Part 18 (2/2)

”It's him.” Her lashes drooped low over her eyes. Her voice was dreamy and oddly disconnected. ”He's there. Burning . . .”

Cullen didn't waste his breath asking who. He knew in his gut. The pad of his thumb stroked across her cheekbone. ”Look at me, Taige.”

It was as though she hadn't heard him. Lids hanging low over her eyes, she whispered, ”There's gas. I smell it. d.a.m.n, it's hot.”

A fine sweat broke out over her skin. For a second, the air stopped smelling of the heat, the sand, and the Gulf, and the sickly sweet stink of gasoline fil ed the air. A hot breeze kicked up over the water, and the smell faded. Or maybe he hadn't really smelled the gas to begin with. At that point, Cullen didn't know. She s.h.i.+vered, and Cullen rubbed a hand up and down her back, trying to warm her. Cuddling into him, Taige rubbed her cheek against his chest.

He kept talking to her, but nothing he said got through. Finally, he just wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as he could. One hand rubbed up and down her naked back. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were bare against his chest, but Cullen could honestly say he didn't have one lascivious thought. Amazing how terror could wipe out an all-consuming l.u.s.t so easily.

It ended as suddenly as it came on. One moment, Taige was cuddling into him and holding on like he was some teddy bear warding off the boogeyman, and in the next, she was stiff in his arms and sucking in air like a drowning woman. Her body shuddered, and then she pushed against his arms. ”You're going to crush me, Cul en.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. ”d.a.m.n it, you keep scaring me like that, I'm going to die of a heart attack before I turn forty.” But he did let go, slowly, reluctantly. She tried to stand up, but her legs wobbled, and Cul en had a feeling she wouldn't make it ten feet without hitting the sand. Pus.h.i.+ng to his feet, he gathered up her clothes. After tucking them into her arms, he lifted her. ”You need to lie down,” he said softly.

But Taige had other plans. ”No. We need to leave. He's at the cabin, or he's going there.” Her mouth twisted in a grimace. ”At least what's left of the cabin-no telling how much of it Jones has torn down to get to the bodies.”

The need for vengeance warred with the need to take care of Taige. Her hands shoved against his chest, but it was pitiful how weak she was. Under normal circ.u.mstances, if Taige wanted to be put down, he'd have a fight on his hands, and chances were, he could easily lose that fight. At the moment, she'd have a hard time holding her own against a kitten.

Physically.

The look in her eyes was one of sheer stubbornness, and Cullen knew that if he let her, she'd take off on her own and keep going until she collapsed. She was just that determined. If he wasn't so d.a.m.ned worried she'd end up pa.s.sing out on him and scaring him to death, he'd go along with her just fine.

But . . .

Her eyes, once more that soft, misty gray, narrowed, and her pretty mouth flattened out into a tight, thin line. ”d.a.m.n it, Cullen. You're wasting time. We don't have much as it is.”

Fisting a hand in his s.h.i.+rt, she gave him a fierce stare and said, ”I am fine. Okay?”

”You're not fine,” Cullen argued. The last rays of sunlight were fading fast, but he could stil see how pale and wan she'd become. ”You're almost as pale as I am. h.e.l.l, you probably can't even walk to the house on your own two feet.”

Her lids flickered. ”I don't need to walk to the cabin. And it's a good three hours north.

By the time we get there, I'll be steady.”

”And if you're not?”

”If we don't go now, it's not going to matter. Because he isn't going to be there.”

Cullen gave in. He guessed there hadn't ever been doubt on that. Between the need for blood and the innate desire to do whatever Taige asked of him, Cullen didn't even have a fighting chance. They were out of the house before another twenty minutes had pa.s.sed.

She'd insisted on changing, and Cullen watched over her protectively, ready to catch her if she looked the least bit unsteady.

Never happened. Although he'd carried her to the house, by the time they walked out the front door, her color had improved, and she moved with that easy, confident grace that he remembered from years before.

Steady, she'd said.

Hel . She was going to be steadier than he was, that was for d.a.m.n certain.

TEN.

Too late.

They were still a good twenty miles away when the skin on Taige's spine went tight. Too late. He was gone. She couldn't explain how she knew, but by the time they got to the cabin, he would be long gone.

And there would probably be no trace left behind. Again. Somehow this guy managed to wipe the slate clean, psychically speaking, and she'd get nothing. None of those intangible little vibes that she couldn't see or feel, but which existed nonetheless.

Useless- She blocked that out. If she started swimming in guilt or self-doubt, she'd be of no use to anybody. So, instead of dwel ing on that old bulls.h.i.+t, she closed her eyes and reached out. It didn't come so easily this time.

Sometimes the gray came on her like a summer storm, quick, violent, and all-encompa.s.sing. Other times, it was like a heat mirage, wavering and unclear. Right now, it was like trying to push her way through quicksand. It came, but there was a reluctance to it, and the vision that had been so clear just a few hours ago was now murky.

There was nothing definitive this time. Reaching out, she tried to connect with her prey, and there was, for just a second, a brief connection. Tenuous at best and too weak to sustain contact. Even as she tried to strengthen the connection, it faltered and faded.

It left her with the impression of a deep rage and a conviction that could only come from the mind of the truly insane. Her mind tried to hold on to that little bit of knowledge. There was something important there-something very important. But she couldn't focus.

Couldn't see. Smoke obscured her vision, and heat stung her skin. She tried to take a breath, and it choked her. The underlying stink of gasoline filled her nostrils, and she gagged.

”Taige.”

The sound of Cul en's voice was the sweetest d.a.m.n thing, and she turned toward it, tried to reach out. Reached out-and he touched her. She felt his hand land on her shoulder, and he shook her. Feeling a little bewildered, Taige opened her eyes and rubbed them. Still the smoke burned.

d.a.m.n, am I still under? she thought. She breathed in and tasted the acrid bite of smoke in her throat.

But it wasn't the remnants of a vision. Smoke hung in the air, and the direction of the wind carried it to them as Cullen pulled to the side of the road. Off to the left was the pitted, sorry excuse for a road that led to the cabin. The road no longer looked abandoned, and Taige couldn't even begin to guess how many agents had been out here, how many forensics teams had gone over every inch of land.

Right now, though, it wasn't the FBI trekking over the rough road. It was a line of fire trucks, ambulances, and several black and tan county sheriff cruisers. Up on the mountain, just barely visible above the tree line, was a flickering orange glow.

Just as she'd seen in her vision, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had set the cabin on fire.

He'd been here not long ago.

Part of her wanted to hope that maybe he'd been caught.

But Taige was a realist. He wasn't here.

Her Bureau ID got her and Cul en past the line of officials. There weren't a lot of gawkers, not this far out of the way. A few questions revealed that a father and son had been hunting and seen the flames. Dry as the summer had been, if they hadn't called it in when they did, the fire would have presented a serious hazard. Even now, it looked like the firefighters were going to have one h.e.l.l of battle keeping the fire from spreading.

Sirens split the air again. As one, Taige and Cullen turned to watch another truck come screeching up. ”We need to go,” she said softly. ”We're just in the way here.”

”But . . .”

Taige glanced at Cullen and shook her head. ”There's nothing here for me, Cullen. If there was, I'd know.”

Somehow, her man had slid right past her, and just as before, he'd left behind nothing of himself.

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