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Belinda swayed against him, and Beast put and arm around her to steady her. “Can you walk?” There was no way she could run.
She nodded, but her eyes told him she wasn’t sure.
“There’s no need, Señorita,” someone be
hind Beast said in Spanish. “We can carry you.”
Beast froze. Belinda’s eyes went wide and she started shaking. Two more men stepped out from behind the wide tree and came up behind Belinda. Beast felt the muzzle of a gun pressed to the base of his skull.
“I saw what you did to my friend,” the owner of the gun said. “I will not be so stupid. Do not turn. Do not move. Or my friends over there will kill the woman.”
Belinda didn’t understand what he was saying, and she looked at him for translation. “John?” she whispered as she held tight to his arms.
“Do what they say, baby. Everything is going to be okay.” He kept his voice even, imbuing it with as much confidence as he could muster, hoping she’d take his lead and remain calm.
She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She knew this was bad. How could she not?
“What are you going to do with us?” he asked the man in Spanish.
“Take you to Martinez. He’s been looking for you. You ran out on him before he was finished with you.”
“He won’t like it if you hurt the girl,” Beast said.
“No. But he doesn’t care about you.” Beast felt a harsh blow to his kidney and doubled over in pain. “Disarm him,” the guy barked to his friends.
Someone ripped Beast’s pack from his shoulders. Another took the knife from his belt. His arms were dragged behind his back and tightly secured before the man behind him shoved him forward.
“Don’t do anything stupid or we will take it out on the girl. We were told not to hurt her,” the man said as he stepped forward and leered at Beast. “We weren’t told not to use her.”
“John?” Belinda sobbed, tears streaming down her face as one of the men held her back. “John?”
“I’m okay,” Beast said when he could breathe again.
Belinda was swaying, her cheeks red and her eyes glazed. Beast took a step towards her. It was too late. Her eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground.
“What’s wrong with her?” one of their captors demanded.
“She has a fever,” Beast said. “She needs medicine. Water.”
The man studied Belinda, who lay crumped on the ground. No one moved to help her. One of them toed her with his boot, making Beast growl.
“Don’t.” The gun was pressed harder to his head. “Don’t harm her,” Beast said. Nothing would stop him if they did. No amount of binding would keep him from them.
“I don’t think it’s an act,” the man who’d toed Belinda said. “We have to carry her.”
The men leered at each other before one of them lifted Belinda and hefted her over his shoulder. She hung like a rag doll, and Beast let out another low growl.
“Be careful with her.”
The men laughed at him.
“Move.” He was shoved in the back with the barrel of a gun. “Martinez is eager to see you again. Don’t worry. We aren’t far from him now.”
Beast didn’t care who was waiting for them. All he cared about was the sight of Belinda dangling sick and vulnerable over the shoulder of the man in front of him. Even if he had to die to do it, he was going to find some way to get her out of this in one piece.
Chapter 29
Belinda wavered in and out of consciousness. She felt as though her skin was on fire, yet it was suddenly very cold in the jungle. Thirsty—she was so thirsty. She caught snippets of activity around her. For a while, she’d been upside down, then she’d been tossed to the ground. She remembered landing, the jolt to her knee making her scream. After that, there was laughter and someone roared her name.
