Her head moved in a slow bob.
“I’ll be right back.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. Above me, the whir of Callum’s drone echoed closer. If I could at least get back up to the ridge and see what was going on—see if Calder was okay.
I reached the edge of the shelter when I heard them—a single set of footsteps rushing down the ridge.
Calder.
The gait was uneven.He was injured.
My heart leaped just as quickly as my feet. I sprinted out from under the canopy, my pulse banging as I scanned for him. My mind filtered movable from immovable, blurring the stable forest setting and sharpening on the flutter of movement between the trunks.
“Calder!” I took two steps in his direction and stopped as he appeared through the last of the trees.
Oh god.No.
Ice-cold fear dumped into my veins as I stared at the battered man in disbelief. I blinked twice, but neither time revealed Calder, only the slow sneer of a man I never thought I’d see again.
“Find him.” Dr. Julia’s orders whispered in the back of my mind. She hadn’t been talking about Trent or Calder. She’d been talking about him. The man in front of me. The man who’d been tied unconscious to a tree the last time I’d seen him.
“Ben.”
“It’s my lucky day.” His mouth contorted into a snarl. “I came here for what I’m owed, and I found something better.”
Chapter 34
Calder
Rule #31: Learn to see what doesn’t belong. The human presence creates patterns that disrupt the natural world.
Eden’s voice settled like a funk in the air.
“Good morning, my children. We begin another day ready and willing to succumb to our wild core ...”
I pressed my back to the side of the cabin and scanned the crowd of women, Eden at their helm. Behind the rows of seated women, the six guards, including Matthew, stood. His focus, though, wasn’t on the charismatic leader, but on Maxwell who stood next to him, looking just as unsettled as she had last night, making me suspect she was equal parts accomplice and victim.
Everyone was accounted for. I looked back to Eden’s cabin, where Lara had entered moments earlier, my entire body buzzing.
I wished there was another way to go about my plan. Unfortunately, Eden’s cabin was situated with the door faced away from the center of the compound, meaning the only way to confirm the coast was clear was to separate from Lara and watch—protect from a distance.
Movement caught the corner of my eye. I turned and my eyes tracked a figure climbing over the entrance gate like a wolf sneaking into a henhouse.
Ben.
What the fuck.
I strode back into the trees and then started to jog toward the gate.What the hell was he doing here?Nothing good, was the only answer I had. If he went for Eden’s cabin—if he saw Lara again—I couldn’t let that happen.
My feet fell quickly across the forest floor. Decades of experience, of training with Cassius, made my path swift and silent. I rounded the back of Eden’s cabin and advanced on the front gate. Even at a distance, Ben looked the worse for wear, and not all of thatworsewas from me. He must’ve come to and escaped the retreat before Matthew could do something about him.
I pulled my weapon as I reached the gate, scanning up and along the wall, but saw no sign of him. I was long past resolving anything with this man without at least a threat of serious force.
I crouched. His boots crushed some yellow grass and left a deeper imprint where he’d landed when he’d climbed over, the tread leading in a lighter pattern toward the opposite side of the compound—toward the building where the women stayed. I gritted my teeth. As long as he wasn’t heading for Eden’s cabin, I’d deal with him later. My first priority was Lara and her sister, and they should’ve been out by now.
I squinted at the door to Eden’s cabin.Dammit.Lara had left it open. I itched to go and close it, but the closer I got, the less I’d be able to see.
Minutes ticked by, each one draining the life out of me as I waited for them to leave the cabin.Come on, Lara.My fingers drummed against my leg. Waiting.
Waiting.
