However, even with that thousandth-of-a-second warning, the Psy had managed to get in enough of a psychic blow that Clay's nose bled as he shifted into human form and picked up the body, wiping away the blood with his hand. The body had to be disposed of and in a way that didn't give away changeling involvement.
He spent precious seconds wrapping the body up in a tarp from the back of the truck and dumping it in the bed. It was a good thing Tally and Jon weren't changeling; otherwise, they would have detected the scent of death. Aware of time counting down, he nonetheless returned to the site of the kill and covered his tracks. The Psy soldier would appear to have vanished into thin air.
"Oh, God," Talin whispered, gritting her teeth and staying in place as the clock ticked over to ten minutes past nine. Clay was a sentinel, she told herself. He would defeat whatever enemy roamed the woods. Trying to distract herself, she brushed the hair off Jon's and the little girl's faces. The little one was clearly of Persian origin, her skin a dusky brown, her bone structure fine enough for a princess.
Her hand moved to settle the little girl's shirt and that was when she found it. The note was short and to the point.
The drugs will wear off in a few hours. I couldn't have them attempting an escape before the correct time. After they leave here, both these children need to vanish - if they turn up alive, my life is forfeit. So, I hold you to your human honor after all.
Clay ran in as her watch clicked over another minute. "We only have four minutes to get out of the surveillance zone." She stuffed the note into her pocket, picked up the girl.
Clay was already out the door, Jon thrown over one shoulder. "It'll be enough." He dumped Jon onto the truck's single benchseat and pulled on his clothes at lightning speed. Going around to the passenger side door, she was inside with her own precious cargo by the time he turned the wheel. "Go!" Strapping in Jon beside Clay, she held the girl tight and pulled the remaining strap over them both as Clay started driving at a breakneck pace no human could have managed, his reaction time close to zero.
He didn't slow when Dorian wasn't waiting for them at the arranged spot. "He'll be fine."
Talin said a quick prayer for the other sentinel. With Clay's insane driving, they were on the road away from the cottage in the nick of time, just another outwardly beat-up farm truck among others. "How are the kids doing?" he asked once they were clear.
"Good," she whispered. She sat with one arm around Jon's shoulders, the other crushing the girl to her. Releasing her white-knuckled grip, she flexed her fingers, touched their cheeks to reassure herself they were okay. "Good." Jon was bruised and both children had dark circles under their eyes, but they were alive. "We'll talk to him after...about what happened."
"He'll be okay, Tally." His tone was rough, tender. "We made it, didn't we?"
She gave him a startled glance. "Yeah, we did, didn't we?" But she wasn't quite sure they had.
"I had to eliminate a threat," he said a few minutes later. "We'll be taking a short detour to dispose of it."
Her throat dried up. "In the truck bed?"
"Yeah."
He had killed for her. Again. The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the thought of her proximity to the result. But she was no hypocrite. Neither was she a child any longer. "It had to be done." Her arms tightened on the children's bodies. "Let's clean it up before they wake."
Clay's gaze met hers again and those forest-in-shadow eyes were incandescent with a fierce kind of joy. It shook her.
Had he expected her to run from him again?
The kids were awake by the time Dorian made it back. Dawn was edging the horizon and Talin was so happy to see him unhurt, she gave him a huge hug.
His smile was startled, less charming and more open. "Hey, hey, I'm good. No one saw anything but a pissed-off student hitching a ride after his girlfriend dumped him in the middle of nowhere."
She drew back and looked him up and down. "Where did you get those clothes?" He was wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of a death metal band over his own black jeans. He'd also found a disreputable headscarf, which effectively hid his distinctive hair. She looked closer. "Did you put mud in your hair?"
"All part of being resourceful." Draping an arm around her neck, he walked them back to the plane. Clay was standing outside with little Noor in his arms. The girl had wrapped herself around him upon waking and hadn't let go since. Talin hadn't been the least surprised when Clay handled the attachment without a blink.
"Ready?" Dorian asked.
Clay nodded. "Later."
For once, Talin understood perfectly. Dorian had stayed behind for a reason and it had to have been something important. Giving him another hug, she climbed into the plane to settle in beside Jon. The boy was no longer drugged but there were emotional bruises in those striking eyes of his.
"Hey." She put her hand on his. He wouldn't look at her. Reaching over, she cupped his cheek. "What's the matter, Johnny D?"
This time, he did glance up and his gaze was wet with tears he refused to shed. "They f**king made me scream."
Male pride, such a fragile, precious thing. She nodded at Noor, now entering the cockpit with Clay. "She hasn't got a mark on her. Did you protect her?"
He shrugged. "They said if I cooperated, they'd lay off her for a bit, but that was a lie." His eyes went to Dorian as the sentinel slid into the pilot's seat. "Who's that?"
"Dorian," she told him. "He's Clay's packmate."
"Like a gang, huh?"