Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)(44)

Gentle hands gathered my hair up and held it back from my face while I heaved what seemed to be pure stomach acid. I didn’t even remember where my hair-tie had gone, but I was grateful nonetheless.

“You throw up a lot,” Beck murmured when I was done. He was sitting in the dirt beside me, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back while I shivered and sobbed. Vomiting always made me cry. Or maybe that was a result of all the killing I’d just seen?

“Shut up,” I whispered back. It was half demand, half plea. I knew he was teasing, but it just wasn’t the time.

“What happened to your throat, Riley?”

I shook my head, not wanting to relive my almost-death. Beck, for once, took my feelings into consideration and didn’t push me. We didn’t speak for a while. I just sat there with my head on my knees, and Beck continued rubbing my back. I was sick and twisted, the worst kind of broken, but fuck if I never wanted him to stop.

Finally Dylan announced he was done. Where he had found a needle and thread to sew up Jasper’s wound, I had no idea. But Jasper was looking vaguely better, probably thanks to the painkillers Evan had given him.

“Come on,” Beck said softly, standing up and holding out his hand to me again. “We need to get away from this area.”

I took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet, and didn’t protest when he started walking without releasing me. “Do you think there are more of them?” I asked, eyeing every shadow with fear and suspicion. “What will happen to all the bodies?”

I didn’t want the guys to end up in jail for defending us, but they had killed a lot of people here today.

“No, we got them all,” he replied with total confidence. “And either they’ll be cleaned up by the ones who sent them, or the wolves will get them...”

My step faltered, and it was only Beck’s grip on my hand that kept me from falling. “Wolves?” I squeaked. As if everything wasn’t bad enough, now we had wolves to deal with?

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Dylan offered, falling into step beside me. “They’re much more likely to take an easy meal than one that fights back.” To Beck, he nodded ahead of us. “There’s no town within sight, but if we continue uphill we can probably get enough cell reception to raise an S.O.S. signal.”

I shook my head in confusion, even though he wasn’t speaking to me. “How do you know that? Maybe there’s a town right over that hill.” I pointed at the steep incline ahead of us and grasped at hope.

“Nope,” Dylan disagreed. “I just climbed a tree to check.”

I blinked at him. “You climbed a tree. Of course you did.” I dropped the subject and rubbed my eyes with my free hand. My whole body hurt, the burning in my throat felt like it was getting worse, my head was pounding and I was so cold my skin hurt. If Dylan said there was no town nearby, I was just going to believe him.

“Guys,” Evan called out. “We need to make camp soon. Jasper can’t go much farther.”

He’d been helping Jasper walk but now seemed to be pretty much carrying his friend’s unconscious form. Dylan and Beck exchanged a long look, then Beck nodded.

“We’ll make camp here. Dylan can continue on until he gets service for a distress call.” Beck’s orders were final, and no one questioned him. Not even me, for once.

Extracting my hand from his tight grip, I went to help Evan with Jasper. I wasn’t as strong as the boys, but I wasn’t useless. So many near death experiences in quick succession were reinforcing my desire to live, and I knew that meant I needed to be useful. These boys had no room in their world for dead weight.

“I’m fine, Riley,” Jasper mumbled in a sleepy, pain-addled voice as I propped my shoulder under his other arm and took some weight from Evan. “Don’t worry about me, you’ve been through enough.”

“What does he mean by that?” Evan asked, keeping his voice pitched low and quiet while I helped him prop Jasper against a tree. Beck was some distance away, looking like he was building a fire, but I still glanced nervously over at him before replying.

“Doesn’t matter,” I whispered, deciding to evade rather than outright lie. “We’re all still alive, right?” I met Evan’s gaze over Jasper’s head.

“For now,” Evan muttered. “If you’re hurt, you need to tell Beck. We don’t keep secrets from each other. Not when it concerns our well-being.”

I gave a bitter, raspy laugh. “All Catherine has done since the day I arrived here is keep secrets.”

Evan shook his head, like I was misunderstanding him. “Not Delta, Riley. Us. The heirs.”

It was the first time he’d called me anything other than “spare” and it was enough to shut me up. The four of them had an intense bond, but it was only in that moment that I recognized it as something totally independent of Militant Delta Finances.

A soul deep shudder chased through me as I glanced over at Beck. His broad back was to us as he crouched over his pile of tinder, and I wondered for the thousandth time what the fuck I’d gotten myself into. These four were closer than blood, but they were killers. Brutal, cold blooded killers. The world they ran in was dark, so dark that this wasn’t even their first plane crash. So, when faced with the prospect of being one of them, why wasn’t I running for the hills? Why did a thrill of excitement chase through me and warm my ice cold veins?