He looked down at the man and froze. She wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t see the recognition in his face. “You know him?”
“Paul Leonie.” He spat the name out. “His brother killed my partner. I testified against him.”
The man glared and coughed. “Told you…gonna kill you. Saw you fucking this chick, knew I could really make you suffer.”
Genevieve shuddered. If she was a little less frozen, she might feel horror that this man had caught their most intimate moments. “So that’s why he shot at you and then followed you up here? Vengeance?” Silly rabbit. She could have told him vengeance didn’t work.
“Must be. Genevieve, come on, inside. Leave him. We don’t know who’s with him.”
With the way Alex was scanning the darkness, his handgun cocked and ready to fire, she realized he was expecting trouble. The layer of calm surrounding her allowed her to look down at the dying man. His eyes were open lasers of hate directed straight toward Alex. “You know, I can help you.” The man’s black eyes turned to her.
“Angel, inside…”
She grabbed the man’s hair and tipped his head back to make sure he was listening to her. “I can help you, but I want you tell me if you have any other friends or accomplices out there.”
“Genevieve—”
She didn’t pay any attention, but watched the man’s aura.
“No,” he whispered.
Satisfied, she let him fall back on the ground. “He’s by himself. I’ve already taken all of his weapons off him. Help me get him to the shed over there.” Like hell she was letting him in the house or the barn. The shed was old, but it was solid and she had a padlock she could put on it.
“I’m not taking the man’s word for it.”
She looked up at Alex. “I can tell when a person’s lying. He’s not. Besides, if someone else was out here, we’d be dead by now.”
Genevieve loved that he didn’t ask her any further questions. He simply took her claim at face value, handed her his gun and bent down to haul the slighter man into a fireman’s carry. At the movement, Leonie slumped forward, unconscious. “Show me where.”
She pointed to the shed and then followed after she had gathered up the guy’s weapons and tucked them into her coat. Soon Alex was lowering Leonie to the dirty floor. “I don’t know how long he’s going to last. He seems to be bleeding an awful lot.”
Alex didn’t sound as if he particularly cared, and Genevieve supposed she couldn’t really blame him. The guy had shot Alex and left him for dead, but for the grace of God. Plus, after the terror of the last day and night, she wasn’t too thrilled with Leonie either. He was an evil little man who had probably never done a lick of good in his life. Telling them no one else was in the woods was probably the first words of truth he’d uttered in a long time.
But you can’t let him die.
She shut her eyes, trying to block out the insistent whisper that was attempting to penetrate her frozen calm.
He deserved it. Given half a chance, he would have had no compunction about killing both her and Alex.
You’re not a killer.
She inhaled so hard, tears sprang to her eyes. No. Oh, God, no, she wasn’t a killer.
Ignoring Alex’s start of surprise, she rushed over to the man and knelt next to him.
“Genevieve, what are you doing?”
“I have to heal him.”
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at him, so tall and strong. A burst of relief coursed through her. She wasn’t a killer. She still didn’t deserve him, but no matter what she’d done, no matter how much she regretted it…she had a choice here. She didn’t have to take this one on herself. “I can’t have a third death on my conscience. Let me do this.”
To his credit, Alex didn’t even blink at her words. Though he looked none too pleased at the idea of her touching the other man, he nodded and subsided.
She didn’t bother to fix the man on the aural plane, since she feared it would be far too tempting to lose her head and wreak a little bit of havoc. Instead, she did what she’d done for Alex. Of course, this man wouldn’t have the warmth, shelter and proper cleanliness she’d afforded Alex, but what the hell. He deserved to suffer.
By the time the wounds had sufficiently repaired, Genevieve and Leonie were both whimpering. Distantly, she heard Alex say something, his tone worried. The next thing she knew, he picked her up and was carrying her. “Padlock,” she managed to croak. Though Leonie would be out for a while as he healed, there was no need to take any chances.
