My explanation sounded normal and straight forward even to my ears, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Jordan give me a puzzled look. I hoped she was not going to question my story, because I couldn’t tell her the truth. Not yet anyway.
“How did you guys know we were in trouble anyway?” I asked to change the subject.
“We monitor the police bands in town, and we heard a call about a residential homicide,” Tristan told us. “Chris came to check it out, and he said a neighbor told the police he saw the victim’s son enter the house several hours ago. The neighbor thought it was strange because the son was supposed to be in Las Vegas. With all the reports out of Vegas, I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“How did you know where we were?”
Chris showed his dimples. “You of all people should know that we have GPS trackers on all our vehicles. We went to the house, and Terrence said you girls had gone outside with his friend, Derek.”
I made a face at him. “Well you missed all the fun.”
“Are you girls sure you aren’t hurt?” Tristan asked again. “You’re covered in blood.”
Jordan looked down and noticed her blood splattered legs for the first time. Her two kills were clean so there was no doubt where the blood had come from. “Damn it, Sara, I just bought these jeans.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Sorry.”
Chris shook his head. “The two of them sound okay to me.”
I looked down at my shirt, which was now more red than white, and grimaced. “I hate to tell you this, Jordan, but I don’t think your shirt is going to make it.”
Tristan started issuing orders. “Callum, you carry the young man down. Chris, call for a cleanup crew. We need to keep everyone at the party away from the barn.” He looked at me. “Now, let’s get you girls out of here.”
We waited for Callum to descend the ladder with Derek over his shoulder before Jordan and I climbed down. As soon as my feet hit the floor, my legs wobbled a little, but Tristan was right behind me to keep me steady. “I’m just a little tired,” I assured him when he looked worried.
Tristan kept his arm around me as we walked to the barn entrance. “Can you walk to the SUV? I can carry you.”
“Thanks, but I can make it on my own.” There was no way I wasn’t walking out of here under my own steam.
“All right, let’s – ” Tristan looked at something outside the barn and froze, his hand tightening on my arm.
What now? I peered around him, not sure what I’d find. I saw Terrence, Josh, Seamus, and Niall standing to one side and Olivia, Mark, Callum, and Jordan to the other. Between them stood Nikolas. My stomach fluttered wildly at seeing him for the first time since the kiss. It was impossible to see his expression, so I had no idea what he was thinking or how he felt about seeing me.
Does it matter? He made his feelings perfectly clear.
I pulled away from Tristan and walked away from the barn, intending to go around Nikolas. He was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. I was done with his whole hot-and-cold attitude, and I was not in the mood to be yelled at for what had happened here. He could go find someone else to be his emotional punching bag.
Nikolas made a sound deep in his chest, and everyone but Tristan and I took a step back. I came up short and narrowed my eyes at him. “Did you just growl at me?”
“Nikolas, she is okay,” Tristan said behind me in a calm voice. Too calm.
I took a closer look at Nikolas and saw that he was standing rigidly with his hands clenched into fists at his sides. His eyes were so dark they looked black, and his face could have been chiseled out of stone. I had seen him furious before, but never like this. He looked like he was about to explode.
And he was staring right at me.
“Sara, listen to me,” Tristan said slowly. “You need to walk toward him, talk to him, and let him know you are okay.”
“I don’t understand,” I said without taking my eyes off Nikolas.
Tristan’s exhale was loud in the silence. “I know and I will explain it to you later. Right now, you need to do what I tell you. Nikolas’s Mori is upset, and the only thing that will calm him is to see that you are unhurt.”
Nikolas was about to lose it and Tristan wanted me to go to him? Was he nuts? “Can’t he see that from here?”
“No. You need to get a lot closer. He won’t hurt you. If there is anyone here who is safe from him, it is you.”
My breath caught. What the hell did that mean? Was Nikolas going to hurt the others if he lost control? Why was I the only safe one? I darted a glance at Terrence and Josh who looked like they were too terrified to move. Ah hell. I really hoped Tristan knew what he was doing.