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Rix followed him and they closed the door, taking their heartbeats with them until I could only feel mine and Jorik’s. Worry spun through me.
“Come on, Angel,” Jorik said, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Let’s see if this guy had a secret stash of booze, too.”
Nodding, I followed him into the bedroom.
They’d done a real thorough sweep of the area around the last cabin in search of a still where the owner could have been making his own alcohol, but to the guys’ disappointment, they’d come up empty.
“I don’t see the appeal of that stuff.” I started opening up drawers in the dresser, rifling through musty, damp-smelling clothes, which had been chewed and pooped on by mice, while Jorik opened up the closet and tested the wall behind it and the floorboards below for false panels. “It burns, and it tastes and smells gross. I just don’t get it.”
“Have the killings you’ve been forced to do since you got free haunted your dreams at all?” Jorik asked, lifting up the mattress on the bed, then sliding down to his belly to check under the bed.
“No,” I said, bringing a candle over and crouching down to lend him some light so he could see better under the bed. “Careful, there might be a mouse or something under there.”
“You hungry,Kitten?”he asked teasingly, using Zane’s nickname for me.
“Ha ha,” I said dryly. “But no. And again, no, I don’t dream about those killings. They were necessary. And yeah, that first time I went into a bit of a shock, but now I’m kind of …numbabout the whole thing. Like I told that raccoon, it’s kill or be killed.”
He lifted his head. “What raccoon?”
“Never mind. Anything under there?”
“No. Alcohol can be used as a way to numb and forget your problems. If you have enough of it, you pass out and the dreams don’t really bother you. The first few years after I started killing, I had some really horrible dreams. Rix did, too. I don’t know about Chance or Zane. And not that they gave us alcohol when we were kids … though maybe they should have. I learned as an adult on missions that it’s an easy vice to dull those vivid dreams that sometimes feel more real than real life.”
“I’m sorry you experienced dreams like that,” I said softly, eating up the distance between us in the room and wrapping my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry you were forced to kill people as a kid and even now as an adult. This isn’t normal.”
His laugh was brittle and doused with sarcasm. “Definenormal.”
“Not this,” I said, every ounce of me totally serious.
Letting out a huff, his warm breath hitting my forehead, Jorik nodded solemnly. “Fair enough. That’s the plan, right? Stop this madness.”
“If we don’t die or our boat doesn’t sink first,” I replied, letting him lead me back out of the bedroom. We continued to hunt through the rest of the house. We didn’t find any more alcohol, but we did find several hunting knives, a few shotguns, and a giant tube of KY Jelly.
“What is that?” I asked as Jorik held up the jar.
“Personal lubricant,” he said with a chuckle. “So whoever lived here was using it like we used the coconut oil … but on himself … or herself … or themself.”
“Up their butt?” I squeaked.
“No, probably just with their hand. Some people like to make their hand good and slick like a pussy when they touch themselves.” He unscrewed the lid and made a face that was similar to the one I was probably currently making. “There’s not much left in here.”
“Ugh!” An involuntary shiver wracked me. “Throw that away. And wash your hands.”
Jorik chuckled but obliged, stashing the jar in a trashcan under the kitchen sink, then turning on the tap to wash his hands. “At least there’s running water, even if it’s not hot.”
I felt their heartbeats and heard their footsteps a full fifteen seconds before the door to the cabin opened and Rix and Zane stalked inside, removing their night-vision goggles.
“All clear,” Rix said, his cheeks a rosy pink, the same shade as his fingers. I rushed forward and took his icy hands in mine, bringing them to my lips and blowing warm air to help heat him up quicker.
Zane shot me a look, but I just glared back at him.
Rix chuckled. “I’m okay, Cat. It’s not that cold out there.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, which made my heart sing, before pulling his hands from mine and stepping away. “I’ll take first watch. You guys go grab some shut-eye.” His gaze fell to me. “Especially you. You look exhausted.”
With a weary sigh, I nodded. He wasn’t wrong. The chaos of the chopper, the sinking sailboat, and having to find a new cabin had taken its toll on me—on all of us.
I yawned again, but when I sucked in a breath a moment later, the sharp, coppery tang of blood filled my nostrils. “Someone’s bleeding!”
My eyes went wide as I lifted up Rix and Jorik’s black T-shirts, peeled back their sleeves and patted down their legs. How come I was just smelling the blood now? Were my enhancements failing?
