Tall, Dark & Furious (Pyte/Sentinel 6)

“You shouldn’t be out here,” Nathan said, moving to go to her only to once again rethink that when she slapped him on the arm. “What the hell was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for, Nathan Lukas!” Samantha said, pointing a damning finger at the Sentinel.

“Sammie, I’m sorry,” Nathan said, once again reaching for her only to sigh when she slapped his hand away, again.

“No, but you will be as soon as I get my hands on a really big stick!” Samantha bit out with a determined look in her eyes as she glanced around the immaculate lawn, searching for something to hit her brother with right around the time that Trace decided that he’d let this go on long enough.

Walking over to his wife, he shoved the Sentinel out of his way, grabbed his wife, and threw her over his shoulder with a sigh when she yelled, “A really big stick!”

Chapter 33

“Can I ask you something?” Samantha asked sometime later, long after she gave up trying to convince him to put her down.

“You can ask me anything, wife,” Trace said as he continued carrying her through the woods.

“Why were you in that wall?” she asked as she absently toyed with the large leaf that she’d managed to pluck off a tree a few minutes ago.

“Because I was a fool,” he said, absently shifting her over his shoulder as he hopped over a fallen tree.

“What happened, Trace?” she asked, dropping the leaf with a sigh.

“I made the mistake of trusting the wrong person.”

“How old were you when it happened?” she asked, plucking another leaf off a low hanging branch and twirled it between her fingers.

“I was sixteen years old,” he said as she hung there, unable to help but notice just how beautiful it was out here.

She used to hate going into the woods when she was little, mostly because Nathan thought it was funny to scare the hell out of her. Every time she’d stupidly let him convince her to go with him, he’d promise not to do it again with a straight face and every single time, she fell for it. They’d be walking through the woods or she’d stop to look at something and then…

The hunt would begin.

She’d suddenly find herself alone, knowing that he was somewhere out there, watching her and waiting for the perfect moment to scare the living hell out of her. For several minutes, she’d stand there, arms crossed over her chest, with a well-practiced murderous glare aimed ahead, determined to wait him out. That would end with her making promises that she’d fully planned on following through with as she turned around and headed back the way she was almost certain they came from.

That was usually followed by her stopping every five seconds, shooting nervous glances every which way, and calling Nathan’s name, hoping that the sounds of a twig snapping in two was her brother and not a large bear hoping for a quick snack. By the time her mind shifted to that bear, Samantha was usually walking as quickly as her short legs would take her, which sadly for her, wasn’t very far.

It usually wasn’t long until she realized that she was lost, panicked, and picked up where she’d left off with threats of bodily harm. When that didn’t work, and it never did, she sat down wherever she was, crossed her arms over her chest and waited, glaring straight ahead until finally, she gave up, got up, and walked towards her doom, knowing what was waiting for her.

At least, she wouldn’t have to worry about Nathan jumping out and scaring her today, Samantha thought, knowing Trace would probably beat the shit out of him if he did. That was something, Samantha thought as she suddenly found herself pulled off Trace’s shoulder and carefully placed on a large rock by a beautiful stream that she’d never seen before.

“Where are we?” she asked as Trace took her sore foot in his hands and gently placed it on his knee.

“This is where my life ended,” he said quietly as he gently ran his fingers over her foot.

“What happened?” Samantha asked, only to wince when he carefully placed her foot in the cold stream.

“I crossed a Pack,” he said with a heavy sigh as he joined her on the rock.

“What did they do to you?” she asked, following his gaze to a spot across the stream as he clenched his trembling hands into fists.

“First, they knocked me out with a mallet. Then, they woke me up by holding me beneath the stream until I thought my lungs would explode, which was followed by breaking my fingers, one by one, as they explained exactly what they were going to do to me. Before they dragged me through the woods, they broke my legs to ensure that I couldn’t get away. Anytime I made the mistake of passing out, they found interesting ways to wake me up until all I could do was groan. They left me on the ground as they built a hole in the foundation of the house they were building while I prayed that the next time that they swung that mallet that it would kill me,” he explained in a toneless voice, as she sat there, feeling sick to her stomach.

“How did you survive?” Samantha asked as she found herself reaching over and taking his clenched hand into hers.

“Everything went dark with the last swing of the mallet and then I woke up to find myself in that tomb, alone, and trapped with no way out. There was no air, no light, and no way out,” he said, turning his hand over so that he could wrap his hand around hers.

“And you couldn’t die,” she said quietly.

“And I couldn’t die,” Trace murmured in agreement as he absently caressed the back of her hand with his thumb as they sat there, watching as the water trickled its way down the stream.