Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter (For Me 3)

That bastard, James Anniston? Was he still there? Still coming with his knife?

Cadence. If James was still alive, the SOB would go after Cadence. Kyle had to fight. He had to get to her. Cadence. He could save Cadence.

He had to save her.

He loved her.

“Cadence!”

“He’s coming around, Doctor.”

The voice whispered, then floated away.

“Do we need to keep him strapped down?”

His arms wouldn’t move. He’d get the knife. He’d stab the—

“Since he took out two orderlies, yes,” a stronger voice said. “Get the other agent in here. See if she can calm him down.”

Nothing would calm him. James was alive. He was going after Cadence. Trying to take her from Kyle.

He couldn’t lose her.

“Calm down,” that same voice told him—the voice of a stranger. “We spent too many hours repairing you. We don’t want you in the OR again.”

Footsteps. Rushing toward him.

Darkness. Too much darkness.

They were back in the caverns.

He hadn’t killed James.

“Kyle?”

That voice wasn’t a stranger’s. It was Cadence’s.

He needed to see her.

But there was only darkness.

“It’s okay,” she told him. “Everything’s okay.”

Was she lying to make it easier for him?

“You’re going to make it. You’re safe. In a hospital. They fixed your chest. Your nose is broken again, and that’s why you have the bandages near your eyes. They’re swollen, but if you try…” Her voice broke. “Please try, Kyle, please. If you try, you can open your eyes for me.”

For her, he would do anything.

So why won’t my eyes open?

“Anniston’s dead, Kyle. He won’t ever hurt anyone else. We’ve got teams gathering evidence from his home. We’re clearing the tunnels. We even found the other cop, Ken Bailey. He was hurt, but alive. Alive. And the victims’ families are going to get the closure they need. Because of you. You stopped him.”

A sliver of light reached him as his eyes cracked open.

“That’s it,” her voice trembled. “Come on, Kyle. I want to see you. Don’t you want to see me?”

More than anything.

His lashes lifted a bit more.

She was hazy at first, just an outline in a too-bright room. He blinked and then—

The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen appeared before him.

“Hi,” Cadence said. She was crying. He didn’t want her to cry. She swallowed. “It sure took you long enough.”

It had only taken a few moments to open his eyes. It should have probably taken seconds but…

She leaned over him. Her sweet scent filled his nose. “Six days. You were out for six days.”

Machines beeped around him. His chest ached.

Cadence’s golden eyes narrowed. “Don’t ever do that to me again, understand?”

He should be dead. His memories flew back to him. James. The bullets. The darkness. The half-moon necklace.

Cadence. Begging him to live. To stay with her.

She’d been touching his chest. “What did you do?”

“She saved your life.” The stranger’s voice again. The stranger—a male—came into focus behind Cadence. A doctor, wearing a white lab coat. “If she hadn’t been there, you’d be a dead man.”

He had been dead, until he’d met her. A corpse of a man walking around and living only in his past.

When his future was right in front of him.

“Just a few minutes,” the doctor said, his fingers pressing against Cadence’s shoulder. “He won’t be able to stay awake long.” Then the doctor was gone. Vanishing behind a curtain.

“You’re in ICU,” Cadence said. “They couldn’t move you out, not until you were stable.” She licked her lips. “You scared me.”

He’d scared himself.

“You might not remember what happened.”

“I…do…” His voice was a weak rasp. His throat burned.

Cadence’s fingers slid to his throat. Stroked him. “They had a tube down your throat. You were bad, Kyle.” She swallowed. Exhaled slowly. “It was very close.”

He remembered being in the tunnel. Sinking his knife into James’s throat. Jerking the blade. Watching the bastard die.

Then…

Maybe I don’t remember it all.

“Love…” It was so hard to push the word out.

She smiled at him.

His chest didn’t ache so much then.

“I know you love me.” She pressed her lips to his. “And I love you.”

He wanted to smile at her.

“You’ve been in and out for the last few days.” Her head tilted. “Once, you even asked me to have your baby.”

A little girl with golden eyes.

“Just so you know, you’re going to have to marry me before we even start talking about kids.”

He would marry her, if she’d have him. He’d love her, adore her, for the rest of their lives.

Kyle gathered his strength. Pushed. “Marry…”

Her lips parted in surprise. “Do not let that be the drugs talking.” Then her hand lifted and she swiped her cheek.

“Don’t like…when you…cry.” It was getting easier to speak.

“I don’t like when you nearly die on me.” Her hand dropped.

It had been a tear.

“I’ll stop crying,” she promised as her eyes held his. “If you promise not to scare me like that ever again.”

She hadn’t answered him before, so Kyle tried again. “Marry…me…”

Cadence nodded. Her slow, beautiful smile spread over her face. “I will.”

He was staring at his hope. His future. There was light all around her. No grave. No darkness.

His Cadence.

The ghosts were gone. The killer dead.

He was ready to live again.

With Cadence. Always, with Cadence.

Cadence made her way to Death Falls. The rocks were slippery, the water even higher that day.

Divers were in the water. Searching, on her orders.

Kyle was still in the hospital. He wouldn’t be released for another day or two.

The remains they’d taken from the caverns had all been identified. Even though Maria’s necklace had been found with the bones, she hadn’t been.

Not yet.

Another diver disappeared into the water.

“Are you sure she’s here?” Dani asked as she crept to Cadence’s side.