Part 26 (1/2)

Those words echoed in her mind, giving her a sense of uneasiness. Another flash of her whimpering and slaps of flesh against flesh. Panic and terror ripped through her and she automatically blocked out the moans and grunts. No, she didn't want to go there. Didn't want to remember what it meant.

”Kinley?”

She blinked and snapped back to reality to find Blackie suddenly missing and a woman with a newborn cradled in her arms.

”I'm Annie. Your brother Joe's mate. I heard you were injured during the crash. Your sisters mentioned you'd been knocked unconscious. Blackie said you had suffered a blow to your head and you are experiencing memory loss. I'd like to examine you.”

Kinley frowned at the chick's forward att.i.tude. ”Sorry, but I don't need an examination. I'm fine.”

She grabbed the final tent peg, cursing Blackie for leaving her here alone with this woman, and started to pound the peg into the ground. Kinley would ignore her. Hopefully the chick would get the message and leave.

Where the h.e.l.l was Blackie anyway?

A quick scan of her surroundings and she couldn't see him. The slice of panic she'd just experienced with that flashback rocked through her again. Had he left her here? Abandoned her?

”Blackie is speaking with the males. Something about a replicator and reproducing parts for the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p that crashed into the Fever Swamps.”

How did this chick know she was looking for him anyway? Was she that transparent? That needy?

”Blackie said you had a blackout. That you tune out briefly sometimes. Like you did now. What were you thinking just now?” Annie asked in a soft voice that almost unraveled Kinley.

Emotions, thick, raw and hurtful, swelled in Kinley's chest. ”I don't want to talk about it. Please leave me alone.”

”You don't wish to remember? Is that it? I saw a look of horror flash on your face. There's something holding you back from remembering.”

”I said leave me alone.” G.o.d, what was with this woman? Her insistence really annoyed Kinley.

”Maybe you're hungry. People always get into a bad mood when they're hungry.”

Anger slammed through her and Kinley looked up with full intentions of telling the woman to get lost once and for all, but Annie's sweet smile warmed her insides. The chick understood her problem and she was giving Kinley an ”out” with eating. She didn't seem as persistent as Kinley had first thought.

Good. That's what she needed. s.p.a.ce. And time.

”Would you like me to bring over some food? Or maybe you'd prefer to join us at the tables beneath the trees?” Annie pointed to a long line of picnic tables at the far end of the meadow.

Food was being brought there by the women. The men were seating themselves, Blackie right along with them. He seemed to be making himself at home quite nicely, didn't he?

At the sight of their happy faces and the sounds of their cheerful chatter, something s.h.i.+fted inside Kinley's heart. It only lasted a split second, but for that brief period of time, a tingle of unbelievable happiness and sense of belonging and security had chased away her unease. It was instantly dashed, leaving her more jittery than ever.

s.h.i.+t.

She wanted that sense of belonging back. But the other stuff, the darkness she'd been fighting, the s.h.i.+t she'd been suppressing would come too. She had no doubt about it.

The baby in Annie's arms gurgled and out from the blankets popped the tiniest, cutest arms Kinley had ever seen.

”Little Joe is hungry too.” Annie laughed. ”Would it be okay if maybe I got us some food and we could eat here together? I can nurse him. We don't have to talk if you don't want to. And you could hold Little Joe for me for a couple of minutes. I would so love for someone to babysit him even for such a short time. I could pretend I'm on vacation.” Annie laughed again. ”Amazing I can even think something like that when he was just born this morning.”

This morning? Kinley blinked in stunned disbelief. And the woman was out of bed and wandering around already?

The baby's fists curled together in defiance and the kid let out an annoyed cry. Annie swayed him gently back and forth in her arms.

”Little Joe is my nephew?”

Annie nodded.

Jeez.

She was an aunt. h.e.l.l, she was an aunt many times over from the looks of those toddlers running around the meadow.

Standing, Kinley accepted the blanket-wrapped baby into her arms and the warmth from his cuddly body sifted against her. When she met Little Joe's soft blue gaze, all the breath escaped her lungs and brought along a wave of lightheadedness unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.

”Are you all right?” Annie's concerned voice echoed from somewhere far off and Kinley was suddenly in some long tunnel. The baby was being taken from her arms and an immense loss s.h.i.+fted through her. An emptiness. Shame.

You forgot the rules, Kinley.

A man's voice. Far away. Dizziness a.s.saulted her. Her limbs grew heavy.

”Never leave your drink unattended, baby.”

Something black and horrible slithered though those words. Then there were faces. Several men. A couple she recognized from university. The others...she had no idea who they were.

”If you forget the rules, then you pay the consequences, Kin.”

She was on a bed. How had she gotten onto a bed? She couldn't remember.

Panic sliced into her, deep and hard. She wanted to move but everything was so heavy. A man at the side of the bed was chuckling as he gazed down at her.

”You're a nice piece of a.s.s, Hero. Just like the boys said.”

”What?” she tried to speak. No words formed. Only a pathetic moan. She tried to cover herself. Oh my G.o.d, she was naked. She couldn't move!

Drugged?

Helpless, she lay there. The door opened and the man who'd just been there exited. Men's laughter echoed from behind the door, and then two of them came into the room. The door closed.

Oh G.o.d.

”She won't remember much of anything. She'll think she's hungover from all that drinking,” one man said.

”The beauty of the date rape drug, huh?” Another chuckled.

”Keeps them off balance. You don't have anything to worry about. Just use the condoms on the table. That way there's no evidence. Enjoy. Oh and put the money in the jar over there.”

Money? What? Did they think she was a hooker?

The man stuffed some bills into the gla.s.s jar then left. The other one turned to her and began to undress. His leering smile made her stomach clench with a horrible sickness.

”No need for condoms, heh, sweets? I like my young women skin-to-skin.”