That was all Cullen needed.
In a fast roll he went over the edge of the canyon, dropping to the ground in a silent crouch. The Primal surged closer to the surface.
Between one heartbeat and the next he could feel the additional strength, his senses opening to such vast perception that it would have been painful if the additional adrenaline weren’t surging through him.
Graeme would do as he wanted no matter Cullen’s objections, and he knew it. It was far better to secure his mate first, then help Graeme.
If any help was needed.
“If I don’t live through this, and if the women on the heli-jet that’s arriving aren’t rescued, then you contact Dash Sinclair,” the Coyote warned her. “You tell him Jonas’s suspicions are true. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” she assured him.
“Now, I’m going to start laughing. I want you to scream, get to your feet as fast as possible and get to the back of the canyon. There’s a cave there. I’ve ensured that it will hide your scent. Get there, all the way to the back, and you’ll find hidden fissures running down the wall. Slide into one of those and remain silent. Enforcers will be here before dawn and their commander will know to check those caves, just in case.”
“What’s going on?” she hissed, feeling the sense of danger rising even as she sat there. “And who are you?”
“I’m just a dog,” he told her quietly. “That’s all. Now, are you ready?”
He didn’t give her time to answer. His laugh was suddenly dark with depravity, his expression turning cruel and filled with purpose.
Chelsea screamed, putting all the horror and fear she could into it.
She could sense Cullen coming closer in the minutes the Coyote had sat there. She could feel him, his warmth beckoning to her. The oddness of the sensation, the certainty of it, gave her strength as she struggled to her feet. The pain at her hip was slicing, almost putting her back on the ground, but she managed to find her balance and suck in a hard breath to control the dizzying reaction to it.
“Go on, run, little rabbit,” he suggested with brutal savagery. “You have a two-minute head start.”
Run to the back of the canyon.
Turning, Chelsea cried out in agony as her hip threatened to go out on her, but she managed to move, limping as quickly as possible into the heavy darkness of the canyon stretching out behind her and heading to the far end.
A cave. Hide in a fissure, she reminded herself, pain and the icy cold of the night making her clumsy, stealing too much of her strength. But she managed to push past the low boulders and keep going despite the rocks that bit into the soles of her feet and the agony vibrating in her hip.
One second she was gasping, her breaths almost cries as she pushed herself to follow the orders the Coyote had given her; in the next, she was swept up into Cullen’s arms, the heat of his body sinking instantly into her as she tried to smother her shocked cry.
He didn’t speak. With a speed she could have never imagined, he ran the length of the canyon, keeping her securely clasped against his chest until she found herself in the cave the Coyote had told her was there.
Easing her down to a smooth, flat boulder, he gripped her shoulders, his eyes glowing green and gold in the dark as she stared up at him in shock.
“You have to wait on me, baby.” He pushed her pack into her hands. “Your weapon’s in there, but I don’t know what else you had packed. Stay here.”
He gripped her shoulders again, his fingers just short of bruising as those eyes held her transfixed.
“Promise me you will, Chelsea. Promise me you’ll stay safe,” he demanded.
She had her weapon, a Thinsulate jacket and a pair of sneakers in her pack. She would be safe.
“I promise,” she gasped, drawing in hard, desperate breaths. “I’ll stay safe.”
His lips ground down on hers then, his tongue thrusting between her lips as the shock of the blazing heat of cinnamon, combined with a taste that reminded her of the desert at midday, slammed into her.
The mating taste whipped through her senses, drowning the screaming pain and erasing the dizziness in her head as her body came alive for him.
As he pulled back, those brilliant eyes blinked, the startling glow of them suddenly dark, only the glitter of life staring down at her in the pitch black of the cave.
“Stay put, no matter what,” he rasped, the growling sound of his voice not his normal roughened tone, but there wasn’t time to question.
She could hear the low hum of a heli-jet coming in on stealth mode and coming in low. The vibrations of the powerful motor trembled through the cave as Chelsea hurriedly dug into her pack and dragged on the night vision glasses she kept there.