Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (39 page)

It seemed like forever before he finally said, “I’d do
it.” His voice was gruff, edged with tension and strain and things she could
tell he was trying hard to hide. “If it had to be done, I’d…yeah, I’d adopt
her.”

“Thank you, Aiden.”

BY THE TIME AIDEN MANAGED to choke down the lump of
emotion lodged in his throat, Olivia had already walked away, heading back to
Jamie and Morgan. Scrubbing his hands down his face, he struggled to get
himself under control. She couldn’t have surprised him more if she’d asked him
to get a sex change and start calling himself Lola.

Coming up beside him, Ian slapped him on the shoulder.
“You okay, man?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, reaching into his back pocket for
his pack of cigarettes, then scraping out a coarse swearword when he remembered
he’d left them back in the car.

“You know,” Ian murmured, “it’ll be easier if you just
give in.”

Aiden scowled, but found he couldn’t hold on to the
anger. He was reeling, even harder than before. No matter how he looked at it,
he couldn’t wrap his brain around the idea that Olivia trusted him to be a good
father to Jamie, and he was afraid of letting his thoughts run with it, not
knowing where they might lead. What did it mean? He didn’t know, and he was too
damn tired to figure it out. His beast urged him to act from his heart…from
instinct, but his fear still had him mired in doubt and denial.

“You should listen to Ian,” said a soft, husky voice.
“He knows what he’s talking about, Ade.”

Slanting a dark look toward the petite blonde now
walking at Ian’s side, he asked, “Why’d you do it, Molly?”

She didn’t ask him to explain, knowing that he was
talking about the way she’d insisted he be the one to go after Jamie and
Olivia. “Because I thought she would be good for you,” she admitted with a soft
shrug of her shoulders. “She sounded like a strong woman, but one with a big
heart.”

He let out a sharp, explosive sigh. “And you didn’t
think it would matter that she’s human?”

“It shouldn’t,” she murmured, her eyes gentle as she
caught his dark gaze. “In fact, I was hoping that might help you get over your
issues.”

“I don’t have issues,” he growled.

Molly’s sharp laugh earned her a heavy glare, but she
simply smiled in return. “Honestly, Aiden. Olivia Harcourt is exactly what you
need. A loving woman who won’t let you walk all over her. At first it was just
wishful thinking on my part that something might develop between the two of
you, but after seeing how you are with her, I think I got it right.”

“Well, don’t go patting yourself on the back,” he
sneered. “Because in case you didn’t notice, things haven’t exactly worked
out.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard that animals can be
ornery when they get cornered,” she groaned, “but honestly, Aiden, you’re
taking this to the extreme. The only reason things aren’t working out is
because you’re acting like a jackass. Think about it. A family would do you
good.”

A family. The word wormed its way through his mind,
completely at ease there. He hadn’t even realized what the word truly meant
until Liv had shown him what it could be.

As the path wound around a massive outcropping of rock
on their right that stood taller than Aiden’s head, the narrow pedestrian
bridge finally came into view up ahead of them. The house loomed in the
distance on the other side of the stream, and Aiden suddenly had the strangest
urge to run back, grab Olivia and Jamie and race for the safety of its walls.
Pulling in a deep breath, he searched the air for any signs of danger, but a
strong headwind was blowing down the valley. He knew nothing was ahead of them,
but that didn’t mean something couldn’t be sneaking up on them from behind.

“You got the same feeling I’ve got?” Ian suddenly
muttered, scanning their surroundings with a narrow gaze. The outcropping of
rock completely blocked them on the right, while a small area of moss-covered
ground spread out on their left, bordered by a thick wall of trees. “Like we’re
not alone out here anymore?”

Before Aiden could answer, Olivia came running up to
him with Jamie clutched in her arms. Hope followed just behind with a gun
clutched in her hands. “Morgan and the others sent us ahead,” Olivia panted.
“She wanted me to tell you that they’ve picked up a scent, but it’s faint.
They’re checking it out now.”

“We need to get the women up to the house,” Aiden said
in a low voice, reaching behind him for his Glock. “And we need to do it
quickly.”

“It’s too late.” The whispered words came from Jamie,
and everyone stopped, staring at Jamie’s pale face, her brown eyes shocked wide
with fear. “They’re already here.”

“Who’s here?” Olivia asked, sliding a worried look
toward Aiden.

“All of them,” Jamie whispered, lifting her face
toward the sky. Following her line of sight, Aiden felt his gut clench as he
caught sight of three Death-Walkers flying in over the swaying treetops. As
they came closer, their rank stench reached his nose, their yellow eyes burning
through the thickening, lavender shades of twilight. The creatures were each
different, and yet similar. The same cadaverous white skin. Same small horns
and eyes, as well as jagged fangs.

The ground began to vibrate with the hard, heavy
pounding of fast-moving bodies, but Aiden could tell from the scent that it was
Kierland and the others. They came rushing around the curve in the path, their
weapons drawn and at the ready. “Casus are coming,” Kierland growled, his
rugged face etched with grim lines of worry. “From the scents we picked up,
there’s a lot of them.”

“We’ve got Death-Walkers, too,” Ian told them, jerking
his chin toward the sky.

Holding a Beretta in one hand and one of his knives in
the other, Noah muttered, “Shit, this just keeps getting better and better.”

“I say we make a run for it, hard and fast,” Quinn
grunted, keeping close to Saige’s side.

Sniffing at the air, Aiden shook his head. “There
isn’t time. If they catch up with us on the bridge, we’ll be trapped out in the
open. We’ve got to make a stand here.” Looking around at the other Watchmen, he
said, “Get the women against the rocks and fan out around them. We’re not going
to waste time tonight trying to use the Markers to fry these assholes. Just
fight to kill. Does everyone have their flasks?”

Nods went around the group as everyone pulled out the
flasks of salted holy water they’d picked up on their way through Tennessee,
and then they quickly got into position.

CHECKING TO MAKE SURE that Jamie still had her Marker
hanging around her neck, Olivia clutched the little girl tighter against her
chest and pressed her back against the craggy wall of rock, while Aiden
positioned his tall, muscular body in front of them for protection, his friends
fanning out at his sides. She wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder,
asking him to promise her that he’d be careful, but right then a howl sounded
in the distance, echoing through the thickening twilight. It was a stark, sadistic
sound, conjuring images of torture and pain. The kind that made chills break
out across the surface of her body, and she felt the bonds of her emotional
lockdown begin to strain and snap.

One second everyone was locked in that tensed, charged
moment of terrifying expectation…and in the next, more than twenty tall gray
forms burst through the trees, and the battle with the Casus began. All around
them, muscular bodies exploded into action, the darkening evening filled with
the sickening sound of flesh being ripped by claws and teeth and bullets. Riley
used his telekinetic powers to pull the weapons away from those Casus who were
armed, but the monsters were still a formidable enemy. They attacked with a
fast, brutal savagery, and while Kierland and the others fought to hold them
back, Aiden’s deadly aim with a gun was being put to good use. He’d already
managed to shoot three Casus through the head when a Death-Walker swooped down
on him. The heinous creature slammed him to the ground, his gun knocked away as
it slashed at him with its deadly claws. Panicked, Olivia was still fumbling
with her flask, trying to get the lid off while holding Jamie, when Hope came
to the rescue, flinging a stream of the salted holy water across the
Death-Walker’s pale back. An unearthly scream ripped from the creature’s chest,
and then it was gone, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

As Olivia breathed a sigh of relief and Aiden moved
swiftly back to his feet, a man stepped casually from between two nearby trees.
He was still in the form of his human host, rangy and tall, with chiseled
features and shaggy mahogany-colored hair that whipped against the sides of his
face, but she could tell without any doubt that he was Casus. A cruel smile
curved his thin mouth as he looked out over the violent scene, his pale eyes
smoldering with anticipation, as though he couldn’t wait to see what happened
next.

Tilting his head back, he drew in a deep breath, then
smacked his lips, his ice-blue gaze sliding toward Olivia with a hungry, sexual
look that made her skin crawl.

“Josef,” she whispered, knowing she was right.
“Aiden!” she called out, raising her voice to be heard over the rough sounds of
fighting. “It’s Josef! The one I told you about. The one who’s hunting Jamie!”

Quickly finishing off the Casus he’d been grappling
with, Aiden turned and followed the direction of her terrified gaze.

Looking for all the world as if he was out for a
Sunday stroll, the Casus came closer, his smile widening as Aiden moved nearer
to Olivia and spread his arms out from his sides in a protective stance. “Well,
well, well. Look who we have here,” Josef drawled, sliding his gaze toward
Jamie. “Do you know who I am, sweetheart?”

Jamie tightened her arms around Olivia’s neck as he
bared his teeth in a grin and said, “I’m the monster who ate your mama.”

Gasping, Olivia pressed Jamie’s head against her
shoulder, then covered her other ear so she couldn’t hear. It terrified her how
silent and still Jamie had become since the fighting had begun, and she
silently prayed that the little girl was okay.

“Mmm, she is sweet-looking, isn’t she?” Josef said
with a low, husky rumble of laughter. “She’s meant to be saved for Calder, but
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to do both the runt and the aunt.”

“Shut your damn mouth,” Aiden snarled, flexing his
claws at his sides.

“Or what?” Josef asked, lifting one brow in an
arrogant arch as he slid his icy gaze toward Aiden. “You’re going to kill me,
shifter?”

Aiden’s amber eyes narrowed to menacing slits. “You’ll
die no matter what you say. The only question is how much I make it hurt before
you go.”

“Ooh, you are a cocky one, aren’t you?” Josef said
thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “I wonder how cocky you’ll be when I’m covered
in Olivia’s blood, shoved deep in her broken little body.”

The dark, visceral sound that tore out of Aiden’s
throat was that of a deadly predator protecting its territory. He launched
himself at the Casus with his claws and fangs fully extended, and Olivia could
only watch in horror as they tore at each other, Josef’s fingers transformed
into gnarled, claw-tipped weapons. Aiden was magnificent in his fury, his skill
far superior to that of his rival, but Josef wasn’t looking for a fair fight.
Almost immediately he screamed for backup, singling out two of his fully
shifted brethren for the job. The massive creatures raced across the clearing
and joined the fight just as Aiden and Josef disappeared into the trees—and Olivia
knew she had to do something. It didn’t matter how good a fighter Aiden was, he
was desperately outnumbered, and his friends were all too busy with their own
battles to come to his aid.

Which meant that it was up to her. She might have lost
her hope for a future with the stubborn, bitter shape-shifter, but that hadn’t
changed the fact that she was madly in love with him.

Looking around, she spotted Molly standing close by,
the blonde’s terrified gaze focused on Ian as he fought off two Casus at the same
time, his body shifted into its lethally powerful Merrick form. Grabbing
Molly’s arm, she quickly said, “I need you to take care of Jamie for me.”

“Why?” Molly asked, dragging her attention away from
Ian to send a worried look toward Olivia. “What are you going to do?”

“Please,” Olivia begged. “I don’t have time to
explain, but Aiden’s in trouble with the Casus. I need your help.”

Molly hesitated, her troubled gaze going from Olivia’s
face to the battle that raged a few feet away.

“Molly, please,” Olivia pleaded. “If it was Ian, you
wouldn’t just stand by and watch.”

“Okay,” Molly answered swiftly, slipping the Marker
she was wearing over her head and handing it to Olivia. “On one condition. You
take this with you.”

“But I already have one,” she argued.

Molly’s brows drew together, her brown eyes steely as
she reached for Jamie and pulled her against her chest. “Which means they won’t
think that you have another one, will they? You can use that against them.”

“Right,” Olivia whispered, slipping the second Marker
into her pocket. “Wish me luck.”