Taken (11 page)

“Can you lift up a little? I’ll check.”

Hunter nodded.

Channie slid her hand under his back and bit her lip when she felt the ridge of raised flesh that covered his entire shoulder blade. How was he even able to move that arm? And why, if Josh had the skill to mend shattered bone, severed arteries and torn muscles, couldn’t he heal skin without leaving such hideous scars? Was he so jealous of Hunter that he wanted to leave him disfigured?

“Yeah, it definitely went all the way through.”

Hunter swore and said, “How big’s the exit wound?”

“It’s big.”

Hunter rolled onto his side and tried to look over his shoulder. “How’s it look?”
 

Channie cringed at the sight of the angry red scar puckering the skin over a quarter of his back. “It looks like you’re lucky to be alive.”

“Is it as bad on the back as it is on the front?”

“It’s worse.” No point lying about it. He’d find out soon enough. “But girls like a man with battle scars. It proves he’s a fighter and a survivor.”

Hunter grinned, grabbed her hand again and pulled himself into a sitting position.
 

“Take it easy, Hunter. You lost a lot of blood. How are you feeling?”

The corners of Hunter’s mouth twitched upwards into a smirk. “Better’n Jimmy. Nice shootin’.”
 

Channie’s blood turned to ice. “You … knew him?”
 

“I fed false information to him and Uncle Rider. It was part of Ms. Wisdom’s master plan.”

Even though Hunter was double crossing the two men, he must have had some kind of relationship with them to make them believe he was on their side. “I should have aimed for his legs or something to disable him, but I panicked. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. The man was scum. Always bragging about the women he bedded. Took ‘em against their will. You done the world a favor, take’n him out. You wanna borrow my knife so’s you can notch the handle of your pistol?”

“No!” After shooting Hunter, Channie’d been so afraid that she’d misinterpreted the stranger’s lustful energy. He came at her so fast she barely had time to grab her gun out of her holster, much less analyze his motives. She was relieved to know she’d been right about the man, but she wasn’t proud of shooting him. She couldn’t believe Hunter wanted to notch her gun to commemorate the kill.

“You could notch it twice. If Josh hadn’t of healed me so quick, I’d have been a goner. That was definitely a kill shot.”

Guilt pressed in all around her, crushing the air out of her lungs.

Hunter reached towards her face, but before he could brush away the tears flowing down her cheeks, Channie jerked her head to the side.
 
“All I saw was a man on a horse. I thought you were another tracker. I didn’t know it was you until …
 
until after I’d already shot you.”

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“No. It’s not.”

“Come on, girl. Don’t cry. No harm done. I’m alive and everything still works. See?” He rolled his shoulder and swung his arm around, demonstrating a full range of motion. “And like you said, girls like guys with battle scars.”

Josh yawned then said, “Wanna see
my
new scar?”

“You’re hurt?” Channie scampered out from under him and laid his head on the ground then ran her hands over his chest and belly. “Where?” She’d assumed the blood splattered all over him was Hunter’s. “How bad is it? Can you heal yourself?” After the amount of energy he spent healing Hunter, he shouldn’t even be awake yet.
 

Josh sat up and grabbed her shoulders. “I’m fine. I cut my leg, but I healed it before I even got on my bike.” He spread the tear in his jeans apart with his fingers and said, “See? Nothing but a scar.”

Channie wanted to smack him for scaring her like that, but she was so relieved he was okay, all she could do was cling to his blood-soaked shirt and cry. Great heaving sobs racked her body making it hard to breathe.

Josh pulled her onto his lap and rocked her like a baby. “Shh, Channie, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not!” She spoke between gasps, not caring if she made sense. She just needed to get it out before she had a mental breakdown. “Nothing is okay … I shot and killed a man … blew his freakin’ head off … and … and I … nearly killed Hunter … and … I thought you’d left me for good this morning. And then … just now—”

A powerful wave of calm washed over Channie. She took a deep breath then sighed and closed her eyes. “Hunter, you shouldn’t have done that. You need to save your strength for recovery.”

“I didn’t cast the be-calm spell. Josh did.”

Channie blinked her eyes open then lifted her chin and gazed at Josh. “You did?”

Josh grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe. I don’t know. I just wanted you to calm down … and then you did.”

“What did it feel like? Inside your power-well?”

“Nothing. The magic came out of my chest.”

Hunter said, “Heart-magic? He’s using heart-magic?”

Channie smiled as a warm glow of pride radiated from her own heart. She wove her fingers through Josh’s hair and pulled his face down to hers. She said, “I’m not surprised one bit. You are the most amazing man I’ve ever met,” then kissed him.

Hunter said, “All right you two, we ain’t got time for that. Uncle Rider is still sitting in the ravine with a broken back. What are we going to do about him?”

Josh broke the kiss, scooted Channie off his lap then stood up, bringing her with him. She bit back a gasp of pain when her ankle throbbed and shifted all her weight to her left foot.

Josh frowned and said, “Why are you limping?”

“I twisted my ankle, but I’m fine.”

“Let me heal it.”

“Not until you’re fully recovered from healing Hunter.”

“Sit your butt down and let me take care of it.”

“You can heal it tomorrow.”

“You can’t even put any weight on it. What if Rider and Jimmy aren’t the only trackers in the area?”

Hunter said, “There ain’t no more—”

“Shut up, Hunter.”

Josh was as stubborn as a herd of mules when it came to Channie’s comfort and safety.
 

He knelt on the ground and reached for her foot.

Channie bent her knee, jerking her foot back until her heel touched her butt, hiding her ankle behind her. The pain of the sudden movement brought tears to her eyes. “You can heal me on one condition.”

Josh put his hands on his knees and dropped his chin to his chest. “What?”

“You’ll stop the instant you feel the least bit tired. I don’t want you passing out again.”

Josh wiggled his fingers as he reached for her foot again. “I promise. Now sit down and let me do this. We don’t have time to argue.”

Josh placed his palms on Channie’s ankle as if it were as fragile as a soap bubble.
 

An icy sensation flowed over her skin and trickled along her fevered tendons quenching the throbbing pain of her torn muscles. It took less than five seconds for the swelling to go down and the bruises to disappear.

Channie wiggled her foot back and forth then around in circles. “Wow! Good as new.” Her smile faded when she noticed the circles under Josh’s eyes had darkened. “I knew that would drain you!”

He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “I’m fine.”
 

“Liar.”

Josh smirked and looked sideways at her with his I-know-I’m-guilty-but-I’m-not-sorry expression plastered all over his face. “Compared to healing Hunter, your ankle was a drop of rain in the ocean. It didn’t take a fraction of the energy he required.” Josh’s expression sobered. All trace of teasing disappeared from his voice. “We need to call 911 for Rider. Did either of you bring your phones?”

Channie shook her head.
 

Hunter said, “I never go anywhere without it,” as he dug the cheap disposable phone out of the front pocket of his jeans. He was so proud of the dang thing, Channie wouldn’t be surprised if he slept with it under his pillow. But instead of dialing 911, he pressed and held the number one then turned on the speaker so they could all hear.
 

Aunt Wisdom did not take the news well at all. She was mad at Josh for leaving the safety of her misdirection spells. She was upset with Channie for shooting Hunter. But she was furious with all of them for leaving a tracker, alive and unguarded, three miles away.

Josh said, “He’s not going anywhere. His back’s broken.”

“Just, get down there.”

Channie leaned towards the phone and said, “Hunter’s too weak to walk.”
 

“Then go without him. Josh, you and Channie need to leave now. Call me back when you get there. I’ll have to conduct the interrogation over the phone.”

Hunter said, “Uncle Rider ain’t gonna wanna cooperate with no interrogation.”
 

“Then we’ll just have to encourage him. Josh, do you have your knife?”

Josh’s eyes widened as his face paled. He blinked and shook his head. “No!”

Hunter pressed his lips together, squeezing the color out of them, then swallowed and said, “I got mine.”

Channie’s stomach twisted into a knot of fire. Josh would never stand by and do nothing while Hunter tortured a man. And neither would she. She snatched Hunter’s phone out of his hand, ended the call, and shoved it into her front pocket.

Josh said, “We are not going to torture that man.”

Channie put her palms on Josh’s cheeks. “Of course not. You can try to use persuasive magic to get him to answer Aunt Wisdom’s questions. But no one is going to torture him.”

Hunter curled his lip and looked at Channie as if she were a complete idiot. “Persuasive magic don’t work on a mage that’s determined to keep his own secrets. You know that. Besides, Uncle Rider figured out Josh’s true identity. Seems he looks a lot like his Daddy.”
 

“What?” Channie’s head spun. “He knows Josh is a Veyjivik?”

Hunter nodded.
 

This was worse than a disaster. This was a full-blown fiasco.
 

Hunter glared at Josh. “Stay here and stick your fingers in your ears if you ain’t man enough to do what has to be done.” He squared his shoulders and turned his back on them.

Josh said, “He’s your uncle!”

Hunter took three steps, weaving as if he’d drunk half a jug of Daddy’s moonshine then stopped and curled in on himself as he sank to the ground. He rested his elbows on his knees and said, “He’s your uncle too.”
 

The tension in the air melted like snow under the April sun.

Josh sat down next to Hunter and said, “Are you kidding me? Is everyone around here related?”

“Pretty much. If you go back far enough, you and Channie are probably—”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear it.”

While Josh and Hunter talked, Channie retrieved her gun then crept down the mountainside, hunched over like a thief trying to sneak past a night watchman. The weight of the Glock in her shoulder holster increased with every beat of her heart. She didn’t want to kill again, especially not an injured and helpless man. But that tracker knew Josh’s secret.

“Channie!” Josh’s voice was edged with panic. She couldn’t hide from him, not under these circumstances. He’d go crazy with worry in less than a minute.
 

She stood up and said, “Over here.”

Josh charged down the mountain side then grabbed her arms and squeezed. Not enough to hurt, but firm enough to make it clear he wasn’t going to argue with her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Channie licked her lips and said, “When a horse breaks a leg, the kindest thing to do is to put the poor animal out of its misery.”

“Rider is a man, not a horse! I told him I was going into Whistler’s Gulch and that I’d send someone to rescue him.”

“He was going to kill you!”

Josh let go then shoved his sleeve up past his elbow. “During the race, I fell off a cliff and broke my arm — compound fracture.” He pointed at a pink, crescent-shaped scar. “I didn’t know how to knit bones back together, so Rider did it for me. He healed me, Channie. I can’t let you kill him.”

“If Rider survives and tells Dominance about you, she’ll sic every tracker alive on your trail! How long do you think it’ll take one of them to find you?”

“I don’t think he’ll tell. I’m willing to take my chances.”

Hunter said, “Rider knows you married Channie. If they find you … they find her. She’s already got a price on her head. You willing to risk her life, too?”

Josh loosened his grip on Channie’s arms and slid his hands down to her wrists, then entwined their fingers. Time stood still as the silence between them deepened. Even the birds ceased their chirruping.

Josh’s gaze drifted up, over the top of Channie’s head. The muscles around his eyes relaxed, as he stared beyond the furthest peak.
 

His voice was soft and monotoned, as if he were talking in his sleep. “Right after it happened … Rider asked me to shoot him.”

~***~

Channie pressed her hand against Josh’s chest. His heart hammered under her palm. There was barely a trickle of energy seeping through their bond. Josh was shutting her out, but she knew him too well. If he witnessed Rider’s execution, it would destroy him. They all knew he’d never be able to pull the trigger, so there was no reason for him to go with them. “Josh, I want you to stay here. Let me and Hunter take care of this.”

“No way am I letting you shoulder that burden alone. You’ve been through too much already.”

Hunter said, “He’s right, Channie.”
 

“I’ve already killed two men. What’s one more?” Channie’s stomach churned at the thought of killing again, but her soul was already scarred. Harvey’s death was pre-meditated. Rider’s would be too. But Rider hadn’t tried to rape and murder her like Harvey. He’d even healed Josh. This was going to be so much harder.

Josh gripped her shoulders with trembling hands. “Please, Channie. Don’t fight me on this.”
 

Hunter put his hand over Josh’s increasing the weight on Channie’s shoulder. Hunter’s hand was much smaller than Josh’s, but it was steady and strong. He tilted his head up and locked his gaze on Josh’s eyes. “You saved my life. Now let me save yours. If you participate in any part of this, it’ll kill you.”