Page 129 of Forsaking All Others

“I’m not going to,” I shrug, placing the gun back inside my suit. “But I’m taking the bike.”

Silke screams.

“You said that once we found your friend, you’d give me the bike!”

“And I did give you the bike,” I shrug, nodding for Thorun to hop on behind me.

I don’t give Silke a second glance as we take off.

“Friend?” Thorun murmurs into my ear. “So, you don’t consider me just a mark.”

“I never said I did,” I grunt as I accelerate.

98

The Scottish lass is attractive enough, physically; there’s no doubt about that, and intelligent. But she has the same red hair as Angie and it’s setting my teeth on edge knowing that she’s in the final six and could potentially become my bride.

‘Falcon will lose his shit if she walks in the door. Christ.’

“The last one-on-one date,” she sighs happily, oblivious to the fact that I’m counting down the minutes until this date is over. “I knew it would be this way.”

“How so?”

I sip my whisky, the fifth or sixth tonight, and try to look interested, my attention distracted from her conversation by the beauty of the Northern Lights. We’ve been in Alaska two nights now, and although I hadn’t seen the other contestants as they’d recovered from their challenge and prepared for the final, I’d sent a note to Thorun to ask if she’d like to watch the lights with me, knowing it would remind her of home.

We’d spent much of the previous evening together, although no other competitor was privy to that.

“You and I had a love connection from the very first night,” Claire laughs, waving her fingers in the air in front of me to regain my attention. “The poem, the poem I wrote you. The one about how there isn’t enough time in my lifetime to see the world, but how you are my world.”

I nod.

‘God that poem. My eyes still ache from reading it.’

“You kept it, didn’t you? Just like you kept this last date for us. I knew all along that you felt the pull, the need for me, the same way I felt it for you. I knew my heart was bound to thee.”

I pour myself another drink and top hers up, although disappointingly, she’s hardly drunk anything tonight. Nothing is apparently going to slow down her deluded rambling.

‘No wonder Falcon snapped necks and tore hearts out. This Game is enough to make anyone psychopathic. And yet, she’s here for me. She’s sacrificing everything for me. The least I can do is try to listen to her.’

“But you made it to this date on your own merits,” I remind her, clearing my throat and trying to be present. “You out-manoeuvred and out-played all your rivals in the last challenge.”

“Oh, I knew I had to win,” she shrugs, “and I knew who was going to attack who, so I just told everyone what they wanted to hear and then set out on my own at lightning speed. You know what they say; a man is a lion for his own cause, and the same is true for women.”

“You did very well,” I murmur.

“I didn’t expect Sona to come last,” Claire shrugs, “but I’m not surprised Catriona organised that. After all, a courageous foe is better than a cowardly friend. Still, I thought Silke might come last because of her handicap. But I should have known she’s mentally too strong for that.”

“So you’re not still aligned with your former roommate?”

“I don’t think there really are any alliances any longer,” she says quietly. “Everyone knows there are six of us going into the final challenge and that only three can come out the other side. I mean, Miranda and Vasiliki were tight, although I wouldn’t trust Miranda as far as I could kick her, and anyway, Vasiliki is dead. And Silke and I were never very close; we both know the way things are going to be. Cherry was hopeful to go all the way to the final three with Amadea, but obviously that didn’t work out, and everyone knows Catriona’s going to kill Thorun the first chance she gets.”

“Indeed?” I raise an eyebrow.

“For sure,” she nods, “Thorun’s the obvious and easy target in the last challenge, and she trusts Catriona, although I have no idea why. That girl’s a maniac.”

“Yes,” I frown.

‘Have I done enough to secure Thorun’s safety? Perhaps not. And yet Thorun is positive she and Cat are friends. All she spoke of last night was how Cat had protected her and guided her this far. And Thorun saved Cat’s life again…knowing the Italian’s sense of honour that does stand for something.’