Enigma:What Lies Beneath (Enigma Series Book 1) (5 page)

Chapter Six

Hauke took a shallow breath. Saltwater entered his gills in painful clarity. His body shook with the burn of oxygen being forced through his gill slits. There was no blood flowing in the opposite direction to counteract the process of CO2 deposits. Agony seared his sides.

He tried to sit up, but something held him down. His legs were elevated and hanging over a hard surface bent at the knees.

His protective lenses slid into place, and he struggled to open his eyes. Voices could be heard from somewhere nearby.

“Are you sure this will work, Tony? The only things I have to go on are brief glimpses of X-rays and a partial blood transfusion.”

“If those are truly gills I see under his arms, this should revive him.”

“But— ”

“Let’s see what happens.”

Hauke realized Abbie was close and speaking to someone known as Tony. The spike in her adrenaline caused the barbs on Hauke’s wrists and ankles to tingle with venom. His body didn’t have the blood needed for the barbs to become erect, and it enraged him.

Gathering as much strength as he could, Hauke cracked his lids open. On instinct, he thrust his arm up and wrapped his fingers around the human’s throat that hovered above him.

The man quickly gripped Hauke’s wrist with a strength that surprised him. He had no idea humans were capable of the kind of power this man possessed.

Of course, Hauke hadn’t been around enough of them to judge this one by, he acknowledged, tightening his hold on the man’s neck.

Abbie’s anxiety blended with the human’s determination as he stared down at Hauke from above the water’s surface.

A different kind of pain suddenly slammed into Hauke, and he groaned from the force of it. Images of a decapitated woman and a lifeless child spun through his mind in torturous detail. Their terrified screams repeated again and again, mingling with the sorrow seeping from the one Abbie had referred to as Tony.

Hauke wanted to disengage from Tony’s memories, but he couldn’t seem to let go. He gazed into the stranger’s eyes in confusion. The lack of emotion from the man staring back at him didn’t line up with the horror spilling from his soul.

Tony suddenly released Hauke’s wrist and jerked free. “We’ve gotta get this damn thing out of my bathroom. Out of my house.” He jumped to his feet and disappeared from Hauke’s line of sight.

Abbie dropped to her knees where Tony had been kneeling and slid her arm under Hauke’s neck. She lifted his head from the water. “Are you okay?”

His weakened state angered him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

Abbie’s face blurred in his vision, and the room began to dim. With everything inside him, he fought to stay awake. “Abbie…”

“Tell me what to do.”

Hauke could hear the panic in her voice, the fear…the helplessness, but there was nothing he could do. He slipped into the damnable darkness once more.

* * * *

Abbie laid her cheek against Hauke’s cold lips while reaching up and pressing two fingers against his neck. No breath or pulse could be found. He seemed to be in the same deathlike state he’d been in at the lab before they had given him blood.
That’s it.

She held Hauke tighter and spoke over her shoulder. “He needs blood.”

Tony dropped down on his heels next to her and tugged the small silver handle up to drain the tub. “I just happen to have some in the fridge. Would you like it cold or heated in the microwave?”

His sarcasm wasn’t received well. “Help me get him out, damn it.”

“You can’t just give a person blood without knowing their type. You could do more harm than good. I figured you knew that,
Doctor
Sutherland.”

Abbie’s control snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed,
Uncle
, he is not human. He took the O negative blood perfectly, and he needs more since he’s been shot.”

Tony leaned in until his nose nearly touched hers. “As soon as we remove him from this tub, he’s going in the truck. Law enforcement could show up here before morning. You can bet your ass they are crawling through yours and Henry’s places with microscopes in hand at this very minute.”

Frustration and fear mingled together inside Abbie’s chest, breeding one result. Tears.

She raised her watery gaze and met Tony’s empty stare. “Do you remember when they buried Mama?”

Something flickered in his eyes, however brief. A muscle flexed along his jaw, but he didn’t answer. He only watched her without expression.

“I drowned in the gulf that day.”

Another small spark of emotion passed over his face. Still, he said nothing.

“A boy saved my life. He didn’t look to be more than fourteen years old. I’ll never forget his eyes. They were the most beautiful emerald color I’d ever seen. When I touched Hauke in the lab earlier, that moment came back as clear as if it had happened yesterday. “

When Tony didn’t respond, Abbie leaned down and gently lifted one of Hauke’s eyelids to reveal a stunning brilliant green color.

“He saved your life.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let him lie here and die. Not when I can do something to help him. “

Without warning, Tony reached out and took hold of her chin. “I get it, okay? But we have to move. There is an APB out on you both. Apparently you’re armed and dangerous, and you’ve killed three men.”

“I— Wait, what?”

“It came across the police scanner.”

“Two guards were shot, Uncle Tony. I won’t lie, but it was self-defense. They opened fire on us. Did you happen to hear anything about the third person who died?” Had something happened to Henry? Her heart squeezed painfully.

“Three guards are dead. Now go grab a blanket from the hall closet and crank the truck while I fish this gigantic beast out of the tub. I’ll be right behind you.”

She gently withdrew her arm from under Hauke’s neck and eased his head down before jumping to her feet. “Where are the keys?”

“I left them in it.”

Abbie nodded and hurried from the room. She stopped in the hallway, grabbed a blanket from the closet, and rushed to the kitchen to open the door she’d seen Tony use to bring in the buckets of saltwater.

What if Hauke doesn’t survive
? The thought scared her more than it should. She reasoned it had something to do with him saving her life all those years ago.

The fact that he was beyond beautiful played no part in her feelings at all. Or that he had a body to die for. She shook her head at the route her thoughts were taking and made her way to the truck.

After opening the front and back doors of the driver’s side, she climbed in and started the engine.

Tony stepped out onto the porch a few minutes later with an unconscious Hauke thrown over his shoulder. Her uncle had to be extremely strong to carry such a large being.

She scrambled over to the rear seat and rested her back against the passenger side door seconds before Tony dumped his massive cargo between her open knees. He shoved Hauke’s feet onto the floorboard and slammed the door.

Her beautiful creature’s head ended up resting in her arms, cradled against her chest.

“Where are we going?” Abbie adjusted her burden as best she could and glared at Tony. She’d love to scratch him a time or two for his rough treatment of Hauke. But if not for her uncle, she’d most definitely be screwed right now. Yeah, he wouldn’t hear any lip from her. Not tonight at any rate.

Tony climbed in and shut his door without answering. The truck jerked forward as he threw it in gear and sped out of the backyard.

Abbie’s stomach muscles tightened with the effort of keeping Hauke from sliding off her lap while Tony gassed it and took a sharp right onto Miramar Drive.

Hauke’s dead weight was hard to hold with her legs trapped underneath him. If she could get her foot on the floor for traction, it would make things a hell of a lot easier.

She brushed his wet hair back from his face. “You better not die on me.”

His skin felt cold and clammy to the touch. She eased her hand down over his nose and mouth.
Still no breath
.
How can he possibly live without breathing?
Abbie knew he still lived. She could
feel
him inside her head.

Reflections from the streetlights danced throughout the truck, reminding her of trips she’d taken with her mother as a child. She’d lie awake in the backseat of the car, listening to the hum of the engine until sleep claimed her. If only she could go back in time, she’d tell her mother every second of every day how much she loved her.

“
Abbie…”

Hauke’s whispered thought wrapped around her heart and embedded itself deep inside—a beautiful, yet disturbing sensation.

She laid her cheek against the top of his head and held him tighter. “
I’m here
.”

“
Paenitet…”

A lump formed in her throat. She didn’t know a lot of Latin, but she knew that word. “
No. Don’t you say you’re sorry. You can’t die. I won’t let you
.” She could feel him slipping away like the remnants of a fading dream.

Panic gripped her. “Tony? We have to do something. Now.”

The silence coming from her uncle made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Tony?”

A sharp turn from the truck nearly unseated her. “Where are we going?”

She jerked her gaze to the window, barely able to make out the shadows of passing trees as the vehicle bounced along on an uneven road. “Tell me where are you taking us, Tony.”

The truck came to a sudden stop, and her uncle jumped out without a word. He wrenched the back door open and grabbed hold of Hauke’s feet.

Abbie’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What are you doing?”

“What I should have done when you showed up at my place with this freak of nature.”

“Let him go.” Abbie wrapped her arms around Hauke’s chest and locked her fingers together in a death grip.

“Grow a brain, girl. He’s not human, and you can bet your ass the damn military has been called in on this and will soon be hunting you both. It’s only a matter of time before you’re caught. And you won’t go to jail. You know too much.”

Abbie’s stomach sank with the knowledge that she could never turn back. Life as she knew it was officially over. “Then I’ll take my chances with him. I’m already screwed.”

“I can get you out of here. I’m not without resources.” His emotionless eyes glittered in the moonlight.

“What about him?” She nodded toward the unconscious man splayed across her lap. He was so heavy her legs were going numb beneath him.

The finality in Tony’s stare said it all.

“No. You either help us, or leave us here. Killing him is not an option.” And she meant it. She would die before allowing anything to happen to Hauke.

“So damn stubborn.”

“I won’t budge on this.”

“Shit.” He tossed Hauke’s feet back onto the floor and slammed the door.

Abbie breathed a sigh of relief when Tony jumped back behind the wheel and turned the truck around.

They drove in silence, allowing her time to reach out to Hauke once again. The link that had been present between them since the lab was no longer there, and her heart twisted. “
Please hold on.”

“Damn it, Tony. How much longer?”

“Five minutes.”

Abbie massaged Hauke’s face with trembling fingers. “
We’re almost there. I’m going to get you some help. Can you hear me?”
she mentally pleaded.

The emptiness she felt in that moment was comparable to the loss of her mother. She couldn’t stop the tears that welled up and spilled over. They tracked down her cheeks to drip onto Hauke’s nose. She watched one of the shiny droplets sparkle over his mouth before disappearing inside.

“
Mate.”
His voice inside her head, however weak, was a balm to her soul.

“
You’re alive.
” Relief was instant. She wondered if he had a woman back home. Wherever that was.
No doubt he does. He probably has dozens of women fawning over him.
Jealousy was like a knife to her gut, catching her off guard.

She closed her eyes in shame. The man had risked his life for her, yet here she sat, dwelling on what might or might not be. No matter what his situation, she would repay him by any means necessary.

The vehicle came to a stop in a dimly lit driveway, and Tony switched off the engine. He got out and went around to the passenger’s side before opening Abbie’s door. She practically fell into his arms.

He tugged her free of Hauke’s dead weight and handed her a key. “I got him. Go unlock the door.”

Abbie hesitated.

“I’m not going to hurt him. Do as I say.”