Page 29 of Blue Arrow Island
No, those aren’t my thoughts. My heart races over the invasion of my body and my mind. How can I maintain control? And how the hell is this possible? Is it Pax inside my head, or is it the island itself?
He’s moving closer. Dread creeps down my spine. What am I going to do? I don’t have access to the herbal tea I took on the mainland to prevent pregnancy.
“Don’t tease me.” His tone isn’t playful anymore.
Anger lashes out inside me in a powerful wave that brings me fully back to myself. How fucking dare he accuse me of teasing him?
“Just a quick one. Five minutes, tops.”
The unfamiliar male voice makes me turn.
“Fuck.” Pax runs to exit the spring.
“Don’t move.”
The command came from a short, muscular Black woman. She’s wearing dark pants, hiking boots and a gray T-shirt, weapons holstered at her waist and a long pole in her hand. The pole seems to be made of metal, the top foot of it crackling with an electrical charge.
Not only am I not moving, I’m not even breathing. But Pax sprints out of the water, going for his pile of clothes with a knife on top.
An arrow lands on the T-shirt on top with a twanging sound, pinning his clothes to the ground.
“Next one goes in your head.”
The deep voice belongs to a man who walks past the woman, standing a few feet to the side in front of her. He’s holding a bow, an arrow knocked.
My lips part, fury and fear coursing through me in equal measure. He’s the leader of the Dust Walkers—the one who stood at the front of their group that day on the beach. The one who dragged Amira off to her death.
He’s massive—well over six feet tall, his shoulders broad and his arms carved with muscles from shoulder to forearm. His dark hair is short, but still long enough that it has some wave, a few stray pieces falling over his forehead. His deep evergreen eyes are locked onto Pax, daring him to move.
“Stay behind me,” he orders.
I flick my gaze to the three other people standing behind him, two men and a woman, all of them holding the same long, electrified sticks as the other woman.
“You’ve got balls, Marcus,” Pax says, his tone hostile.
“Did we interrupt you with your thirtieth baby mama?” Marcus asks cooly.
The woman shoots me a look of disgust. It’s not the time to think about it, butdamn. Apparently a lot of those kids I saw yesterday were fathered by Pax.
“Why don’t you call off your dogs and fight me like a real man, Marcus?” Pax says.
Marcus sneers at him. “You know why.” A muscle in his jaw tics. “Look, we don’t want trouble.”
“You are trouble,” Pax seethes.
“Nova’s gonna tie you up. Then we’re taking your friend with us until we get a half mile away. She can come back and untie you.”
Pax scoffs. “Or. I kill every one of you and then jerk off on your corpse.”
“You’re not in a great position to negotiate, with no weapons and your dick out.”
Marcus is pure steel. He doesn’t flinch or show an ounce of indecision.
My pulse races nervously as I study the electrified spears. They’re stun sticks of some kind, but if they’re used against people who are in the water—like the water just a few feet away—the water will conduct the current directly into our hearts and kill us.
“Fuck you,” Pax says. “Go ahead and kill me. Virginia will rain fire on you until every one of your people is dead.”
Marcus narrows his eyes. “I don’t want to kill you, Pax. I just want to go back the way we came.”
