Whiteout (Aurora Sky (40 page)

Jared stilled. My breath seemed to follow his example, no oxygen coming in as though in suspense or under water. Then Jared's shoulders relaxed.

“True,” he said thoughtfully. “Very true,” he echoed in a faraway voice bef
ore pulling the gun from my temple and firing it at Fane.

I screamed. It was a shriek of horror that flared down the corridors and lobby. If someone opened the front door
,
it would
likely
echo across the mountains.

My throat burned.

Fane stumbled backward
. His gun fell to the ground, but he did not. No, not Fane Donado; he dove into the nearest room.

When Jared loosened his grip on me to go after him, I stomped on his foot and spun around, finally getting an opportunity to ram my kneecap between his legs.

Jared grunted and I took off running down the hall, away from Fane, hoping Jared would pursue me. As I neared the corridor's side door leading outside, I slowed and spun around. Jared had straightened. Damn, my jab to his nuts had barely made a dent. Jared
glanced from me to the room Fane had disappeared into, as though taking a moment to consider his options.

“Hey, Jared,” I yelled.

When he looked my way
,
I lifted my middle finger, my lips forming a belligerent grin.
“Fuck you, asshole.”
His eyes narrowed.
The moment I saw him start in my direction, I turned and sprinted the remainder of the way to the door and yanked it open.

 

 

 23

Flight

 

I sprang forward, leaping over the snow and hopefully any hidden traps Giselle must have laced near the opening. When I landed, it was thankfully in pure white powder. No steel jaws rushed up to crunch through flesh and bone. If there was any justice in the world, Jared would step into one of Giselle's traps.

The snow had stopped falling, but the wind cut th
rough me right down to my bones
. Frigid air filled my lungs. I sucked it in as I ran around to the front of the lodge.
The
snow
at my feet was
d
eep
and heavy. The ground covering pulled at my boots, slowing me down.

If I could make it to the bodies out fro
nt, I could grab a loaded weapon off them. Jared had shot Fane. I was going to finish the bastard once and for all. Valerie would have to find herself a new screwed
-
up boyfriend. Unless Jared had been lying about their liaison. Trouble was
,
Jared had never
been the lying type. He enjoyed boasting about his depraved doings. Just when I thought he couldn't disgust me more. The thought of him and Valerie getting each other off made me want to vomit into the snow.

Behind me, I heard the side door slam against t
he outer wall. I couldn't afford to turn around and look. I hurtled across the snow in leaps. The less my feet touched the ground, the better.

Fleeing in the open didn't make me feel especially good. Jared could shoot me in the back. But I got the feeling
he'd rather chase me down and try to drag me off with him for who
knew
what heinous purpose. I didn't want to find out.

My heart gave a leap at the sight of Zack and his buddy's bodies ahead. I ran for the other guy, who was closest, dropping to my knees on the ground beside him. His fingers were still wrapped around the gun handle and trigger, almost
as if
he didn't intend
to let go
,
even in death.

When I attempted to pry it from his fingers, the gun fired, making me fall back on my ass in heart
-
racing, ear
-
ringing surprise. I scrambled onto my hands and knees, successfully yanking the gun free.

I had it in my hand a mere s
econd before Jared tackled and knocked the wind out of me.
So much for poetic justice.
Before my back hit the ground, the gun slipped through my fingers. I hadn't had a chance to lock it in my own death grip.

Jared's breath hit my face
—a balmy contrast to
the bitter wind—when
he straddled me against the snow's
damp
chill. A disturbing image of him and Valerie entered my head uninvited. There was no coming back from that. If Valerie had slept with Jared
,
then she was more far gone than I'd ever imagined. It
went beyond jealousy, outrage, or revenge. It fell into the category of demented.

Jared pinned my wrists to my sides as I tried to roll out from under him. His thumbs jabbed into my pulse points and
his
fingers tightened around my skin in a bruising crush.
A small whimper b
roke through my lips,
swiftly
carried away by the wind.
He was going to break my wrists
,
and this time there'd be no one around to stop him. I'd already dared him to do it and gotten away with it in the past. Not this time.

Tears squeezed
from the corner of my eyes and leaked down the sides of my face. I imagined the teardrops freezing as they dropped to the ground.

I tried to kick at Jared and found that he'd effectively secured my entire body with his own weight. He squeezed harder.

Anot
her whimper tore through my lips—a pathetic sound that made me want to punch the living daylights out of Jared for breaking through my defenses. As the pressure neared bone
-
splintering proportions, it suddenly eased.

“You are really trying my patience, Rav
en,” Jared said. “Unfortunately, I don't have a medical team at my disposal
,
and I'm going to need you in working order.”
H
e squeezed my wrists again, causing me to cry out. A malicious smile formed over Jared's lips. “That doesn't mean I can't find other
ways
to hurt you if you misbehave.”

“What do
you want from me?” I demanded.

Jared lifted his head, looking down his nose at me. “To restore the natural order of things. Vampires shouldn't be hunted down by government agencies.
We can't have hunters r
unning
around killing our kind. That is why I am going to destroy the agency, one agent at a time
.
A
nd you are going to help me.”

“You're crazy,” I spat. “I'd never help you.”

A vicious grin twisted over Jared's lips. The only good thing to come out of his rant
was the loosening of his grip over my wrists.

Jared's teeth gleamed. “Who said anything about it being voluntary? As long as I have you, Fane Donado won't touch me. He wouldn't risk it.
Now get up.”

Jared hauled me to my feet, grabbing me by the back of m
y coat as he wrenched me from the ground. A renewed sense of panic fluttered through me as Jared maneuvered me toward a snowmachine.

“How do you expect to get by without the agency's resources?” I asked, hoping to distract him longer.
If I kept him talking
long enough
,
maybe agents would show up and secure the area. Fane said the agency
had Ashley's last known location when Dante took her hostage and ditched her phone
.
If Melcher was prepared, he'd have more agents in the vicinity on standby.

Jared gave a
derisive snort. “I don't need their resources. I have my own backing. Believe it or not, most vampires don't want to be hunted down. It hasn'
t been hard to bring large numbers
to my side. And I have something better than resources. Information.” Jared tapp
ed his head with his left finger while keeping a hold on my coat with his right hand. “I know all the current identities of agents and informants. Melcher, on the other hand, only has tabs on a fraction of the vampires residing in
the region
. Alaska will b
e our flagship
state
. Once we restore the natural balance, we'll move on to the rest of the country and world.
Vampires across the globe will finally be able to embrace their true nature without fear of assassination.
” Jared twisted me around to face him.
“In time, you may even come to see it my way. Valerie did.”

I scowled. “Never.”

“Doesn't matter,” Jared said before he pushed me onto the snowmachine. “You're driving, Raven. Try anything funny and I'll shoot you in the back.” He pulled his gun out of his
holster and lifted the weapon for emphasis. “Now quit stalling and get on.”

 

    
     

 

The wind stung my eyes as I gripped the snowmachine's handlebars and turned the throttle. Visibility was back, but I didn't have ski goggles to protect my eyes from the wind. Jared's pelvis pressed against my back as though he was pinning me to the machine with his body weight. I hated having him attached to me like a damn leech.