Holding his ribs, Riker lurched in the direction Nicole had gone. Slowed by his injury but still faster than the humans, he loped through the woods. As he closed in on the asshole chasing Nicole, he wrapped his blood-slick fingers around the hilt of the knife in his chest and yanked the blade free. The poacher was nearly on her when Riker pitched the weapon into the bastard’s spine, dropping him like a rock.
Riker didn’t have time to stop. A hail of gunfire rained down on them, chewing up leaves, tree trunks, and clumps of dirt.
“Son of a—!” He grabbed Nicole by the hand.
“Come on.” He half dragged, half carried her through the forest at a blind, desperate run in the general direction of their only hope: caves.
There was a series of caves to the north, built and later abandoned by one of the first colonies of vampires in the area. Now they served as both overgrown lairs for wild animals and temporary hideouts for any vampire needing a place to evade enemies, be those human or other vampires.
“You were right,” Nicole said between labored breaths. “They weren’t going to help me.”
She sounded so surprised. Must suck to learn that some humans were worse than vampires. “No shit.”
A bullet exploded into a tree just inches from Riker’s head. A split second later, another blasted apart a tree branch, and splinters ripped into his jaw and neck.
He dived into Nicole, and they both tumbled down an incline, skidding over dead leaves and banging into dead branches and mossy rocks. At the base of the trench, he pulled her to her feet, hating the fear in her eyes.
“We’ll be okay,” he whispered. “I promise.”
He didn’t stop to think that they were in this position because of her. He just hauled ass with her through the forest, listening as the hunters fell back and, finally, were no longer on their trail. The bastards were tenacious, though, and they’d keep hunting, call in reinforcements, and form a net to catch them.
“Where are we going?” Nicole asked, her voice low and hushed, punctuated by exhaustion.
“To a safe place.” He eased them to a stop and gave her a second to catch her breath. Gave himself a second to rein in the burning in his upper body. He
couldn’t tell if the lava pouring through his chest cavity was from the stab wound or the acid Nicole had dosed him with, but it was getting worse. They needed to get to the caves before he passed out and made it easy for the poachers to butcher him into dozens of different pieces. “I’ll carry you from here.” At her questioning look, he added, “The people hunting us are experts at what they do. They’ll be looking for two sets of tracks.” He eyed the landscape, mapping out a route in his head. “And I can move faster than you can, even carrying your weight.”
She glared. “You don’t have to make it sound like I weigh five hundred pounds.”
No, she definitely didn’t weigh that. She was tall and muscular, probably a little self-conscious about her size, but he’d always liked a woman who didn’t look like she’d break in half in a strong wind—the way his mate had.
“Let’s go.” Roughly, he hauled her over his shoulder and leaped a fifteen-foot gully, landing feather-soft on a fallen log.
Nicole squeaked in surprise but wisely kept quiet as he forged his way through the wilderness. He used his ninety years combined of Army and vampire experience to leave minimal evidence of their passing, but he had to waste precious time making sure his blood didn’t leave a trail. They moved more slowly than he’d have liked, and by the time they reached the system of caves, his various minor cuts and scrapes had healed, but his lungs and ribs were screaming in agony.
He scaled a rocky ledge and slipped through a narrow cave entrance concealed by boulders and brush.
Once inside the dark, dank cavern, he eased Nicole to the ground and caught her when she stumbled backward on wobbly legs.
“You okay?” An ugly bruise was spreading from her cheek to her temple. Frowning, he put his fingers to the swollen flesh around her eye, hoping nothing was broken.
She jerked away from him. “I’ll have a black eye soon, but it could have been worse.”
He dropped his hand, strangely offended by her reaction, even though he’d expected nothing else.
“Yeah. You could have been poisoned with boric acid and then stabbed.”
Dead silence. She probably didn’t realize he could see her in the pitch blackness, and the sudden guilt in her expression was a surprise. Guess she didn’t think she’d be around to watch her victim die.
“Look,” she finally said. “What would you have done if someone had kidnapped you from your house, put you in a cell, and threatened to torture and kill you?”