He watched the Savage slipping through the trees, but kept his other senses attuned to his surroundings as he tried to ascertain if this one was a decoy while more slipped up on them. He heard no other sounds, and the scent on the air was only strong enough for one.
“Get in the truck and lock the door,” Killean said.
Simone wanted to argue with him, but she couldn’t do anything that might put him at risk. Lifting her dress, she was reaching for something to help her inside when Killean clasped her elbow and boosted her up. A small, electrical current ran from his hand and into her arm before he settled her inside and released her as if she’d burned him.
“Here are the keys.” He shoved the keys into her hand. “Donotopen these doors for anyone other than me. If I’m not back in three minutes, drive out of here.”
She didn’t get a chance to tell him she couldn’t drive before he shut the door and stalked away. Simone locked the door while she watched Killean slip into the trees. Placing her hands in her lap, she wrung them nervously as she searched the shadows. She felt horribly exposed beneath the dim glow of the interior light, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off Killean to search for a way to turn it off.
Like he was more shadow than man, Killean glided seamlessly in and out of the trees; if she looked away for even a second, she’d lose sight of him.
Then the light turned off, and she almost screamed as a figure surged up from behind Killean in the dark. She hadn’t seen the Savage hiding behind a tree, but Killean must have as he turned when the creature lunged at him and seized it by the throat.
Simone had always shied away from violence, she hadn’t even liked going near the male hunters while they were on the training field, but she was riveted on Killean. Leaning forward, she rested her fingers on the dashboard as Killean lifted the Savage like he weighed no more than a feather and smashed it against a tree.
Before the Savage could react, Killean drove his fist into the monster’s chest. Simone gulped as she watched his wrist disappear into the creature’s ribcage before Killean pulled his hand back. She thought she should be horrified by the heart Killean held in his hand, and the brutality he’d unleashed with such speed and zero remorse, but she didn’t feel unsettled by it.
She was impressed and something more, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on until Killean released the body.Relief.She was relieved he was safe, and not because she would be vulnerable without him, but because she didn’t want anything bad to happen to the infuriating man. It made no sense to her. She barely knew him, but the idea of something happening to him scared her.
Killean dropped the Savage’s heart on the ground and bent over the dead body. The enticing scent of the creature’s blood teased Killean’s nostrils, but he resisted its temptation as he searched the Savage’s pockets. He didn’t find a cell phone, which meant this bastard hadn’t been able to get a call out to his fellow shitheads about where they were.
Lifting the body, Killean tossed it over his shoulder before reclaiming the heart and carrying it over to the truck. He dumped the body into the back and glanced at Simone who watched him with wide eyes.
He held up his index finger to her before returning to the kill site to make sure any spilled blood was obscured by debris. From an empty campsite, he gathered a piece of burnt wood still sitting in a firepit and ran the wood over the leaves and pine needles covering the blood to obscure the scent.
When he finished, he walked the thirty feet to the river to throw the wood into it and wash his hands while he searched for more Savages. He saw no sign of them, and he didn’t detect their scent on the air.
Returning to the truck, his eyes met Simone’s as he approached the vehicle. In the light of the stars, he could see her pale face as her eyes tracked his every move. When he reached the driver’s side of the truck, he wondered if she would let him in or if he would have to break the window. Before his hand fell on the handle, she leaned over and unlocked the door. Killean opened it and climbed behind the wheel.
Simone watched as he started the truck. When the headlights flared on, he turned them off and shifted into reverse. She’d been in a few vehicles in her lifetime, but she’d never driven one, and she found herself fascinated by the mechanics of it. Tonight was no exception as Killean went through the process with ease. He pulled the truck out of the parking spot and onto the dirt road running through the campsites.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Fine,” he replied.
He hadn’t been hurt, but every muscle in his body was tensed as if he were prepared to attack again. However, she decided she was better off letting it drop. “What are you going to do with the body?”
“Drop it off somewhere no one will can find it before the sun takes care of the remains.”
“Do you think there are others out there?”
“No. This one was alone.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I didn’t sense them out there, and I would have detected them.”
The confident way he said it buried some of her worry, but she still couldn’t help feeling as if those monsters were closing in on them. Simone gazed out the window as they passed more campers before traveling by a large, log building. A sign outside the building read,Guest Check-In & Mercantile.
After they passed the building, Killean left the dirt road behind for a paved street leading away from the campground. She relaxed when the bumpy road gave way to the smooth hum of tires on asphalt. No streetlights illuminated the night, but she saw well enough to differentiate the pine, oak, and maple trees crowding the road. Given the size of their trunks, some of the trees had to be a couple of hundred years old.
When they’d traveled a couple of miles, Killean pulled over to the side of the road. The trees in this area were set further back from the road, which would allow more sunlight to spill onto the road in the morning. There were no nearby houses.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
He left the truck running as he jumped out and walked around to the back to retrieve the body and heart. He carried the Savage over to a five-foot-deep embankment on the side of the road. It wasn’t the ideal spot to discard a body, but the embankment would hide it from any travelers before the sun could do its job. He couldn’t drive around with the body in the bed of the truck all night. If any Savages happened to be near the road, they would scent the blood, and he wasn’t about to ring the dinner bell for them.
Killean returned to the truck and searched the bed for any blood. He pulled his shirt off and used it to wipe away the few drops that had spilled there before tugging it back on. Leaping out of the truck, he returned to the driver’s seat and pulled away from the embankment.
