, crinkled at the corners. His gaze dropped to take in the sway of her ass.

Only six days before Leo left and he went back to being alone.

He stumbled, righted himself. Stumbled again. “Dammit!”

“What? What is it?” She was so much smaller than him, but didn’t hesitate to come in close, invading his space with her concerned eyes. “Elias, what’s…” She looked him up and down, stepped back, and made an angry noise. “You’re bleeding again. Why didn’t you say something?”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, dummy.”

“It’s just a scratch,” he tried to say, but it came out as one garbled syllable.

Ignoring him, she drew close, lifted his shirt, bent, and for a few suspended seconds, he waited for her lips, that strange, warm brand that gave him hope he had no right to wish for.

No. No more wishing. No more hoping or daydreaming about possibilities that flat-out didn’t exist. They were companions for a few days and then she was gone. He’d leave, too, for some new place where he could settle in and reestablish his inner calm.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.”

“What? Big man’s gonna keep walking until he bleeds out? Big man’s gonna fall and break something, get back up, and trudge on.” Was she pissed? “I don’t need you to save me, big man. What I need is for you to survive this. And while we’re at it, how about you stop stalling and start telling me exactly why you’re here, on your own in the middle of nowhere. I mean, what the hell’s going on, Elias?”

“I tried to—”

“Sit.” She put a hand on his shoulder and shoved with surprising strength. No. Not surprising. He knew she was strong.

Suddenly, it was easier to obey than to fight. He wasn’t hurting, but maybe that wasn’t actually a good thing. He obeyed, blinking when she disappeared for a second. “’s fine, Leo. I…I—”

“Thought you’d power through even though you’re leaking blood again like a damn sieve. You know the problem with big men like you? You think you’ve got all the answers. Think you’ve got to do it on your own. Won’t take help from others, ’cause you have this ridiculous notion that it’ll diminish you. Maybe you people think your balls are… Shit, Elias.” She squatted, bent close to him, and put pressure on his wound.

Ah, there it was. Pain. He could do nothing but grunt.

“You know what you jerks always seem to forget?” She kept one hand on him and tore at the zipper of the bloodstained first aid kit with the other. “The bigger you are…” She was breathing hard, working fast. “The harder you fall.”

Jesus, wasn’t that the truth.

***

Turned out, a tranquilizer dart to the nuts was just as effective as a bullet.

The man was in a bad way. Especially after Amka got him with the bear spray too. She almost felt sorry for him.

Or she would have if she hadn’t watched through binoculars as they shot someone up at the lodge—Dani Avens, who cleaned and did laundry for the guests. She’d never done anything to anyone.

And now they’d gone and shot her.

As Amka watched the lodge through Ben’s binoculars, a wave of panic shook her hands so hard, she couldn’t see a thing.

What if she didn’t stop them in time? What if this ruckus she was raising was for nothing and everyone she loved got killed?

What if she was making it worse?

No. She refused to think that. These people were merciless. She’d seen what they’d done to Elias, to his parents. She couldn’t just go in there guns blazing. They’d shoot her dead on the spot.

They’d demolish this entire town if they thought it would get them what they wanted. Or maybe even to cover up what happened here. Hell, what was a tiny settlement with a population under sixty to people like that?

Nothingwas the answer.

And what was happening to Elias? Had they gotten him? Were they flying back right this minute with him and Leo in the chopper? Or a couple of dead bodies?

She sagged against the door of the beat-up Ford F-150 that offered the best view of the lodge.

Then it occurred to her—if they came back soon, maybe she could do something.

She scooted to the end of her lookout rock and dropped to the ground, careful not to jar her artificial hip.

Before starting off, she checked her holsters and pockets. Bear spray, tranq gun, skinning knife, pistol. Slung over top were the binoculars and rifle, just in case.

In her ear, the voices weren’t speaking anymore, which made her think they were onto her now. Too bad. It’d been fun listening in on their official-sounding jargon.

As she made her slow, careful way down the rocky path from the overlook past Ben’s, in the direction of the airfield, she mentally counted out the enemies. Three down. Eleven to go.

She was getting the hang of this.