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We stumble forward over wet leaves, and June’s feet slide out from under her, taking her down hard. I try to grab her at the last minute, but my hand doesn’t connect with her arm. She hits the ground with a thump; a pain-filled gasp leaves her clenched lips.
I reach out and grasp her arm, trying hard not to slip and fall on top of her. “Come on, June. We need to keep going.”
Tears slide down her cheeks, and her lips tremble. “I can’t go any further, Mateo. Please just leave me here and go. You can come back for me once you have help.”
I slide to my knees in front of her, wrapping both my hands on either side of her face and staring into her terrified eyes. This girl in front of me is a warrior. She has survived horrendous torture at the hands of five sick men. She even tried to protect me from them. I will never leave her behind. We either make it out together or die here in this forest together.
“I will never leave you behind, June. You are a part of me; where you go, I go.” I lean forward and brush my lips against her forehead. She wraps her slender arms around my waist and leans into my warmth.
After a few minutes of holding her, I get back to my feet and help her to stand. At first, it doesn’t seem like her legs will be able to hold her weight, but after a few moments, she wraps her arm around my waist, and we keep moving forward.
Chapter 37
Mateo
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Jack Canfield
“Wherewillwegoso they won’t be able to get to us?” Her voice penetrates the quietness of the trees around us.
“My brothers, uncle & Mia will protect us against Vincent. Doc said he’s shot, but he’s not dead.” I stumble on a tree root and go down hard, taking June with me to the forest floor. We are both almost spent. I can barely feel my wet, cold feet anymore, exhaustion is making my body sluggish. Where the hell is this hill and river that the doc said we couldn’t miss?Fuck, we must have missed it; there is no way we wouldn’t have found it by now.
“Mia? Is that your girlfriend?” Her voice sounds tentative and fearful. I stare into her small battered face, dirt smudges across her cheeks and chin. A face that has filled my waking sight every day since I woke up in that hell. One that has been my sole reason for surviving all the torture that has been inflicted on me.
Is Mia my girlfriend? I’m not sure how to answer that, if I’m being honest. I guess, in some ways, she might be or have been. In others, she’s the furthest thing from one. I’m not even sure she’s really in a relationship with any of us. It’s more a matter of us all being forced together due to the events surrounding us. Would she choose to be with me? Probably not. Of the four kings, I am the weakest. The one that can’t protect her. Hell, look at what my own dad did to me without the worry of repercussions.
“Umm…she’s a…I don’t have a label for her.” I sigh and try to pull myself back to my knees.
“So not…your girlfriend?” We both slide a little as we get back on our cold, wet feet and shuffle forward, struggling not to fall again.
“No.” The word leaves my lips, and I wish so much that it wasn’t true. That Mia was mine. That she was my girlfriend and that she had feelings for me like I do for her.Why would she want you out of all of the kings?You got yourself kidnapped and taken hostage like a dumb ass. Your father sold you to the enemy to keep his secrets and save his own neck. Why would Mia want to be with someone so pitiful?My constant companion, self-loathing, asks.
“Will...they…protect me too?”
That question I can answer without a moment’s hesitation. I know my fellow kings and Mia will help me protect June and keep her safe. Vincent will never be able to get his hands on her again. I’ll make fucking sure of it. A rustle in the trees has all the wildlife going completely silent. I pull June to a complete stop. Before she can make a sound, I wrap my hand around her mouth and shake my head.
Someone’s coming in quickly, stomping on the forest floor and not trying to disguise their steps. I quickly pull June into a large bush. We both crouch down, trying to hide our bodies in the thick foliage. My hand connects with a short thick branch on the ground. I quickly pull it towards me while pressing my finger to my lips, indicating June should be quiet.
“Mother fucker… slimy snake. Vincent’s gonna kill me if I don’t find those fuckers.” A male voice mumbles to himself. It’s the fourth guy, the one who went to get supplies, and he’s alone. Does that mean that doc is gone? Did he manage to escape after setting fire to the cabin, or did this guy get to him before he could?
He goes to move past us, oblivious that we are hiding not three feet from him. June’s shaking body makes the bush we are hiding in rustle and shift. The sound has him stopping in his tracks and turning back in our direction.Fuck. If he finds us in here, he’s going to kill us.I have to stop him. I have to protect June from this vicious asshole. This one took perverse pleasure in hearing her scream, and I will never let him lay a finger on her again.
I tighten my hold on the branch, adrenaline filling me as I jump out of the bush and attack him with it. I get a good hit to his face with the thick branch before he stumbles and then rights himself. Blood pours from a gash above his eye, and an angry glare crosses his features.
“Motherfucker... you’re a dead man.” He stalks towards me, his body large and menacing. His fist strikes out and catches the side of my face in a punch that has my head jerking to the side. I stumble back, then swing the branch again. This time getting him on the shoulder and neck. He manages to grab onto my flimsy shirt sleeve and pull me towards him. “I’m going to rip your fucking face off. Then I’m going to fuck that whore bloody in the ass while you watch, fucker.”
One of his punches lands hard on my throat, my breath gets trapped, and I start to choke. He sends another punch to the side of my head, and sparks of light appear in front of me. I go down hard, landing on my knees with my hand wrapped around my throat, trying to breathe. His foot comes towards me and kicks me in the side with his heavy boot. I struggle to keep from collapsing entirely to the ground and try to get my throat to work and allow oxygen into my lungs.
“Come here, you little whore. I can see you shaking in there.” He moves towards the bush that June is hiding in, yanking her out by her hair. She screams and tries to fight his grasp, but he lifts her up by her hair. He wraps his fingers around her slim neck until her face has gone puce, and she stops struggling.
Get up! Help her!My mind pleads with me. He’s killing her; she can’t breathe. I struggle to my feet, shaking my head to clear my vision. My fist tightens on the branch, still miraculously in my hold. The fucker is so intent on killing June that he doesn’t realize I have managed to get to my feet again. I trudge forward, lifting the thick, solid branch, and slam it down on the back of his head.
He releases his hold around June’s neck, and before he can turn around to confront me, I slam it down again and then again. Until the back of his head is bleeding, and he falls to his knees. I slam it down a few more times until he’s fallen flat on his face and isn’t moving. Blood pools from the back of his head at the crack I’ve made with the branch. Even the sight of him down doesn’t stop me, though. I follow him to the ground and keep hitting him until the only sounds in the forest are the cracking of the wood against his skull and my grunts from the force behind the blows.
“Mateo…Mateo stop! He’s dead. Stop!” June moves forward and tries to stop my arm’s forward motion, but I shove her away and hit him again. My mind replaying all the times he raped her. All the times, the monster laughed while she begged for mercy. While she screamed as he broke her. I couldn’t stop him then. I can stop him now, though. I can make sure that he never breathes another drop of air. He never comes after us or hurts another girl again. I can do that for June; I will do that for June.
“Mateo! Please stop! He’s dead, Mateo.” June crawls over to me and plasters her body against my back, trying to stop my arms from lowering again. Huge sobs are retching from her throat, and I can feel wetness on the back of my neck where her face is pressed against it. “Stop for me.” She whispers into the side of my neck, and a shudder racks my body.
I would do anything to protect her. I will do anything to keep her safe. I failed her before; I was weak. I watched as they did unspeakable things to her, things that she survived. I will never allow anyone else to lay hands on her, the demon deep inside of me will come out to fight for her, to protect her.
