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Evander tightens his hand around mine. “Eliana, run.” He shoves me toward the trees. “Go!”
Chapter ten
Evander
Protective
ALWAYSPROTECTHERfirst. My dad’s voice swirls through my mind, reminding me of what he taught me long ago before he died. Whether it’s my mom, my sister, my aunt, whoever. Dad said that it’s my duty to ensure a woman’s safety despite the threat upon my life. If only his advice had prevented the car accident that took my family.
Control what you can, son. Accept the things you can’t. Remember, it’s a man’s job to take care of those who need it. It is a man’s job to teach her how to take care of herself if something ever happens. I’ll never forget that advice for as long as I live. And I’ll try my best. I will not let another person in my life down. Especially not Eliana. Because I can control the situation. I can face the threat head-on.
“Go!” I repeat, turning my back on Eliana to face Alicia and Hank.
Something has gotten into them, and I’m pretty sure it’s this island. It could very well be Kellan, the fucking wolf man, who is trying to steal Eliana from us. I don’t know what his plan is, but he has to have something to do with them. They’re wearing clothes. They look prepared to murder us. It’s as if they’ve been brainwashed. Because murder was the last thing on their minds before. But now they see what we see. Except now they’re coming after us.
Eliana listens to me and runs toward the trees. I pray that the others aren’t surrounding us, ready to hurt her when I face these two fuckers. The psychopaths.
I tighten my fingers around the strap of the backpack Kellan gave us. A thought dawns on me. The last one had a knife in it. This one better have one too. I’m screwed without it. I can throw a punch, but it’s a little bit harder when my opponent is armed, and I’m outnumbered.
I hold my hand up toward Alicia and Hank. “Stay the hell back. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Neither of them listens to me. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with them, but they move in sync and almost robotically. Alicia swipes her machete in front of her, clearly not knowing how to use it, just hoping that she manages to cut me. Hank breaks away from her and starts to circle as if he’s going to try to attack me from behind.
“We’re so sorry. You were right. We must do what it takes to survive, even if it means doing something unthinkable.” Alicia charges me with a holler, and all I can think about is how this is it. It’s a kill or be killed situation, and I don’t plan to die.
I pull a small blade from the backpack and throw it at Alicia, sinking it into her shoulder. She screams in surprise, obviously not expecting the fact that throwing knives was a hobby of mine along with axes. I haven’t said much about it to anyone because it’s not like we had those types of weapons. It’s always been for fun. But in this moment? It might save my life. Except now I don’t have a fucking weapon. I’m an idiot.
Alicia grabs the hilt of the blade and yanks it out. Big mistake for her. I think I hit an artery, because blood gushes and stains her white T-shirt. She drops to her knees, clutching her skin. If I didn’t hear Hank behind me, I might’ve rushed to try to help her. I know I shouldn’t, but my dad’s advice flows through my mind again. It doesn’t matter who it is. She was obviously put in a bad situation. Now it’s the death of her. Death by my hands. I almost don’t believe it. I never knew I was capable of it. But I guess there’s a first time for everything.
“No! You fucker!” Hank charges me, and I brace for a wrestling match.
He doesn’t make it within my reach. Eliana crashes into him, knocking him off his feet. The two of them roll across the ground together, and she manages to climb on top of him. Fisting her hand, she swings and sucker punches him in the throat. She jabs his nose next and scrambles up, only to kick him between the legs. Her fighting surprises me, and I watch the fierce woman turn feral with her need to protect us. I didn’t know that I had killer instincts, but Eliana? Damn. I wasn’t expecting her to be able to fight like this. She’s been holding out on us. And it makes me even more attracted to her.
It kind of hurts my ego just a bit too. It should be me punching Hank and not her.
“Stay down. If you try to get up, we will kill you,” Eliana says, her voice deepening with her anger. “I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you, but whatever it is needs to stop.”
Hank coughs and spits blood, but he obeys her and remains on the ground. “The only way this will ever stop is when we die. This is it. There are things about this island that none of us understand. We were visited by some of the natives. They came with a warning and an opportunity. We have to take it. We can see if you two can join in. They need a female.” Darting his gaze to Eliana, he acknowledges her. “They won’t be happy that Alicia is dead.”
Eliana wrings her hands together and glances from me to Hank. “We need to tie him up. He can give us more answers.”
“Tie me up? Come on. This is your chance. You could join us. We could go after the others to do the trade.” Hank sits up, gathering dirt in his hands. The fucker looks ready to throw it in Eliana’s face.
I snatch her hand and yank her toward me. Hank does what I expect him to and tosses the dirt, but it only rains through the air, missing Eliana. I tackle him, sending him back to the ground. He tries to grab my balls, but I lock my hand around his wrist and twist it hard enough to break. He screams, his voice piercing the air. This fucker has a lot of nerve and bravado.
Eliana rushes toward Alicia, the woman’s body now face first in the dirt. She picks up the machete and the small knife and returns to my side.
“Hold him still. I want to be as humane as possible. He’s a dead man already. Look.” Eliana grabs Hank’s arm and drags up his sleeve, revealing a bite mark. “He’s been bitten. That’s why he is so aggressive. Maybe whoever put them up to this offered him a cure or something.”
I hesitate with her words. What if whatever happened to Hank doesn’t lead to that strange monstrous form? Should we really kill him?
The fucker snaps his teeth at me, trying to bite me. My unsettling thought might be coincidental, but it seems as if it triggers Hank. Unease stirs through me. Eliana is right. Hank is a dead man trying to negotiate. His skin ripples and he arches his back, breaking away. Swinging his arm, he knocks me off him.
Eliana jumps onto his back and uses her bodyweight to throw him off balance. They fall to the ground again. She doesn’t hesitate, jabbing the machete into the back of Hank’s neck, killing him. His writhing body face-plants, twitching for a second.
My chest clenches as she scrambles to her feet and covers her eyes. I think this might’ve been the first time she’s killed someone too. Her body trembles with her heavy gasps. The color drains from her complexion like she might be sick. I rush to her and pull her into my arms, not afraid of her body’s reaction. I just want to hold her and help her suppress the shudders. I want her to know that what she did was a necessity. Hank was infected. He was rapidly changing. If she hadn’t done what she did, he could’ve gotten either of us.
I rub my hand along her back, holding her close. Her warm breath tickles against my chest. Remaining steady, I wait until she slows her breathing to guide her chin up, so she looks at me. I want her to feel my words in her very being. She needs to know she did the right thing. “You did good, Eliana. He was changing. You protected us.”
