I was worried. I didn’t like waiting. I’d felt helpless and weak for years and hated every second of it.
But Kai bringing me here had not only released me from that shell I’d been hiding in, he’d made me stronger. I never wanted to be defenseless again. I wanted to be like Kai—fearless without the constant barrage of emotions slamming into me.
Not cold, but controlled.
I walked back to the clearing of trampled grass twenty feet away, raised my arm again, and whipped the blade and it arched through the air in a precise hard line.
“Yes,” I yelled as it pierced the tree and wobbled a bit like it was going to fall. I clapped my hands and jumped up and down.
“Impressive.”
I spun around so fast I stumbled in the long grass. My eyes hit the man who spoke. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning up against the back door. Everything inside me stilled for a second and then the very reason I was here and not with Kai slammed into me.
Fear.
The man’s expression was dead, no smile, no scowl—blank. The strict curves of his face made him appear jagged and harsh. Eyes a brilliant blue, sharp and cold that left no assumptions as to what this man was capable of.
He didn’t hide the fact that he had weapons attached to his belt, although none were in his hand, but I was betting he’d have one out before I took one step.
“Who are you?” I was going to ask if he was a friend of Kai’s, but I remembered what Kai told me—he didn’t have friends and I was never to believe anyone if they said they were.
“I’m here to take you home.”
I tensed at the deep, gravelly tone in his voice. A voice that caused the fear to escalate because there was no question whoever he was, he was just as dangerous as Kai, but Kai wouldn’t hurt me, this man would.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides. “I’m perfectly fine where I am.” I inched back a step and he didn’t move. I took another step back. Could I outrun him? Would he shoot me in the back?
“I see that.” He pushed away from the door and my heart felt as if it lodged in my throat. God, his arms were huge and if he got hold of me, I’d never get free. I wasn’t a runner, but I was small and—
“Please. Do run, little rabbit.” My breath hitched and I froze. “My orders are to bring you home alive, but wounds are optional.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Kai.”
“Ah, yes, Kai. The loyal Kai who is hiding a girl he was supposed to bring in to Vault.” He was? “In a house we didn’t know about.”
“Who are you?”
“Does it matter?”
I glared. “Yes. I’d like to know the name of my executioner.”
His brows rose at that. “I told you I won’t kill you.”
I smiled. “Well, you’re going to have to. Because the only way you’re getting me to leave is in a body bag.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I thought of what Kai said. A body bag was too polite. He’d cut me up first.
A mild breeze ruffled the tops of the long grass surrounding me and the flimsy stems swayed back and forth. I straightened my spine, raising my chin a notch. I’d been afraid of death for so many years, but now… I wasn’t afraid of it. I was afraid of never seeing Kai again. Never tasting his lips. Never feeling his arms around me. But most of all, I was afraid of him getting hurt. It was kind of stupid maybe, considering who he was and what he was capable of, but Kai’s confidence unnerved me because he was so casual about it, as if his life being taken had no meaning.
But it did. It did to me.
He started toward me, arms dropping to his sides, close to his knife on one side and his gun on the other.
I had to run.
And from his mild shrug and lifted brows, he knew it, too.
I took off, darting to the right and headed toward the side of the house. My feet pounded in my head as I zigzagged across the yard. I couldn’t hear him behind me and I didn’t dare look. I just ran. I made it to the front of the house. My only chance was the road and hope someone would see me.
I hesitated a second when I saw his black SUV parked in the driveway. I thought about checking for the keys, but he didn’t look stupid. Shit, everything about him was the opposite. Cold. Calculating. Unfeeling. A machine.
My feet skidded in the gravel as I hit the driveway and I chanced a glance behind me, but he wasn’t there. He hadn’t even chased me.
What the hell? Where was he?
I ran as fast as I could, the road only a hundred feet away now. I was going to make it.
The impact of the bullet hit me in the shoulder and took me down. I fell face first into the gravel.
Excruciating pain ripped through my body as I struggled to get to my feet again, my hand holding my shoulder as blood seeped through my fingers.