Chapter Six
“We’ve got a problem.”
Maddox pressed his phone closer to his ear when Jett made that grim announcement. Luna sat on the motel bed, the covers pulled up to her chest, and her dark eyes were on him. The phone had rung moments before, and he’d hunted the damn thing down—
“Are you listening to me?” Jett barked. “The old hospital was torched. There isn’t going to be anything for me to find in that place because it’s been blown to hell and back.”
Dammit. “Yeah, the same shit happened to the cabin.”
“What?” Jett’s voice cracked.
“After you left, a team found us.”
Jett swore.
“They used explosives on the cabin. Came in armed, and their goal was to take Luna.”
“And what did you do to them?” Jett fired right back.
“Took them out, but not before one of the assholes managed to get a shot at me.”
Silence. Then… “Shit, you died, didn’t you?”
Luna’s hold tightened on the covers. Maddox knew she could hear every word of the conversation. “I’m back in the land of the living now. But since I wasn’t exactly helping the cause, Luna had to get us the hell away from those guys. I didn’t learn a damn thing from them.”
Luna gave a hard, negative shake of her head.
He frowned.
“Where are you?” Jett demanded. “We need to regroup.”
Yeah, they did, but… “This location isn’t secure enough. Luna and I are leaving. We’ll meet up at the safe house just outside of Aspen.” Jett would know the place. “Make absolutely sure you’re not followed.”
“Yeah, man, I will. But watch your own ass, got me?” Jett’s sigh carried over the phone. “And make sure you watch her sweet ass, too.”
Maddox ended the call and tossed the phone onto the desk. He’d yanked on his jeans right before he’d grabbed the phone—mostly because the phone had been in the pocket of his jeans.
“There’s something you need to know.” She clutched the covers to her breasts, and for some reason, he thought her shoulders were incredibly sexy. Who was he kidding? Everything about Luna was sexy. “You were…um, I think you might have already been dead, or at least really out of it, so you didn’t see the last guy who attacked…”
He stalked closer to her. “What guy?” He’d been sure he knocked out all the assholes who’d been left. His priority had been to make the scene safe for her.
“He fired when we were in the SUV.”
His chest seemed to burn. “Some asshole shot at you while I was out?”
“Don’t worry.” A smile came and went on her face. “I nearly ran him down with the SUV.” Her lashes flickered. “It’s the nearly part that I think you need to know about. The guy jumped out of the way. Like, jumped. Leaped kinda like Superman, and I don’t think that was a move that a normal human could ever make.”
His shoulders stiffened. “You’re saying a super soldier was there?”
“I think that’s what he was.” Her lips pressed together. “He, um, he yelled that he’d saved me. That I owed him.” A weak laugh escaped her. “Since he was shooting at me, I figured he had to be lying. He was trying to kill me right then, not save me. So I just hauled ass and didn’t look back.”
A super soldier. “Describe him.”
She slid from the bed. Luna pulled the covers with her and kept them wrapped around her body. “Tall. Your height. Wide shoulders—like you. Red hair. I, uh, he had light colored eyes. He was trying to hurt me. There’s no way he saved me from anything.” She paused. “Right?”
“Right.” Tension had knotted his muscles.
“He’s…do you know him?”
Not based on the description she’d just given him. But… “Luna, there are…rogue super soldiers out there, too. I heard the lab coats talking about them. Our Lazarus facility isn’t the only one in existence, and at some of the other places, the subjects broke loose.” And he’d learned that dark secret right after Luna had gone missing.
She tensed. “Maybe they don’t like being locked away. Being kept in cells like animals.” Her gaze seemed to have gone cold. Distant. “If you take me back, will I be locked away?”
“I’m not taking you back.” The words just erupted from him. But, fuck it, that had been his plan all along. Screw what he’d told Dr. Henry Danwith. Taking her back to possible termination had never been an option for him.
Luna took a quick step toward him, then stopped. “You’re…not?”
“No.”
Her cheeks flushed. A very, very dark red. “I didn’t have sex with you as some kind of bribe.”
Now his eyes widened.
“If that’s what you’re thinking.” Her chin shot up into the air. “That’s not what happened. I wasn’t trying to buy freedom or something like—”
He closed the distance between them and curled his hands around her shoulders. “I know that.”
“Good. You should know it.”
His lips wanted to curl, but he didn’t let them.
“So what happens now? We go on the run together? We just disappear?”
“Our first step is meeting up with Jett again. You heard what I told him—there’s a safe place waiting for us just outside of Aspen. We get there, we regroup with him, then we figure out our next move.” He thought Canada might be a good option. Just keep heading north until they were free and clear.
Her hand rose and pressed to his heart. “You’re helping me.”
He looked down at her hand. So small. Delicate. How could such a light touch burn straight to his soul?
“Thank you,” Luna whispered. “God, I feel so silly right now. When I first saw you, I was actually afraid of you.”
His temples pounded. His breath came faster. The room around him seemed to grow dim.
“Can you imagine? You’re the hero. No way should I fear you.”
He couldn’t see Luna. Instead…he was suddenly somewhere else. Between one blink and another, he was—
“You think Luna is going to love you?” The blond glared at him. “Hell, no. She’ll see you for the monster you are.”
Maddox lifted the knife in his hand. A knife that…dripped blood.
The blond staggered to his knees. His hands came up, going for his stomach, as he tried to stop the blood that poured from him.
A door opened behind Maddox. A woman’s sharp gasp filled his ears. He whirled around.
Luna. Luna was there. Standing in the doorway. Staring at him in absolute horror.
“What did you do?” she cried.
“Luna—”
Boom! A bullet tore through his back. He felt it burn through flesh and muscle, and then he saw the pain on Luna’s face. Her lips parted. Her eyes went wide…
And blood bloomed on her side.
Even as he reached for her, more gunshots were blasting. The knife fell from his fingers as he grabbed her, holding her tight, but her body had gone slack against his.
“Maddox!” Luna’s fingers were on his cheek.
He pulled her closer and shoved the covers away from her body.
“You zoned out on me,” she told him, shaking her head, a furrow appearing between her brows.
His hands slid down her side, searching for—
She had a scar on her side. In the exact fucking spot where he’d just seen a bullet tear into her. His fingers pressed to the scar.
“Maddox?”
He touched his own body. The rough ridges of a scar were about three inches from his belly button. His hand slid to his back. Touched another scar. Both scars were in the exact spots where he’d just seen himself get shot.
Fucking hell. What is happening?
Her hand started to fall away from his cheek.
He grabbed her fingers, holding tight. “Did you see it?”
“See what?” She gave a little shiver.
“I—” But he broke off. Did you see me…killing that blond bastard who said he was going to marry you? See me…getting shot? Only you got shot, too, baby. One of the bullets went into your body. You fell into my arms. But he couldn’t tell her that.
“Maddox, what’s happening?”
He forced air into his lungs as he let her go. “We need to shower.” He gave a decisive nod. “Then get the hell out of here. It’s not safe to linger too long.” He had to think. Had to figure out what the hell was happening. “You go into the shower first. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Is…everything okay?”
No, things were far from okay. Because he thought he’d just had a flash of his past. Of their past. And the flash had been brutal.
Worry turned her eyes even darker. “Your heart is racing really fast.”
Yes, it was. And his temples were throbbing, and he was sweating, and he could see her bleeding in front of him. Echoes of gunshots seemed to fill his ears.
“Maddox?”
He swallowed. His body felt strange. Too tense. Too hot. And his temples were pounding too hard.
“Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?”
Because he had.
***
The shower water poured down on Luna. Maddox had gone from being a hot, wild lover to…
A distant stranger. His eyes had turned arctic on her, and he’d practically pushed her toward the bathroom before jerking the door shut. Sure, her after-sex etiquette was definitely on the rusty side, but was a guy supposed to shove a lover into the shower? She didn’t think so.
She shivered even though the water was steaming hot. Her fingers trailed up her body, lingering for a moment on the scar near her right side. He’d touched that scar, and his eyes had flared wide with an expression pretty close to horror.
Her own eyes closed as she pushed her head under the shower. The sex had been phenomenal. Amazing. She didn’t need to remember her other lovers to know that no way had sex always been that good. A woman recognized something special.
But, apparently, a guy didn’t. Dumbass.
She heard the door open behind her. She turned, and, through the fogged glass, she could just make out Maddox’s large form. He stood in the doorway a moment, and then he stalked forward. She sucked in a quick breath, right before he yanked open the shower’s glass door. Tendrils of steam immediately escaped.
Maybe he’d decided to join her. A little sexy time in—
“You’re taking too long, Luna. We’ve got to haul ass before the enemy team circles back.” His jaw hardened as his gaze shot down her body. “If they’ve put a tracker in you, we’re screwed.”
She blinked. “Did you just say…in me?”
A curt nod. And his fingers went to the waistband of his jeans. He shoved them down, and, yep, the guy was aroused. Very aroused. But acting like he wasn’t. He stepped into the shower with her, and she immediately backed up.
“Um, I thought you were telling me to get out—”
His hands went to her waist. No—up, his slightly callused fingertips moved to the scar on her side, and for an instant, she could have sworn torment flashed on his face. But then the expression was gone. He was big, strong, naked, aroused, and suddenly staring at her with cold eyes.
What in the hell?
“The tracker is a trick that the Lazarus lab coats like to use. They put the trackers under the skin, in scars you already have. They’re easier to hide that way.”
The water didn’t feel quite so warm any longer.
“You originally had a Lazarus tracker in you, but then either you cut it out, or someone else did. That’s why the lab coats needed me to find you. They couldn’t locate you on their own.” His eyes held her captive. “But that doesn’t mean the dicks who had you in that godforsaken hospital didn’t tag you, too. You could have one of their trackers beneath your skin.”
“It…makes me sound like an animal.”
His lips thinned. “A tracker would explain how they found us at the cabin. And if they’ve got one on you, in you, then they’ll be busting in here at any moment. If we run and you’re tagged, they’ll find you, wherever you go.”
Their bodies were almost touching. The shower was small, and he was way too big. Her nipples were tight and thrusting toward him, and the water snaked down her body. “How do we find out if I’m tagged? I mean, if I’ve got one of those trackers in me?”
His fingers were sliding over her scar. “We need to scan your body. If it’s there, we have to cut it out.”
Wonderful. “How do I get scanned?”
“Usually, we’d need something like an X-ray machine.”
Not like there was one of those just stashed in the motel room closet. “If I do have this tracker in me, I’ll be leading the bad guys right to me, wherever we go.”
“Yes.”
He wasn’t pulling punches. “So I need to go to a hospital? Won’t the doctors get suspicious if they see a-a tracker inside of me?”
His shoulders rolled. “No other option. If you’ve got a tracker in you, we have to get it out.”
The guys who’d kidnapped her could be bursting in the door any moment, and she didn’t exactly relish the idea of going to a hospital—like, ever again. Luna cleared her throat. “You’re blocking my way.” He was a wall of pure muscle standing between her and the shower’s exit.
His breath heaved out. The water glistened on his chest. Rolled down his rock-hard abs, down, down to the heavy length of his cock that thrust right toward her.
Oh, damn.
He angled his body a bit to the side, making room for her to exit. He was turned on, turned on very, uh, hard. So why wasn’t he saying something?
She brushed by him, but stopped. “I don’t get you.” Anger hummed through her. “Are you the one-and-done kind or something—”
Luna didn’t get to finish. In a flash, he’d pinned her to the tile wall of that shower. “Never done.” His eyes weren’t cold now. They burned. “Not with you. And I don’t give a fuck about any bastard from your past.”
Wait, what?
His hands tightened on her. “You’re mine, and I’m not going back.” His mouth crashed down on hers. The kiss was fierce, hot, and absolutely consuming.
She sank her fingers into his hair. Held tight. Yearned. And wanted—
His mouth tore from hers. “We don’t have time. Fucking hell.”
She was panting. So was he.
“I want you, Luna. Never doubt that. But your safety comes first.” He backed away, as much as the shower would allow. “So get that gorgeous ass out of here. Get dressed. We’ll steal a ride and find another safe place to land.” His eyes gleamed. “Then I will have you again.”
She didn’t understand him. Desire was heavy within her. Her breasts ached, and all she wanted was to jump the guy but…
Danger. Tracker. Evil guys closing in.
She slipped from the shower. Wrapped a towel around her body. She could feel his gaze on her with every movement that she made. Her shoulders hunched a bit as she hurried from the bathroom. Luna was sure that she was leaving a trail of water in her wake. Steam spilled into the motel room with her. Her gaze cut to the left, then to the right. His phone was on the table there, his phone and…
Right. A knife. Because, of course, the guy would have been armed with a knife. He’d probably had it strapped to the inside of his ankle or hidden in his boot. She hadn’t exactly noticed him removing a knife when they’d been all hot and heavy earlier. Hell, maybe he’d even kept his boots on while they were having sex. She’d been a wee bit too involved to focus on details like that, but now she hurried toward the weapon.
Luna picked it up, holding the knife carefully. After drawing in a deep, bracing breath, her fingers slid down to her side, to the scar that marred her body. The only scar she’d found on herself. If trackers were hidden in scars, this was the most likely place for one on her. Her fingers slid over the small ridges, searching for any spot that felt rougher, thicker. Her eyes narrowed. That one spot…right there.
Was a tracker under her skin?
One way to find out.
Luna clenched her back teeth, and she let the blade sink into her skin.