Page 54 of Soul Bound

“Get him off!” I scream, my voice full of desperation. “Get him off of me!” I cry over and over until my voice feels hoarse.

“Winslow!” the voice shouts causing my eyes to open, tracking the sound, I didn’t even realize I had shut them. “It’s okay,you’reokay. Just hold tight, sweetheart.”

Ranger’s face comes into view, his clear blue eyes peering down at me. A second later the weight of the dead man shifts off of me and the level of pure relief I feel is indescribable. I take in a big breath, filling my lungs.

Hands reach down and pull me up. Now standing, he pulls me against his chest, his strong arms wrapping around me. At first, I fight against the hold, not wanting to be trapped again, but when Ranger’s soothing voice fills my ears, I relax into him. “Shh…” he whispers into my ear. “It’s okay, I’ve got you, baby.”

Being pinned and held in place brings back my past trauma and what happened when I got my scars. It triggers a level of panic that consumes me.

Ranger holds me until I stop shaking. With my head pressed to his chest, I listen to his heartbeat, the steady beat soothes me. His big hands rub small circles on my back in a rhythmic motion that I can focus on. Eventually, the panic dissipates and I’m able to pull away from him.

Once there’s enough space between us, his eyes grow wide when he takes me in. “Fuck, Winnie, are you hurt?” He runs his hands over me, searching for a wound. “There’s so much blood.”

My eyes slide over to where the lifeless man lays haphazardly on his side, blood pools around his large frame. “It’s not mine, it’s all his.”

I should feel remorse, right? I just took someone’s life. Granted, he was a bad man, but still, it was alife. I should feel something. But as I look at his limp form, all I feel is numb.

I feel nothing.

Ranger grips my face in his hands, pulling my attention back to him. “No, you’re bleeding, I can smell it.” His worried eye scans my face. I feel the wet, sticky blood covering it. “Where are you hurt?”

I point to my cheek. “His bullet grazed my face. It doesn’t even hurt.”

“That’s the adrenaline,” he says as he starts pulling off my blood-soaked jacket. “Let’s get this off of you, it’s covered in blood.”

I just stand there and let him pull the jacket off of me. I look down when it’s gone and find my once white T-shirt is now crimson red, the drenched fabric sticking to my chest and stomach.

“Lift your arms, Winnie,” he commands softly. I don’t question him, I just do what he says, staring blankly at his chest. He grips the hem of my T-shirt and pulls it over my head. He then uses the few dry spots on the shirt to white the blood from my face, his touch is so gentle.

I’m having flashbacks to when I cleaned the blood off of him after his fight with Ryker. He discards the shirt off to the side when he’s done. I stand there in only my bra and jeans, goose bumps appear on my skin from the cool air of the tunnels.

I watch as Ranger slips off his long-sleeved Henley, leaving him in the black T-shirt he wears underneath. He asks me to lift my arms again and he makes quick work of pulling his shirt over me. “This doesn’t have nearly the amount of blood on it as yours does,” he explains as he rolls up the sleeves for me.

I look over to where the man he had taken out lies. I can tell by the way his head hangs at a weird angle Ranger had broken his neck. I notice a few claw marks across the man’s cheek and a nasty-looking gash on his exposed forearm where it looks like Ranger had also snapped his forearm—bone pokes out of the wound.

“Don’t look.” Ranger pulls my face back to him. He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close and drops a kiss to my forehead. “I’m so sorry you had to do that. I was trying to get to you as fast as possible, but the guy had some professional training. He didn’t go down easy.”

“I’m fine,” I say, my voice void of emotion. “We need to keep going, we still don’t know where this tunnel exits. We need to figure out where they left with the baby.”

Ranger nods once. “Okay. Stay close.” He picks up one of the discarded flashlights. He also tucks the guns into the waistband of his jeans. Smart move. We don’t want anyone else to find them.

“You were right, we never should’ve come down here,” he adds.

No shit.

17

Ranger

The tunnel leads to an opening made in a big cluster of boulders, perfectly camouflaged in the natural surroundings. It’s only a short walk to the access road that would inevitably lead you to the main freeway. We are over a mile from the facility—no wonder they were able to escape with the baby without anyone seeing them. They were probably already miles away by the time Thalia died.

We find a black SUV parked on the road close to the tunnel exit. The men had left it here when they went in to investigate the tunnels after we set off the silent alarms. I don’t know why I didn’t think Sterling would still be monitoring the defunct facility, but the thought never occurred to me.

We’re both incredibly lucky we made it out of there alive. I’ve never felt the terror I experienced when I found Winslow pinned under the guard with blood pooling around her. I thought she had been seriously hurt and I was going to lose her. As it is, I haven’t let go of her since we left the bodies behind. The need to keep touching her, to reassure myself she’s okay, is strong.

But I’m not sure sheisokay.

She’s been silent since we exited the tunnels. I found the keys left in the ignition of the dead men’s SUV and I drove us back to the front of the facility to our waiting rental car. She didn’t talk at all as we drove the back roads back to the car. She just stared blankly out the windshield. She still has smeared blood on her face, some hers, most of it from the wounds she inflicted on the man who attacked her.

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