Beyond the Shadows (12 page)

She walked through the small woods to the right of the house, caring not that the guards were following her. Two days had passed since Kai had promised to think about things, and still he hadn’t made a move to release Constantine. But she had a deep belief that now he would. Or, if he couldn’t release him, he would find a less terrible way of confining her brother. And she could live with that.

Wandering through the woods, she paused to examine an enormous toadstool, chatter at a squirrel, and hide, laughing, from the guards who pursued her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so at peace.

And tonight, when Kai came back, she’d be even happier. Sad but true. She needed this man, wanted this man, as much as she’d ever wanted or needed anything. He made her weak, vulnerable, and crazy. He also made her happy, secure, satisfied, full of love. He made her feel like the most incredible, loved creature in the universe.

“Safe!” The word popped out of her mouth, surprising her as much as the realization did. He made her feel safe.

Smiling, she leaned her forehead against the rough bark of an old tree.
Kai, Kai. Hurry home.

Twigs snapped behind her, alerting her to the advance of the guards. “Found me, did you?” She turned, smiling, only to come up short against a hard chest.

“
Wha
—”

A hood was pulled quickly over her head, and only then did her slow-to-spark impulses take control. She lashed out, ignoring the hood in favor of trying to disable whoever was trying to take her.

Grunting with the effort of controlling her, the attacker cried out when she hit him, and he ended the fight quickly with a heavy fist to her chin.

The explosion of pain burst over her, and she realized she was falling.

When she awakened, she was aware of hanging upside down, her body bouncing painfully over someone’s shoulder. She couldn’t have been out for more than a few moments.

Swallowing nausea, she forced her body to remain limp. The hood covered her face, blinding and smothering her, and she fought not to drag it off her head. The man jogged on, his breathing harsh in the quiet woods. Even the birds had stopped to listen.

Kai, where are you
? She thought of her guards. Had they decided to kidnap her for some reason? Ransom, maybe? But they wouldn’t. No one who knew him would surely risk Kai’s wrath for a few coins. She couldn’t let herself think of her worst fear. Sampson had sent someone after her. Someone who’d managed to infiltrate the compound. Just as she had.

At last, he slowed, then stopped, and she heard the sound of a door opening.

“I had to knock her out. She was too hard to handle.”

His voice was a harsh whisper, so familiar. But she was about to find out who her attackers were, because she’d be better off dead than to allow them to put her in the vehicle. And how the hell had they gotten a vehicle? It would have been nearly impossible to steal one of the three Kai had for patrolling the settlement.

Before he could dump her into the truck she came to life, deadly quiet in her intensity. Her only thought was to kill him and get away, and that was what she intended to do.

She came off him like a shedding skin. She had to get his eyes. That’d take him out in a hurry. She struck, grim, precise. It was her life. And she was used to fighting for it.

His scream was hoarse and shocked as he dropped her, letting her know her aim was dead on. Grasping her hood, she flinched as her ass hit the ground hard, driving her tailbone halfway to the sky.

“Damn it,” a different man whispered.

“Get her in the fucking car,” the first man whispered, and sharp pain shot through her as her arms were jerked behind her, the hood still firmly in place.

She fought them, but they had the advantage of being two to her one. Still, she fought, legs kicking, head butting, until finally she was pitched unceremoniously into the car. The sound of the trunk slamming was almost as loud as her heartbeat, thundering with dread.

They had her.

Beneath the hood, sweaty strands of hair clung to her face and stale breath heated her face like a furnace. She yanked the hood off, gulping in the not-so-fresh air of exhaust fumes. She lay quietly, gathering her thoughts, trying to relax away the nausea-inducing headache she’d gotten when the attacker had punched her.

Think, Sarah
. She breathed deeply, grateful she wasn’t claustrophobic. She was alive. If they’d wanted her dead, they would already have killed her. Maybe.

Calm at last, she pictured Kai’s face. He was going to be like a mad bull when he discovered her gone. The men who took her would be better off killing themselves before he found them.

Deep inside, a flame of worry grew. What if he thought she’d left of her own will? That was stupid. Even if he thought she’d ever leave him, he’d know she’d never leave Constantine.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned on her side and began to look for a way out. The car was ancient; it rattled like the cough of an old, old man. She remembered Kai talking about the car he kept to take out on special occasions, a gift from the commander of a grateful settlement. Fuel was scarce and rationed. The only people who could have gotten to the car or the fuel ration were Kai’s men.

She wrapped the hood around her fist and felt for the taillight. Knocking it out would allow her to reach her hand out and wave for help. If anyone saw. If anyone cared. And truly, she was more likely to fall through one of the many rust spots in the floor of the car, grow wings, and fly to freedom.

She was ready for them when the trunk lid was lifted, and moonlight so bright it hurt her eyes shone down on the clearing.

She arose like a zombie called from its grave, a foot of broken metal pipe in her fist. Before their faces registered on her consciousness, she’d smashed the shoulder of the man closest to her with the metal, sending him reeling into the shadows.

Then, quite suddenly, her hand went numb and the pipe dropped from her frozen fingers.

“
Constantine
?”

She wanted to hug him, to choke him. She did neither. Instead she turned to Erik and punched him in the face.

“The fuck!” He put his hand to his cheek, glaring at her. “I am just about past my limit of patience where you’re concerned, girl. Hit me again and—”

“Both of you, be quiet,” Constantine said, staggering back toward them. He stared at Sarah, rubbing his shoulder, in his eyes a mixture of things she didn’t have time to decipher. “Kai was going to put me to death. Erik broke me out, and”—he shrugged—“I wouldn’t go without you.”

She shook her head, dazed. “But why did you go through kidnapping me? Why did this gorilla nearly break my jaw instead of explaining things to me?”

Constantine walked to stand in front of her and soothed her sore jaw with calloused fingers. “Sarah. Would you have come if he hadn’t forced you to?”

She took a step back, her mouth opening, then closing. “I…”

Constantine’s nod, when it came, was sad. “I knew you’d be afraid to leave, would try to talk me out of going. And I wouldn’t leave you there to take my place. I couldn’t bear thinking of you sent back to Sampson, or worse…”

Her voice was gentle. “Constantine, I belong with Kai.”

He frowned, and she saw herself in him. “What?”

“I love him, Brother.”

His face closed down, and he threw a quick glance at Erik. “You love the man who has imprisoned me all this time? You love the man who would kill me?”

“Funny how Kai said pretty much the same thing to me about you.” She sighed. “He was going to release you, Constantine. If you had just waited—”

“He was going to kill Con,” Erik snapped. “I think I know him a little better than you do. Just because you’ve been sucking his cock doesn’t mean—”

“Hey!” Constantine swung to face the other man, his fists clenched. “You will shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

Erik, two times the size of Constantine, backed off.

Constantine looked at Sarah. “I’ve been waiting a long, long time, Sarah. This was my chance. I took it.”

Sarah clutched his arm. “He’ll find you, Brother. And this time, he won’t be so forgiving.”

Constantine’s laugh, full of torment, hurt her ears. “He was never forgiving, Sarah. Kai is not a soft man.”

“He was going to forgive you,” she said, stubborn.

“Did he say that?”

“He said he needed to think on it.”

“This is our chance at freedom, Sarah. We just have to make it beyond the settlements. Kai won’t follow us into the shadows.”

“What if you don’t make it? I’m so afraid, Constantine.”

“We’ll make it.” He motioned at Erik. “Just like you and I would have made it.”

“Constantine. Please, don’t do this. Let me talk to him.”

“You already talked to him, dear sister. I’m running.”

She started nodding and couldn’t stop. “After everything—”

“Sarah…it’s all I know to do.”

And she melted, right there, with her brother standing before her, free. “Oh, Constantine. Come here.”

She hugged him, arms wrapped tightly around his bony waist, ear pressed to his thin chest. “You’re alive, you’re free…and that’s what I set out to see to. But I can’t go with you.” He started to pull away, but she held him tightly, refusing to release him. “No, listen to me. I want you to go, run as fast and as far as you can. Be free. Be happy with…” She raised her face to look at him. “Are you with Erik?”

“We’re lovers,” he replied, staring into the distance. Finally, he glanced down at her. “I wouldn’t have survived this long without him, Sarah. He kept me sane.”

“How do you feel about my brother?” she asked, not turning to find Erik in the darkness. And he for damn sure had better give her the right answer.

Erik cleared his throat. “I love him. I’ve loved him for a long, long time. He just wouldn’t believe me until now.”

“Will you swear to take care of him?”

“Yes.” His answer was immediate, firm. He raised his chin, proud. “I’ve been taking care of him. I made sure when he was in prison that—”

“If you hurt him, or let him be taken, I will hunt you down and make you wish Kai was the least of your worries.”

“I won’t let anything happen to him.”

“Sarah, I’m not a helpless child.”

And finally, there was the return of that smile, the smile that would shame the sun, dim a diamond.

She didn’t realize she was crying until he wiped away her tears. “It’ll be okay, Sister.”

“It will, won’t it, Constantine?”

He gathered her into his arms once more, squeezing her hard. “Sure you won’t come?”

“I can’t. But I’ll miss you so, so much.”

“Me too.”

“If it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll convince Kai to let you come back. Both of you,” she added, throwing a glance at Erik.

“Okay, Sarah.” But there was absolutely no belief in his voice.

“We have to go. He’ll be coming.” Erik grasped her upper arm and pulled her from Constantine. “Let her go, Con.”

“I’ll be happy, Sarah.”

She nodded, his dear face wavering in the screen of her tears. “That’s all I want.”

“Someday I’ll see you again. I swear to that.”

“Go live your life. Enjoy your freedom. And know this. Although I won’t be with you, life is as it should be, and I too will be happy. And…I’m so sorry. Sorry for making this your life.”

He kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes, clutching his shirt. “Be safe, Sister.”

“Con. We have to go. Now.”

Erik pulled her brother away. She smiled, waving, her heart shattering into a thousand pieces. But he was free. She had to be happy for him.

And when they drove away, Constantine watched her through the rear windshield, and she kept her gaze glued to his until he was no longer visible. Then she fell to the ground and lay with her face in the dirt, the sound of her sobs rising in the quiet night air.

Kai knew something was wrong when Erik didn’t show up to take the truck out on patrol with him, but he shrugged it off. He’d been after Erik to relax a little. Maybe his second was finally listening.

He should have trusted his gut. Still, he was fine until two of his men rode to find him, their urgency striking fear into his heart like the cold steel of a blade. They jumped off their mounts and stood before him, and in their eyes, he saw bad news. He stopped breathing. Was she dead?

“Tell me,” he said.

“Erik broke a prisoner out and took off. The girl is missing as well. Her guards were ambushed.”

First, relief poured over him like cool water. She was okay. She was
okay.

Then, on the heels of that, he realized what his men were telling him. Something inside him shattered a little in that moment. She’d really done it. She’d left, her tales of love nothing but black lies. He’d known all along, though, hadn’t he? It wasn’t her fault. He’d always known where her loyalties lay.

But he’d believed, had
wanted
to believe, that she was different.

“Sir?”

“Erik went of his own accord?”
Another betrayal
. This one was harder for him to believe. “He wasn’t forced?”

“No, Commander. There were witnesses. He—”

But Kai had heard all he needed to hear. And he’d find them. No matter what it took, he’d find the traitors.

It wasn’t difficult, not really. He was waiting with his truck blocking the road when they came barreling around a curve. The shock on Erik’s face gave him no satisfaction.

The two men stared at him through the mud-spattered windshield, Erik’s face going from shock to determination to, finally, acceptance.

Kai leaned against his truck, waiting.

At last, the men climbed from their vehicle and walked toward him carefully, slowly.

He clenched his fists, wanting nothing more than to take both their heads off. The prisoner, Sarah’s brother—he didn’t really matter. Kai had never expected loyalty from him.

But Erik was a different matter.

And he didn’t even want to think of Sarah, not yet. He’d deal with her when he had these two out of his way, out of his mind. But the words slipped out, surprising him.

“Where is she?”

Erik held up his hands, knowing Kai better than anyone. “Kai. I’m sorry.”

“Fucking answer my question, Erik, before I kill you.”

Why Constantine thought he could do better was a mystery. Perhaps he thought because he was blood kin to Kai’s lover, Kai would listen to him. He walked up to Kai, desperation making him stupid. “Please, you have to let us talk.” But then he stopped. What, after all, could he really say?

For a second, Kai hesitated. He saw, maybe for the first time, a real physical resemblance between Constantine and Sarah. It was there in their liquid eyes, fine bones, and black hair.

He struck out, wanting to hurt someone, needing to hurt someone. He slammed his fist into Constantine’s face and sent the younger man flying backward, his too-thin frame like a willow twig in a windstorm.

He would have followed through, his rage finally boiling to the surface, but his shock overcame his anger when Erik dropped to his knees beside Constantine and pulled the young man into his arms.

Raising his tormented gaze to Kai’s face, Erik stared with stony determination. “Don’t, Kai. Kill me, if you must, but don’t hurt him.”

Con tried weakly to rise, but the blow had been a hard one, and he wasn’t in the best physical condition. He settled a hand on Erik’s chest. “No, Erik.”

Kai shook his head, stunned. Was he seeing what he thought he was seeing? “What the fuck is going on, Erik? What the
fuck
?”

Erik curled his lip. “Really, Kai? You’re going to stand there and act like you didn’t know?”

Kai ran his hand through his hair. “You’re a fucking…”

“Yes,” Erik said, bitterness in every line of his face, “I fucking am.”

Love. Everything that had happened, good or bad, happened because of love. How much simpler would the world have been if no one cared? Look at
him
. His love for Sarah had changed him, had twisted him into something he barely recognized.

“Where is Sarah? I won’t ask you again.”

Erik closed his eyes. “Sarah refused to come. I dragged her out of there kicking and screaming. The first chance she got she… Well, let’s just say she was pissed.” He looked away from Kai, down at his injured love, then back up at Kai. “She chose you, Kai. But I couldn’t.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, hard. “I love Con like Sarah loves you. I fucking
love
him.” His voice was quiet and sure, and his gaze never wavered as he begged for Con’s life and Kai’s understanding. “I can’t live without him. Wouldn’t want to. What I did to you is unforgivable, I know that. I don’t deserve…”

Kai stepped back. He didn’t want to hear anymore. To see his huge, hardened second in command sitting in the road blubbering like a girl was too much. “Don’t speak. Just…be quiet.”

Erik’s smile was fleeting, his eyes sad. “I can’t. I love him, Kai. A man will do just about anything for the one he loves.”

Kai couldn’t look at them any longer. Turning his back, he stared at his truck like it held all the answers. And he’d be damned if he didn’t feel a stir of sympathy deep in his belly. Love. Fucking love.

And Sarah had chosen him. She’d stayed behind. For
him.

“I must be crazy,” he muttered, still staring at his truck. “I’m going to find my woman. I’m not calling my men off. If they catch you, you’re both dead.” Without looking back, he strode to his truck. He was going after Sarah. He’d given Erik and his—Con all the help he could give them. He could honestly tell Sarah he’d tried.

Because her love was suddenly all the mattered to him. He’d let Erik go. He owed him that much. He stopped at his truck door, still unable to look back at Erik. “We’re even now, Erik.”

Then he climbed inside his truck and drove away, knowing they were still sitting in the road, watching him go.