Destiny's Shift (23 page)

Their tongues danced, and his hand caressed her wet hair, traveling down her back to her

bottom.

They rested there, gently kneading the flesh, and her hands grasped his neck.

Abruptly he lifted her, and her legs wrapped around his waist. He pushed her up against

the wall and entered her.

The movements were slow and easy at first, but then a sort of urgency took over.

She fisted his hair as he pounded into her roughly.

“Liberty, tell Jovan it’s go time in five minutes.”

Startled, Liberty opened her eyes and looked around the car. She wasn’t wet,

soapy, and in Jovan’s arms. Her breathing was slightly erratic and heat had pooled

between her legs. She needed to focus.

Jovan, Noah says it’s time to go in five minutes.

You mean go time?

Yes.

There was silence for a moment.
Did you like what you saw?

Oh, yes, she liked it a lot.
Yes, Jovan.

I want to do that to you, Liberty. I want to make you feel good. I want to watch

you come.

Liberty inhaled sharply.

“What’s wrong, Liberty?” Noah asked.

She shook her head slightly to try to clear Jovan’s words so she could focus.

“Nothing, Noah. Everything is fine.”

I would like that as well, Jovan. Very much so.

I’ve got something to do here, Liberty, so if you don’t hear from me for a bit, don’t

worry, okay?

Okay.

“Jovan said he had something to do, Noah. He didn’t say what.”

Noah nodded and grinned. “Wonder what he’s got planned.”

Chapter 44

Jovan knew he had to get free before the ambush took place. It would make

getting the hell out of here easier and faster.

As the rain pounded on the roof of the truck, he looked over at the guard again

and hoped he didn’t have to kill the guy. Yet, he would if he had to.

“Hey, man,” Jovan said.

The guard turned to him, looking bored.

“I’m going to be sick.”

“And that involves me how?”

“Rules of physics, dude. I toss it while I’m strapped down and I’m going to drown

in it. Nowhere for it to go but back down. Do you want to be responsible for my death?

I’m pretty sure the good doctor was looking forward to taking care of that himself.”

The guard sighed and looked away.

“Seriously, man, I’m going to lose it.”

The guard looked at him for a long moment. “I’m just going to undo one hand.

You can lean over the stretcher. I’m not letting you loose.”

Jovan nodded, and the guy came over, pulling keys from his pocket. Jovan closed

his eyes and waited for the click of the lock coming undone on his left hand.

When he heard it, he pulled his hand free and leaned to the right as if he were

going to be sick, but quickly came back around and had his free hand around the guard’s

throat. The guard struggled, his eyes wide and his face turning red.

Jovan didn’t let up on his grip, and after a couple of moments, the struggle ended

and the guard went limp next to Jovan.

He picked up the keys the guard had dropped and unlocked his other hand and

then his feet. Standing up slowly, he noted his headache getting worse and a little

dizziness as well as he touched the bandage on his forehead. He had to pull it together if

he was going to get out of here. He didn’t know who was out there running this ambush,

but he had always counted on himself, and that wasn’t going to change. He sat back down

on the stretcher, took some deep breaths, and closed his eyes. Focus. Get it together. He

wondered if that doctor was in the cab of the truck and tried to find any thoughts from the

front, but found none. He wished like hell his gift was a strong as Liberty’s.

Speaking of which, he needed to get out of here so he could get her wet and soapy

in the shower. Man, he wanted sweet, little, Liberty slick from head to toe with her legs

wrapped around his waist as he pounded into her. And she had said she wanted that too.

Nice.

Smiling, he stood up, stretched his arms above his head, and cracked his knuckles.

Looking down at what he was wearing, he decided that it was going to be tough to be a

bad ass in a hospital Johnny, especially in the rain.

Chapter 45

Blake stepped into the dark highway, silently cursing the rain, the crisp air biting

his skin. He was sweating like a sinner in church on Sunday. He aimed his gun at the

oncoming truck, unable to see the truck tires, but he had a damn good idea where they

were based on the headlights. He fired and waited. Nothing. He shot off two more rounds

and knew he hit when the truck started to weave back and forth. For good measure, he

fired off two more rounds into the grill, then ran to the side of the highway and clamored

up the rocks. This plan didn't involve him getting run over by an out-of-control truck.

Blake watched as all the elements of the situation collided at once. The driver got

out of the cab of the truck, his gun drawn, while the back door of the truck flew open and

Jovan jumped out, his ass being kissed by the breeze. Noah pulled up, and both he and

Liberty got out of the car.

Noah tossed a gun to Jovan and yelled at Liberty as she rushed up to Jovan. A shot

was fired from the guard who had taken cover across the highway by some rocks, and

Jovan grabbed Liberty and took cover by one of the open doors in the back while Noah

took cover behind his Hummer.

Another guard got out from the passenger side and moved down the side of the

truck, his gun drawn. He was going to take Jovan by surprise if he made it to the back, so

Blake took aim and fired, hitting him in the shoulder and the leg. He wanted to

incapacitate the guard, not kill him.

“Sorry, buddy,” he mumbled as the guard fell to the pavement.

The firefight continued, and it looked as if Jovan and Noah had things under

control, but then in the distance Blake caught a glimpse of more headlights coming their

way. It looked as if someone had called in the cavalry.

From his perch, he decided the best way for all of them to get out of there was in

one vehicle, and that was in Noah’s. He was the only one who needed to get down there,

and he could cover the rest of them while they got in.

He scrambled down the rocks and found Jovan and Liberty still taking cover by

the back door of the truck. Liberty stood with her hands over her ears, and Jovan spun

around and put his gun in Blake’s face.

“I’m getting a little tired of you guys doing that,” Blake said.

Jovan smiled and turned back around.

“Nice ass as well.”

Jovan ignored him and fired off a round.

“We need to get out of here, Jovan,” Blake said. “They’ve sent in

reinforcements.”

“Got it. We need to make it to the Hummer.”

“Agreed.”

Jovan turned around and stared at Blake over Liberty’s head. “She’s priority

number one, got it? She gets there.”

Blake nodded. “Yep.”

“I’m counting on you, Blake.”

Blake met his eyes and gave another nod. “Understood, my friend.”

“I’m going to cover you. Get her to the Hummer and down on the floor in the

backseat. I don’t care if you have to sit on her, make sure that’s exactly where she stays.”

“Okay.”

“On the count of three.” Blake and Jovan stared at each other for a moment more.

“Three!”

Blake was glad Jovan wasn’t a guy who liked to screw around with the one and

two.

He grabbed Liberty’s arm and pulled her in front of him through the rain,

shielding her with his back. She fought him for a moment, then allowed herself to be

pushed toward the Hummer.

Hearing the shot, but feeling the searing pain in his shoulder a moment later,

Blake cringed and pushed Liberty to run faster. The second shot caught him in the side,

and that one hurt like a bitch. He threw open the back door and pushed Liberty in and

scrambled in on top of her. Through the intense pain, he heard Liberty crying.

“I’ve got you covered, Jovan!” Noah yelled, and Blake heard more shots, one

right after the other, and then the front passenger door opened and slammed shut, the

driver’s side door right behind it.

The Hummer roared to life and spun around heading out the way they came.

Blake could still hear Liberty crying and his head was spinning. He was certain he was on

the verge of passing out.

“Please, Blake, get off me!”

He tried to speak, but he couldn’t. He would love to get off of her, but he couldn’t

move.

“Stop!” Jovan yelled.

“Don’t even think about it, Jovan,” Noah said.

“Stop this fucking car or I’m jumping out! That cocksucker is mine!”

Breaks screeched, and the car came to a violent halt.

The last thing Blake heard was the passenger door slamming shut.

Chapter 46

Jovan stood in the middle of the highway behind the Hummer, the rain pounding

around him. He had gotten a glimpse of the occupants of the car they had just passed, and

he saw that cocksucking doctor.

The guy was going to die.

He watched as the break-lights from the doctor’s car lit up and the car turned

around. Jovan realized he must look ridiculous standing in the middle of the road in his

wet hospital Johnny waving in the wind, but a male had to do what he had to do, and he

needed to kill this fucker.

The car raced toward him, then slowed, and finally came to stop in front of him.

The driver stuck a gun out the window, and Jovan raised his own gun and fired through

the windshield, nailing the guy in the head. The dead man’s gun clacked to the ground.

Jovan walked toward the car blinking the rainwater out of his eyes, and the doctor

stepped out, raising his gun. Jovan took aim and shot the gun out of the doctor’s hand.

The man screamed and looked at his hand, which was missing a few fingers.

“I didn’t get a chance to do that last time you pointed that thing at me,” Jovan

said, continuing his walk.

The doctor looked around as if searching for an escape route.

“There’s nowhere to go, asshole.” Jovan stepped up to the doctor, towering over

him.

“We don’t need this to end in violence,” the doctor said in his best I’m-in-control-

voice. “You can go your way, and I can go mine.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Jovan chuckled. “See, doc, that wasn’t your plan two minutes ago. Two minutes

ago you wanted me flat on my back strapped to your table so you could stick some more

needles in my eyes and drill another hole in my head.”

The doctor swallowed heavily, but remained quiet, the rain soaking him.

“And that’s not going to happen,” Jovan said, reached out, grabbed the man’s

head, twisted quickly, and only stopped when he heard a snap.

Jovan dropped the doctor to the pavement and walked back to the Hummer. He

slid in the front seat and was about to tell Noah to gas it, when Liberty screamed.

“He’s bleeding! Please! Someone get Blake off of me!”

Chapter 47

Jovan sat at Blake’s bedside, watching the male sleep under a thick, dark-blue

comforter pulled up to his chin. He put his head in his hands and thought about the past

six hours.

After Liberty screamed, he had jumped out of the car and hauled Blake off her,

ready to make him bloody for upsetting her. However, she’d been correct; Blake was

bleeding all over her and he was passed out cold.

Jovan hadn’t realized Blake had taken two slugs to protect Liberty.

He rubbed his face and looked back down at him. Any reservations he had carried

about Blake were gone. The guy was a solid, stand-up male, and one they could use on

their team.

When they had finally hit the road after Jovan killed the doctor and pulled Blake

off Liberty, Noah had called Reno and told Hudson to get Cohen’s ass on a plane, which

he had done immediately. Being the healer of the group, Cohen could take care of Jovan’s

hole in the head and probably Blake’s wounds.

He and Noah had tossed around the pros and cons of having Cohen mess with

Blake.

“He’s part Colonist,” Jovan had said.

“And he’s part human. We don’t know what Cohen’s healing capabilities will do

to him.”

But in the end, they had to roll the dice and let Cohen do his magic because

hydrogen peroxide and gauze weren’t doing the trick.

Blake slipped in and out of consciousness. The moments of lucidness were filled

with ripe curses.

Jovan had tried to be kind. “Thank you, man. Thank you.”

“Go fuck yourself, J-man, and get me some drugs.” Blake’s eyes had then rolled

to the back of his head and he passed out.

There was a light knock on the door, and Jovan stood to answer it. Cohen stood

before him and Jovan was surprised by how thin he looked.

“Hey,” Cohen said.

“Hey, man. How are you?”

Cohen rolled his eyes like it was the stupidest thing Jovan could have said, and

didn’t say anything. Jovan stepped back and let him in.

Jovan stood by the door and watched as Cohen knelt by the bed, laying his hands

on Blake.

“This bullet just missed making his liver into pâté,” Cohen murmured.

Twenty minutes later, Cohen stood.

“I’m on my way to heal the trooper Annis. Do you want me to close that up