When they were closer to shore, she put her feet down in the wet sand and was reassured when her leg supported her weight. She may not be able to feel her leg, but it wasn’t completely useless.
Jack rose beside her and staggered onto the beach before collapsing onto the sand. Dragged down by his weight, Charlie’s knees hit the sand as his head bowed and he inhaled wet, gurgled breaths that made her heart plunge. She looked frantically around for any enemies, but the cliffs above were empty, the beach to her left was deserted, and cliffs blocked the beach to her right.
Sliding her arm under Jack’s, she labored to get him to his feet. He leaned heavily on her, the weight of him almost causing her bad leg to collapse, but she somehow stayed upright. He took one step before falling again. Charlie tried to catch him, but her leg gave out, and they both fell onto the beach.
“Go,” he said as the blood seeping from him turned the sand red around his knees.
Struggling to contain her panic, she inhaled a deep breath and slid her arm under his again. She should flee from here before someone found and killed them. Dylan needed her, but she refused to release Jack.
“You wouldn’t leave me,” she said.
It was true; Jack would never leave her behind. He’d proven that over and over again. He was not Chad; he was not her parents. He wasJack,and he’d done more for her in the short time she’d known him than anyone, other than Miss Dodd. She would despise herself forever if she left him here to die.
But more than that, she realized she’d be leaving a piece of herself here too, and not just her self-respect, but also a part of her heart.
“Damn you, Jack Conte,” she muttered as she half dragged, half carried him across the sand.
His head was bowed, his blood coated them both, but he gave a small chuckle. “I think I’m already damned,” he muttered before passing out.
His dead weight nearly brought her down before she adjusted her hold on him. Bending, she somehow managed to maneuver him onto her shoulders. She hobbled with him over to the cliff face.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Charlie carriedJack into the small cave she discovered. The walls brushed against Jack’s feet and arms as she walked. The shadowed confines and cool rocks caused goose bumps to break out on her flesh. The cold, wet clothes cleaving to her body did nothing to warm her, but the scent of Jack’s blood teasing her nostrils made her heart thunder and her mouth water.
Great, she was thinking about biting the unconscious guy. For the first time, she was disgusted by her vampire instincts. She hadn’t embraced the idea of drinking blood when she first changed, but she accepted it. However, she’d never been as tempted by blood as she was now, and the idea of tasting Jack enticed her with every step she took.
When she believed they were far enough back that the scent of their blood wouldn’t be detected outside, she set Jack down and propped his back against the wall. Her eyes were far better than they were as a human, and this deep into the shadows of the cave, she could see Jack, but not as well as she would have liked.
She pulled her shoulder bag off and dropped it beside him. Digging into it, she removed the flashlight and examined it. It didn’t look broken, but she still held her breath as she clicked it on. To her amazement, a dim beam shot out.
She nearly recoiled from the sight that greeted her. Blood stained Jack’s clothes, and gaping holes marred his clothes and skin over his chest and stomach. She reached for him to ascertain the extent of the damage but pulled her hand away.
Before she could work on him, she had to cover any tracks she left behind. Rising, Charlie limped as she jogged to the front of the cave, but her leg was doing a lot better. When she arrived at the end, she clicked off her flashlight.
She poked out her head to make sure no one was on the beach before slipping free of the crevice. She searched the top of the cliffs as she edged out to the beach. For now, they were alone, but she didn’t know how long that would last, and she had to get back to Jack soon.
Hurrying out to the beach, she wiped away their footprints and kicked sand over the blood staining the ground. The waves washed away more of their evidence, and she hoped when the tide came in, it would eradicate any she might have missed.
Walking backward toward the cave, she wiped away the rest of the evidence they’d left as she went. Her leg throbbed as the bullet made its way out of her flesh, but at least she could feel her foot again.
When she finished, she entered the crevice and jogged back to Jack. She didn’t want him waking up and thinking she’d abandoned him, but when she returned to him, she discovered he was still unconscious.
She propped the flashlight against a rock and focused it on him while she knelt at his side and pulled a knife free. For the first time, she noticed the rifle had gotten lost somewhere, most likely in the sea.
Carefully, she sliced away the ruined remains of his shirt and peeled it back. Her heart sank when she got a good look at the bullet holes in the center of his chest and stomach. The holes were raw looking as blood seeped from the ragged flesh and trickled down his pale skin.
She ignored the chill and paleness of his skin as she pulled him forward so she could remove his shirt. She discovered another bullet hole in his shoulder. A lump lodged in her throat as she realized he’d taken that bullet for her. He’d taken themallfor her. She couldn’t lose him.
Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to shed them as she sliced his wet shirt into strips and used them to bandage his wounds. Fresh blood quickly stained the material; he wasn’t healing as fast as he should, and she realized it was because he’d lost too much blood and needed to feed.
However, she had no way of getting food to him. There were no animals on the beach. She couldn’t scale the cliffs to hunt as there was a good chance the bastards who chased them over the cliff could still be looking for them and Savages were crawling all over the island. He would die in here if she were caught or killed.
Charlie’s gaze fell to her wrist and then her leg. She’d lost a fair amount of blood, but the bullet had worked its way out, and she’d stopped bleeding. Despite the amount of blood she lost, she didn’t feel weakened by it.
She was about to bite into her wrist when she recalled Jack’s words about sex and blood completing the mating bond. He’d said that once the bond was complete, it couldn’t be severed, but if she only gave him enough blood to help him heal and she didn’t drink any of his blood, it shouldn’t be enough to create a bond.
But it wasn’t like she had many options, if she didn’t do something, he wouldn’t heal, and they couldn’t stay here for long; someone would eventually find them.
