Nobody's Angel (43 page)

“Your rich sailor boy thinks he can outsmart me. Well, I’ll show him who’s smarter.” He began repacking the items. “Get up. We have to keep moving so we can lose their track.”

Track? What had the box been? Some kind of tracking device? She smiled ruefully.
Thank you for trying to protect me, Sir
.

She knew if she let Allen take her any further into the wilderness, Marc would never find her. She needed to make her move. Now.

She tried to speak through the tape to attract Allen’s attention and get him to come closer.

“What is it?” He was exasperated, which might play in her favor. He wouldn’t be thinking clearly.

He stood and walked over toward her. When she made no move to stand, he reached down and grabbed her by her upper arms. She assessed her options and decided on her best target. Bringing her hands around to her chest, in one continuous movement she slammed both rocks into his bandaged nose. The sound of bone crunching against bone gave her some satisfaction. Hearing him squeal like a pig provided the rest.

“God-damned bitch.”

Once more, she watched the blood spurting from between his fingers and she scrambled to her feet. She ran to the pack and pulled out the rope and flashlight. Returning to where Allen lay huddled on his knees, she swung the heavy-duty light against his temple, sending him sprawling face down on the ground.

Before he could recover his senses, she dug her knee into his back and took the rope, executing the hogtie technique Marc had shown her at his house the other night. She’d never thought she’d use it for non-erotic purposes. While the tie didn’t look as nice on Allen as it had on Luke, she knew he wouldn’t be getting loose anytime soon.

She reached up and pulled the tape off her mouth. “I’ll be sure to send someone back here for you, Allen. If they can find you without the tracking device—and before a bear or mountain lion does.” The look of fear on his face brought a smile to her face.

Angelina looked around. Having no clue where she was, she only knew to grab the now-bloody flashlight and her pack and start up the same trail Allen had taken her down. As she walked along, she began to hear sounds. The wind, always. But now her senses were heightened. She could hear birds. And even the scurrying of burrowing animals as they took advantage of the last bit of sunlight. She stopped and looked out across the landscape, seeing the mountains stretching out forever.

Majestic.

Marc’s world. She found that she did want to know more. Explore more.

Sweat broke out on her forehead and trickled down her face. The air was chilly against her wet skin. That probably wasn’t a good thing. With the sun just above the mountain peaks, she knew she had to get back to her friends as soon as possible. The thought of being up here alone at night terrified her.

“Angelina!”

Marc? As if her thoughts had conjured him up, she looked up from where she’d been watching where she placed each footfall, hoping not to hurt her feet any more than she already had. Her eyes blurred, then cleared. He smiled and she dropped the pack and sailed into his open arms.

“Oh,
angelo mio
. You’re safe.”

“I am now. I’ve never been so happy to see someone.”

She let the tears flow as she held on, afraid if she let go she’d find she’d only dreamed him to her again. But his solid arms around her were definitely real. He pulled away, lowering her to the ground, and took her face between his hands. When she winced, he inspected her cheek.

“Did he hurt you,
cara
.”

“He’s worse off than I am.”

Marc smiled. “Good girl. I’m so proud of you.”

His praise warmed her. She realized she was proud of herself, too.

“How far back?”

“Fifteen minutes or so?” She had no idea how long she’d been walking. She’d just put one foot in front of the other, over and over again. God, her feet were aching.

“Damián’s waiting for us about 500 yards up the trail.” Marc turned around and spoke. “Luke, escort the ladies to meet up with him while Adam and I go back up the trail to pack out Angelina’s trash.”

She smiled and relaxed, relieved not to have to go back there with them. Leaning around Marc, she found an entire search party—Luke, Cassie, Karla, and Adam. She hobbled over to Karla and gave her a hug.

Karla squeezed her tight. “I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again.”

“I’m like a bad penny. I’ll always keep turning up.”

Karla let go and put her pack down and unzipped it. “You forgot something.” She pulled out Angelina’s hiking boots.

She smiled and sat down to put them on. Her feet were swollen and sore, but at least she wouldn’t ding them up any more on the hike back.

“Angelina, will he be hard to spot?”

“No, he’s in a small clearing right next to the trail. Hogtied.”

He smiled. “Good girl.”

She grinned back. “I had a great teacher.”

Marc reached down and gave her a hand up. “We won’t be long. I’d like to get you all back to your campsite before it gets too much darker.”

“You’ll let me stay?” She knew she didn’t need his permission to stay, but just assumed Marc wouldn’t leave the decision up to her after what had happened.

“If that’s what you want to do, I want you to stay. The threat is gone now.”

She smiled her thanks. He trusted her to make her own decision. Maybe he wasn’t into the total domination thing after all. She could still remain independent and be with him.

Except in the bedroom or at the club, when she so wanted him to control her, rather than be an equal partner. She realized she could accept that type of relationship.

“I love you, Marc.”

He looked stunned a moment, as if he were about to bolt. Then he grinned and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I love you, too, Angelina.”

Without warning, he grabbed a hank of hair at the back of her head and pulled, opening her mouth to prepare for the onslaught of his kiss. Her clit went into overdrive as his lips crushed hers. He drove his tongue into her mouth without preliminaries, performing a mating dance with her own tongue. She reached up and held onto his shoulders to keep from melting into a puddle at his feet. Grabbing the hair at the back of his head, she gave him a little of what she’d gotten. His hand lowered to her butt and he ground their pelvises against each other.

Suddenly, he broke away and looked down into her half-open eyes, which probably were glazed over with lust.

With love.

“I’ll let you decide if you want to stay up on this cold mountain tonight—or sleep in my warm arms.”

* * *

Shit
, Marc thought, his woman was a fast learner. Not only had she trussed the pig, she’d rebroken the asshole bastard’s nose, as well. If the wilderness thought it could get the best of her, it had another think coming.

“If you fucking let this one get away, you’re a damned fool.”

Marc grinned. He knew Adam wasn’t referring to the man suspended from the makeshift pole between them as they made their way back up the mountain. “Don’t worry, sir. If I have to hogtie her, I won’t be letting her get away anytime soon.”

“Karla! Watch out!” Angelina’s shout brought them to a halt, then they heard the growl of a cougar split the night air. Women’s screams followed and Luke shouted, “Don’t move, Karla.”

Adam and Marc dropped Martin unceremoniously to the ground, ignoring his scream of pain as he probably landed on his broken nose, and ran up the trailhead until they came around a bend to find Karla pinned with her back against a boulder. An adult cougar stood mere yards away from her, poised to strike.

Angelina stood frozen in the middle of the trail. Luke held onto Cassie, who kept trying to lunge at the cat, or escape Luke’s grasp, he wasn’t sure which. Adam didn’t pause, but ran down the trail trying to get the attention of the cougar.

“No, Adam!” Karla seemed more worried about him than herself.

Marc cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled: “Damián! Can you make it down here! We’ve got big-cat trouble!”

“I heard! I’m on my way!”

If Damián could get a clean shot, the cougar would be neutralized. He hated to have to destroy something so beautiful, but knew the park service would come after and kill any cat that attacked humans. If they could take care of it before Karla or Adam got hurt, that’s just the way it would have to be.

“I’m scared, Adam.” Karla kept her gaze on the cat that growled again.

“I know, hon. Just keep your wits about you while I try to distract it.”

Adam turned to run up the trail. Much more interested in a moving target, the cougar took off after him.

“Adam! No!” Karla scrambled off the rocks and ran after them. Marc and Luke followed, after telling Angelina and Cassie to stay put.

Marc shouted, “Karla, stay back!” She ignored him. The cougar sprang into the air, then landed on Adam’s back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Shit
. It tore at his bare neck, immobilizing him immediately. In a flash of speed, Karla latched onto the cat’s tail and singlehandedly tried to pull it off Adam.
Gesu
. Didn’t she know how powerful that creature was?

But the cougar hardly noticed her, so intent was it on tearing the jacket and shirt off Adam’s back and biting into his neck. Adam struggled under the weight of the cat.

Damián shouted, “I can’t get a clean shot! Get Karla away from there!”

Marc looked down the trail and saw Damián poised to shoot, his eye on the rifle’s scope, waiting. Marc caught up to them and grabbed Karla around the waist, dragging her away. She screamed. “Adam! Don’t die, Adam! Please! I need you!”

Marc carried her behind a boulder, out of range. He knew Damián wouldn’t miss. There would be no ricochet. One shot, one kill, just the way he’d done with insurgents in Fallujah. When the rifle blast rent the air with its report, Karla jumped. The cougar fell silent. Karla slumped against him for a moment, then recovered quickly and pushed away from him to stumble back up the trail. Marc followed. The cat had to weigh nearly as much as she did, but before he could catch up to her, she’d half dragged the animal by its bloody head off of Adam’s back. Adrenaline surge.

Luke called out, “The EMTs are coming; ETA twenty minutes.”

Karla stretched out on the ground beside Adam, touching his face, which didn’t have a scratch from what Marc could see. “Adam. Don’t you dare leave me. I need you.” She continued talking to him, trying to keep him from drifting away. Sometimes Marc had seen it help with cases he’d have thought were goners for sure.

Adam groaned, a pool of blood forming near his neck. Marc’s training kicked in and he unstrapped the medical pack he kept in his car. He’d strapped it on earlier in case Angelina had been hurt. He quickly put on gloves and searched for the puncture wound or wounds causing the blood loss. If it was an artery, Adam could bleed out in no time.

There it was!

“What can I do to help?” He looked up to see Angelina kneeling down beside him.

“Put on a pair of gloves and take a four-by-four—gauze—and fold it into quarters. Then I need you to put pressure against this neck wound. You aren’t afraid of blood, are you?”

“No. I have four brothers. Remember?”

Once he’d shown her the amount of pressure to use, Marc searched for other deep wounds. None on his neck. He pressed his fingers against the carotid artery and found a weak pulse. Adam’s now limp body had probably gone into shock. Marc wished he had his corpsman’s pack and could start an IV.

Luke came over and spread a Mylar blanket over Adam to try to maintain body temperature. Marc took out the paramedic shears and, lowering the blanket to Adam’s waist, cut through the shredded and bloodied jacket and shirt. The blood loss was significant. He hoped they’d stanched it in time. But his shirt also was filled with streaks of blood. He wouldn’t have enough bandages to cover all of the cuts on his back, but he could debride, clean, and cover the deepest wounds.

He glanced at Luke. “I need antiseptic and cotton gauze. Lots of gauze.” Luke reached into the medical bag to find the items.

Marc splayed Adam’s shirt and jacket open to expose his back and froze. Old scars marred his upper back. Shrapnel wounds. Christ, was there even an inch of him that hadn’t been ripped apart? The puckered skin ended at the white scar across the back of his neck, the place Adam often touched when anxious. The shrapnel wounds had been laid bare again by the teeth and claws of the cougar.

Further down his back, where the skin hadn’t been damaged by war or cougar, Marc found a tattoo depicting the Fallen Soldier Battle Cross—boots, rifle, and helmet in the traditional battlefield memorial to those who had been killed. Beside the image were tattooed three names—Carlos Garcia. Gino D’Alessio. Thomas Miller. Sergeant Miller’s name had been added later in a slightly different style.

After Fallujah.

Garcia must have been the one who was killed with his brother, Gino. Adam must have been haunted by the deaths of these men every day to have memorialized them on his body like this.

“My God!” Angelina’s gasp brought him back to what he needed to be focused on. “What happened to him?”

“Enduring Freedom.”

Focus, man
.

Luke had his gloves on and had removed several packets of gauze from the packaging and handed them to Marc who took the antiseptic and soaked them, then cleaned the deepest wounds. At least there were no rocks or dirt to compound problems, but with a cougar, chances of infection were high.

As Marc worked cleaning the wounds, his mind returned to what he’d seen on Adam’s back. He’d had no fucking clue what this man had been through in Afghanistan. He knew he’d felt guilty for not bringing Gino and Garcia out alive, but that was just his being a Marine. They always tried to bring every Marine out alive—or die trying—but seeing what Adam had gone through trying, Marc thought it insane for him to carry any guilt.

Marc had an occasional hitch in his side from his wound, but his former master sergeant must have had days where he went to hell and back with the pain—and the memories. How did he get through those days without complaining? Why didn’t he have PTSD? Hell, maybe he did, but hid it better than most.