Hunted

Fifty-Two: Truce

"Charlotte, what the hell are you thinking?" James hissed, lowering his gun and striding over to her. He caught her upper arm and dragged her to her feet, his movements surprisingly controlled and gentle. The door closest to them opened automatically and he guided her inside, releasing her and closing the door behind him. Charlotte heard it lock, giving them some protection from those beyond.

Charlotte's pulse was racing, her fright giving way to anger and the sudden realisation that her complete distraction with Holly and James had led her alteration to lose its grip on Bennett. She had no idea where Elmhirst was now.

She turned around to James and raised the gun to meet him, her finger tightening on trigger ever so slightly. If he would only just back off, maybe she could finish this.

"Don't you dare pull that trigger," he said in a furious tone, running his hands through his hair. Charlotte lowered the gun, watching the familiar movement almost entranced, her frustration derailed for that moment.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped, again, glaring at her.

Charlotte frowned. "I don't know," she growled, not wanting him here with her. She wanted him where he was safe, down beneath the school.

"What do you mean you don't know? Of all the reckless and idiotic things you have done Charlotte this is up there at the top. I mean this is not a game anymore. This is a matter of life and death," he growled, striding towards her. Charlotte backed away somewhat nervously, his anger palpable.

"You think I don't know that," she snapped.

"Well it seems that you don't! I mean, Charlotte, this is not just about you," he pressed, running his fingers through his hair and gritting his teeth.

"Of course this isn't about me – it's about you!"

The words had broken through her lips with an unexpected ferocity, before she could stop them, angry tears springing to her eyes. "I mean... not just you, but Iseult and Ian and..." Her words trailed off, as they both stood stunned by the conviction of her words. She knew too, deep down that this was all about him, keeping him safe, keeping Elmhirst away from him. Everything she did on the island was for him. He was the reason she had wanted to come back. It was all for him.

He moved towards her cautiously, his green eyes burning, his jaw clenched. Charlotte could still see the anger in his expression; her weakened alteration could feel the worry seeping from him, but she could also sense something else, something that seemed to match the feelings swelling inside her.

Charlotte took a step back her common sense wanting to maintain the distance between them, only stopping when she knocked into the wall, the cold plaster chilling her exposed skin.

James stopped moving, leaving the smallest of gaps between them, a gap filled with heat and tension and a million things unsaid. She was cornered, but she was finding it difficult to maintain the remaining distance between them, wanting nothing more than to pull him to her.

She glanced up at him, almost shyly, her eyes locking with his intense gaze. He swallowed, the muscles rippling across his jaw and down his neck, his lips parting ever so slightly.

He reached forward, pushing a loose strand of hair away from her face, his fingers burning a path across her bruised cheek and behind her ear. He trailed them down her neck and followed the line of her collarbone.

Charlotte held her breath, very aware of the flush creeping up her skin. Her blood was pounding in her ears, his fingertips searing her skin where they still lingered.

She wasn't sure what was holding her back, or what was holding him back, what was maintaining that last distance. Perhaps he was waiting to see what she would do. Things were different now, they had both changed. Charlotte only feared how much they had changed?