Neither had anyone said a word when they landed a few states over and piled into a rented SUV.
It was almost time to drop Rose off, and Steel found it increasingly difficult to be okay with the idea of leaving her behind.
How was he supposed to drop her off alone and unconscious in the woods, knowing her brother was going to come for her?
She’d wake up groggy and in pain, no idea where she was, and call her brother to come and get her. She was walking straight into the lion’s den, and she was doing it in large part for him.
“Rose can do this,” Thunder said softly, shifting in the driver’s seat to look at him as he stopped the car deep in the forest.
That wasn't even a question. Of course she could. Steel believed there wasn't a thing on this earth the woman cradled in his arms couldn’t do.
But that didn't erase the darkening bruise around her eye or clean away the blood that had dried and crusted around the split in her cheekbone. Knowing he’d been the one to put those marks on her body filled him with a shame he hadn't thought himself capable of.
“She knew you had to do it,” Lion said quietly from beside him.
Again, Steel knew that, and it was only Rose’s words that hitting her was the only way to protect her that had him doing it, before that, he had been adamant that no one was putting any other bruises on her gorgeous body.
“She’s doing this willingly,” Blade added.
Finally tearing his gaze away from Rose’s sleeping face, he met the worried gazes of his teammates. “We kidnapped her, held her captive, she wasn't in a position to consent to anything,” he reminded them. That was the truth of the matter. Rose may have said the words, might have told them she’d work with them and play bait, but what else was she supposed to say?
They’d held her freedom over her head and coerced her compliance.
Maybe he really was a monster after all.
“Too late to back out now,” Dragon reminded him, although not unkindly, and he knew his friend was right.
Rose had called her brother. He’d already hit her, they’d already put her on a plane and flown her to a remote mountain range. What else was there to do? He damn sure hadn't hit his little ladybug, burned her, just to back out and have it been for nothing.
With a nod, he indicated Voodoo should open his door, and once the man had climbed out, Steel slid across the backseat with Rose still in his arms. The temperature drop was immediately noticeable once he was no longer in the vehicle, and he knew the thin—now dirty and tattered thanks to them making the material look like it had survived an escape—pajamas were no match for the cold.
“How long until she wakes up?” he asked as he scanned the area, looking for a somewhat protected spot to lay Rose down. If she stayed out there unconscious for too long, then hypothermia would claim her. At least awake and moving she stood a chance against it.
“I’ll give her a shot of adrenaline before we go,” Voodoo assured him. “She should wake up quickly.”
“And she has a tracker on her?” Although he already knew the answer, he needed the reassurance of hearing it spoken out loud.
“Eight of them,” Blade replied, shrugging when Steel quirked an eyebrow at him. “Maybe a little overboard, but we need to be able to find her. This way, if they check her for trackers, they’ll find one and think they’re done. Even if they’re suspicious and find another, they’re not going to keep checking long enough to find them all.”
They would have to pray Blade was right.
The tracker leading them to Rose was the only thing that would save her life.
Reluctantly, Steel carried her over to a small bush and set Rose down beneath it. Voodoo picked up her wrist to check her pulse before uncapping a syringe and pulling Rose’s pajama top down enough to inject it into her bicep.
Knowing he had to go, because if he was there when Rose woke up there was no way in hell he would be able to leave her behind, Steel leaned down and pressed his lips to Rose’s forehead.
“You’d better come back to me, little ladybug,” he murmured.
Getting attached to their captive should never have been an option, but looking back, he knew it had been destined to happen the moment she opened her eyes in her bed, and he looked down into those deep forest green depths.
Now he needed her to survive, needed her to come back to him, needed her to submit to him and give him every inch of herself. He wanted to soothe all her old hurts, erase all her past pain, and give her the freedom to live her life however she wanted with an army at her back that would kill anyone who ever looked at her wrong.
To do that, she had to survive the man who had left deep scars on her soul.
With a last look, Steel shoved to his feet and walked away without a backward glance, knowing he was leaving his heart, his soul, and his sanity behind, lying unconscious on the forest floor.
January 2nd
