Born of Shadows (21 page)

I can’t believe I can’t keep up.

But her pride wouldn’t let her slow down. By the gods, she’d keep running until she died. And at the moment, it really, really felt like she would.

How could he keep running on his wounded leg? How? Her injuries were throbbing and aching to the point she feared she’d be sick from it. All she wanted was to lie down. Just for a minute.

Still he ran…
Gah, I could kill him.
It was tempting to shoot him just to make him stop.

Caillen ground his teeth as every step sent a fierce wave of pain through him. Damn his leg. He wanted to scream it hurt so badly, but he was used to pain. He’d been hurt worse. Although at the moment, he was hard pressed to remember a time in his life when he’d ached more. But he was sure that he had.

The only thing that kept him going was the knowledge that his father and Desideria would die if he failed them.

He glanced back over his shoulder to check on her.

She was keeping pace with him at a small distance, but her face was pale. Her features drawn tight. Shit. She looked like she was about to hurl. Slowing down, he allowed her to catch up to him. “You all right?”

Her eyes sparked with pride as she gasped for air. “Of course.”

The indignation and challenge in those words made him smile. He fell back under cover so that the ships wouldn’t see them should they happen by. “Let’s take a second to catch our breath.”

“If
you
need to…”

He grimaced as the male pride in him reared up and demanded he make her pay for that. Yeah… the little brother in him was desperate to run her until she puked from it. But he wouldn’t be that cruel.

Not at the moment.

He pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her. There was no missing the gratitude in her eyes or the relief that danced across her features. For the merest instance, she looked at him like he was a hero and something about that made his cock and stomach jerk. Never had a woman, other than his sisters, made him feel that way.

“Thank you,” she said, taking it from him. Her hands shook as she tried to open it.

“Here.” He held his hand out for her to return it to him.

She hesitated before she complied. He could tell it wasn’t often she allowed anyone to help her.

He popped the top and this time when she took it her hand brushed against his in the tenderest of caresses. For the merest slip of a heartbeat, he wanted to take her hand into his and kiss those soft knuckles, and tell her it was all going to be okay.

I am insane
. He was in excruciating pain. They were in the middle of a chase and all he could focus on was how adorable she looked with her skin glistening from sweat. How cute the dirty streaks and windblown hair were on her.

Yeah, he must have hit his head harder than he thought. Women had never caused him anything except trouble.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he pulled out the bottle he’d opened earlier and finished it off.

Desideria sipped her water slowly while Caillen guzzled his so fast she was amazed it didn’t make him ill. He pulled a cloth out of his pack and wiped the sweat from his brow. She didn’t know why, but she had a sudden urge to want to do it for him.

“How much further do you think?” she asked, trying to distract herself.

“Couple of miles.”

She had to force herself not to whine in protest.
You can make it.
At least that’s what she hoped.

“You think the Andarions caught our assassin?”

Caillen shrugged. “I hope so, but my luck says the bastard will be back to hound us when we least expect it.”

She took another drink of water. “Is your luck really that bad?”

He gave a sarcastic laugh. “My luck is the stuff of legends. The badness of it is such that if you were to do an analysis of its regularity, they’d say that it is impossible to have it. And yet, it craps on my head every chance it gets. Statistical anomaly and all.”

She shook her head as he started forward again at a much slower pace. He continued to lead her through a rough patch of the woods. They didn’t speak much for the next few hours as they made their way to the upscale neighborhood he’d charted.

By the time they neared the houses, it was almost dark. She was aching all the more, exhausted and hungry. Given the injuries on his leg, Caillen had to be hurting even worse, but he said nothing about it.

He stopped just outside the yard of a house whose back end was hidden from the road and from its neighbors by a giant hedge. Completely dark inside, it looked to be unoccupied. But of course, there was only one way to know for sure.

One of them would have to break in and see.

Caillen winked at her. “Chin up, Princess. We’re almost able to lie down. I’m going in first. If I make it in and don’t get caught, I’ll motion you over.”

She nodded even though she didn’t like the idea of breaking into anything. Any other time, she’d decline. But this was a special circumstance and sometimes you had to do things you didn’t want to to protect the ones you loved. Her mother better appreciate this.

Caillen paused by the hedge and had a moment of doubt as he saw the exhaustion in Desideria’s eyes. For the last hour, he’d expected her to keel over and leave him to carry her. It was a testament to her strength that she not only kept going, but that she kept up with him and didn’t bitch while she did it. If ever there was a woman he could see at his back, she was it. But he knew better than to make that mistake. On her world, men were property and no one would
ever
own him.

He handed her another bottle of water and squeezed her hand comfortingly before he skimmed his way around the hedge in the yard to come out near the house’s outbuilding. About four hundred square feet, it looked like a typical storage unit. While the house appeared unoccupied, he wasn’t willing to chance it. Even vacant, it could have all manner of security and right now he was too tired to screw with trying to disarm any system. He just wanted to lie down for a few and relax.

Hoping the outer building didn’t have a camera pointed at it or was wired, he left the cover of the hedge to reach the rear door. He jimmied the electronic lock, then slid inside.

Luckily it was empty except for a few tools and a pile of grass seed bags. Unfortunately, it was so bare that it offered them no cover whatsoever should anyone come in. Damn. Glancing around, he finally saw a small loft area over his head that would give them a tiny bit of cover.

Grateful for small favors, he went to the door and motioned Desideria forward.

She’d just left the cover of the trees when a light danced across the yard.

Caillen cursed.

Desideria hit the deck and flattened herself against the ground. For several seconds neither of them moved as they waited for discovery.

But the light didn’t return.

He listened with his amp and heard nothing. Assuming it was safe, he waved her toward him again.

She sprang to her feet and ran so fast that he barely saw her before she launched herself at him. The impact of her body sent them both tumbling into the building. It gave him a new appreciation for what it would take to defeat her in battle. She might be short, but she was strong and sturdy.

He lay on his back, staring up at her. “You know this would be infinitely better if we were both naked.”

She screwed her nose up at him. “You’re a pig.”

“Not really, Princess. Just a man. If you’d ever been around a real one and not the whelps who dote on your women, you’d understd that better. See what you’ve missed by drowning in the estrogen pool?”

She scoffed at him. “I happen to like the way the water there feels.”

He arched a taunting brow. “Is that why you have yet to climb off me?”

Desideria was horrified as she realized she hadn’t moved. Every bit of her body was lying against his hard, muscled one. And honestly, it felt good.
Real
good. Her face heating, she practically jumped away.

“Ah now that’s just rude,” he groused. “You know I did take a bath and everything. Several hours ago, but still.” He flipped to his feet, then grimaced as if he’d struck his leg the wrong way before he limped over to secure the door.

Even though she felt bad for his new ache, she didn’t respond as she looked around the stark interior of their new shelter. “How safe do you think this is?”

“Not very since the owners could walk in on us at any second.” He pointed up to the loft. “That shouldn’t be too bad though. It ought to keep us hidden until morning.”

“Do you really think the house is occupied?”

He gestured to a stack of boxes in the corner of the shed. “Yeah, it looks like someone’s been using it. Not to mention there’s no rodents or spiderwebs. Someone’s been keeping it clean.”

Figured.

He indicated the loft with a jerk of his chin. “I’ll help you up.”

Part of her was thrilled by his offer, but her pride wouldn’t let him think her weak. If he could move and act like he wasn’t in pain, so could she. “Thanks, but I don’t need help.”

Caillen watched her jump up, grab the rope and lift herself to the small opening, then climb through so that he couldn’t see her. Not one to be shown up for anything, he shot his grappling hook into the top crossbeam and let it jerk him from the ground to the loft, where he swung in next to her.

She tsked at him. “Show-off.”

He laughed as he recoiled his hook. “When you got it, baby. Flaunt it.”

Desideria pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at him. The last thing he needed was encouragement. But she had to admit he was adorable when he was being aggravating.

I must be high on pain.
Only that would explain the bizarreness of her last thought.

Shrugging the backpack from his shoulder, he set it down and pulled out a small metal envelope of dehydrated food. “It’s not the best tasting, but it’ll keep us going.”

“I’m too hungry to even taste it.”

“Good. That’ll help.” He handed her a small foil pack of wine. “Save this to the end and then use it to kill the taste of the other.”

She arched a brow at his serious tone. “Done this a lot, have you?”

When he didn’t respond, she realized he had a habit of that whenever she brought up his past. Something about it really bothered him. He’d talk about his sisters, but not anything else.

What was back there that he was hiding?

She’d ask, but she knew it wouldn’t do her any good. So she tore into the foil and took a hesitant bite. Before she could stop herself, she shuddered.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Soldiers affectionately call this S.S.”

“S.S.?”

“Shit shingles. And for more entertainment, they then try to say it three times fast.”

She laughed. “I would accuse you of lying, but I doubt that you are.”

“I’m not creative enough to make that up.” He took a bite and swallowed without the grimace she couldn’t help making at the mere thought of tasting it again.

All of a sudden, his comlink buzzed.

They exchanged a happy, stunned stare.

Caillen quickly jerked it out of his pack, put it in his ear and answered it. “Dagan here.”

“Thank the gods, boy. Where have you been?”

Caillen smiled as he heard Darling’s sharp castigation. “I’d say you wouldn’t believe me, but yeah, you would. We’re on an Andarion outpost.”

“We?”

“Me and the Qillaq princess. We were attacked and—”

“Don’t say anything more. We’ve only got a few words before this is traced. Her people think you kidnapped her. Right now all authorities are being told to shoot to kill if they see you.”

Caillen clenched his teeth as his fury settled deep in his stomach. Oh yeah, her mother was a major bitch. “Guard my father and her mother. The assassins after us are after them. Her mother’s Guard are traitors.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Darling cursed. “No one will believe that.”

“I know. Guard her until we have proof.”

“Will do. Smooth journeys, brother.” Darling hung up on him.

He’d be offended by the abruptness except he knew it was to protect them.

Desideria held an expectant glint in her dark eyes. “What did he say?”

“Your mother has put a call out for my head. Shoot to kill. Apparently I’ve kidnapped you.”

She scowled. “Why would they—”

“Her traitors can kill us both now and say that I killed you and that they killed me while I was being apprehended. It’s the perfect way to silence us both at once and leave them free to murder your mom.”

Desideria let out a sound of deep frustration as he stowed his comlink. “What are you doing? Why did you turn your link off?”

“If it’s on and they find my UIN, they can track me. I don’t want any surprises, so until I need it, it’s off.”

That made sense and she was grateful he knew about such things. Funny, she’d always counted herself as being extremely educated, but as her father had pointed out, there were a lot of things her people didn’t know. Luckily Caillen’s experience made up for her lack of knowledge. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”

“Telling whoever you were talking to to protect my mother. You have every reason to hate her and want her dead. But what you did was decent and I appreciate it.”

He scoffed at her praise. “Oh don’t worry, Princess. My reasons are purely selfish. I want her to live. I don’t want anything to happen to her—not even a hangnail—until I have the chance to choke the life out of her personally.”

“You know I can’t let you do that.”

He raked a measuring gaze down her body. “Then you better start practicing ’cause, honey, you ain’t big enough to stop me.”

That went down her spine like a razor and made her hackles rise. “I assure you, I’m more than capable of handling
you
.”

Still his eerie eyes mocked her. “Whatever lie feeds your ego, babe.”

She curled her lip at his derisive tone. At the moment she wanted to slap that arrogant look off his face. Gah, if he was one tenth the soldier his ego thought he was, they wouldn’t have been caught in this situation. After all, he’d have been killed by her mother’s Guard had
she
not shoved him into the pod.