Page 36 of Bound By Love
It would be much easier if she got to choose her death; the demons would torture her until nothing remained but a groveling, incoherent mess. It would take a lot to break Caro’s spirit, but he’d seen them in action, and they would do it, he had no doubt.
They were almost to the roadside when gravel crunched beneath tires and a car screeched to a halt. For a second, hope leapt in Saber’s chest.
Is it Willow and Declan? Did they somehow track Caro’s phone to our location?
Then, three more cars stopped behind it, and his hope deflated. The Savages were communicating with each other, sending backup, and trying to trap them between one group and another.
Instead of continuing down the hill, Saber switched direction and went sideways across it as he sought to outrun the Savages unloading from the vehicles below. When he glanced back, the doors of a van opened, and a demon glided out. From behind it came another.
The demons’ stench of rot and fire and brimstone permeated the air. Not much unnerved him, but the hair on his nape rose when he spotted those cloaked figures. It was extremely rare when the demons joined in on the chase, but they sought his blood, and if he didn’t come up with a plan, they would have it.
Now that their creators had joined the chase, getting away would be tougher.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
They stayedparallel to the road as the Savages separated into groups, and more cars screeched to a stop below them. They were trying to cut off their exit at every opportunity.
Saber knew they didn’t have much time or many options, but the best one was to get to the road before the Savages squeezed them in. They could flag down a passing motorist or cross the highway to hopefully more woods where they could keep running. At least then, they wouldn’t have Savages in front and behind them like they did now.
They could stay in the woods and try to outrun them, but they were becoming increasingly outnumbered. It was only a matter of time before their enemies found them.
The woods seemed endless, but he suspected they weren’t as vast as he would have liked, and with both of them bleeding, they’d never cover their scents enough to hide. And with demons tracking them, the hiding option was far from good. Those monsters would find them.
When they were far enough away from the demons’ vehicles, Saber started down the hill with Caro again. They would have to get a car as fast as possible or get across the road in a hurry, but he’d worry about that after they broke through the line of monsters running parallel to them below.
But as he pondered it, he knew it wouldn’t work. There were too many of them; they were too bloodthirsty, and he and Caro didn’t have enough options for escape. There was only one way Caro was getting out of this.
“You have to keep running straight this way,” he said to Caro. “Go parallel to the road. I’m going down the hill.”
Everything inside Caro rebelled against this ludicrous statement. “Absolutely not. We’renotsplitting up. We’re in this together, and it will stay that way.”
“Some of them will still come for you, but most will come forme. You have a chance to get away.”
“And do what? You’re going to sacrifice yourself? You do remember that if you die, I die, right?”
“Of course I do!” Despite these past weeks being some of the best of his life, he regretted what they’d done. She could survive if she wasn’t bound to him, but he couldn’t change that now. “But I’d rather have you die a painless death than have them torture you.”
“A stake to the heart isn’t exactly painless.”
“It’s much better than being cut to tiny pieces while they rape and brutalize you. I won’t have it.”
Caro’s breath caught at his words. Yes, she’d prefer a stake through the heart than that, but she couldn’t let him go alone. With the two of them fighting, they had a better chance of getting away. With only one, even with his sword, they’d eventually overpower him.
“Listen to me.” He seized her wrist, but neither of them stopped running. “If they catch you, they’ll torture you until they break you.”
“And what are they going to do to you?”
“The same, but if they catch you, they’ll realize you’re my mate and know the real way to makemesuffer is throughyou. They’ll make it worse forbothof us. Do you understand?”
He was right, but she couldn’t let him face these monsters alone. “You wouldn’t leave me.”
“I plan on leaving you. Once I do, they’ll focus on me.I’mthe one they’re really after; you’ll be nothing more than a missed opportunity if you keep running. And you can make it if you do. I’ll keep them distracted and buy you time to get away.”
Caro’s heart was already pounding from exertion and terror, but the idea of leaving him caused it to pick up even as it started to shatter. “I can’t lose you.”
Those four words crushed him in a way he hadn’t experienced since he lost his mother and thought he discovered Brie’s body in the fire.
There was nothing left of it to ever break again... or so he thought, until now.
