Avenged (Altered #2)(11)

Gritting his teeth, he called to her, “Come here, please.”

Kitty stilled. “What?” He could feel her tension, even in the dark, across a handful of yards.

“Your feet.” Nick pulled the strips of sheet from his pockets. “I forgot about your feet.”

She picked her way across the forest floor to stand in front of him, holding out her hand. “You can let me do that.”

“Nowhere for you to sit down. Let me help.”

After a moment, she nodded. Placing her hand on his arm to steady herself, she lifted her left foot. In the moonlight, he could see that the material of her sock had torn away in a few spots. The skin underneath didn’t appear to be broken, though. “We should wash these.”

“No. They don’t hurt. They’re just dirty.”

“Are you sure…?” He couldn’t wrap her dirty feet. It was bad enough he’d forgotten them in the first place.

“I would have said something, you know.” She squeezed his arm. “They are my feet, and I could have said something. I knew you had the strips.”

“I know…” He shook his head. She didn’t understand.

“They’re fine. Really. Please just put the wraps on.”

He did as she requested, wrapping with a series of knots he’d learned in his military training. When satisfied, he lowered her foot to the ground, and she lifted the other.

He repeated the process. The knots should hold until he got her to the cave. He had an extra change of clothes. The shoes would be too big, but they’d be better than nothing. When he dropped her second foot to the ground, he motioned toward the east. “This way, then.”

They did the short hike to the ATV in silence. When they mounted up, she crawled behind him. They went slowly, with no light, farther downstream. When he reached the opening where they could sleep, he pulled the ATV under some brush to conceal it from above, and they dismounted.

He’d stumbled across the enclosure when they’d been doing recon and decided it would be perfect for this op. It would keep Kitty safe and protected until they could get her out of here tomorrow, and away from everything she’d been through.

But when he pulled out the flashlight he’d packed on the ATV and shined it inside the cave, he found that he wasn’t the only one attempting to protect things.

The beam landed on a mountain lion. Behind her, he caught the barest glare from the eyes of her cub.





Chapter Four


Stop.

Nick’s voice shouted in Kitty’s head. It was such an urgent demand that she immediately obeyed.

The lion stood her ground in front of them, and Kitty watched as Nick spread his legs, his arms loose at his side. He was terrified, but tried to work through his panic.

A lion. A lion. The trank gun. Only chance.

He pulled the gun out of his pocket slowly.

The big cat backed farther into the cave, her back up and her teeth on display. She snarled, the sound deafening as it echoed off the stone enclave. Her baby lay behind her, undisturbed by the entire show.

Nick took a step forward, the trank gun raised. He was going to shoot the lion. But what would they do with her then? What about her baby? And what about when the lion woke up?

“No. Stop,” she whispered. “Let me try something first.”

The thought of this lion mother, being tranked, of scaring her baby… Kitty couldn’t accept it. There had to be another way.

She didn’t know if her power would work on the animal. Mountain lions didn’t speak English. But she had to try something.

She closed her eyes, focused on the animal. Leave this place. Leave this place. Leave this place.

Breathing softly through her nose, she continued to recite the words in her head, again and again, the phrase a litany.

“They’re gone.” Nick’s voice broke into her meditation. When she opened her eyes, she found him staring at her, obviously shocked—and a bit horrified.

She tried to ignore that part. She’d become pretty accustomed to people thinking she was weird. It hurt more from him, though, and she wished it didn’t. “I didn’t know if it was going to work.”

He flickered over the memory of what happened. The animal startled, then backed away, closer to her baby, her ears down. Finally, she snagged her cub by the scruff and bolted, as if chased by ghosts.

For a mountain lion, hearing strange voices was probably just as frightening.

Avoiding Nick’s stare, Kitty moved into the now-vacant cave. To her eyes, it was luxurious. He’d set up two sleeping cots, complete with thick sleeping bags. There looked to be a lantern, and there were extra blankets. She shivered. An extra blanket. She’d never imagined in her whole life that she would be so excited to sleep with an extra blanket.

She ran her finger along it. Thick flannel, or maybe wool, even. She sighed in happiness.

“How did you do that?”

She exhaled. Probably best to get this out of the way. “I’ve learned a lot these past months about how my gift works. Thanks to Dr. Fields.”

“Dr. Fields.” Recognition. He knew who Fields was. The guy who poisoned her town.

“Yes. That was him in the corridor.” She rubbed her sweaty palms on her thighs. “Originally, Jeremy sold me out to Goldstone. To Pike. But Fields took me from them. Fields and Goldstone had some falling out. I’ve been with him the whole time, but a while ago, we ended up here.” She paused. She didn’t even know who had funded him. “Who was he working for this time?”