Charlie ran beside him as he pulled her toward the woods. She didn’t have to look back to know they were being hunted.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Charlie releasedJack’s hand to shove aside the branches slapping her face and tearing at her clothes as they plunged through the trees with reckless speed. She didn’t care about the noise they made; there was nothing they could do to stop that until they put more distance between them and their pursuers.
Something whistled past her ear, and it wasn’t until bark exploded in front of her that she realized someone was shooting at them. Jack spun and, grasping her arm, pulled her forward until his body blocked hers while they ran.
Had he just put himself between her and bullets that were most likely wooden? She didn’t know what to make of any of this, and thankfully, she didn’t have the time to figure it out as another bullet hit a tree a few feet to her left.
She dashed in and out of the trees in a zigzagging pattern that would make shooting them more difficult. Charlie didn’t dare look back at their hunters, she’d run into a tree if she did, but she could hear their heavy footfalls following them through the trees.
Jack glanced over his shoulder as Charlie made a sharp left he almost didn’t follow. He had no idea where she was going and wondered if she knew, but then, it didn’t matter where they were going if they couldn’t lose their pursuers.
Another bullet cracked off a rock only inches away from him. Splintered debris flew up to pelt his face, and he felt blood trickling down his cheek. On the other side of the rock, he was dismayed to realize they were back into open land—open land that ended in a cliff.
Terror crept up Charlie’s spine until she could taste the rancidness of it on her tongue and feel its icy tendrils breathing down her neck. She hadn’t known where they were going, hadn’t realized they’d run so far and were heading toward a dead end.
Jack closed the few feet of distance separating him from Charlie when he felt her slow down. They had no choice. He could only hope there was ocean below them and not land.
He pulled her close as a bullet slammed into his left shoulder. Fragments of bone dug into muscle and skin as the bullet burned into his body. He didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t let Charlie go as he plunged over the edge of the cliff and toward the ocean below.
A scream lodged in Charlie’s throat as the wind tore at her hair and clothes. Jack’s arms tightened around her as their momentum turned them so they were looking up at the cliffs and the hunters gathered there. The sun shone off the rifles pointed at them, and concussive booms sounded before a bullet struck her in the leg.
Jack grunted when another bullet hit him in the stomach with the force of a cannonball. The breath rushed out of him, and his arms and legs instinctively curled upward to try to protect him. But there was nothing he could do to stop the next bullet from hitting him in the chest.
Pain exploded through him, and then he crashed into the icy water. His skin stung as if someone had tied him down and beat his back with a wooden paddle for over an hour. His skull felt like he’d hit concrete as his vision blurred, but he somehow managed to remain conscious.
The waves crashing over him rolled him into their dark embrace. He briefly dreamed of sinking into the cooling depths of the ocean and letting it ease the fire the bullets created, but Charlie renewed his strength as she squirmed against him. He could feel her panic mounting as the waves rolled them again, pushing them toward the cliffs. Opening his eyes, he watched as a bullet whizzed through the water only inches away.
The bastards were still firing at them! If they surfaced now, they would be struck down, but the burning in his chest was from more than the bullet embedded in him. He desperately needed oxygen, and so did Charlie. He had to get her out of here.
Keeping her against his side, Jack drew on resolves of strength he never knew he possessed as he kicked through the water at a parallel angle to the cliffs.
Charlie tried to kick with Jack, but her wounded leg felt like a lead weight was attached to her. Her other leg propelled her through the water, so at least she was being somewhat helpful, or at least she believed she was. She kept her lips clamped against breathing, but it was so tempting.
As they swam, she became aware of the blood flowing through the water around them, and it wasn’t from her. Jack was hurt too, but she didn’t know how bad. It wasn’t slowing him as he battled the waves determined to smash them into the cliffs.
They had to get out of this water so she could see what had happened to him and help him.
Jack’s strength and energy were seeping out with his blood as it stained the water around them. Gritting his teeth, it took everything he had to keep going.
Don’t let her go. Don’t let her go. I can’t lose her.
The words looped through his head, but his lungs felt about to burst. Charlie had to be as desperate for oxygen as he was. He didn’t see any more bullets slicing through the water, but he didn’t dare surface yet; they had to get farther away first.
Charlie’s hands bit into his forearms; her body stiffened and jerked against his. She was running out of air and would soon inhale the water that wouldn’t kill her but would cause her a lot of pain. The idea of anything hurting his mate revitalized Jack’s dwindling strength. They had no choice; they had to surface.
Kicking, he surged toward the surface and broke free as a wave crashed over them, rolling them toward the rocks. He waited for a bullet to smash through the top of his skull; instead, he got a face full of water when he attempted to breathe. Charlie’s coughing and sputtering sounded in his ears as she hung on to him.
He held her closer, but his arms were becoming increasingly weaker. He had to get her to shore before he passed out. He didn’t see the hunters and guards who pursued them to the cliffs, and fifty feet away, a small stretch of beach lined the shore.
He didn’t know how far the tide had carried them away from where they went over or how far they swam, but they were a good distance away from where they first hit the water.
“Are you okay?” Charlie asked as the next wave rolled them closer to shore.
Jack couldn’t speak as he used the last of his dwindling strength to swim toward the shore.
The shakes rattling Charlie had nothing to do with the cold water; she was terrified for Jack. His lips were white, and lines of stress etched the corners of his mouth and eyes. Adrenaline flooded her body; he was suffering far more than she realized, but he was still swimming and still refusing to let her go.No, she would not allow anything to happen to him.
