Renegade (The Captive Series Book 2)

Renegade

Erica Stevens

Copyright Heather Cox 2012

Published by Gilmour-Cox Publishing at
Smashwords

CHAPTER 1

Aria didn’t have to look up to know
that Max had arrived. He had been joining her here, at the same
time, everyday for the last month. Even if he hadn’t settled into
that routine, she would have detected his presence by his subtle
smell and nearly silent step. He settled onto the ground beside
her, remaining silent as he picked up a rock and skipped it
leisurely across the lake. Aria handed him the fishing pole beside
her, the hook was already baited and ready for him. He took it from
her, casting it easily into the center of the lake.

Aria swung her feet slightly back and
forth, her toes skimming along the lake. It was early summer now;
the cool water was wonderful against her overheated skin. Using the
back of her arm, she wiped away the sweat beading along her
forehead. They sat for a long time together, wordlessly reeling in
fish. They kept the ones that were good to eat, and tossed back the
ones that were too small.

Aria had started retreating to this
spot soon after her escape from being a blood slave, and her return
home. Max had found her here two days later. They rarely spoke,
they didn’t need too. They had both been inside that place, both
been owned and used, and hurt by the vampires that had possessed
them. The monsters that had owned them. Though, decidedly, Max’s
experience had been far worse than hers.

She had been owned, led around by a
leash, and used, but the extent of her use was her own fault. She
had willingly given the prince her blood, mistakenly thinking that
she was falling in love with the deceptive bastard, but that had
been before she’d learned that he was engaged. Though she hated the
prince now, she could not deny the sharp stab of pain that pierced
her at the thought of him marrying another woman. It was an awful
thought, horrendous, and it brought tears to her eyes every time it
crossed her mind. Which was far more often than she cared to
admit.

But, no matter how badly she’d been
hurt, no matter how much she’d been betrayed, her experience hadn’t
been anywhere near as awful as Max’s. Though they did not talk
about it, she knew what was done to blood slaves. They were used,
abused, and discarded when their owners grew tired of them. Even
though Max always wore long sleeves, every once in awhile his shirt
would ride up and she would catch sight of the scars and burns that
marred his fair skin. She would see the haunted look that sometimes
filled his bright blue eyes when he didn’t think anyone was
looking.

She had suffered abuse while within the
palace, but it had come from a human servant, and not the vampire
prince. He had broken her heart, but he had never intentionally
inflicted bodily harm to her that she not asked for. In fact, he
had been unfailingly gentle with her.

Though she hated to acknowledge it, she
knew that if the prince had not taken so much of her blood on her
last night, leaving her incoherent, she would have given him far
more than just her blood then. She also would have given him her
body, and her last piece of self respect. It was a fact that she
hated herself for, and tried not to think about. Especially since
the thought still left her oddly shaken and longing for something
that had been unfulfilled, and always would be.

The prince may not have been physically
cruel to her, but Max’s owner had been just as cruel and brutal as
they had always heard the vampire’s were to their slaves. Aria’s
neck was only marred by one bite mark, one that she had wanted so
badly that her whole being had ached for it. A bite that had nearly
stripped her soul from her, and left her a far different person
than the one she’d been before he fed from her. A mark that was
fading faster than she wanted it to, and yet nowhere near as fast
as she wanted it to. She didn’t want to lose the mark, it was her
last connection to the prince, and no matter how much she hated
him, she could not deny that he would always own a piece of her
heart. But it could only be a small piece as he had succeeded in
shattering the rest of it.

She wanted the mark gone. Wanted it off
of her skin. She hoped that once it was gone she would be able to
forget about the prince. That once it was gone, she could move on
with her life, and not hurt so much all the time. That she would
not ache constantly, that the dreams would stop haunting her, and
she could stop just existing, and actually start living again. She
wanted to take pleasure again in the woods again, but since her
return she had found little joy in the wilderness she’d once loved
so dearly.

Max reeled his line in, deftly unhooked
a decent sized bass, and added it to their growing catch. Aria
pulled her dark pants up more, baring her legs to her knees. She
squirmed her way closer to the edge of the lake, dipping her legs
up to her shins in the water. She wanted to go swimming soon, wash
her hair, and clean herself. One of the few things she missed about
the palace, besides the prince, was the wonderfully hot showers and
baths she had taken. Diving in the lake was not the same cleansing
experience, though she did it far more often now than she had
before she was captured and claimed by the prince. Being clean
every day while in the palace had left her with the same desire now
that she was home.

After about an hour, Max finally spoke.
��You had another bad dream last night.”

Aria sat silently, she didn’t know how
to tell him she didn’t have nightmares like he did. She did not
relive violent beatings and torture. Her dreams were about the last
night she’d had with the prince, the wonder she had felt, the joy
and love that had suffused her. His feeding from her had been so
breathtaking, and amazing, that she had never wanted to end. It had
been painful for Max when his owner had drank from him, but for
her, it had been a moment of pure ecstasy that had touched her
profoundly. It was the loss of that joy, the loss of him that
caused her to cry and moan and awaken at night. For her, the night
was not a reliving of torment like it was with Max, but a reliving
of heartache.

She had never deluded herself into
thinking that anything between herself and the prince could last.
She would have had to die eventually, the rest of the royal family,
his wife, would have seen to her death eventually. She had deluded
herself into thinking that he might actually care for her too
though. But that was before she had learned that he was already
engaged to someone else. The thought still caused a bolt of fury,
betrayal, and pain to jolt through her.

Max wrapped his hands lightly around
hers, trying to steady them as they shook on the pole. “The fish
will know you’re here.”

She managed to return his wan smile as
she struggled to breathe, struggled to regain control of her
wounded pride and broken heart. “I don’t think my nightmares are as
bad as yours,” she said softly.

He squeezed her hand gently before
slowly releasing her. They had never spoken about their
experiences, though it was obvious that they had both been changed
forever. But Aria had gained weight while in captivity, Max had
grown even thinner, his bones were still sharp against his pale,
drained skin. He exhibited far more bruises, scars, and bite marks
than she did, though her scars were mainly inside. His experience
had been far more physically taxing, and just as mentally abusive,
and toxic, as hers had.

“That’s a good thing,” he
murmured.

She tilted her head, offering him a
small half smile. His clear blue eyes were soft, tender. His sandy
blond hair hung about his handsome face and stark features. It was
her fault that Max had even been placed in that whole awful
situation. He had allowed himself to be captured after she was
taken with the hope that he would be able to get them both free.
Unfortunately, he had not anticipated just how much of a lockdown
blood slaves were placed on. Though, she had been afforded far more
freedom than he had.

She glanced down at her wrist, the one
that had been scarred by the leash she had tried to rip from her.
Unfortunately, once placed on, the golden leashes could only be
removed by the vampire that had placed them there. In a moment of
panic, frustration, and fear for Max’s life, she had tried to rip
it off of her. All she had gotten for her efforts was a bloody
wrist, bloody fingers, and a pissed off prince who had been so
unbelievably tender afterwards.

She forcefully shut the thought down.
Recalling the prince as tender and loving only reopened the raw and
jagged wounds still festering upon her heart. “You never should
have been there Max, I’m sorry.”

It was the first time she had
apologized to him for her role in his capture; she hadn’t been able
to get the words out before. She had wanted to apologize many many
times, but neither of them wanted to be reminded of their time
there. They both wanted to keep it to themselves, wanted to deny
that it had even happened. And they were both failing miserably at
it. It was obvious to anyone that knew them that they weren’t the
same; that they never would be. No matter how much they wanted to
pretend that their captivity hadn’t happened, they couldn’t succeed
at it.

He was silent for a moment, his gaze
distant as he stared across the lake. He turned slowly toward her,
his eyes haunted, but there was something else in them, something
more. Something she had never seen before. Or perhaps she had seen
it, but she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it before. She couldn’t
deny it now.

She couldn’t deny it, but she also
didn’t want it. There had only been one other man that had ever
looked at her like that, and in the end he had made her like this.
He had left her shattered and broken, and barely able to breathe
through the pain that continuously clawed at her insides. He had
ruined her, and Max did not fully understand that yet. She hoped
that one day he would. The last thing she wanted was to have Max
hurt because of her again, but with the way that he was looking at
her she felt it was inevitable.

“I made the choice to go after you
Aria, it was my fault that I was caught, not yours. Even knowing
what I do now, I wouldn’t change anything. I would never leave you
alone Aria, never.”

She stared back at him, searching his
face. She had always found him handsome, and she still did, but it
was not the dark, dangerous ruggedness that the prince had
possessed. Instead, Max was blond, with clear blue eyes, and an
open sweet face that made many girls swoon. At one time he had even
made her swoon. So much so that Max had been her first and only
kiss, before she had met the prince. And then, she had known that
no matter what feelings she had once possessed for Max, they had
been nothing compared to what she felt for the prince.

And now the prince was gone, lost to
her forever, and Max was looking at her with the same longing
expression that the prince had stared at her with. She swallowed
the lump in her throat, fighting against the tears that wanted to
fall. Unlike the prince though, Max would never leave her alone,
never betray her, never use her like the prince had. He would never
destroy her as the prince had. Max would do everything in his power
to keep her safe, to build her up again, and would sacrifice
himself over and over for her. Even if the prince could have
located her, even if he had wanted to, he never would have come for
her. He had a fiancée he had to take care of now. A vampire to
build a life with, and to have children with. She was nothing but a
pitiful, human, toy to him.

Why did she still love the murdering
bastard then? Why on earth couldn’t she love someone as wonderful,
caring, and sweet as Max? But she didn’t, and she knew that she
would never be able to.

Aria shook her head, trying to deny his
words. “Max…”

“It’s ok Aria, one day you’ll forget
him, you’ll move on.”

“You know about him?” she whispered,
unexpected shame flooding her body.

She felt like a traitor, a monster, a
fool. Her father was the leader of the rebels; her brother’s and
Max were some of his strongest fighters in the cause, just as she
had been before she had been broken. They had been willing to risk
their lives for her, and she…

Well she had given her heart to a
vampire, the oldest son in the royal family no less, the heir to
the throne. They had been willing to die for her, and she had been
falling in love with one of their greatest enemies. She thought of
the prince as a monster, but she had also come to accept the fact
that she was one too.