Claimed(77)

Connor swept his gaze over them, taking in their dusty clothing, disheveled hair, and the bloodstained rag tied around the teenager’s upper arm.



“What happened?” Hudson asked, her gaze resting on the bloody wound Connor had been scrutinizing.



“Bandits,” the older one croaked. He stepped closer, and the lights illuminated his face, revealing a swollen right eye and a split lip still caked with blood. “They jumped us about ten miles back.”



Connor’s shoulders instantly tensed. “How many of them?”



“At least seven.”



“Nine,” the kid corrected wearily. “I counted.”



Hudson tried to move, but Connor reached down with his free hand and gripped her thigh, an unspoken command to stay put. “Where were you headed?” he asked the outlaws.



“South,” replied the older one. “We’re making our way to the coast, hoping to find a ship that’ll take us to South Colony.” He hesitated. “My son was stabbed during the attack. We need help… supplies… water to clean the wound…” He trailed off when he saw the look on Connor’s face.



“There’s a house about twenty miles west of here,” Connor said curtly. “They’ll have everything you need, give you a place to stay until you’re ready to travel.” He tucked his gun at the small of his back. “Tell Lennox that Connor sent you.”



“But —”



“Good luck.” He ignored Hudson’s shocked squeak and revved the engine. The motorcycle shot forward, leaving the stragglers in its dust.



“What the hell!” Hudson’s voice was muffled by the wind, but he could feel the anger vibrating from her body.



He kept his head low as he sped down the center line of the dark, empty road, but it wasn’t the breakneck speed or the wind slapping his face that he needed to worry about. It was Hudson’s fists batting at his shoulder blades as she yelled for him to pull over. His answering curse was sucked away by a gust of wind, and he slowed down only because Hudson no longer had her arms around him and he was worried she might fly off and crack her skull open on the asphalt.



“Let me off!”



Her incensed shout, accompanied by the sharp slap of her hand, triggered his own anger. “Fucking hell,” he snapped as he steered onto the shoulder.



The moment the bike came to a stop, Hudson dove off it and promptly marched away in the opposite direction.



“Where the hell are you going?” he demanded.



Her boots snapped on the pavement with each furious stride, but she only made it about ten feet before she stopped abruptly, as if realizing his lightning-fast speed had managed to put at least a mile or two between them and the outlaws he’d left behind.



She whirled around, advancing on him like a ferocious animal. “What the fuck was that, Connor? Good luck?” Her gray eyes blazed, dark as thunderclouds and just as ominous. “You sent them on their way like they were garbage to you!”



His temper exploded, ripping a frustrated growl from his throat. “What did you want me to do? Pile four people onto a goddamn motorcycle? We couldn’t have taken them with us even if we wanted to. The only thing to do was send them to Lennox’s.”



“Twenty miles!” she shouted. “Lennox is twenty miles away! It’ll take them hours to walk there.” Her breathing quickened. “I could have waited with the boy while you took the father to Lennox’s, or you and I could have gone there ourselves and borrowed a car from someone – Beckett! Beckett has a car, and I’m sure he would have driven out here to get them. We didn’t have to abandon them, Connor.”



It took a serious amount of effort to get his temper under control. He breathed deeply, counted to five in his head, and didn’t open his mouth until he was sure that something counterproductive wouldn’t come out of it.



“There are bandits in the area, Hudson,” he said flatly. “The kid and his pop got jumped not too far from here, which means we can’t afford to be standing around arguing on the side of the road right now. You can yell at me when we get back to camp, sweetheart.”



“Don’t you fucking sweetheart me!” A helpless wobble shook her voice. “I could have at least looked at his arm! I could have checked his injuries and —”



“He was fine.”



“He got jumped! You just said so yourself!” She sucked in a breath, shaking her head as she stared at him in disbelief. “What’s the matter with you? People need your help out here. How could you not give a damn?”