Chapter 121 Chapter 121
Calum paused and let them go ahead while he looked carefully across the terrain. He didn’t know what Marilyn was doing to buy them time, but he hoped she pulled it off. Turning around, he went to check on Chad’s condition, as he hadn’t made a sound in several minutes. His chest was moving, so he supposed that was good enough for now.
“Cal?”
He turned to look at Dale. He looked like he was going to pass out at any second. “You okay to walk?”
Dale nodded. “From here to China if it means I’m free, damn right I am.” He huffed out a breath. “That’s ah…” he glanced at his neck. “quite the mark on your throat.” He smirked. “You take some personal time since I saw you last?”
Gage snorted. “The elusive Calum is caught.”
Dale shook his head. “That’s what I wondered.”
Marc paused and leaned on his knees for a moment. Dale paused beside him. “I’m fine, just a little dizzy.” He stood up slowly again. “I look forward to meeting the woman that took you on, Cal.”
Calum looked at the angry scar on his abdomen. “Were you awake when they stitched you up?”
Marc ran a hand over the scar. “Not much, in a drug haze really.” He let out a shaky breath. “Had just gone ten rounds with a mystery cat in heat, so my head was fucked up before the sedative.” He started walking again after a quick glance behind them. “The old doctor lady was there, but someone else with a gentle demeanor put me back together, couldn’t tell you who though, as I had clouds and birds in my head at the time.”
Devin glanced at his side, then gave him a nod. “That would have been his mate.”
Marc’s mouth dropped open. “Your mate is one of them?”
Calum nodded. “Long story.” He ignored the chuckle from Gage and looked to see how much further they had to go, wondering how she was doing.
“Speaking of,” Gage paused and adjusted his hold on the blanket. “think they’ve skinned Jake yet?” He started walking when Devin nodded. “I almost feel sorry, leaving him behind with four women to wrangle.”
Devin growled, “he better not be wrangling them.”
Calum froze when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Straightening he cursed silently. “He’s not.” He motioned to the top of the hill. “He’s standing right there.”
“What?” Gage’s snapped his head up, “How the hell is he watching them if he’s looking at us, nowhere near the cave?”
“Let’s just ask him.” Devin said when Jake started running toward them.
As Jake got close enough, Calum called out to him. “How the hell…”
Jake held up his hand to stop him. “Don’t ever leave me with them again.” He went straight to Marc and put his arm around him to help him walk more upright.
Calum looked up the hill. “Where are the girls?”
“In the cave.” He glanced at Gage hesitantly, “Kels promised they’d stay right there before they demanded I come help.”
Gage growled. “She’s going to give me a heart attack one day soon, just wait and see.”
Calum turned to look down the hill, to check they still weren’t being tracked. It grated on his nerves, constantly having to look over his shoulder. They needed to come up with a permanent solution, and soon.
Jake was still mumbling under his breath. “When Brock came running in with Nona’s medical bag and grabbing things, the girls damn near freaked out…”
“He ran from the village to there and back to us?” Gage asked.
Jake shrugged. “I guess.”
“Holy shit,” Gage said under his breath, “fast.”
Turning back, Calum motioned to the top. “Lets just get there. I want to be in the ‘no male’ zone before they come looking for us.” Chad lifting his hand caused them all to stop. Calum went over to him and leaned down. “What is it?”
“Scent…” Chad whispered, “tracked us.”
Calum shook his head, “Don’t worry about that. Marilyn and Brock said they had that covered.” He looked up at Devin’s curious look before straightening. “I didn’t ask… figured I wouldn’t want to know.”
“Probably that god damned weed they sprinkled all over our cells like potpourri.” Dale mused more to himself then any of them.
As they reached the top of the gulley, Calum felt relieved. “Few more minutes now.” He went to go over and help with carrying Chad, when he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. “Promised that they’d stay in the cave, huh?”
All the men looked in the direction he was looking to see Rayne, Kelsey and Shaelan running toward them.
“Son of a…” Jake hissed
“Not your fault, Jake.” Devin said, not hiding the annoyance in his tone. “There’s not a man alive that can stop that force of nature, if they don’t want to be stopped.”
Gage growled.
Calum moved around to get to Shaelan before she saw the state Chad was in. She stopped in front of him and looked him over from boot to the top of his head, then smacked him hard in the center of his chest.
“Don’t ever do that to me again.” She hissed, then went by him to look at Chad.
“I’m sorry, maybe it’s the drugs…” Dale said in a quiet tone, “but did she just hit Cal? The Cal that even wild bears run from?”
“Yes, she did.” Marc said with a grin on his face.
Rayne came running over and went right to Shaelan. Her eyes flicked to Devin briefly. “Not a word, Devin Addison.”
Calum heard Devin’s teeth clacking together as he snapped his mouth shut. He was still standing where he had been, rubbing a hand over his chest where she’d smacked him.
Kelsey appeared and stopped in front of Gage and pointed a finger at him. “Bad,” she hissed then looked to Shaelan. “What do you need?”
Shaelan was trying to look at Chad, without moving him, mumbling quietly to herself. “Tell Billie to get out of the tree and get some water boiling. I’m going to have to clean this up to see the extent of his injuries. Then tell her to get Nona up here as fast as she can.”
Kelsey nodded, then took off back toward the cave.
“I’ll go help.” Rayne said and was running after her.
Shaelan looked Marc up and down, then Dale. “I’ll check you two over when we get there.” She told them softly before she turned to Calum. “Help them get him laying down, but not flat on his back, outside in the sun, the cave is too dark.” When he nodded, she turned and ran after the other two.
“Damn.” Dale whispered. “Those are your mates?”
Calum nodded.
“They’re like a whole bundle of feminine force that I wouldn’t want to deal with.” He glanced to Gage and Devin. “Good luck to you all.”
Shaking his head, Calum went ahead of them to find a good location to put Chad down. Later, when he wasn’t stunned and in awe of his mate, they were going to have a chat about her safety and it being the most important thing on the planet. In fact, the population of the planet was safer as long as nothing ever happened to her.