Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) (28 page)

“You’re not ready.” She was ready, she
was unbelievably ready. She was in love with a man that would die
for her. There was nothing that she wanted more than to experience
this moment with him. “It’s ok.” He kissed her nose, her cheek then
her lips ever so lightly. “I’ll be here waiting when you
are.”

Tears burned her eyes. She had never
hated herself more than she did at that moment. “I love you. I’ll
always love you.”

His fingers caressed her face. “I hope
so, because you’re stuck with me.” Nope, now she hated herself
more, especially as she forced a smile to her lips. She didn’t ask
him why he took this so well, why he didn’t become impatient with
her. She already knew the answer to that: he loved her. “How about
a swim? I could use a dip in something cold.”

His halfhearted smile melted her heart.
She wanted to finish what they had started. She wanted to say to
hell with Jack, and Gideon, and everyone else. She wanted to be
selfish, she wanted this for them, and she wanted to finally ease
the needs of her body and his, to possess him in every way
possible. Finally know only the things that he could teach her. But
then she thought of Max and knew that she would never do, or know,
any of those things. There were others out there in need of help,
others that had no one to rescue them as she and Max had been
rescued.

She threaded her fingers through his
and pressed them close against her chest, over the heart that would
always belong to him. “That sounds good,” she murmured.

He climbed to his feet; she hesitated
for a moment, ashamed of herself, but determined to see this course
through. “Aria?”

She rose swiftly and bent to roll the
legs of her pants above her knees. Her eyes widened and her mouth
watered as Braith’s shirt fell on top of hers. She lifted her head
slowly, marveling at the broad expanse of his shoulders, and the
rigid muscles etched into his chest and abdomen. Her breath wheezed
out, heat flared up her cheeks, not from embarrassment but rather
from her intense need for this man standing so close but at the
same time so far away.

She had always desired him, there was
never any doubt of that, but it had never been this relentless. She
almost said “screw it all” to the world and launched herself at him
but she managed to hold herself back. She’d never been quite as
completely rattled and utterly undone as she was right at this
moment.

Confusion flickered over his features,
she was well aware her thoughts were written all over her face. She
turned away from him, running hard, pumping her arms and legs as
fast as she could in order to escape him. She had to put some
distance between them before she completely caved. She didn’t
hesitate as she grabbed the bottom branch of a large oak, swung her
leg onto it and pulled herself up. She leapt up to the next branch,
then the one above it as she raced out to the end and launched
herself heedlessly outward, not caring how deep the water was as
she dove into it.

She kicked hard beneath the surface,
pushing herself deeper and deeper into the lake. She swam into the
cooler depths as the world under the water became darker and
further removed from sunlight. Her lungs began to burn, her eyes
were raw from straining to see, but she continued onward, heedless
of the pain starting to seize hold of her body.

Strong hands grabbed hold of her,
dragging her from the depths of the cool water, pulling her back
toward a world that she didn’t want to face. Bursting free of the
surface, she wheezed in a deep breath as her lungs eagerly inhaled
the precious air.

“What are you doing?” Braith demanded,
shaking her a little.She shoved the mass of tangled wet hair from
her eyes, forcing a smile as she met his annoyed gaze. “Just seeing
if I could touch the bottom.”

His scowl deepened. “You didn’t even
know if it was deep enough when you dove off that
branch!”

“I’ve jumped into more than a few lakes
in my lifetime.”

He stared at her for a long moment.
“Always so reckless,” he muttered.

His hands on her were enough to make
her toes curl and heat spread through her body despite the chill of
the water. She squeezed his bare arms, savoring in the firm flesh
and fine hairs that bristled over it before she reluctantly
released him. She moved onto her back, floating lazily through the
water as Braith’s fingers slid into hers.

***

Frustration boiled through him, his
fingers twitched as his irritation mounted. He couldn’t stand to
watch as Aria labored through the swamp with her brother and the
rest of the humans. It wasn’t like it was easy for him and the
other vampires, but their greater power and strength made it less
difficult to move through the water and mud that clasped at them
like quicksand with each step. She looked exhausted but continued
onward, her head bowed, her face scrunched in aggravation as she
worked at pulling one foot out at a time.

He froze, fury tore through him as Max
seized hold of her arm, helping to keep her upright as she
stumbled. That was it. “Braith!” Jack hissed as he grabbed hold of
his arm.

“Get your hand off of me!”

“They can’t know.”

“They already know Jack.”

He jerked his arm away from his
brother, ignoring Gideon, Ashby and Xavier as he waded through the
muck and mire. Max released her instantly, he tried to move swiftly
to the side but the swamp hindered his movements. “Braith wait.” He
didn’t listen to her as he lifted her from the mud with a loud
sucking noise. Her feet kicked for a moment before he slid her onto
his back. She faltered, and then her knees locked against his sides
and her arms wrapped around his neck.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she
whispered in his ear.

“They’re humans Aria, they won’t hurt
us.” Her displeasure was evident in the stiffness of her body. She
didn’t lean against him, didn’t relax as she had on their first
trip through the swamps, but he’d be damned if he’d allow her to
struggle, and double damned before he allowed Max to be the one to
help her. “It will be fine,” he muttered as he kept
walking.

Her head dropped against his back, her
forehead rested against his neck for a brief moment before she
pulled away. He ignored the questioning stares directed at them,
Aria kept her head down as he rejoined Jack, Gideon, Ashby and
Xavier. Jack and Gideon looked as if their heads were going to
explode, Xavier turned silently away. It was Ashby that held his
attention though. He had paled considerably; his lips were clamped
and nearly bloodless as he studied them.

By mid afternoon most of the humans
were starting to waiver, the heat of the day and the exertion to
continue onward was wearing them down. Aria had managed to squiggle
from his arms over an hour ago but he kept her close to his side,
helping to lift her when she became mired by the mud. Her sweaty
hair stuck to her skin, her face was florid from her effort, but it
was her eyes that bothered him most.

He’d become acutely aware of the fact
that there was a distance in them that hadn’t been there just days
ago. There was a resignation to them, wariness, and a sense of loss
that he didn’t understand. She smiled at him, she held his hand,
but he felt a wall in her that had never existed before. He knew
better than to believe it was due to her apprehension over the
upcoming war. She may be afraid, but she had never allowed it to
rule her before.

He was also aware of a difference in
his brother. It was not as pronounced as Aria’s, but Jack was
colder and a little more distant. Even though they were brothers,
Braith knew Jack’s main loyalty lay with the rebellion, a fact that
he had already proven by taking Aria away from him once.

A pit began to form in his stomach. No,
it couldn’t be possible. When Jack had taken her before, he had
been unaware of the fact that Braith had already shared his blood
with her, that he had established the connection that would allow
him to find Aria wherever she went. Jack was well aware of that
fact now, he wouldn’t be so foolish as to think he could try and
take her again and get away with it.

But something was up, he was certain of
it.

Aria halted so abruptly that he almost
snapped at her, almost grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her
forward in his irritation. One of them was going to talk to him and
it was going to be her if he had anything to say about
it.

But she was staring at the world around
her, eyes turbulent and her face paler than it had been moments
before. He started to speak, but she held up a finger to him, as
she used her other hand to wave behind her at the trudging humans.
He was impressed, and a little amazed, when as one unit they all
stopped.

Her forehead furrowed, her head tilted
back as she searched the sky, then the treetops in the distance.
“Something’s wrong,” she muttered.

Braith followed the direction that her
eyes had taken but he saw nothing to signal that something was
amiss. “How do you know?”

“I just do. Something is off. I feel
it.”

“Trust her on this Braith…”

“I do.” He cut Jack swiftly off,
fighting the urge to smash his fist into his brother’s face. He had
no tangible reason to hit his brother, but Jack deserved it for
some reason, even if Braith wasn’t sure what the reason was
yet.

Aria went to step closer to him; her
face scrunched in frustration, aggravation filled her as she stared
down at the swamp. She gazed helplessly at Braith and then at the
people behind them. Her eyes snapped to the tree line as a bird
took flight about two hundred yards away.

“Braith.”

He lifted her up, pulling her free of
the muck and mire that encased her. She winced at the small sucking
sound, but it was far more subtle than any sound she could have
made. He held her in front of him for a brief moment, before
sliding her around to allow her to grasp hold of him piggyback
style. Her heart beat loudly against his back as he made his way
forward as silently as he could.

She slid free of his back when he
stepped onto solid ground. Xavier, Gideon, Ashby and Jack pressed
closer to him as she grasped hold of the limb on a frail looking
pine. He almost pulled her back, wary of the decrepit looking tree,
but she was already moving up it with grace and agility.

The tree barely moved as she slipped
from one branch to another. Near the top she hesitated, her hands
rested against two thin branches that swayed almost imperceptibly.
He could almost feel her holding her breath as she waited for the
branches to stabilize before lifting herself above them. She
released them suddenly and though he thought she was going to
plunge heedlessly out of the tree, she scrambled far enough down to
leap safely down. He kept his feet firmly planted as he caught hold
of her.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There are seven men that I can see,
through the trees that way.” She pointed into the woods. “They may
be human but I don’t think so, and they’re wearing your father’s
colors.”

“They’re not human then,” Jack
said.

Braith’s mind churned as he slid Aria
silently to the ground. They were still standing in the swamp,
cornered if there were more troops in the woods. The swamp was
impossible to maneuver in these circumstances, not silently, and
not with any speed.

“They’re heading this way Braith,” Aria
said, seeming to read his train of thought.

His teeth clenched. “I need you to stay
here.”

Her eyes heated briefly, they narrowed
slightly but her attention turned to the swamp. Her brother and
father had managed to creep closer, but they still weren’t free of
the mud yet. She looked as if she was going to argue, but
resignation settled over her features. She slid the bow from her
back and grasped it in her hands. She would not leave her family
unprotected.

“Be careful,” she whispered. She closed
her eyes, went to grab him, but then her hand fell limply back to
her side.

“Stay here.” His tone was not as
brisk.

“I will.” She slid an arrow into the
bow.

Braith gestured to the others and slid
silently into the woods. They were about a hundred feet in when he
began to smell them. The others spread out around him, filtering
through the trees like wraiths toward his father’s men. He heard
them before he saw them; someone commented on a woman, the others
laughed as the guardsman regaled them with a story. Though he was
relieved that the guardsmen didn’t sense their approach, or even
feel that there was any threat within the woods, another part of
him, the part that had been honed to rule one day, was irritated.
They should be on guard no matter what, even if they felt safe and
were far from the palace, they should be prepared for any threat at
all times. Their lack of awareness was about to get them
killed.

Jack appeared in the woods, his head
poked up from behind a large fallen tree. Braith nodded toward his
right, Gideon and Ashby were somewhere over there, while Xavier was
on the other side of Jack. The guardsmen came into view. None of
them were paying attention to their surroundings as they continued
to exchange stories. They may be outnumbered seven to five, but the
guardsmen didn’t have a shot of walking away from this
alive.