Twenty-Two
Trees whizzed past in a fiery blur of red, orange, and yellow leaves. Only the fact that the air was clean cemented the reality that there was no fire in the forest around her. The reason for her burning lungs was the strain of the ride and fear of what was on her ass. Strands of hair broke free from her braid, whipping at her face, but Rylee didn’t take her hands from her handlebars to push them back. Doing so would be suicide, and although she’d goaded the vampire into releasing Niko and giving chase, she didn’t have a death wish.
The road was rougher than she remembered, more twisted. Each curve she took at breakneck speed led into another. Damn it. This wasn’t right. The way had been bumpy, but not this rough. Somehow, she’d missed a fork in the road or a turnoff. She wasn’t heading toward the highway, where she’d be able to lose the fucker. No, she was going deeper into the forest. She hit a hole hard, sending the bike off balance. The only things keeping her from crashing into the trees on either side of her were her hard-earned skill and a bit of luck as she managed to right it again for what had to be the tenth time since she’d taken off.
She couldn’t see behind her for all the dust she kicked up, but the dull roar of another engine followed, telling her the vampire was still back there, trailing her. Waiting for her to lose control of her machine. The bastard wouldn’t even have to kill her himself. The crash would do the work for him. All he’d have to do would be grab the hard drive and leave her to rot where she lay.
She took the next curve a little bit faster than most would dare. Anyone who wasn’t in tune with their bike would have spun out, but Ursula responded to the demands Rylee made, keeping her off the gravel, if only just, until she pulled out of the skid on the other side of the bend.
Once she righted herself, and she spotted the straight stretch of road ahead, she swore she heard the angels singing. Her only hope was that the vampire wasn’t as skilled on that beast of a machine he rode, but somehow, she doubted it. That didn’t mean she was giving up. At least she’d gotten it away from Niko and Luca. She’d figure out the rest as she went.
She crested a hill, gaining some air before setting her wheels on the road again, and her heart skidded to a screeching halt before leaping into her throat. Not because of the small jump she’d landed, but because of the view of the forest up ahead—or rather, the lack thereof.
Trees lined the rocky road on either side with no break in sight except for where it opened up to a deep ravine only hundreds of feet ahead. Fuck. Stopping meant certain death at the hands of the enemy. Not stopping was just as lethal, but maybe she’d be able to keep the vampire from getting his hands on the hard drive.
She swallowed around the ball of cotton lodged in her parched throat. Niko’s face materialized in the forefront of her mind. As long as he was okay, it was all worth it.
With only seconds left, she shifted her weight, pulling her feet up onto the seat beneath her ass. The bike went airborne, and she shoved off with her legs. Landing was going to hurt. Hell, she probably wouldn’t survive, but it was the best chance she had.
As though in slow motion, she watched as Ursula’s bright pink body careened forward. The sweet purr of her engine grew fainter as she plummeted deeper into the gorge. A moment later, the air was sucked from her lungs and pain blossomed from her legs and back. Branches and rocks knocked into her as she rolled down the ravine, closer and closer to the drop-off.
The crash at the bottom echoed through the forest. A half second later, a flash of black and chrome flew above her, the powerful engine taking it and its rider over the cliff twenty feet from where she’d come to a stop.
Black dots swarmed in front of her eyes like angry wasps, and when she finally managed to suck air into her lungs, she wished she hadn’t. Pain exploded from her side along her ribs. Warmth trickled down her face, but she couldn’t get her arm or her hand to cooperate and wipe the blood away.
Her stomach rolled, and the bright sunlight dimmed, narrowing along the edges of her sight until she was plunged into darkness and sweet, blessed relief.
***
Niko hadn’t been down long, but it had been enough for Rylee to get on her bike and speed off like a gorgeous lunatic, down country roads she didn’t know. The vampire had missed grabbing her by her neck by a millisecond as she’d sped off, and the fear that had exploded through him had all but crippled him. If it got its hands on her, she was dead.
His heart thudded as he gave chase. She hadn’t veered right. Fuck. She’d needed to go right to get back on the highway. Blinded by dust, he pushed his bike faster. He knew the land. Had ridden those roads. She was heading straight for the gorge. If he could close the gap between himself and the vampire, he’d do whatever it took to keep the bastard from reaching Rylee. The bridge that once connected the two sides of the ravine had been destroyed in a forest fire years ago and had never been replaced. She’d have seconds of warning. If she wasn’t paying close enough attention or was going too fast, she’d— No. It’s not going to happen. She’ll be fine.
He shoved the thoughts from his mind, refusing to give them any power. He hadn’t waited to find his fated only to have her ripped away from him so soon after having done so. He’d get to her in time. Even as he blasted the words into his soul, willing them to be true, the dread sitting in the pit of his stomach expanded. His wolf prowled, making his skin itch with the fur bristling beneath the surface, desperate to get to its mate, then snarling when control wasn’t given over.
Not caring about anything other than getting to Rylee, Niko pushed his bike faster. It lurched forward, but it still wasn’t enough. He wasn’t going to intercept them in time. They were swallowing miles like a raptor devoured its prey. He took the final curve, praying for a miracle.
He was far enough back to see past the settling dust to the road up ahead. Too close to Rylee’s tail, the vampire hadn’t seen the danger ahead. His black and chrome bike went flying into the air.
Desperate, he scoured every bit of landscape between him and the ravine for the shock of pink he needed to see. Twin towers of smoke billowed from beyond the drop-off, telling him what his mind refused to acknowledge. He came to a skidding halt inches from the edge. Fear and pain waged war inside him until all he could hear, all he could sense was his wolf howling deep in his soul. The mournful sound exploded from him as he jumped off his bike and threw his helmet into the gaping mouth of the gorge.
She couldn’t be gone. He refused to allow it. Through the brush and rocks below, he spotted pink and stumbled to his knees. A scream tore from his throat, refusing to let up until it was raw, and even then, only long enough to fill his lungs and yell again.
He didn’t give a fuck about the hard drive or the vampire. All he wanted—needed—was his mate.
The crunch of gravel behind him alerted him to Luca’s arrival. As injured as he had been, Niko knew he’d come, but just like Niko, Luca was too late to save the one person who mattered most.
“Fuuuck,” Luca screamed, his voice guttural and mean, as though raging against what had happened would rewind time so this would be nothing more than a nightmare that hadn’t happened. He gripped his hair, pulling on the strands as he stared into the abyss of foliage and nature that, on any other day, would have stolen his breath for the sheer beauty of the scene before him.
Niko couldn’t breathe. His lungs burned, and he tried to force air into them, but it wouldn’t come. “She’s gone,” he choked out more to himself than to Luca. The words ripped a cavernous hole in his soul that wouldn’t mend even if he lived forever. Standing on shaking legs, he threw his head back and howled.
Luca gripped his arm, his fingers digging into his bicep hard enough to bruise. What the hell? Did he think that he’d jump into the gorge and end his misery? And if he did, did he really think that a hand on his arm was going to stop him?
“There,” Luca yelled. Niko followed the direction he was pointing.
For a second, all he saw was unrelenting forest and savage nature, but then, in the midst of it, a discordant patch of black stood out against the brightness of the fall colors. His heart skipped a beat. The terrain was steep and strewn with boulders and fallen trees, but fifty feet from where they stood, Rylee’s slight frame lay.
“I’m going down there,” he said. Luca didn’t try to stop him. Instead, he followed close behind, barking instructions to step with care when all Niko wanted to do was rush to get to her.
“We don’t know what shape she’s in,” Luca said to his back.
Niko knew it wouldn’t be good. No one lay at angles like Rylee was without having sustained severe injuries, but as long as she still breathed, he didn’t care. He’d fix her. His wolf would make her heal.