The camp was eerily quiet. The only sound of life was the occasional snore from one of the cabins. There was no security, an indication that the kidnappers thought they were invulnerable. Belinda curled a hand into the back of his shirt, and he felt her touch zing through his body. He wanted her close. He wanted to keep her safe. But she didn’t have to touch. It was distracting. He glanced over his shoulder at her with a frown. She smiled and shrugged, but didn’t let go.
He reached behind him, grabbed Belinda and thrust her in front of him. If there was going to be shooting, they could aim at him. She gave him a quizzical look but kept on running. As they reached the thick wall of greenery, Beast looked back. Nothing. No movement. No sound. Nothing. A feeling of elation rushed through him, but they weren’t out of the woods yet—literally.
They ran as quickly and as quietly as they could. Every sense Beast possessed was working overtime. He hated that his back was facing the camp. He half expected a shot to ring out and their escape to end with a bullet in his spine.
“If someone shoots me,” he said, “keep running. Don’t stop for me.”
She looked back at him in shock. “Don’t be an idiot. If someone shoots you, I’m staying beside you to keep you alive. We’re in this together. Remember?”
Beast wasn’t sure what use she would be if he were shot, but he kept that to himself.
Once they were hidden by the dense plant life, Beast reached for Belinda’s arm. “I’ll go in front now, clear the way. We’re going fast. Keep up.”
She moved behind him, staying close. “How long do you think we have before they wake up?”
“Depends how drunk they were.”
The rainforest closed in around them, and Beast fought the feeling of disorientation it caused. This was nothing like the city. Everywhere he looked, there was dense foliage in every shade of green imaginable. There was so much of it that it was hard to find a place for the eyes to rest, to focus. Tall tree trunks stretched up high into the dense canopy, where their branches spread. Above them, the blue sky was replaced by green. Every now and then, the canopy broke and early morning sunlight streamed through to the forest floor. They were boxed in on all sides, green all around them, green above and green underfoot. It was claustrophobic.
And everywhere he looked, there was chaos. Long vines wrapped around branchless trunks, plants crept up the vines, hitching a ride up to the canopy and the sun above it. The ground was littered with leaves and dense with spindly young trees, bamboo and palms. It was impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction, and anywhere he did focus seemed to be alive with insects and birds. As far as he could see, the Amazon forest was literally covered with ants. Then there were the flying insects that buzzed around the trees. And the mosquitoes who’d made a beeline for them as soon as they were out of the hut. Everything moved. The ground. The trees. The plants. Everywhere he looked, something looked back at him.
They clambered over a fallen tree, which was covered in moss and vines, before moving deeper into the mass of green and further away from their captors.
“I don’t think we need to worry about them hearing us,” Belinda said. “I never realised the rainforest was this noisy.”
Beast didn’t reply, just held the leaves of a large palm out of her way to let her pass.
“There must be about a billion cicadas in this part of the forest alone.”
He didn’t answer because she didn’t seem to need one.
“And the birds. Have you ever heard so many different calls? I haven’t. I’m sure that’s monkeys I can hear.” She paused. “Yep, there are definitely monkeys overhead. Did you know that scientists don’t know how many species of monkeys there are in the Amazon? They’re still discovering new ones.” There was a loud screeching sound, and Belinda’s hand curled into the back of his shirt. “Oh, did you hear that? It’s a howler monkey. They’re the loudest monkeys in the world. The baddies will never hear us over that.”
Baddies? And seriously? Where did she get this crap? “Let me guess, you learned all this from Daniel Radcliffe’s movie.”
She let go of his shirt, and he almost regretted the loss of her touch. “Wow, you really have a low opinion of me, don’t you? What do you think I do all day? Hang out at the spa, get facials and watch gossip TV?”
That was exactly what he thought, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Guess there’s no need to get to know me, then, huh? Seeing as you’ve already made your mind up about who I am. I’m the frivolous airhead who doesn’t do anything of use with her life. I can’t possibly know anything of value. Poor, poor you, you’re stuck with me in the middle of the jungle. I’m such a weight around your neck. Oh, how ever will you cop
e?”
“I didn’t say that.” It was a lame argument. He sure as hell had been thinking it. And to be fair, she hadn’t exactly done anything to prove him wrong.
“Well, let me know when you want to say something of value, John. It would be nice to hear from the man instead of the chip on your shoulder.”
They were running for their lives. He didn’t have time for this shit. “Don’t call me John.”
“No, of course not. You’re Beast. Big. Bad. Beast. The scary, tattooed wonder of the MMA world.”
He spun to face her, and she walked right into his chest. He grasped her shoulders.
“Woman, you need to shut the hell up before you get us both in trouble.”
She waved a hand around to indicate their surroundings. “They can’t hear us. I can barely hear you over the damn monkeys.”
“Well, I have no problem hearing the crap you’re spouting, and you’re driving me nuts.”