Page 27 of Taken By Raider Kings
She couldn’t help herself.
“Shit.”The anger returned, settled over his face like an old friend, and chased the handsomeness away.“It never rains but it pours.Look, Sophie, can you trust me?”
Trust you?Are you fucking insane?You kidnapped me, broke into my house, and you’re… you’re…Words failed her.She simply stared at him.
“Guess not.”He slowly rose, and she noticed his boots were dusty, crushing the carpet.He made another of those quick, inquiring moves.“I hate to tell you this, honey, but there’supiractually in your building.There’s no reason for them to be here unless they’re after you specifically.I’m going to ask again, why the hell are they following you?”
“I don’t know, goddammit.”How amazing, I actually sound irritated.Her brain began to work again—maybe too slowly, but at least the thoughts were moving.“How can you tell?”
“Can smell ’em.”He turned in a tight circle, his gaze roving over every surface before coming to rest on her again.“I wonder why they’re so interested in you.Huh.”
“Please don’t hurt me.”How many times am I going to have to say that in my life?she wondered, and not for the first time.
Or the last.
“I’m not going to, ever.”He took two quick steps and held out his hand, palm cupped.“But we’re going to have to get out of here.”
She shook her head.Loose curls fell in her face; her hair was probably a frizzed mess, though it didn’t matter.“I’m not going anywhere.”She clutched at the chair arms like a drowning woman.“You can’t kidnap me again.”
“I’m not going tokidnapyou, for Christ’s sake.Can’t you smell them?”
“All I can smell is whatever cologne you’re wearing.Why don’t you go find someone else to harass?”Sophie couldn’t believe the words had come out of her mouth.
It sounded more like something Lucy would say.
A smile too tight and thin to be an expression of good humor bloomed on Zach’s face.“What if I like harassing you, sweetheart?You get allcutewhen you’re mad.”
What the hell?“You’re insane.”
“Nope.”His fingers made a small beckoning motion, urging; she remained stubbornly still.“How did you vanish the other night, by the way?We thought theupirhad taken you.Were about to tear down the whole town looking for you.”
What the hell for?She lifted her chin, scowled at him.Sometimes, defiance was the only option left.If he wanted an answer he was going to have to beat it out of her.
And if there was anything Sophie Wilson knew, it was how to take a punch.Or keep a secret.
His hand stayed, hanging out midair like it had nothing better to do.“Come on.”He didn’t look impatient or upset, just thoughtful, tense.“We really should get out of here, I smell bloodsuckers all over this building.I’d really prefer it if you came willingly.”
“Go.To.Hell.”She settled herself farther back in the chair, which squeaked again, and braced for an explosion.
Someone knocked sharply on her front door.Three hard, quick raps.
Sophie swallowed hard.What the fuck now?
“Huh.”Zach spun in a tight half circle.“Male.Expecting a gentleman caller, sweets?”
Her heart gave a sickening thump, began pounding hard enough to spike blood pressure into the stratosphere.
God.It’s Marc.He’s found me.“Nobody knows where I live.”Except you, apparently.And now him.He’s going to hit the roof if he sees a man in here.It was the final straw; she was going to have a stroke right in someone else’s worn-out garbage recliner.
But Zach was striding toward the door as Sophie, frozen, held on to the chair-arms with tense, aching fingers.He didn’t pause, simply swept her purse aside with one boot, tucking it out of sight over the kitchen threshold.Then he flipped the dead bolts as if he lived here and finished up by yanking the door open.“Hello?”
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut so hard phantom fireworks burst in the dark.Her breathing shuddered along in quick, shallow gasps, her entire body locked in a cube of ice.She could actually feel a wet freeze sliding against her skin, and a thin trace of sweat slid down the shallow channel of her spine.
The darkness behind her eyelids turned grey for a moment, as if a diaphanous scarf had wrapped itself over her head.A strange sense of comfort settled over her, warring with the lunacy she was trapped in, this nightmare that didn’t want to end.
“Is Miss Wilson home?”It was a half-familiar voice.Not Marc’s.Her breath whooshed out, gasped back in, and held itself again.
“May I ask whoyouare?”Zach asked, amiably enough.Absolute insanity, and Sophie didn’t have a clue how it had started—or what she could do to escape.
