Kyle realized that he’d lifted his knife at the sound of those stomping footsteps.
His attention flew back to Lily and Cadence as hope pushed through him once more.
But the EMTs shoved him back as they surrounded Lily. As they kept fighting to make sure that she lived.
His gaze lifted. Tracked up the falls. He couldn’t see the entrance of that damn cave.
We got her out. And we’re going to fucking find you.
CHAPTER SIX
The hospital was bright. Too bright and white, and after being in those caverns, it almost hurt to be surrounded by so much light.
Kyle sat in the cracked chair, his eyes locked on the door leading back to the ICU.
Cadence had brought Lily back. Lily’s heart had still been beating when she was rushed away in that ambulance. But even though her heart beat, Lily hadn’t opened her eyes. She hadn’t come back to them fully. Not yet.
A coma.
The docs said Lily had been drugged. An overdose. They were trying to bring her out of the coma, but, so far, nothing was working.
“Mister…” A quiet, shaking voice reached him, pulling Kyle’s gaze away from those doors. He looked to the left, and saw the girl, Carrie, staring up at him with her wide, tear-filled eyes. “Did you save my mommy?”
She’d been at the hospital, along with Lily’s mother, Martha, before they’d arrived. James’s orders.
In case Lily didn’t make it, he’d wanted the family to be able to say their good-byes.
I haven’t saved her yet. “I helped bring her home,” he replied carefully.
She looked down, lip quivering. “I want to see Mommy.”
Dammit. There was something about a little girl crying. It felt like she was squeezing his heart—no, crushing the thing—between her small hands.
The ICU doors opened with a whoosh of sound.
Cadence marched out. The blood had been washed away from her hands and face. She’d changed into scrubs, ditching her torn clothes. A small, white bandage covered her temple.
Her gaze met his. Kyle realized he was holding his breath.
Tell me she’s going to make it. Tell the kid her mother is going to make it.
Cadence’s gaze dropped to the little girl. She swallowed.
“How is she?” came from James as he rose to his feet. The captain had been keeping a silent vigil near Kyle.
Kyle’s back teeth clenched. Don’t ask that fucking question in front of the kid.
The guy should know better.
“Stable,” Cadence said. “For now, she appears to be stable.”
That was good news, right? Stable sounded real good to Kyle.
A doctor appeared behind Cadence. Called for the family.
As they surrounded him, Cadence headed toward Kyle and James. “They think she’ll recover. Her heartbeat is growing stronger, and her brain activity…” Her voice was low, just for them. “The doctor thinks she’ll wake up.”
“When?” He wanted to know just who had taken Lily. What the bastard had done to her in the darkness.
“Maybe tomorrow. It’s hard to say.” She pushed back her hair. “We need to talk, privately.”
Away from the family rushing toward the ICU doors.
James motioned to the cops who’d been waiting a few feet back. Heather Crenshaw and a bruised Jason Marsh stepped forward. “Stand guard, got me?” James demanded of them.
They nodded. Jason’s gaze cut to Cadence. He looked like he wanted to speak, but Cadence had already stepped away.
She, James, and Kyle slid into an empty hospital room. Cadence shut the door, sealing them inside.
“Preliminary exams are showing there’s no sign of rape,” Cadence said.
Thank Christ.
“She’s got lacerations on her wrists and ankles, no doubt from the ropes, but Lily appears to have no other physical trauma.”
“Except that the bastard drugged her,” James snapped as he ran a hand over his gleaming head. “Tried to kill her.”
“We were close.” Cadence clenched her own hands into small fists. “He didn’t want her making it out of those caverns.”
He hadn’t wanted any of them getting free.
“He set his traps,” Kyle said, and there was rage rumbling in his voice at just how close they’d all come to dying. “He tried to bury us alive.” The trip wire in the Statue of Liberty chamber had been set to bury anyone who’d been lucky enough to find those remains.
He remembered his first glimpse of Lily. Her stark eyes, unblinking.
The darkness. His light had cut through the dark.
Thirteen tally marks.
“As soon as he got clear of the debris, Jason called in backup.” The lines on James’s face were even deeper. He looked as if he’d aged ten years in the last two days. “We couldn’t get through the rocks, and we were trying to find a way to you.”
“You didn’t know about the entrance behind the falls?” Kyle demanded in disbelief. Someone should have known. James had been in that area far too long not to have known.
But James shook his head. “No one goes up to those falls, not since a runaway killed herself there.” He swallowed as a flash of pain appeared in his eyes. “Those falls aren’t good. People stay away—”
“But the entrance—” Cadence interrupted.
“I lived in this town my whole life,” James said flatly, “and I didn’t know you could get to the caverns behind those falls. Death Falls. Hell, that’s what the kids up here call them. If you go too close, they’ll pull you to your death.”
Lily’s abductor had known about that entrance. The killer had known.
“We found remains in those caverns,” Kyle told him. “In the Statue of Liberty chamber.” One body, but there could be more. Eleven more. They had to get Dani to broaden her search. The killer had left those marks on the cave wall for a reason.
Counting off his prey.
“We saw her. When we went searching for you two, we found the—the bones.” James’s Adam’s apple bobbed and sweat beaded his upper lip. “I got a team on the way, coming in from the next county. They’re gonna get her out. We’ll find out who she was.”
Not Maria.
“The geologists are coming up, because—” James paused, sucking in a breath.
“There could be more bodies,” Cadence finished. She was only saying what they all thought.
James nodded. “But I don’t know if we can get to them. Those explosions made the place even more unstable. Even when we were in the first chamber room, rocks were falling on us. I don’t know if I can risk men to find…”
Dead bodies.
It was exactly what the killer was counting on. He’d hidden all the evidence, destroyed it, and made the place so dangerous that others would hesitate to enter his domain.
“We’ll start fresh tomorrow.” James rolled back his shoulders. His gaze darted from Kyle to Cadence. “You two did it. You saved Lily Adams. We can count this damn case in the win column.”
They hadn’t been too late this time.
“Now, you both look like shit, so go back to your hotel. Get some sleep.”
Sleep was the last thing on Kyle’s mind. Adrenaline had his blood pumping, his whole body feeling jacked up with electric current. “He’s still out there.” The case didn’t count as a win for him until the killer was stopped.
Dead.
“We’ll find him.” James seemed certain. “But you two aren’t gonna be any good to me until you get some rest.”
Cadence’s gaze flickered to Kyle. Unlike her, he hadn’t cleaned up yet. Blood and grime covered him. Kyle figured the captain’s assessment of looking “like shit” had to be pretty accurate for him.
“You saved the girl.” James’s eyes were on Kyle, piercing in their intensity. “This time, it ended differently.”
Kyle nodded.
“Get your rest. You deserve it. Those caves will be there tomorrow.”
Would the killer? Or
when he realized that Lily was gone, would the SOB try to vanish in the wind?
Doesn’t matter if you run, I will find you.
He wouldn’t give up. Not until he stopped the bastard.
The captain hurried away from them.
Kyle stared into Cadence’s eyes. “There were thirteen marks.”
She gave a small nod and reached for her phone. A few seconds later, Cadence said, “Dani? Dani, how’s that search coming? Because I need those results, now.” A pause. “Based on what we found in those caves, we think there might be a lot more women missing than we first suspected.”
Not just missing. Dead?
He remembered the flash of white in the darkness. The human bone. The tattered dress.
Please. The desperate thought, the prayer, slipped from him. Don’t be Maria. Because he’d clung so long to that one hope—the hope that he’d find his sister alive.
And not that he’d stumble over her bones in the middle of hell.
“Agents!”
The check-in clerk rushed from the motel as soon as he saw Cadence and Kyle arrive. The kid’s wide-eyed stare flew over them, lingering a bit on the blood covering Kyle’s shirt.
Yeah, it’s blood. Deal with it.
“I heard on the news about what you did.” The kid shook his head. Looked like he was staring at movie stars. “You saved Ms. Adams!”
Word traveled fast in small towns. Especially when that word was constantly being pumped through the local news.
“Here.” The kid thrust two room keys at them. “I saved the two rooms for you, just like you asked, Ms. Hollow. Right next to each other.”
Kyle frowned. He didn’t want two rooms. One was all he needed that night.
He’d made Cadence a promise.
He wasn’t backing out.
We’re out of the darkness, Cadence. You’re mine.
He’d warned her.
“If there’s anything you need”—the kid’s voice shook with eagerness and excitement—“you call me. Anything. Anytime.”
“Thank you,” Cadence murmured. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
They passed the boy.
“What was it like?” he called after them in the high-pitched, breaking voice that showed both his excitement and nervousness. “In the cave?”
“Dark,” Kyle threw over his shoulder. “It was damn dark.” They climbed the stairs, leaving the desk clerk behind.
Two rooms. Two keys.
Cadence had them both.
At the top of the stairs, she paused. “Looks like the second room is right next door.”
Not close enough.
She handed him the key.
He caught her fingers. “You know that’s not the way it will work.”
He’d wondered if she would do this. If she would just pretend the intimacy in the caverns had never happened.
He wasn’t going to let her get away with that. There wasn’t going to be any boundaries between them.
“You need to get cleaned up,” she said, her gaze not quite meeting his. “I need to check in with Dani again.”
Bullshit. The woman was just trying to slip away from him.
But he didn’t want to take her with blood and dirt on his skin. He wanted flesh to flesh. Wanted all of her.
“I’ll get clean.” Five minutes, ten, tops. “Then I’m coming for you.”
Her eyelashes lifted and her gaze finally met his. Her golden eyes were wide, her emotions hidden. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”
This? Them, fucking until the pleasure left them too exhausted to do anything but crash? Sounded like a great idea to him.
He bent toward her. Wanted her mouth again. He’d been denied it for too long. “I think if I don’t have you tonight, I might go insane.” She’d been what got him through the darkness.
Her hand tugged away from his. “Go get your shower, McKenzie. Maybe it will cool you off.” She turned for the door.
He didn’t move. “Since I’ve been burning alive for you from the day we met, I doubt a shower is going to help much.”
Cadence’s fingers shook as she shoved the key in the lock. That small shake had him tensing. Cadence was nervous. Good. If she was nervous, then it meant she was as aware of the desperate tension as he was.
Cadence didn’t look at him. “If you cross some lines, there’s no going back.” Her voice was husky.
Her voice had always reminded him of sin in the dark. His fingers slid over her shoulder. She stiffened. He didn’t stop touching her. I’ll touch you plenty more. “Who says I’m interested in going back?”
Not when what he wanted was right in front of him.
She hadn’t opened the door. Hadn’t pulled away from him.
But she also hadn’t confessed her own need.
Tell me you want me.
How long had he been needing to hear those words from her?
“Why?” Her soft question.
“Because I need you more than I’ve needed anyone.” Blunt and hard and so true. “And baby, you need me, too.” Need. Desire. Lust. Control could only last for so long.
His hand skimmed down the curve of her spine. He felt her small shiver. “You aren’t saying no, Cadence.” She wasn’t telling him to go screw himself, wasn’t saying it had just been a wild moment in the dark.
Her breath exhaled slowly. “The doors in these rooms connect.”
His heart slammed into his chest.
Cadence glanced over her shoulder. “Back in the dark, I told you. I’ll have you, Kyle.”
He was about to explode. Just from the sexy, husky purr that was her voice.
“So I guess there’s no going back for either of us,” Cadence whispered. The faintest smile—sensual temptation—curled her lips. “See you soon.” Then she slipped inside her room.
And shut the door.
Only a pair of jeans covered him. Kyle stared at the thin door connecting his room to Cadence’s.
He could hear her on the other side of the door. The soft rustles of movement. The light pad of her feet.
The shower hadn’t cooled him down, not even close. The hunger and lust had just built inside of him, growing even stronger with each passing moment.
The need was so strong, he was almost afraid…I don’t want to hurt her.
He’d never felt this way before. His control was ragged, adrenaline pumping too fiercely through him, and he wanted Cadence. Naked. Spread. Wanted to be in her so deeply that the pain twisting inside him was finally swallowed by the pleasure he knew she’d give him.
Just a door separated them.
He didn’t open the door.
Get your control. Don’t hurt her.
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to go easy with her. He’d always planned a long seduction for their first time. Gentleness. Orgasms that lasted until they both trembled in exhaustion.
This wasn’t about gentleness. Seduction.
He felt too raw. Too wild.
“I know you’re there.” Cadence’s voice drifted lightly through the door.
He’d known she was there, too. Standing on the other side. He’d followed the sound of her footsteps, tensing as she grew closer to him.
The door was all that protected her from him right then.
Did Cadence have any clue about the demons he carried?
Once I have you, I won’t be able to let you go.
She was the first thing—the only thing—he’d cared about since he’d lost his sister. He wasn’t even sure when Cadence had gotten to him.
I need her.
He’d have her.
“What are you waiting for?” Cadence asked, her voice stroking right over him.
He put his hand to the door. His knuckles were scraped, from the damn rocks, but they’d been scraped plenty of times over the years.
From fights.
Battles.
A life Cadence didn’t know about.
She never has to know.
He’d left the d
arkness behind.
Hadn’t he?
His hand flattened on the wooden surface.
“Good night, Kyle,” came her voice. Whispering.
Her footsteps eased away.
She was leaving him.
No. He yanked open the door.
She spun back toward him, eyes wide. She wore an old FBI T-shirt, one that slipped to the tops of her thighs.
Her bare thighs. Those long, perfect legs. How many times had he imagined having those legs wrapped around him?
“I—I thought you’d changed your mind,” she said.
The faint stutter threw him off. This wasn’t the confident woman who’d said I’ll have you.
There was hesitation in her eyes as she studied him. The faintest edge of fear.
She can see who you really are.
But it was too late to turn away, too late for either of them. The sensual promise was there, and the lust pushing all sane thought from his head wasn’t going to let him walk away from her.
“Get on the bed,” he ordered, voice guttural. So much for suave. But he was pretty much just lucky to be managing speech right then.
She should tell him to fuck off.
Heat flashed in her golden gaze, making her stare molten.
She turned away from him and headed for the bed. When she climbed on the mattress, her ass tilted in the air—fucking sexy, heart-shaped ass—and he saw the silken edge of her black panties.
He was on her in the next instant.
The mattress sagged beneath their weight. He caught her in his arms, twisted her, then trapped her on the bed beneath him.
“I wanted…to be different…with you…” He barely managed to growl out the words. They were the truth. In his fantasies, he’d seduced her. Spent hours enjoying her body and the sounds of pleasure that came from her lips.
But his control was nonexistent. All he knew was raw lust. A desperate craving for her that was driving through him.
Black silk. That was what he’d seen. He wanted to rip the silk away and find wet, hot, pink flesh.
Wanted to taste that flesh.
He would.
“I don’t want you to be different.” Her wrists were held by his.
He kissed her. Let the hunger rage out of control as his mouth took hers. He’d thought she tasted good before. He’d been wrong. Her taste was phenomenal. Sweet, hot, better than any wine he’d ever had. Making him drunker than any wine.