Loud voices reached his ears. Rogue and Olivia were going at it, each standing at opposite ends of the room. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but it didn’t matter. They were in the middle of a huge argument. The kind that might work in his favor.
Bones held his breath as the fight reached its peak. Then, just as he’d hoped, Rogue stormed out of the house. She slammed the door shut with a bang and marched into the night. Olivia stayed behind, tears streaming down her face.
This was the moment he’d been waiting for all along—the chance to catch Rogue alone and unawares. On silent feet, he followed her into the darkness. He moved fast, for there was no time to waste. Soon, the dead guard would be discovered, and the alarm raised. They had to be long gone by then. Tonight is the night, my sweet.
He spotted Rogue’s form marching down a cobbled path and quickly closed the distance. His knife flashed in the moonlight as he pulled it from its sheath with nary a whisper. At the last moment, she must’ve sensed his presence because she turned.
Her eyes widened, and she gasped. “No!”
Too late.
The knife flashed, and the hilt connected with her temple. She crumpled to the ground, her limbs splayed. She looked like a broken doll, and he paused to savor the moment. She was his now. Forever and ever. Nothing would part them again.
Chapter 16
Rogue woke up to the strangest sensation. The feeling of being suspended in the air and moving at the same time. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she blinked at the scene in front of her face. Her vision was blurry, but she thought she recognized…trees? Moving trees. The dappled sunlight filtering through leaves brushed across her skin. She was definitely not at the Zoo anymore.
A sharp stabbing pain lanced through her temple, and her jaw ached as if she’d been punched. She tried to lift a hand, only to find she couldn’t budge. Her whole body was immobile, held in place with restraints.
With growing panic, Rogue raised her head and gazed down at her feet. She was lying flat on her back and looked like a mummy. Every inch of her was wrapped in a blanket and tied down with green vines. “Hello? Is someone there? What’s going on?”
The movement stopped, and she was lowered to the ground. A stretcher. She had to be on some kind of stretcher. But why? Then a face appeared above her head, and she stifled a scream. Bones!
“Good morning, my love. I trust you slept well.”
Rogue stared at his smiling countenance with horror. He looked exactly as she remembered with those jutting cheekbones and hollow eyes. “Did you kidnap me?”
“I’m afraid so. It was the only way I could get you away from those people.”
“Why would you do that?” she asked.
“So we can go home to Prime. We belong together, you and I,” Bones said, that eerie smile still firmly fixed in place.
“I can’t go home,” Rogue exclaimed, horrified. “They’ll kill me. I can never go back, and you know it.”
“Not if you’re with me,” Bones said. “I’ve got enough information for Senator Douglas to pardon both of us.”
“Pardon us? What did you do?” Rogue asked.
“I went looking for you, of course,” Bones said. “I told you, we belong together, and deserting Prime was the only possible option.”
“This is crazy, Bones. Please let me go,” Rogue pleaded.
His face hardened, the smile slipping away. “No, you’re coming with me.”
“I don’t belong to you, Bones. I never did. I don’t love you,” Rogue cried out, struggling against her bonds.
“Yes, you do. You just have to realize it,” Bones said.
“But my mother, the Zoo. I need to go back.”
“Forget about that place and those people. They don’t deserve you,” Bones said. “I’ll treat you like a queen.”
Rogue shook her head, wracking her brain for the right thing to say. Something that would convince him to set her free. But there was nothing. Bones was crazy. Utterly mad.
“There, there. Try to relax. I hit you pretty hard,” Bones said.
Her memories of the previous night came flooding back, and she remembered a shadowy figure. A knife flashing in the moonlight. The dull thud as the handle connected with her skull. And after that, nothing but darkness. Seth. He must be worried sick about me.
“Let me go!” Rogue said, opening her mouth to scream.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Bones cautioned. “Who knows what’s lurking out there in the forest? A T-rex, maybe, or even a pack of raptors.”
Rogue clamped her lips shut, her eyes darting to the trees. The sheer danger she was in hit her in the stomach like a hammer blow. Bones was right. Anything could lurk in the shadows, waiting to pounce. “Could you at least untie me and give me a weapon?”
Bones shook his head. “Sorry. I think it’s best if you stay where you are. You need to rest.”
Rogue flinched when he reached out to caress her face. “Don’t worry, my love. I’ll protect you. Nothing will come near you while I’m around.”
Somehow, his words failed to soothe her growing terror. “Please, Bones. You can’t leave me like this.”
“Shh, keep quiet. We still have a long way to go,” Bones said, pressing one finger to her lips.
He let it linger until she wanted to scream her head off. His every touch repulsed her, and she shivered with ill-concealed loathing. Then he was gone, and the swaying motion resumed as he dragged the stretcher behind him.
Rogue could do nothing but stare at the canopy above her head. That and try to control the panic that crashed through her veins with every second that passed. She was as helpless as a babe, unable to lift a hand in her defense. If something attacks us now, I’m as good as dead.
***
Long hours passed before Bones
