Page 17 of Tempted By Blood

“Oh, did that hurt?”

Squaring my shoulders, I cocked a brow and replied, “Is that the best you can do?” I spat blood in his face. Not that I desired to die, but death was a welcome option to the hell these men would surely put me through. I was no one’s toy.

He cussed and gripped my shoulder, pressing a painful pressure point and forcing me to my knees. Tugging my mouth open, he shoved the weapon damn near to the back of my throat. I gagged, tears stinging behind my eyes.

His laugh was cynical, taunting. “Hollow that sweet mouth, baby. I know you can take it. Pretty soon, it will be my cock you choke on.”

Blood pooled in my mouth and down my throat as he violently shoved the damn thing farther.

Fuck, was I crying?

He’d pay for this. Silas, too, that bastard.

“Boss man wants her alive, Carter. Both of them.”

Both?

The sound of a gunshot ripped through the cabin and into the side of the asshole’s head. He fell with a thud as more bullets began to fly around me. I ducked, crawling over a body before dragging myself to the small station room in search of my gun and blade.

Heads were about to roll.

Seven

SILAS

Helena was what he’d called her.

Helena.

How did he know her? Had they come for me too? Both. He’d said both.

She crawled past me as I reloaded my mag. I didn’t exactly trust her at my back but had no choice but to keep firing into the aisle. She'd know better if these men were here for us than to take them on alone. I had to trust she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Fragments of wood and debris exploded around us as I hit the floor, dodging the hail of bullets flying into the cabin. As I attempted to regain my balance, my hand slid on the droplets and streaks of blood Helena had trailed inside. Glancing back, I wondered if she’d been hit, but when I was met with her scathing, vengeful glare, it was obvious that whatever injuries she had were minor.

“You son of a bitch.”

“How many?”

“How many times should I stab you?”

“Fuck, Helena! How many men out there?”

The shirt I’d ripped from her earlier was strewn by her feet. She cut me another glare before pulling it over her head. “Six… Well, five now.”

I tossed her a Glock and an extra mag. “We can take them. And then I’ll let you try to kill me later.”

She racked her weapon and pointed the damn thing at my head.

“Later? Now’s as good a time as any.”

A bullet whirred by her face and out the window, shattering the plexiglass beside us. Our eyes met, and we nodded in unison—a temporary truce between us until we neutralized the immediate threat.

“We have to find a way out of here,” she said in a harsh whisper against my ear. I paused, turning toward her at the soft feel of her lips on my skin. A sudden pang of guilt settled heavily in my stomach when I took in the gash on the side of her chin from when that asshole had pistol-whipped her. I couldn’t deny that something inside me had stirred with a violent need to end his life. Hypocritical as it was, since I’d been a second away from killing her myself.

“Silas!” She shook me, literally, from my thoughts. “What are you, fucking daydreaming? We need to move. They’ll draw closer and eventually pin and kill us. And I’m not trying to die today. Least of all here with you.”

“Feeling’s mutual, love.”