The Bridal Hunt (27 page)

There's the syringe,
I thought as my mind muddled.

"Don't you worry, pumpkin. I'm going to fix everything," he promised, kissing my lips as my body went
completely limp and I was swept into oblivion.

Chapter 21

I woke up when I heard a noise.

It was a strange noise and my mind was trying to figure out exactly what it was as I regained consciousness.

My blurry eyes opened and the first thing I noticed was dirt... lots of dirt.

Why am I sleeping on dirt?

I scrubbed my face and sat up a little.

The world spun and a wave of nausea rolled over me.

"Here, drink this."

Something was thrust under my nose.

My muddled mind was still trying to get its self together as I reached a shaky hand out to grasp what I realize now is a cup.

I brought my other hand up to cup it and sipped a little.

Water, it’s water.

I drank some more and sighed when the worst of the nausea eased.

A hand came up to caress my face and I jerked when I realized it wasn't one of my mates.

It was a human hand...

"What happened? Where am I?"

I rubbed
at my eyes and was relieved when my vision started to finally clear.

"You're safe. You're with me, pumpkin. I've saved you."

Everything came rushing back when George's voice finally registered.

I jumped and stumbled around, trying to scramble away from him.

"Don't be like that, Willy. I've missed you. Don't I even get a hug," he pouted.

"No!" I barked at him, using the wall for leverage as I tried to get away.

His hand touched my shoulder and I shoved it off, my head throbbing, heart pounding, legs still wobbly as I tried to navigate my way out of the cave he'd taken me to.

It doesn't look like the ones I'd explored myself, but I'm sure I could find my way out.

"Where do you think
you're
going?" George chuckled.

He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his grip firm as he lifted me and carried me kicking and screaming to his sleeping bag.

"God, I love it when you get like this," he said excitedly, sniffing my hair.

"Meanie!" bellowed Veck from somewhere in the caves.

George froze with me in his arms.

"Here!" I screamed as loud as I could.

George clamped a hand over my mouth, muffling me.

"Shut up!" he hissed at me, "They'll find us!"

I bit his hand as hard as I could and he yelped out in pain, dropping me to clutch his hand as it bled.

I flopped to the ground.

"Oh, my god! You bit me! Fuck, Willy, you drew blood!"

And it was your shooting hand, you left handed bastard!
I crowed inwardly.

There was a rock next to my hand and I clutched it, getting up slowly to face George.

I saw the gun by the sleeping bag and didn't hesitate when I swung the rock at his face, hitting him as hard as I could.

George fell back, landing into the hot springs pool in the middle of the room.

I leapt towards the sleeping bag and grabbed the gun, running on rubbery legs out of the room as I took off down one of the cave tunnels.

George was splashing and screaming at me from his ‘love nest’, his voice echoing throughout the tunnels.

My body was running on pure adrenaline, fear keeping me upright, helping me when I needed the boost of energy most.

Where the hell am I?

I don’t think I’ve been here before…

Nothing looked familiar, my mind still fuzzy.

I debated on shouting out for Veck or if I was better off keeping my lips shut and just running like a bat out of hell.

I took option number two, figuring if Veck wasn't close enough, I'd just be giving myself away.

We all know how well it turned out when I had the gun and tried to shoot him the last time.

I am
not
made for this kind of shit!

"Willy!" George screamed, "Don't you run away from me! LET ME SAVE YOU!!"

"Light! I see light!" I whispered excitedly.

I didn't recognize
any of these tunnels or this particular part of the caves, but I could care less right now.

There's light!

I reached an exit and plowed through, looking around wide eyed when I saw nothing but forest before me.

"Willy!" George screamed again.

Oh, god! He sounds so close now!

I looked back and saw him charging towards me like a bull.

"Stay back!" I warned, pointing the gun at him.

He kept com
ing, fire in his eyes as he forged on, full steam ahead.

"Why ar
e you running from me?" he barked when I fired a warning shot at his feet and he froze in place, a small distance away from me.

"You're fucking insane, that's why!" I shouted.

I didn't feel a moment of indecision this time as I kept the gun trained on him.

"I am not fucking crazy!" he bellowed, looking just as crazy as he sounded
, flinging water everywhere from his impromptu swim.

"You shot someone! You've followed me around, stalking me! You've deluded yourself into thinking we're something we're not! And I'll bet good money
you're the one who set that hut on fire! Which makes no fucking sense! So, if that's not crazy, then what the hell is?!"

George lifted his shirt up and pulled a gun out from his waist band, aiming his right back at me.

"You didn't think I was stupid enough to bring only one, did you, pumpkin? I had this one in my bag."

I gulped, trying to swallow past the lump in my throat.

He raked a hand through his hair, pushing the wetted strands away from his face, gun in his bloodied left hand.

"It all made
perfect sense
," he snapped at me, hazel eyes spitting fire. "Candy's the one who went and screwed it all up because she didn't want to fuck that useless lump of hair!"

He waved his gun around a little.

"NO! She couldn't do that one little thing! What does she do? Runs away to find me! I was going to kill her useless ass too, but I missed. Dumb bitch is wilier than she looks," he said muttering at the end.

He glanced at me and then the gun, then me again.

"You know," he said after a moment, the ice in his voice chilling me to the bone, "this could work too."

He motioned between us with his gun.

"It's...
fitting
," he said on a laugh.

It wasn't a nice laugh and I don't care for his tone
much either.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked fearing his answer.

"I shoot you, you shoot me. We all win," he said simply.

My eyes widened.

He just smiled.

"We could be like Romeo and Juliet. Destined to love each other in death, if not in life."

"I don't love you," I told him coldly, "but I'd gladly see you rot in hell."

His face hardened and he grimaced.

"Well, if
I
can't have you, then no one can. Does that work for
you
?"

He cocked the hammer on his gun back and my heart raced wildly in my chest.

This is it, Mina, now or never.

My palms were sweaty as I gripped the gun.

There was a loud whizzing noise and I watched as an arrow whipped by out of nowhere and shot straight through George's left hand.

I saw it first and moved, ducking down and rolling right before George screamed in anguish.

He gripped the gun in his hand right before the arrow hit and it fired, the bullet hitting where I'd been standing just moments before.

I used both hands to steady myself, aimed mine and fired.

It hit its mark and George jerked, dropping his gun, gripping his chest as crimson spilled out across it.

He looked at me shocked and held his hand out to me
, the one with the arrow pressed to his chest, right over the bullet wound.

I felt sick, choked cries escaping me as I stared in disbelief at what I'd just done.

I shot him.

Oh, god...

I shot him!

"Give me... th... the... gun. It's m... my...turn," he garbled, his eyes trained on my face, choking on his own blood, foaming blood bubbles garbling out of him as he lurched towards me.

I let out a cry and squeezed my eyes shut as I kept firing in his general direction.

I kept going until all I heard was the 'click click click', telling me it was empty.

There was a loud thump and I peeked to see him slumped on the ground, dead eyes staring sightlessly at the sky, turned the slightest bit towards me.

One of the bullets had gone through his head and the hole left behind stared back at me, gaping at me as blood spilled out, splashing onto the forest floor.

My stomach lurched and I turned away, stumbling a ways away before I puked, retching violently, sobbing and clutching my stomach.

I closed my eyes and scooted further away from the scene before me.

The mental image of his sightless dead eyes, staring off and upwards in my direction, his hand held out towards me, the bullet wounds that
I
had put there, leaving bloodied gaping holes in his once living corpse, had me on my knees.

I cried out and dropped the gun, burying my head in my knees as I rocked myself and sobbed.

"Meanie?" Veck's voice called out.

"Meanie!" Kirch bellowed.

Two strong arms wrapped around me and just held me there, rocking me as my mates all called for me from a distance.

I looked up and it was Tarnk cradling me, his bow slung over his shoulder.

"Meanie no cry. Brave. Very Brave. George want shoot Meanie. Meanie shoot first," Tarnk soothed.

"But I... I shot him," I whispered, "
I killed him
."

"Meanie protect babies. Meanie good mate." His hands smoothed down my hair
, rubbing my back.

I hadn't thought about it that way.

I just keep going back to the fact that I shot somebody.

I shot somebody.

He's right, though... George would have killed me and my babies if I hadn't acted first. He was going to shoot me.

He'd wanted to kill me first.

Doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy about this whole thing though...

Veck and Kirch rushed in.

"You saved my life," I told Tarnk through my tears as I reached up and hugged him, voice as unsteady and distressed as the rest of me.

Tarnk cleared his throat uncomfortably and hesitated for a moment before he pulled me to him and returned my embrace.

"Bia!" Kirch bellowed, then started shouting out in Lo denaii.

I was plucked out of Tarnk's embrace and sandwiched between Kirch and Veck.

"Meanie okay?" Veck asked worriedly, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Meanie hurt?" Kirch demanded, his hands roaming over everywhere to check for injury.

Fresh tears slowly slid down my cheeks and I let them, sobbing openly.

"I shot him," I admitted, then buried my face in Veck's neck and cried about it all over again, letting everything out from the warmth and safety of Veck and Kirch's embrace.

****

I watched as the steam from the water in the tub misted around me, staring off into space as I tried to let everything sink in, particularly the fact that it was all over.

It's
all
over.

George is never going to bother me again.

He is never going to hurt anyone else... ever.

He's dead.

I glanced over at the door, the spot where Berkr had lain bloody, the image still fresh, branded into my mind.

A hand dipped into the water and Bia caressed my knee.

"How are you feeling?" Bia asked tentatively, face stormy.

Just from the look in his eyes, I knew he felt responsible somehow, guilt eating him up, it was clear enough in his expression and demeanor.

He feels like he's failed me somehow because he wasn't there to protect me, to help me, there for me when I needed him most, but how could anyone have guessed that's what would have happened?