Spirit (22 page)

“How did he kill her?” said Hunter.

“He didn’t,” said Kate. She sat up, moving away from him, pressing her hands to her eyes, sobbing into her fingers. “I did.”

“You? But—”

“I shot her. I shot her in the shoulder just to keep her from killing him. And she turned her gun on me, then fired.”

Hunter knelt in front of her, wanting to touch her, not knowing how she’d take it. “Did she know it was you?”

“Maybe not when she fired the first shot. But she aimed at me again. Twice. She knew it was me. I fired back. I didn’t—it was all too fast. I’d been through all that training—I just—it was me or her. She died, right there on the floor of his restaurant.” Kate looked up at Hunter, tears shining on her lashes. “And if I told anyone I did it, they’d kill me. If I told anyone the Water Elemental had done it, they’d send more Guides after him and probably destroy his whole family.”

“So you told them he killed her, and that you killed him.” He paused. “You let him go.”

She took a shuddering breath. “Yeah.” Another breath, steadier this time. “Do you think I’m a horrible person?”

Hunter reached out and stroked the hair back from her face. “I think you’re an amazing person who had to make a terrible choice at a terrible time.”

“I’m a failure. I should have let her finish.”

“No, you’re
human
, and
you
did what was right.”

“I don’t know what’s right anymore.”

He’d said those exact words to Gabriel, what felt like a lifetime ago.

So he told Kate the same thing Gabriel had said to him. “Yes,” he said softly. “You do.”

T
he blankets were warm, and the sound of the water was hypnotic, stealing tension from the air. Kate was pressed against him again, her head on his shoulder, an arm across his chest. Hunter stroked her hair absently, keeping still otherwise, sure she was asleep.

His father had been wrong. This trust felt a million times better than the walls Hunter had built around himself.

“Are you asleep?” Kate whispered, her voice barely carrying above the sound of the waves.

“No.” He turned his head and brushed a kiss against her hair.

She shifted until she was braced on his chest, looking down at him. The moon overhead caught her hair and filled it with golden sparks, leaving her eyes in darkness and her features in shadow. Her voice was full of sorrow. “I’ve never told anyone all . . . all
that
.”

He touched her face. “I’ll keep your secret.”

“I know you will. That’s why I told you.” She turned her head and kissed the inside of his wrist.

Then she lowered her head to kiss him on the lips.

It was different now, with no secrets between them, just the night sky to bear witness. Sweeter, somehow. Quieter. She tasted like strawberries and peanut butter, and the feeling of her weight on his chest was just about the greatest thing in the whole entire world.

She teased at his mouth with her tongue, sliding her hand under his shirt and tracing lines on his chest with her nails until he was sure she’d set the night on fire.

He broke the kiss, and it took just about every ounce of self-control he had. “Kate—you’re hurt—”

“Please,” she said, kissing along his jaw, finding his neck. She spoke into his skin. “Please. I need the distraction. Please, Hunter.”

She was crying again.

“Kate,” he whispered. “Kate.” He brushed a thumb across her cheek, stealing the tears.

“Just kiss me,” she said.

Then she didn’t give him a choice. She was straddling his waist, her mouth consuming his every thought, her tongue alive in his mouth.

His hands went immediately to her waist, but that skimpy tank top barely stretched past her rib cage, and he found bare skin, soft and warm and supple.

“Take your shirt off,” she said in a whispered rush—and before he could even
consider
it, she was already pulling at the hem, dragging it up his body and wrestling it over his head.

And she was sitting on his stomach, her bare legs practically wrapped around him.

He focused really hard on breathing.

Tough, since every breath made her move fractionally, and he was very conscious of every inch of warm skin resting against him.

“Kate—I don’t want to hurt you—”

She leaned down close, putting her forehead against his, the way she had when they’d wrestled around behind the carnival. “So don’t.”

Then she pulled the tank top over her head, and she was in nothing but a bra and panties.

All the breath left his body.

He couldn’t think with her straddling him like this.

Hunter caught her waist and rolled her gently, putting her back in the blankets, then caging her upper body with his arms. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Ah . . . no.” He kissed her lips, her cheek, her neck. His hand stroked the safe area around her navel, the base of her ribs. When his fingers brushed the thin line of lace along her hip, she drew a quick intake of breath.

He liked that sound. A lot.

He ran his finger under the lace, tracing along the front of her body. She stretched under him, and he bent to run his mouth over her stomach, breathing in the scent of her.

Her hands were in his hair. “You’re killing me,” she whispered.

“In a good way?”

“Yes.”

That made him pause. His hand went still on her stomach, and he rose up to look down at her. “I owe you a full truth, too.”

She dragged a finger down the center of his chest in a way that made his breath shudder and his eyes fall closed.

“Maybe you can tell me later,” she said.

He caught her wrist and smiled ruefully. “At school—when I kissed you in the parking lot—”

“I remember.”

“I told you I’d know exactly what to do if you jumped me.”

“Evidenced by what you’re doing
right now
, you mean?” That made him blush, which made her laugh.

But then she sobered. “I won’t tease. What’s your deep, dark truth?”

This was harder to tell her than anything else had been. It probably would have been easier if they weren’t both half-naked. He wished he could stop
blushing
for god’s sake. “I’ve never—ah—”

“Hunter Garrity.”

“What?”

“Are you trying to tell me you’re a virgin?”

If her voice had carried any amount of mockery, he would have denied it. But it didn’t, and he didn’t.

“Yes,” he said.

“I figured.”

“Hey!”

She didn’t smile. Her cheeks appeared extra pink in the firelight now. “No—I meant . . . I am, too.”

“You are?”

She nodded.

He couldn’t stop staring at her. “But . . . you’re so . . . so—”

“If you say
slutty
, I am going to punch you in the crotch again.”

“Confident!” he said. “I was going to say
confident
.”

“Look, just because I like what I look like doesn’t mean I sleep around.”

Now he couldn’t tell if he was offending her or if she was just yanking his chain. “No one said you were sleeping around.”

“Ah, I seem to recall a little comment about my inability to say
no
.”

Okay, maybe he had said that. He put his cheek against hers and whispered into her ear. “I apologize. Forgive me?”

Her fingers raked through his hair again, and she shifted closer to him, pulling the blanket higher to block out the stars. “Not yet. You’ll just have to make it up to me.”

And Hunter realized that maybe a little distraction wasn’t out of line after all.

Hunter awoke at dawn and found himself alone in the blankets. The fire was banked, the water far down the beach at low tide.

No Kate.

He sat straight up. His heart went from zero to sixty.

But then he breathed. She was in the jeep, wearing the spare jeans and bright pink T-shirt Bill had brought, fiddling with her cell phone.

Hunter rubbed a hand over his face, wishing he had access to a bar of soap and a razor. He made do with a swig of water from one of the bottles, pulled his jeans on under the blanket, and headed over to the car in bare feet.

Whatever had changed overnight had him wanting to pull her into his arms and keep her safe forever.

Especially when she looked up at him and blushed.

“Hey,” he said gently. He bent down to kiss her on the neck.

“Hey.” She leaned into him. He let her.

“What are you doing?”

“My phone was dead. I plugged into your charger. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” He could see she had the browser open. “Anything interesting?”

“I was looking for tunnels.” She glanced up. “Did you know there are two highway tunnels that lead into Baltimore?”

He took the phone and looked at the map. “Highway tunnels?”

“Well, they go under the harbor.”

Hunter thought about that but couldn’t make it line up in his head. “She’s a Fire Elemental. What’s she going to do, start a fire in the tunnel?”

“What if she had a Water Elemental working with her? Or an Earth?”

Hunter thought about it. “Collapsing a highway tunnel would definitely draw a lot of attention.” Then he shook his head. “They’re kids. They don’t have that kind of power yet.”

“But she’s looking for a reaction. They’re afraid. They’re—”

Casper growled.

Hunter whipped his head up. The dog was staring at the woods.

Kate was completely still, but he could practically hear her heartbeat. Or maybe that was his own. The house was dark and still; the trees quiet except for the slight breeze.

Casper was still on high alert.

Hunter took her hand. “Come on.”

She unplugged the phone and followed him. He brushed sand from his feet and yanked shoes on, not bothering to tie the laces. The gun slipped into his waistband. He pulled an olive-green shirt over his head as they walked toward the opposite tree line. Casper bolted into the woods, and Hunter didn’t dare raise his voice to call him back. His dog could take care of himself.

He didn’t have to tell Kate to be quiet. She was simply a shadow at his side, alert and prepared.

A branch snapped somewhere off in the woods, and her back pressed against a tree.

His did, too. They’d gone in opposite directions and now stood ten feet apart, staring at each other.

Another snap, a heavy one. Malice in the air. Someone was definitely in the woods.

Kate’s eyes were wide and locked on his. Their trees were too far apart to risk talking.

Then she had her cell phone in her hand, her fingers sliding across the screen.

What was she
doing
?

Then she looked up and tossed the slim black phone to him.

He read the words she’d typed.

You go northeast. I go southeast. Set 2 trails.

Like he’d split up now. He looked up and very clearly mouthed
No!

She clearly mouthed back
Yes!

Then she took off.

Damn her and all that independence! Hunter ran. Northeast, like she’d wanted.

Only now he did it with no caution at all. He ran full out, not bothering to hide his tracks or be stealthy. He needed
noise
, so he’d be the target.

So Kate could get away.

She was fast, like a sprinter, flying through the trees somewhere off to his right. Then he realized he could
see
her, that bright pink T-shirt flashing through the trees.

Something cracked. That pink beacon crashed to the ground.

Hunter skidded to a stop. He said a prayer in his head, hoping she’d simply stumbled. At this distance, the pink was almost a blur, but he saw it lift from the ground.
Keep running. Keep running. Keep running.

But he was already running toward her.

Only to skid to another stop and duck behind a tree.

Silver had an arm around Kate’s neck. She was struggling against him.

An arrow protruded from one thigh, and Silver had a crossbow pressed up tight against her neck.

“Come on, Hunter,” he called. “Come get your girlfriend.”

“He’s gone,” Kate yelled, and Hunter could hear her fury from here. “He ran the other way, you
idiot
.”

“I’d say the idiotic move was turning on your cell phone, Kathryn.”

Hunter peeked around the tree. He had a gun, but he didn’t have a clear shot at Silver from here. He needed to think. He needed to
think
.

“Run!” she yelled. “Hunter,
run
!”

Then Silver must have done something because Kate cried out, and the sound fractured into sobs. Hunter’s nails dug into the tree. He had to look. He had to look.

The pink shirt was turning red. Silver had shot her in the abdomen with the crossbow. She was crying.

Hunter made a small sound before he was aware of it.

“You can’t save me, Hunter,” she yelled, and her voice was weaker, breaking. “Run!”

“I can kill her slowly,” Silver called. “While you watch.”

Hunter couldn’t believe he’d ever thought for a moment that he could have turned out like this guy.

“Or I can stop,” said Silver. “We can work something out. We have similar goals, I think.”

“He’s lying!” said Kate. “Please—please run—he’ll kill all of them, Hunter—remember sacrifice—”

She screamed.

Silver had yanked the arrow out of her thigh.

Then he stabbed her through the side of her abdomen, driving the arrow up and into her body.

Kate didn’t scream, though she looked like she wanted to.

He’d pierced a lung.

Hunter was on his feet, the gun in his hand.

But an arm caught him around the neck and a hand slapped over his mouth, and suddenly Hunter was someone’s prisoner, too.