Tribal Blood

The first shot sent a bullet at the driver’s side of the windshield. The glass should have shattered into tiny cubes but instead remained intact. The second shot went to the passenger’s side. If there was a passenger behind the windshield, he should now have a bullet in his head, but instead the glass showed only a tiny nick. Colt was using .38 long-range ammunition. That windshield should be compromised. But it wasn’t and he knew why. The glass was reinforced.

“Bulletproof,” he muttered.

He had not seen that since Afghanistan. This was a very expensive vehicle. From within the luxury auto, someone shifted the sedan’s gears and the car reversed direction with a spray of gravel.

Colt marched down the hill. When he reached the road, the car was turning around. He got two shots into the side of the vehicle with nothing but damage to the paint. He missed the shot at the rear tire. The next shot pinged off the rear window of the retreating sedan. Who the heck was after her?

Whoever it was, they had money—lots of money.

He put a hole in the license for no reason except as a final farewell and a good riddance. If they came back, he’d use a hand grenade on their asses.

Colt turned to the woods, where Kacey now stood beside the outcropping of rock she had used for cover. She bent forward at the hips, clutching her belly with one hand and the boulder with the other, eyes pinched shut. Colt had a sickening feeling that while he had been up here brooding over Kacey’s departure and collecting the bits and pieces of his mind, Kacey had been in real trouble. He was equally afraid she was going to have that baby right here and right now.

Chapter Two (#u4a128c45-ca2b-527b-a31d-b25e713f9796)

“They’re gone,” Colt said, his voice slightly deeper than she remembered. He was at her side in an instant, rifle slung over his shoulder. His long black hair hung straight and loose past his shoulders. She met his stare, seeing the familiar espresso color of his irises, just slightly lighter than his pupils. His skin was bronze from the sun and his brows were thicker than she recalled, balancing the rich brown of his eyes and the symmetrical nose that seemed small by contrast to his wide mouth and full lips. The cleft in his chin looked deeper and his face leaner. He’d lost weight but gained muscle, she realized, making his body look harder and more dangerous.

She was safe. For the first time in months and months, she was safe and she was home. The joy bubbled up inside. She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him full on the lips. The warm familiar scent of pine and warm male skin enveloped her. He stiffened as their bodies met, his hands coming up to her shoulders, and for a moment she thought he would push her away. For another heartbeat, he hesitated and then he gathered her up and held her as his mouth took hers, deepening the kiss. She was home in his arms and everything would be—

He gripped her shoulders, increasing the tension as he pushed her to arm’s length. He stared at her, panting and feral, like a mad dog. Then he pressed his hand over his mouth and wiped away her kiss. The pain in her stomach morphed from sorrow at his rejection to another contraction. She grimaced and groped behind her for the solid security of the rock, seating herself as the contraction gripped her.

He was not the boy she recalled, the one who kissed her and told her that he’d come back for her. That boy had been joyful and optimistic. But the man before her was taller, leaner and harder than Colt Redhorse. There was a wildness around the whites of his eyes that reminded her of a mustang the instant he feels the rope cinch around his neck. Colt’s nostrils flared and he stepped back, his gaze sweeping down to her bare feet and then back up to her face.

She imagined what he must think, and the shame sent a guilty flush into her face, making it burn with heat. Kacey placed a hand on her distended belly and the other on the hollow below her cheekbone. Somehow in just over a year, everything had changed between them and they were strangers.

Beneath the skin, her muscles were contracting, sending pressure all the way around to her back. This one was worse. She hunched and groaned, squeezing her eyes shut.

“You shouldn’t do that. I’m not... I can’t.”

She heard the blast of air as he forcefully exhaled.

“They’ll come back for the baby.”

Colt glanced down the road in the direction of their retreat.

“Should I bring you to the clinic?” he asked.

Her reply was a shout. “No!”

Colt flinched. “All right. Where, then? Your mom’s?”

“They’ll look for me there. My sisters and brothers, I don’t want anything to happen to them.” Finally the pressure in her back eased and she could straighten. That was when she noted that Colt had one arm around her. The other she gripped, squeezing with a force that matched the contraction. She released his arm and saw the white print of her hand disappear as the blood returned to his forearm.

How long would this go on? It had been over an hour already.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Ty said you agreed to come home after your discharge if you could come here.” She didn’t mention the reason for his discharge. Had Ty told her that his kid brother had been a POW, rescued and returned stateside?

“So you came here looking for me?” Colt asked.

She lowered her gaze. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

He made a sound in his throat and then said, “I’m honored.”

Kacey’s mouth dropped open and her gaze flashed to him. Colt smiled down at her and for a moment everything was good again. He was here with her and she knew he would protect her.

She looked up at him, noting the unfamiliar breadth of his shoulders. His hair gleamed with good health. She reached up and fingered a strand, placing it on his chest and pressing it into place.

“They didn’t make you cut it,” she said. His hair still reached to his chest and she was so glad.

“Nope. Just made me wear it tied back and under my shirt or in a bun.”

“A bun?” Imagining that made her smile. He smiled, too.

His wide mouth drew back to reveal white, even teeth. He’d had the chip in the front repaired and now she could not even remember which tooth he had damaged. His jaw was more prominent, as were his cheekbones.

“You’re too skinny,” she said.

He pressed his mouth closed, still smiling as he nodded. “That’s what Ty says, too.”

“You see him? How is he?”

Colt shook his head. “I don’t talk to him.”

Her brow wrinkled. “But you said—”

“He comes sometimes. He talks to me. I let him see me. But I don’t speak to him. I don’t speak to anyone.”

Her frown deepened.

“But me?” she asked.

He blew out a breath through his nose. “I guess so.”

“How long have you lived like this?”

“Since they released me.”

“Released?”

Didn’t she know? But she didn’t. He could see it in the wide earnest expression that showed nothing but confusion. Well, he sure wasn’t going to tell her.

His lips went tight. He led her down to the car. “Let’s get you out of here.”

She took a few steps and then stopped. “I can’t go to one of the settlements or the police.”

“Why?”