Page 52 of Sanctuary of Secrets

Out of nowhere, a hand clamped over her mouth. Seyla screamed, the sound muffled by the large hand. An arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her against a wall of muscle. She kicked and bucked, but the arms slammed her to the ground behind some rocks. The ground blew apart next to her, spraying more dirt in her eyes. A voice whispered in her ear. “Quiet. Don’t move.”

Seyla sucked in air to scream again, to shove the arms away.

“Seyla, quiet! It’s me, Jax!”

She ceased resisting, allowing her body to relax. Tears welled in her eyes, evidence of the adrenaline racing through her, wreaking havoc on her emotions. Seyla let them fall, washing the dirt from her eyes, while she and Jax lay motionless on the ground.

“He has a suppressor on that gun. That’s why you can’t hear the shots. I know this is scary. You have to be quiet though, or he’ll know exactly where to shoot. Nod if you understand.”

His calming voice and warmth soothed her. Seyla nodded. With painstaking care to not break the silence, Jax helped her shift around to face him on the ground. “He has night vision goggles. That means we have to be extra careful, okay?”

She nodded again, relieved that he’d found her and grateful for the company. “We can’t let him get away,” she whispered.

“Right now, we’ve got to worry about not getting shot.”

The first fat droplets of rain splatted on Seyla’s leg. The ferocity of the wind increased, blasting them and blowing thetrees back and forth like they were dandelions. The wood creaked under the onslaught.

Jax growled. “Perfect. I doubt we’ll be able to track him once the downpour hits.” He paused. “Okay, I have a plan. Our goal is to take cover behind those old logs over there.” He pointed at some rotting logs resting at different angles on another one. “I’ll throw a rock as a distraction. When it hits the ground we run, okay?”

“Okay.” Seyla braced herself to sprint.

The wind blew against her face. She curled into Jax’s chest to shield her eyes.

Peace sighed through her, as though she belonged there, despite the circumstances. She felt like she could stay next to him forever, with stones and twigs digging into her side and rain pelting her skin, as long as he held her.

When Jax’s arms withdrew from around her without a sound a couple of minutes later, the level of disappointment that followed surprised her.

Stop mooning over some guy and get it together, Seyla, before you get both of you killed.

In one powerful move, Jax hurled a rock to the left of them. It impacted the ground with a dull thud a short distance away. “Go,” Jax said in a gravelly whisper, the command vibrating through his chest next to her. She pushed away from him and darted to the log.

The ground exploded to their left.

They dropped to the ground behind the log. A piece of it flew off above them.

Seyla bit back a scream, curling into Jax’s side. He shifted, leaning to peer through a space in the rotted timber. Another section of the wood exploded. She pressed closer to the ground.

“I can see him,” Jax whispered. “He’s behind the rock on the hillside northeast of us. We’re sitting ducks here. Why isn’t he moving in?”

“Isn’t that a good thing? I don’t real—”

The sky opened, cutting off her words and dumping rain on them with such intensity it pelted her skin. She wiped at the hair plastered against her forehead in order to see.

“He’s moving.”

Seyla attempted to peek through an opening in the wood, but couldn’t see anything. “Toward us?”

“Yeah. Don’t move.”

Lightning crashed above them, followed by thunder. The ground shook with the force of it. Mud pooled underneath them, swamping their hiding place. Another crack of lightning sounded, followed by a crash in the forest.

“He’s moving away again.”

“Thank you, Lord,”Seyla whispered.

She looked at Jax, put her hand on his forearm.

Rivulets of water ran down his face while he stared at her, creating the impression that he was impervious to the elements.

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