Page 57 of The Blood of a Baron

“Aye.” Wes paused, his eyes closing for a long breath as his hands fell from the sides of her face. “And he should have chosen another for the job. I never should have offered. Never should have gotten you involved.”

He gave a slight shake of his head. “But I did and now I need to fix it. Des and Jules will know what to do with the box, where it should go to next. But first we have to get the box to them in order for us to be free of it. Only I cannot do it alone. You can hold the box. I cannot for what it will do to me—how it will change me.” His right hand slid around her waist, pressing her body into his. “I need you for this. I need you to stop me from falling into its trap—into the curse of it. You can handle it, I cannot.”

Laney inhaled, her brow still wrinkled, puzzled.

But Wes needed this. Needed her.

And to be needed was something she hadn’t felt in forever.

She nodded.

He needed her, so she was his for as long as it took.

{ Chapter 20 }

His eyes wary about the main road through the town of Basingstoke, Wes walked into the stable that held their horses. The stable boy was supposed to deliver them a half an hour ago.

He’d left Laney at the front of the coaching inn with Rune. Better to have Rune rush her inside the inn if necessary, than to have her vulnerable on the street or by the stable.

The stable master had reported the three horses were already saddled and ready to depart and Wes spied them at the far end of the barn. He was halfway through the stable when a head popped up from in between the last two horses and swiveled toward him.

Fear struck in the man’s eyes and he tore out of the last stall, running out the back door of the stable.

Instinct sent Wes’s limbs into motion and he charged forward, going after the man. Out the back door and into the sunlight, Wes found him to the right—running like a cornered rabbit, his head twisting around to see Wes staring him down. The man’s legs flew faster.

There was only one reason the man would be running from Wes—he knew who Wes was and had been doing something to the horses—or waiting for Laney to enter the stables.

Wes bolted to his right, closing the gap between him and the man, but not catching him before he cut toward the main road, running past the coaching inn and back toward the river that ran along that side of the main roadway. The man turned to the left at the rear of the inn.

Wes didn’t slow as he passed the coaching inn, only glancing at Rune and pointing forward to the man trying to escape, his voice a roar. “Sin, he turned south. But get her inside first.”

Rune nodded, shoved Laney inside the front door of the inn, and then darted to the south along the main roadway as Wes sprinted past them.

His breath thundering in his chest, Wes chased the man running along the bank of the river, dodging trees and downed stumps. Within five minutes they were out past the edge of the village. The bugger was fast—too fast.

Good thing Rune was the fastest person he knew.

Just when Wes thought his lungs would explode, Rune cut across a field that butted up to the river, intercepting the man.

The rat skidded to a stop, his arms flailing as he spun around.

Wes was already closing in on him. Both he and Rune advanced, trapping the man, edging him closer to the river.

Cornered, the man spun, his feet slipping in loose leaves before he fully turned and it sent his balance out of control. He tripped over a thicket of branches from a downed tree half in the water and flew forward, falling full force onto the tree. Onto the jagged stump of a heavy branch. It impaled him directly through his gut.

“Hell.” His blood pounding in his ears, Wes sped the last few feet to the man’s side and picked him up, sliding him off the sharp branch.

The man screamed with pain as Wes set him on his back on the ground. Screams that turned into gurgles, blood spurting up from his mouth as he gasped for breath.

“What were you doing in the stable?” Wes yelled, hovering above the man’s face.

The man just shook his head, closing his eyes, his hands holding the blood soaking from his gut.

Rune’s shoulder nudged Wes aside and he grabbed the man’s face between his hands, shaking him. “Open your eyes, man.”

The man’s dirty eyelids cracked open. Searching. Searching vacantly, but finding only Rune and Wes above him.

“Who do you work for?” Rune barked the question, snapping the man into the present.

---