Page 39 of Bound By Blood
Ducking her head,she struggled to suppress her growing self-hatred while her bodycontinued to yearn for his. The memory of her parents’ deathsshould have doused any of her lingering lust, but it still clawedat her belly like an incessant rodent looking for food. What waswrong with her?
“Stay here,” Sabersaid gruffly.
Before she couldrespond, he turned and pulled the curtain open a little to inspectthe arcade. Caro winced when the influx of noise grated on hereardrums.
Without anotherword, he vanished into the arcade, and she was left frowning afterhis back. Who was he to order her around? Sure, he knew thesethings alotbetter than her, but still, she wasn’t amisbehaving child who was best left in a corner until they calmeddown.
Creeping closer tothe curtain, her hand went beneath her shirt to rest on thedagger’s hilt as she carefully peeked out. She didn’t like himordering her around, but she wasn’t an idiot.
These things werelethal; they were looking to use her and destroy her. She wasn’tgoing to end up in their hands.
She also had noidea where they were and wasn’t going to accidentally revealherself before she had a chance to prepare for them. From thecorner of her eye, she spotted Saber gliding through the crowd.
Two Savages gavethemselves away when they emerged from the shadows to follow him.The third remained hidden as it most likely searched for her.
When another groupof teens approached the photo booth, she ducked back and rested herback against the wall. At first, she intended to tell them to leavebut decided against it.
The other Savagemight be close by; if a group approached and she turned them away,they could see the teens retreating for no reason. If she let thementer, the remaining Savage wouldn’t think anything of it.
She hoped theyhadn’t seen Saber emerge from the booth. Gripping the dagger’shilt, she prepared for something bad to come through thecurtain.
When the first boypulled back the curtain and started to enter, he hesitated when hespotted her.
“Come in,” shecommanded and wrapped her power around his mind before he couldretreat.
The arcade noiseblocked her voice so his friends couldn’t hear her, but as a younggirl followed, she seized control of her mind too. Along with thenext girl and the boy who came through last.
They all crowdedonto the seat in front of the screen while Caro remained againstthe wall. “Act like I’m not here,” she commanded.
They smiled,preened, and made funny faces while a flash went off and themachine snapped their pictures. Their laughter and carefree naturewere something she’d also enjoyed two short weeks ago. Now, shefelt like the world weighed on her shoulders.
When the picturesstopped, they waited until the machine spit them out. “Am I in anyof those pictures?” she asked.
“No,” the firstboy answered.
“Good. Once youleave here, you’ll forget you ever saw me. I was never here.”
The teenagerslaughed and flirted as they made their way out of the booth. Carosighed in relief, and her shoulders slumped. She took a few deepbreaths before returning to the curtain.
With her handstill on the dagger’s hilt, she pulled the curtain’s edge backagain. Standing on the other side, grinning at her, was theorange-haired, female passenger from the car.
CHAPTER 29
Saber pretendednot to notice the two Savages trailing him through the arcade. Hedidn’t care about them; he knew where they were. He was moreconcerned about the third one he’d glimpsed by one of the clawmachines.
She’d vanishedinto the crowd, heading in a different direction from the othertwo, and he knew exactly where she was going. He’d been carefulwhen he left the booth, but she must have spotted him leaving thephoto booth.
And now she wasgoing for Caro. He couldn’t let that happen. It was his fault thisSavage was going after her. When he left, he was too rushed to getaway from Caro; he’d given away her location.
He cursed himselffor being an idiot, for once again allowing his emotions to rulewhen he’d vowed to never again let that happen. And they couldn’tlose her; she was necessary to the mission.
Saber refused toacknowledge that he couldn’t lose her because he didn’t want to. Hewould miss Charles, but it hadn’t broken him, and neither would theloss of his daughter. After his family died, he lived his lifeknowing he didn’t care who he lost anymore.
He didn’t have toworry about that because he wouldn’t let her fall into his enemy’shands.
He wound past thepinball machines and the shooting arcade as he tried not to rushback to the photo booth. There werefartoo many humans herefor him to let something slip. He could never change all theirmemories or get at the security cameras, which he was sure wereeverywhere.
He wanted to raceback there as fast as possible, but he had to be discreet. Theywouldn’t hurt her, or at least they wouldn’t while she was still inpublic.
