Sweet Reckoning(70)

I fell on my knees next to Patti and took her in my arms. She held on to me, weakly.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

“I don’t know what happened. I felt so sick and scared . . . and . . .” She shuddered, and I held her tighter.

“Who was here?” Kaidan asked.

The sight of him crouched there with wild eyes made me realize how fast everything had taken place. His hair was soaking wet and he had water droplets on his chest and shoulders.

“I have no idea,” Jay said, thoroughly freaked out. “It was so weird, dude. And you should have seen Anna! What is that thing?” He pointed to the hilt, which I still clutched. “It was all lit up. She moved so fast. I’ve never seen anyone move like that!”

It hadn’t felt fast to me. It had felt horrifically slow, like a nightmare.

Kaidan crouched next to me, all coiled tension, taking my face in his hands. “What happened?”

“Three whisperers were on Jay. Two on Patti. One was trying to possess her.” Patti’s shaking hand flew to her mouth and she made a strangled sound of disgust. I kept going. “I killed four of them . . . but one got away.”

“One got away . . . ,” he whispered.

We stared hard at one another as the danger pressed down on us. Kaidan stood, shoving his hands through his hair, and paced to the wall. He leaned against it with both palms, whispering at first, “Shite. Shite, Anna . . . ,” then yelling and punching a hole through the wall.

Jay stood as if ready to calm Kaidan, but Patti grabbed his hand.

“It’s okay,” she told Jay. “They need to go.”

“You all should go somewhere, too,” I told her. Inside I trembled. I’d put them in danger. “I saw one earlier in the kitchen. I thought I was imagining it, but it must’ve been a whisperer. It saw us hugging. You two need to go into hiding. Just keep moving. Don’t stay in one place more than a night.”

I helped her to her feet. She and Jay ran upstairs to pack their bags. I turned and found Kai leaning his back against the wall, the palms of his hands pushing against his eyes.

“Kai.”

He dropped his hands and stood, looking at me with the same kind of fear that had filled his eyes the night of the summit in New York City. Fear for me.

“I don’t think they know you’re here,” I said. “That’s to our advantage.”

He thought about that, nodding.

We needed to move fast. “You’re not on the suspicion list, so you can stay in the know. We’ll go our separate ways and—”

“No.” Kai’s hard voice carried an end-of-discussion ring to it. “I stay with you.”

Oh, no. His attitude was grim and unyielding. I wanted to stay with him, too, but it wasn’t smart.

“As soon as they catch you with me, they’ll know you’re on my side and you’ll be an immediate target, too. Think this through—”

“We stay together.” His steely eyes warned me not to argue. I’d never seen him more dead set on something. I knew he’d follow me if he had to.

I sighed and looked away. “Okay. Let’s get our stuff and get out of here.”

He softened a fraction with relief.

We grabbed our bags. Jay gave me a quick hug as Patti embraced Kaidan.

“Please be careful,” I whispered to Patti.

“You don’t worry about me.” She talked fast, her voice shaking as she took my face in her hands. “Just remember you can do anything you put your heart to. I’d do anything for you, Anna. I’d fight this battle for you if I could.”

Patti and I squeezed each other equally hard.

My throat constricted as I whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweet girl. Now go.”

With a gentle shove from the strongest woman I knew, we were gone.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO





MERCENARY



Kaidan reached for my car keys and took the driver’s seat. I sat next to him, fitting one of Jay’s ball caps on my head as Kai peeled out of the neighborhood. He looked down at the speedometer as if impressed.

“This little thing has some power.”

“Yeah, my dad probably had that in mind when he bought it.” It was sad to think that Dad had bought my car knowing I’d have to make an escape in it someday.

Kaidan did a double take at me in the hat. I wondered if I looked stupid, but then his red badge gave a widening pulse. He tore his eyes away and hit the gas harder, pressing me back into the seat. I was afraid to look at the speed as we merged onto Interstate 81.