She lost her grip on her water bottle for a second, and it rolled a few feet down the path she and Kit were hiking on.
Although he was in front of her, Kit went back and retrieved the bottle, pressing it back into her hands. "We should take a break."
Unlike her, he wasn't breathing hard or sweaty from their five-mile hike. It turned out being a computer nerd hadn't prepared her for a trek in the desert.
Gentry nodded and sat down on a rock beside the man who saved her. He'd been the functional one over the last 24 hours, purchasing an off-road vehicle and driving it until the gas tank was empty. The rations he'd prepared for them were enough for three days, or so he said, and they were heavy as sin—a fact Gentry learned quickly as they took to the trails.
Kit had carried one pack and then given her the other. It only took a mile for him to grab hers off her shoulders, murmuring something about how her existing pack was already big enough.
His change of heart thoroughly puzzled Gentry. Somehow, the man she'd trapped and branded against his will to do her bidding was protecting her on his own free volition. It was a turn of events she wasn't really sure what to do with, but then again, she had enough shit to figure out.
She tugged on the hat he’d bought along with the rations, trying to shield the sun off her face. "How much further?" she asked, her throat parched.
Kit stood up. "I have some magic back," he told her. "I'll go check. I only know the direction if I have a clear view of the mountains."
He picked up his broom out of their sack of gear and shot up into the air, his usual grace lacking. Gentry squinted against the cloudless sky to watch the witch. In the beginning, he hadn't any magic spare, doing everything the manual way. It had slowed them down considerably because he hadn’t been able to fly them to the location. But a night’s sleep in the car had revived him enough for a few simple spells. A cooling charm on their clothes. A little bit of levitation for their luggage. And then finally, he could take to the air for a brief amount of time.
He really is a slow accumulator, she thought. Her father had always been able to recover from a vent within six hours, but Kit said he needed another full day to recover completely. Though she supposed it was nature’s way of making things fair, considering the man fought like a god.
Within a minute, Kit landed back on the ground, swaying a tad as he sat back down and threw his broom to the side. He had a smile on his handsome scarred face.
"A mile tops," he said proudly. "Not bad for my first time navigating on the ground."
"They’ll compose ballads about you," Gentry said dryly, welcoming a break from thoughts of her father and how she didn't know what the hell she was going to do next. "I take it we're going somewhere where there's no internet?"
Kit smiled apologetically at her. "You say 'internet' the same way some people say 'water’. But yeah, you’re right. No internet, but it should give us a little time to regroup and lose the people who are trailing us.”
"You think people have followed us this far?"
Kit shrugged. "I tried not to go in the cardinal direction of this place when we left the city, so I think the trail that was behind us would point them in the wrong direction. But you never know. Regardless, we should be more than off the grid for a while. It should throw them for a loop."
Gentry nodded, a little too exhausted to say anything further. Her mother and sister would be returning from their cruise in two weeks, and she could feel that clock ticking away. If they lost the trail on her for a few days, maybe Drayer Netherton would point his goons in their direction. The thought sent shivers down her spine. Protecting her mom and sister should be her only priority.
They were in danger because of her. The guilt gnawed at her. She'd already lost her and Beckett's father because she hadn't thought things through enough. Was breaking this curse worth risking what was left of her family?
"You should relax. Drink some more water." Kit tapped the bottle that was still in her hand, and the aluminum tinged. He frowned and caught her bandaged arm, his gaze sharpening on the fact that the scratch from the vampyre had bled through her gauze again.
"Ah, you're a bleeder," he said. "It's a good thing we're close."
Gentry smiled bitterly at his concern for her well-being. She'd already told him about some of the side effects of being tethered to Drayer Netherton, so now he understood all about her hemophilia. It made him even more protective over her, something that made the hairs on her back rise. She didn't deserve anyone’s protection. Not anymore. She’d made her bed.
"I'll be fine," she muttered, standing up despite every muscle in her legs protesting. "Lead the way, O great navigator.”
Kit ruffled her hair just enough to get her spitting angry and then sauntered off, once again taking all their packs. Thelast mile felt like an eternity. Although they were now going downhill, it took quite a bit of muscle not to slip all the way down. More than once, Gentry found herself falling against Kit's strong back. She growled at his offer to carry her. Where had this obedience and devotion been when she’d actuallywantedhim to do her bidding?
Every snag from nearby cacti onto her clothing added to her headache, and she was panting like an absolute dog when they reached the base of the rock formation.
"We’ve made it," Kit announced proudly, his chest puffing out like he'd solved world hunger.
Gentry blinked at the absolute nothingness they’d arrived at. Endless desert seemed to start at this point as she could only see more mountains in the distance, the vegetation far more sparse and less interesting to look at. “This is our hideout? Are we staying in a tent or something?” she asked.
Kit set all their bags down and then tapped at the watch on his wrist. “We have two minutes until Bunker Five gets here. It’s a mobile underground bunker that travels underneath the sands. This is one of its brief rest stops.” He walked over to where a large rock lay and created an X with his boot. “It should stop right about here, if memory serves me right.”
“A mobile underground bunker?” She tried and failed to imagine how that would work given the bedrock of the desert.
“It’s a leftover from the War. The witches created them surrounding Skadra as strongholds to ambush the invading fae. Only a few are left now, and even fewer are actually in working condition. My old coven leader found Bunker Five when he was a child, and shared it with all the Jumpers. It’s… well, you’ll see. You’re probably the first outsider who will see it.”
Gentry heard the softening of Kit’s voice. It was apparent he was fond of both his old coven leader and this place. Suddenly, she felt nervous looking at that ‘X’. This witch was supposedto hate her. Hell, he had every right. Why was he sharing something special withher? “I used to be really into history,” she told him, trying to change the subject, “but it was mostly about the industrial revolution, not the War.”
