Page 105 of Taken By the Convicts
Crusher pointed to where a group of guards fired blasters into a crowd. Additional fighting had broken out by the path that led to the mines.
Limping, Ivan raced the best he could. He spotted his former munitions expert. “Kimber, where’s the woman?” he shouted.
“Lost sight of her,” he said as he ducked to avoid another volley of blaster fire from the guards attempting to break up the fighting.
Ivan pushed down the fear. Hawke had escaped, but he’d find him and Melina. Hehadto. Nothing else mattered, except saving Melina.
* * *
MELINA
No plan was foolproof.That’s what Melina had learned from her time with Namir. Various escape attempts had failed over the years. And now, her plan to save Jayce had spiraled out of control. Hawke had stabbed Jayce. The man she’d just started to get to know, the man beneath the hard layer he showed to everyone else, lay on the ground, bleeding, and she couldn’t help him. She hadn’t prevented this, as she’d hoped she could.
“Go back, Lina,” Jayce said. “Don’t do this.”
She cupped his cheek. “I’ll be fine. I promise you,” she said as she looked into those brilliant green eyes that held so much promise, so much need to be loved.
Hawke’s shadow loomed over her. She glanced up at the man with the putrid brown eyes and a scraggly beard that made him look unintelligent. The man commanded dozens of men, all of whom surrounded the area, surrounded her unit. If she didn’t go with Hawke willingly, her unit would be massacred.
“Now, bitch,” Hawke said, his fetid breath turning her stomach. She fought the instinct to run.
The expression on Ivan’s and Reece’s faces nearly gutted her. “Trust me,” she said to Ivan, wishing she could tell him what he meant to her.
His eyes pleaded with her as much as his words.
“Een,” Reece struggled to say. She swallowed hard, mouthing the wordsI love youto both of them. It wasn’t enough to express what they all meant to her, but it would have to suffice.
“Get him inside, Ivan,” she shouted as Hawke pulled her away from Jayce. The med-techs could save Jayce if Ivan got him inside.
Fighting broke out in every direction she looked. The sudden heat filling the air and the familiar sound of blaster fire made her want to duck, but Hawke dragged her away from the fighting. Two of his men remained with him, guarding him as they ran clear of the buildings in the main compound. He was taking her toward the mines. Once they left the plateau, Ivan would have a hard time tracking her, if he survived the fighting.
Melina let her legs collapse beneath her. She went down hard, but it was worth it. Hawke scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder and kept running. Melina lifted the bottom of Hawke’s jacket and shirt and slammed her palm against his skin as hard as she could. The leather ring sank into his flesh. He didn’t even notice as he kept running.
Ten seconds later, Hawke fell to his knees. Melina kicked at him, but the bastard wouldn’t release her. She’d dosed him, but it wasn’t enough for his body weight.
One of his men pulled her away from Hawke.
A knife swooshed past her ear and landed in the man’s throat.
“Get her!” Hawke roared as a second man helped him to his feet.
Melina ran as fast as she could. Tree branches whipped at her, and she had no idea where she was going. She stopped and listened to the sounds around to determine if anyone had followed.
A huge hand covered her mouth and pulled her against a hard body, dragging her into a cave.
“Melina!” Ivan called out in the distance.
She struggled against the hands that held her tight. “Shh, Mel. I won’t hurt you.”
Her heart raced as Zev removed his hand and turned her to face him. He looked fine, perfect in fact. She reached out to touch his face, but he caught her wrist.
“Don’t,” he said before he relaxed his hand and released her.
She ignored his request and touched his cheeks, forehead, nose, mouth, jaw. . . everything. She couldn’t stop touching him.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
“I had to disappear for a while.”
