“So help me gods,” Nick bit out, “if you’re lying—”
“I’m not.”
Silence hung like a dark, thick cloud in the car. Casey didn’t dare move. She sensed these two were at a virtual standoff, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d get caught in the middle. What could go down between them would put that battle back at her store to shame.
Finally Nick swore in a language Casey didn’t recognize, and then the car whipped a U-ie in the middle of the road. Theron braced a hand on the seat in front of him to steady them both as they rocketed back down the road and made a sharp ninety-degree turn onto a dirt road leading off into the trees. A road Casey’d never noticed before.
“This doesn’t change anything, Argonaut,” Nick ground out.
“I wouldn’t want it to.”
Nick huffed and accelerated. Dust kicked up behind them. “In a few minutes you may be wishing you’d never set eyes on her.”
A strong hand shook Casey from sleep. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out or how far they’d driven, but when she pried her eyelids open and pushed off Theron’s chest, she didn’t recognize her surroundings.
Nick was already out of the SUV and opening her door. She eased out of the vehicle and stumbled on the battered road. Theron caught her from behind before she went down.
“Easy.”
She may have been weak and tired from everything that had happened, but she didn’t want to look it in front of him. While she’d accepted Theron’s comfort in the car, her brain was starting to function again, and until she got some answers, she didn’t want or need his help.
She tugged her arm from Theron’s grasp and glanced around. The road, if it could be called that, was nothing more than a section of dirt that came to an abrupt end. Towering trees and dense underbrush surrounded them from nearly every side. In a brusque tone, Nick said, “Wait here,” then climbed into the car and backed it into the shrubs until it disappeared from sight. A few moments later he reappeared, gesturing with his shoulder. “From here we walk.”
Nick took the lead, blazing a trail through the forest, and Casey followed close behind, watching where he stepped, careful not to look anywhere but where she was walking. She was still shaky, a little unsure on her feet, and the last thing she needed was to fall on her ass in front of these two.
Theron was a commanding presence at her back, close enough to touch and smell. Why wouldn’t he back off? And why did he unnerve her so much? Especially now?
In her mind, she was still working through everything that had happened, but one thing was glaringly clear: Theron had come back for her. He’d said those daemons were looking for her. Which meant he knew what they wanted. It also meant he hadn’t come looking for her because he wanted to pick up where they’d left off. Namely, the hot, wicked sex she’d been fantasizing about since he’d ditched her ass for greener pastures.
Bastard.
The path rose in elevation until Casey’s breath came fast and shallow. Sweat trickled down her chest between her breasts. She wiped a hand across her brow and wished desperately they could stop. Just for a minute, long enough so she could catch her breath. But she wasn’t about to ask. She had a strange sense Nick was intent on getting them to their destination fast. And that thought made her brain work itself right back around to what they were running from in the first place.
She lifted her head once to glance around, and in the process stumbled on a stone that was in the way. Her hand darted out to grasp the base of a tree to her right, but she never made contact. In one fell swoop she was lifted off her feet and cradled against Theron’s massive chest.
“Let me down,” she snapped. “I can walk just fine.”
“Not like that, you can’t. You are pale as snow.” When she wriggled against him, his grip only tightened under her arms and beneath the backs of her knees. “Stop fighting me or we’ll both go down.”
“If you think I’m going to let you touch me after what you did—”
The rest of her protest rushed out of her mouth on a screech when he tossed her over his shoulder so her hands were shooting down his muscular back for balance and her ass was sticking straight up in the air. “This works better for me as well, meli.” Both of his arms held her legs locked together against his chest in a vise. “And the view is more appealing.”
Heat rushed to Casey’s cheeks, followed by disbelief at his gall. “Why you—”
“What’s the problem back there?” Nick asked from ahead of them.
“No problem,” Theron called. “Acacia’s just a little wobbly. We’ve got it covered.”