Bonded (7 page)

Chapter Seven

They’d been on the road for
hours, only stopping when absolutely necessary. Gaius was cautious to say the
least, but he’d been growing tenser and agitated the last couple of miles. He
was also checking the mirrors more frequently. Something was wrong.

“Gaius?” she questioned finally,
her hand moving and taking his. “Hey, what’s wrong? You look like you’re ready
to come out of your skin, and you keep watching the mirrors. I thought you said
we were close to your base?” she asked, her fear now rising, his anxiety
tripping it off.

“We are,” he said, shooting her
a look. He squeezed her fingers as he looked around again. “In the glove box,
there’s a cell. Get it and press the star key and then one-one. I need to know
if they have anything on the system,” he muttered, more to himself than her at
that point.

She did as he asked. “Okay, it’s
ringing.” She chewed her lip, then exhaled when the Bluetooth in the vehicle
picked up the call. Thank heavens, because she had no idea what to say.

“Are you close, Gaius?” a deep
voice barked out in answer. No hello, no formality, just that one, four-word
question.

“Twenty minutes out,” he replied
sharply. “But everything in me is screaming that we’re about to be attacked. I
need anyone you have out here, now.” He looked to her briefly before focusing
on the road again. “She’s my mate, Mercury. If she’s hurt—” He ground his teeth
together.

“It won’t happen,” the other
man—Mercury—said. “I’m moving now, and I’ll grab whoever I can. Stay on the
road. We’ll come to you.”

Gaius nodded as the truck
shuddered, and they sped up even more. “Make it fast, Merc. I can feel them
closing in.”

The roar of an engine could be
heard through the speakers. “I’m on the Ducati. I’ll be there before you know
it.”

Emily reached out to Gaius and
squeezed his hand. “It’ll be okay. I wish that my abilities were defensive
instead of, well, whatever they are.” She had never wished for a fighting
ability before now, but here she was, desperate for one.

He pressed a kiss to her
fingers. Rubbing her knuckles to his cheek, he seemed to calm a little as a
dust trail could be seen coming toward them. “Tell me that’s you heading our
way, Merc.”

“It is.” There was a roar of air
along with the voice that came booming into the vehicle. It stopped as soon as
he quit speaking. Obviously, the unit the man was using was voice activated.
“And I think we have your trouble in sight. Whatever you do in the next few
minutes, don’t slow down.”

Gaius let go of her hand then
and held tightly to the steering wheel. A good thing, too, because they were
fishtailing in the next moment.

Emily grabbed the handle above
her head and held on for dear life as they began to shift and move on the
pavement. It was almost as if they were sliding on a skating rink. She let out
a squeak and closed her eyes. She trusted Gaius to keep them safe.

He let out a string of
nasty-sounding words in a language she didn’t know. She guessed they were swear
words. The man on the other end of the line came back in the same language but
in a calming tone. The vehicle was being pushed the other way now with a grinding
sound as Gaius let out another batch of words, sharp and fast.

“Hit the brakes, now!” the man
ordered.

Gaius did so, his hand smacking
into the middle of her chest and holding her in place as he stood on them. The
tires squealed, and the smell of burning rubber was harsh as they swerved, then
shuddered to a halt.

The sound of a gun being readied
got her attention fast, and she saw Gaius arming up.

Emily watched him with wide
eyes. “Give me a weapon. I don’t want to be unarmed if there’s going to be
trouble.” She heard the other man but ignored him. She was focused on Gaius
alone. “What is it that we’re facing? Tell me what to do.” She hadn’t seen
anything or anyone. Then again, they hadn’t slid for the sake of sliding.

He shot her a look and, after a
moment, nodded. He pulled out a gun and a long blade from where he’d been
getting the rest of his stash. The gun was big, but she’d deal. The blade was
about twelve inches. “Shoot the head and chest. The blade is to take off their
heads. What we’re fighting, what’s out there…”

Gaius met her eyes dead-on.
“You’re fighting what I would become if I’d never found you, or if you should
ever die. Pure evil, with all the strength and abilities of hundreds of years,
well learned and blessed by a goddess before giving in to the evil lurking. Do
not, under any conditions, let them get their hands on you or surround you.
Inside of this truck is safe, it’s protected, and they can’t get in.”

He looked around before he
pulled out what looked like a stumpy version of a sword with a huge hilt.
Leaning in, he kissed her hard and fast. “You are mine, Emily. Stay safe for
the world’s sake. I have to go out to face these monsters or we will never make
it to the Mountain safely.” Gaius drew back and looked at her. “I love you,” he
said before he was out of the truck. She watched as the blade began to extend,
each piece locking into place until it was nearly six feet long.

Gaius and the tall, muscular man
that got off the expensive-looking bike stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Then she
saw the—well, she could only call it a “thing.” It was massive. The shadows
seemed to seep around it and spill onto the pavement as it faced off against
the two men. It was the thing of nightmares … at least, of hers.

The men looked at each other
and…
Is that them laughing? Holy hell,
they’re laughing! Have they lost their minds?
The thing was clearly not
happy with their laughter, either, and it lashed out with a massive, shadowy
tentacle.
No, not a tentacle. An arm.

What
in God’s name
…

Both men shifted out of reach.
Gaius spun with his blade and hacked at the arm. Part of it flew off, right at
the windshield, and left a smear of something black and thick on the glass. The
thing, whatever it was, bellowed loud enough that the truck actually rocked
from the force. Out of the dust came something else, moving fast and headed
straight at their backs.

The man with Gaius lashed out
with an equally large blade and took the head right off. But another came and
another, all of them with the same vicious expression, hard and hungry.

Emily screamed. It was human,
and she knew how stupid it must sound, but for a moment she could almost see
relief on the face of the severed head when it hit the hood of the truck she
was in.

Gaius shot her a brief glance
before focusing on the thing trying to kill him. But that moment of distraction
got him caught upside the head, and he went flying through the air. He landed,
rolled, and was up and racing back into the fray, even with blood pouring from
his temple.

Emily held on to the dashboard.
It was taking every ounce of her strength to stay inside of the vehicle instead
of running headlong out to Gaius’s aid. Biting her lower lip, she watched the
battle.

Another body hit the dirt, the
head long gone. It wasn’t from Gaius or the tall man, but another who had
joined them. He was tall—not quite as tall as the first guy, but close—thick
with muscle, and blond. Without even looking, he twirled his blade around and
took another head from one sneaking up behind him.

Gaius said something, and the blond
nodded and gave a reply before shooting her a look. Then he sent her a grin and
a wink before blowing her a kiss. Which had Gaius reaching out to punch the guy
square in the nose before facing the monsters again. This time, Gaius didn’t
miss a beat and hacked off another part of the large thing trying to decimate
them. “A bunch of overgrown children, I swear.” The three men were now four
when a massive, red-headed man in a—
holy
hell, a freaking kilt—
joined in. She held the blade and the gun in her hands,
leaning closer to the windshield to watch the fight.

“Looks as if you have a wee bit
of a party going on and didn’t send me an invite. Should I be offended, your
highness?” the newcomer asked loudly enough for her to hear.

“Stuff it in your fucking girdle
and kill these assholes,” Gaius retorted with a snarl. Throwing Emily a look,
he backed up a little as the dust began to close in. “Mercury! They’re trying
to blind us for the next round.”

“No fucking shit,” their leader
snapped out. All four went back-to-back and braced, swords up, as the cloud of
dust began to swirl and shapes seemed to form. Not one of them flinched,
though. They obviously knew what they were doing.

What no one saw coming was the
blast that lifted and threw the truck, with Emily in it, sideways. She heard
Gaius bellow her name as she tumbled around inside as it rolled and finally
slammed to a halt.

Emily was upside down. She
panted, staring down at the blade embedded in her side. “Shit,” she muttered
and put her head back down. She was seeing double, maybe even triple at that
point. She had no idea, to be honest. She heard Gaius call for her, and as much
as she wanted to answer, she couldn’t.

Every single part of her body
hurt. Finally, though, she bit back the pain and yelled out that she was fine.
She so wasn’t fine, but she couldn’t distract Gaius and the other men, not in
this moment. They had to be able to keep up with the things that were attacking
them.

“Emily!” She saw Gaius’s legs
skid in until he was leaning over, looking in the window. “Emily, talk to me,
now!” he ordered as he shifted and, she assumed, started working on the door.
More feet arrived on the scene and faced away from them, protecting his back.

“I’m good.” She put her head
back once more. “I’m on the roof.” She giggled.
Don’t know why I find that funny, but I do
. “And I think that me
and weapons are a bad combination. Sorry I asked for one.” She held her hand on
the wound as best she could with the blade still stuck there. “Kill those
things so you can get me out, okay?”
I
need you to stay safe, damn it!
“Don’t you dare get hurt. You said I’m safe
in here. Now, you stay safe out there.”
Goddess,
bless it.

He crouched down to look at her
through the spidered glass. His gaze moved over her. “Don’t move. Don’t do
anything. Just focus on your breathing for me, all right?” he said, his eyes
begging her, pleading with her.

“I’m good. You just do your
thing, and I’m going to lie here on the roof and wait for you to come in and
pull this knife out, okay?” It was impaled into the roof and the road under
her. She just prayed that the vehicle didn’t move, because that would damn well
hurt. “I love you, Gaius. You need to make these things dead, please.”

Nodding, he curled his fingers
into a fist. “Kill them all, now,” she heard him shout to the other men. The
feet around the window spread out and began to move. It was like watching a
dance. Sort of. It was all very odd, being upside down as she was. They seemed
to move faster, the blades swirling around them as they hacked and chopped at
anything and everything that got close. The dust was starting to clear.

When they all stopped, Emily let
her eyes close. “Just do me a favor and don’t move the truck? I’m kind of
pinned here.” She heard them all panting and hated to add more to their
trouble. The redhead leaned down and looked at her, grinning and shooting her a
wink. “Are all of you big flirts or what?” She was smiling, though. “Silly men.
Picking on Gaius like that.”

A hand landed on the back of Big
Red’s neck and his eyes went wide a second before he was yanked off his feet.
She didn’t see where he went, but Gaius was there again. Somehow, between him
and another set of legs, they yanked the door open. He eased inside carefully,
which was a challenge given her position and how big he was.

Leaning in, he brushed a kiss to
her lips. “I’m here,” he said softly against her mouth. “Talk to me, Emily. How
are you doing? Any other aches and pains? Anything broken?” He asked the
questions fast and hard. They nearly tumbled over one another.

“I’m dizzy, and I think I might
have a very mild concussion. Don’t know about broken, but my knee hurts like
mad. My back is killing me, and I can’t feel the hand that isn’t wrapped around
the blade in my side. I think that I’m glad I can’t feel it. It looks like I
might have a broken finger or two.”

“I didn’t pull the blade out
because I can’t tell where it’s at on me. I was afraid I would make it all
worse. I’m not sure if it’s just in the meaty part of my side or not.” She
closed her eyes and bit her lip. “I really want to get out of here. Can you
please get us out of here? I really don’t want to be here anymore, where those
things could get to us.” She was scared shitless of whatever those things were.

“Jesus, does she always talk
this much?” Big and Blond peeked in at her.

Gaius let out a snarl at the man
as he lightly stroked her cheek. “Don’t listen to him, sweetheart,” he said,
his tone even and calming. “I’m going to get you out. Just don’t move while I
check the blade, all right? But, no matter what, we’re going to have to take it
out. That won’t be pleasant.”