Page 34 of Bound By Love
She couldn’t think coherently, she smelled blood, and something tasted awful on her lips. The warmth against her chest slid away.
“Caro?” Saber demanded. “Caro, are you okay?”
She couldn’t find words to answer him. They were there, on the tip of her tongue, but her tongue was too heavy to move.
Saber tore at the airbags, ripping them away from his face and side as he sought to break free. When he finally pulled them out, he turned to Caro but could barely see her through the white surrounding her.
Grasping the airbag in front of her, he wrenched it free, along with part of the dashboard. Her head fell forward and lolled for a second before rising. She blinked at him, but her eyes remained unfocused.
“We have to go,” he said.
He fumbled for her seat belt and unclicked it before removing his. She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. He wanted to check on her again, to assure her it would all be okay, but there wasn’t time.
That hadnotbeen an accident.
Putting his shoulder into the door, he shoved against it. Metal screeched, but his side of the car was so indented that it wouldn’t budge much.
Turning sideways, he planted his feet against the door and his back against the console as he shoved with his legs. The door twisted, with a sound like that of nails on a chalkboard, as it bent outward.
Sweat beaded his brow, and his muscles strained as he pushed. The door gave way so suddenly that it flew away from the car and crashed into a tree. His feet hit the ground with a thump.
Saber lifted his sword from where it landed in the back seat and shrugged it on. Caro’s was on the other side, lying half in and half out of the back window.
Saber scrambled out of the car and reclaimed Caro’s sword while he ran to her side and slid it onto his back. When he got to her door, he paused to search the woods for Savages.
There was no sign of them yet, but they were coming. That wasn’t a random accident; some human didn’t cross the centerline and plow into them.
He hadn’t seen it coming, but the demons weren’t taking any chances he might get away again. Their antipathy for him outweighed their desire to locate more of the Alliance.
And they had to know there were other members of the Alliance with them in the city tonight; Willow and Declan had shadows too. It wouldn’t be a big jump to assume that others were nearby too.
They could have attacked Willow and Declan too; they could be on the run or in the hands of the demons right now. But he suspected they’d decided to attack him and trail them. If the Savages lost Willow and Declan, it would piss off the demons, but having him and Caro and their swords in their possession would ease their wrath.
The demons had ordered this hit and would unleash hell on them when they arrived.
Kicking himself for not seeing this, for being so sure they would follow them to see what they were doing and how many more they could kill, he pulled Caro’s door open. Without meaning to, he ripped it off the hinges. Tossing it aside, he bent and slid his arm under her to lift her from the car.
As he did so, headlights flashed across the highway, and vehicles screeched to a stop on the roadside a hundred feet above them. Doors opened and closed; words and the scent of rot drifted down to greet him.
Caro’s phone lay in a puddle of glass beneath where her feet were. He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t feel the weight of his phone in his pocket anymore; it must have fallen out somewhere.
He snatched up Caro’s phone and shoved it in his pocket as he cradled her against his chest and fled into the trees. Behind him, shouts filled the air before it went deathly quiet.
Darting in and out of trees, his fear for his mate and determination to keep her safe propelled him to faster and faster speeds. He instinctively dodged the trees rushing toward him as he leapt over fallen logs and rocks. The hunt was on, and they were the hunted.
Caro leaned her head against Saber’s shoulder as she tried to understand what was happening. Her brain felt rattled, and her body was out of control as her fingers twitched uselessly but didn’t rise to touch him as she commanded.
Were they in a car accident? Was that why she kept hearing a god-awful screeching sound in her head?
“Are you okay?” Saber demanded.
The urgency in his voice pierced through some of the fog and confusion encompassing her. Something was wrong, but of course, something was wrong, she couldn’t think straight, and he was running.
Is he running?
Caro narrowed her eyes as she tried to make out the blurs rushing past them and why they were blurs. His long strides ate up the ground as his powerful body flexed around hers.
Yes, he’s running.
