Death Row: The Hunter Page 7

  Nellie closed her eyes briefly, overwhelmed by all that she had learned in what amounted to less than five minutes time.

  “The serum, Doctor,” Karen whispered. “It must be finished. Now.”

  “I agree,” Nellie whispered back, accepting another piece of meat from Kerick’s palm. “Kerick will be acquiring the necessary equipment that I might—”

  “We’ve no time for that. We must flee. Together. Tonight.” Karen’s nostrils were flared, her expression one that would broach no argument to the contrary. “More rides on this than you can possibly know,” she said, her voice breaking into a quiver.

  Nellie wanted more information, but realized that time was of the essence. When the males were finished with their conversation, the women would be brought above-table. Who knew when they could speak freely again after that. “I cannot,” Nellie whispered. “But I can promise to get that equipment just as soon as—”

  Karen held up a palm, silencing her. “Please,” she begged. “Please come with me.” She spoke the rest quickly, accurately guessing that the conversation above-table was almost finished. “Meet me at the corridor that leads into the cavern with the zida stones this eve at midnight. I’ve figured out a way to break its seal.”

  Nellie was given no time to reply for Kerick was bringing her up to sit in his lap, as was Karen’s Master doing to her. She sat in his lap, her back to his chest, his hands kneading her large breasts and massaging her nipples for all to see while he introduced her to his friends.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Nellie politely murmured first to Elijah, then to Xavier, and finally to her brother-in-law Kieran. Her eyes shuddered as arousal gnawed at her. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  Chapter 30

  Nellie climbed out of the pillow-bed at ten minutes of midnight, careful not to wake Kerick in the doing. She had never been more frightened, more on edge, than she was at this moment, for if he caught her…

  She swallowed against the lump in her throat as she collected her satchel. If he caught her he would never forgive her.

  Stopping only long enough to make certain he was softly snoring, she quietly exited their chamber, then ran down the corridor to where she knew Karen would be waiting. Just as she’d known she would be, the scientist was there, looking as nervous and uncertain as Nellie felt.

  Karen’s eyes lit up when she saw her. She motioned with her hands for Nellie to hurry.

  By the time Nellie reached her side, she was panting for breath. “I cannot go with you—not without telling Kerick,” she told a defeated looking Karen. “But,” she said quickly, “I’ve brought copies both of Margaret Riley’s journal and my own notes. There’s enough information here to get started on the serum. I vow to you that I will follow soon on your heels to finish it.” She sighed. “With or without Him.”

  Karen looked hopeful again. “Thank you,” she murmured. “But you do not know how to find the Xibalba—”

  “Cavern 7?”

  Karen’s eyes widened. “Yes,” she whispered. “The third boulder on the right in the inner most antechamber.”

  “Go quickly.” Nellie handed over her spare copy of notes to Karen then shooed her toward the sealed off entrance of the cavern containing the zida stones. “I’ve already figured out why you need that serum—now go!” she whispered fiercely.

  Karen nodded. She stopped long enough to kiss her cheek, then opened the trapdoor she’d figured out how to break the seal on. “Tell Kieran I’ll be back, Cyrus willing,” she murmured. “I…” She glanced away and sighed. “This will hurt Him and I don’t want Him hurting.” Their eyes clashed. “Make Him understand,” she whispered.

  Nellie smiled. “I will,” she said reassuringly, though she didn’t know if that would be possible or practical. She glanced over her shoulder, freezing when she saw the shadows of men coming upon them. She turned back to Karen. “Go!” she adamantly whispered. “Go!”

  Karen disappeared through the trapdoor and Nellie sealed it behind her. She was so worked up by the time the trapdoor had been resealed that she felt as though her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

  She turned on her heel, preparing to go back to her chamber, when four grim looking faces stopped her dead in her tracks. Nellie’s eyes widened. Her gaze flew up to meet the only one here that mattered to her, the one who was looking at her as though she’d ripped out his heart. “Kerick…”

  “Do not,” he hissed, “speak to Me, wench.” His nostrils flared. “Go back to our chamber and await Me there.”

  Nellie swallowed roughly. “I didn’t try to run from You—”

  “So you say.” His jaw clenched. “Remove yourself from the trapdoor that My brother and My men might collect Karen.”

  “No don’t!” Her chin came up determinedly. “It’s vital that You let her go—”

  “Go to the chamber!” he bellowed. “Go now!”

  Her nostrils flared. But, deciding that she wasn’t likely to sway either him or the three other males determined to recapture Karen, she walked away from Kerick, then ran down the corridor.

  Apparently he decided not to take any further chances where she was concerned, for by the time she had reached their chamber he was stalking in behind her, slamming the thatch and stone door in his wake.

  Minutes ticked by. Neither of them spoke.

  Unable to endure the bleak quiet any longer, Nellie turned around to face Kerick. Her jaw was clenched as tightly as his, her nostrils were flared as outrageously as his, her breathing every bit as labored as his. “I said I didn’t try to run!” she shrieked. “I expect to be believed given this past week we’ve spent together!”

  His intense eyes bore into hers, looking more desperate and more vulnerable than she’d ever thought possible. “I want to believe you,” he said hoarsely. I want to—”

  Her eyes gentled, but she remained firm. “Then believe me, Kerick. Please.”

  She broke eye contact and began to pace the chamber. She threw her hands up in the air, aggravated that she had no real way to prove her words. “I admit I helped Karen to escape, but her reasons for needing to go are valid—I will explain them to You later,” she said quickly before he threw out some arrogant, irritating line about wenches belonging with their Masters. “But—but!—I did not run from You. If I had, I’d have been gone long before You entered that Cyrus-forsaken corridor!”

  Kerick’s nostrils were still flared, his breathing still harsh, but he looked as though he was calming down a bit. And better yet, he looked as though he was finally starting to believe her.

  “I’ve never felt so broken in My life,” he murmured, his gaze clashing with hers, “as I felt when I woke up and thought you had run from Me.”

  Nellie hung her head. “Kerick…I won’t leave You.” Her face came up. She sighed as they resumed eye contact. “I vow it.”

  He nodded, letting the silence stretch out between them for a protracted moment. But finally he said, “You have much to explain to Me.”

  “Yes.”

  “You can explain in the morn.”

  She blinked. “You don’t want to know right now?”

  “No.” He slowly began to shed his body décor as he backed her up toward the pillow-bed. “I need to be inside of you, Nellie,” he said hoarsely. “I need you period.”

  Nothing else needed to be said. She felt the same way. She’d never felt so alone inside as she’d felt during those tense minutes when she’d thought Kerick wouldn’t believe her innocence.

  Within moments Nellie was lying flat on her back, her thighs spread wide for his thrusts. Neither of them was ready to speak of romantic love to the other, yet the emotions were in their every kiss, their every touch.

  Kerick wrapped a palm-full of her dark red hair around his hand, then sank into her cunt on a groan. Nellie groaned with him, frantically meeting him thrust for thrust.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, holding on while he gave her a hard ride. His buttocks clenched and contracted
as he repeatedly plunged into her pussy, drilling into her mercilessly.

  They fucked hard that eve, sexually bonding with each other in an almost desperate fashion. Nellie never wanted the sweetness to end, never wanted the night to turn into the dawn, for she knew that once she told Kerick everything, their lives would forever be changed.

  She and Kerick would stay together forever, she realized. That wasn’t the problem.

  The problem as Nellie saw it was figuring out, given all the obstacles that lay ahead, how to make forever last until they were both old and gray.

  She fell asleep in his arms pondering that question, clinging to her beloved Kerick as he had hoped she one day would.

  Chapter 31

  January 30, 2250 A.D.

  Karen ran into the middle antechamber, knowing that the men were fast on her heels. Her breathing was labored, her breasts bobbing up and down, as she dashed toward the Xibalba.

  Just one more antechamber, she told herself firmly. Keep running!

  The sounds of three sets of footfalls grew closer, frightening her. She rounded a corner and almost screamed when she bodily clashed with her leader. “Oh thank Cyrus,” she breathed out, her hand flying up to cover her heart. “You frightened me.”

  Intense gray eyes clashed with hers. “Let’s go,” the woman said. “In here.”

  The two women filed behind a boulder, hiding themselves away in a large crevice. They remained totally still as they listened to the males run in to the antechamber.

  “Fuck!” Kieran swore. “I’ve lost her.”

  Karen closed her eyes at the sound of his voice, hating that she had to do this to him.

  “Let’s break up, amigos,” she heard Elijah call out, a voice that induced Karen’s leader to flinch. “Xavier, you take the outer antechamber, Kieran hunt the middle one. I’ll search the inner one. Let’s meet in the middle antechamber in twenty minutes.”

  The males split up and went about their work. Karen and her leader stood quietly, unmoving, scarcely even breathing for the next twenty minutes. When the specified rendezvous time at last came upon them, the women quietly scurried from the boulder’s crevice and made their way into the inner antechamber.

  “Let’s go,” the leader murmured, opening the third boulder on the right for Karen to sneak through. “You first.”

  Karen nodded, doing as she had been instructed, the notes still firmly in her grasp. She turned around once she was in, preparing to help her leader climb through the trapdoor, when it suddenly swung shut and was sealed off with a dull thud.

  What the…?

  * * * * *

  Elijah’s hand clamped down on the wench’s shoulder. He had known that if he waited long enough his patience would be rewarded. He hadn’t recaptured Karen yet, true, but if this wench knew what was good for her then she’d tell him how to get to her.

  “Where is she?” he gritted out as he turned the female around to face him. “Where is—”

  Elijah’s words faltered as his jaw dropped open. Wide brown eyes clashed with intense gray ones.

  In shock, his hand fell from the woman’s shoulder and he stumbled back a few paces. “Sweet Cyrus,” Elijah murmured. He ran a hand over his jaw, his eyes unblinking. “Is it—is it…”

  He swallowed against the lump in his throat. “Is it you?”

  Coming soon:

  Also by Jaid Black:

  Ellora’s Cave

  www.ellorascave.com