Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite Book 3)

by Rebecca King

  Elspeth, desperate to gain her freedom, grabbed a fistful of the large willow branches above her head and clung on with frenzied determination. When the man behind her was forced to stop or lose his grip on her, she wound the long strands of willow around her hand until they were painfully tight. The man loosened his hold while he tried to get her to let go but soon realised what she had done. Releasing her completely, he turned his attention to trying to get Elspeth to unfurl her fingers, so he could unwind the willow. Elspeth then began to kick. Swinging with one hand from the long strands of the willow, she jerked this way and that while she kicked out wildly at the man who tried to grab her again. He was no match for her determined boots, though, and soon found himself on the receiving end of several heavy kicks, one of which rendered him helpless.

  “Damn you,” he groaned when she caught him in the groin.

  “Frederick, you are a total bastard,” Elspeth spat loudly in disgust when she recognised his voice.

  Frederick, who was nursing his groin, slowly fell to his knees.

  Now that she recognised him, Elspeth eyed him with spiteful determination. Sickened by what he had done to her, Aaron, and Thomas, she lifted her boot and kicked him soundly in the head. It wasn’t anywhere near as hard as she wanted it to be because Frederick groaned but soon got back up again. This time, Elspeth was ready for him and lifted her boot in preparation for him surging to his feet. Before he had taken three steps toward her, she lifted her boot, tugged hard on her arm until she was in the air, and then swung at him with another kick which landed directly in his groin again.

  Aaron looked around and cursed viciously when he couldn’t find Elspeth. He couldn’t hear her either. Redoubling his efforts, he waited until the assailant tried to hit him with his club again. When the man tried another swing, Aaron grabbed the club and used it to haul himself to his feet. The world swam but he ignored it. Instead, he planted his feet and yanked the club off his attacker with a violence that left the man without a weapon, but with one very angry opponent.

  Aaron then set to work. Swinging the club over one shoulder then another, he began to pound the attacker, Voss, over and over. Aaron hit his assailant in the shoulder, the knees, the stomach. When Voss was on his knees, Aaron swung the club heavily against the side of the man’s head, from one side to the next, until Voss slithered unconsciously to the floor.

  Aaron gave him one last thwack to the head before he threw the club as hard as he could into the garden beside them. When he was sure Voss posed no further problem, Aaron turned his attention to finding Elspeth.

  “Where are you?” he shouted. “Elspeth?”

  “Here,” Elspeth cried. She almost wept with relief when she heard Aaron’s beloved voice.

  Frederick suddenly jerked and stared with wide eyes in the direction of the garden. Without even giving Elspeth a second look, he spun around and raced off.

  “Coward!” Elspeth shouted as she watched him jump over a low-lying fence and race across a field toward the village.

  “Thank God,” Aaron bit out when he saw her swinging from one arm from the willow branches.

  “Are you going after him?” she asked when she had released her hand from the binding willow branch.

  Aaron squinted after his quarry. “No. We know he has tried to abduct you. We have Voss. That is enough for now. Frederick won’t be so bold now he has to work alone. We can catch Frederick when we are ready. He will go home eventually. When he does, we will be waiting for him.”

  Without saying another word, Aaron hauled her into his arms for a reassuring hug. It was stunning to realise how shaken he was, but not through fear for his own safety.

  “God, when I saw you being dragged off, I seriously thought they were going to take you away from me,” he breathed. “Are you all right?”

  Elspeth began to cry. She lifted a shaking hand to the bruises on his face and stood up on tiptoe, so she could rest her forehead against his. It took effort to pretend she was staying strong but Elspeth could do nothing about the tears that coursed down her face.

  “I have never seen anything so horrific,” she whispered. “I am sorry. It’s my fault.”

  “You had no idea they would try this,” he hissed. “It’s their damned fault, don’t you think? The attack is not your fault, Elspeth.”

  “But this is my fault. I have drawn you into this. You shouldn’t have to go through this because of me and my damned brother. He should never have dumped this on you. It isn’t fair, Aaron. What kind of friend and brother is he?”

  “One who was trying to do his best by you,” Aaron warned. “Thomas was someone who was backed into a corner and didn’t have the faintest idea how to defeat his enemy. While I won’t ever agree with what he has done, I am glad he asked for my help. I am glad I am here, Elspeth.”

  “But you could have been killed,” Elspeth protested.

  “I would rather die protecting you than anybody else I work every day to protect,” Aaron assured her.

  “Does it not bother you that you could give your life for someone else’s safety? What about your future Aaron? What about your life? Does it not matter to you? Do the loved ones you will leave behind if you die mean nothing to you?” Elspeth cried.

  “Of course they do,” Aaron retorted.

  “Why do you risk everything, then?” Elspeth demanded. “Why would you deliberately put your life in danger for people who don’t even care?”

  “Do you care, Elspeth?” Aaron struggled with the force of the desolation that would overwhelm him if Elspeth told him that she didn’t, couldn’t, or wouldn’t care if he continued to work with the Star Elite.

  “Of course, I care. But after what Thomas has put me through, do you think I want to spend my life waiting for the day when I receive a note informing me about your death? I can’t do it. I won’t do it. This-” she waved a hand between them “-thing between us is going to lead to desolation, I am sure of it. You seem to go into situations willingly that put your life in danger, and you don’t seem to give a damn. I can’t understand how you can be so blazé about your life, your future, and the lives of the people who will lose everything if anything happens to you.”

  “Will you lose everything if anything happens to me?” Aaron demanded.

  “You matter to me,” she snapped, shoving him roughly in the chest. “Damn you.”

  She didn’t want to feel anything for anybody right now. She didn’t want to love, especially a man who danced with danger every day of his life. The last thing she wanted to do was love. She had loved her brother and look what he had done to her. She knew that while she loved Thomas, it was nothing like the deep and abiding love she felt for Aaron. That was different. That was considerably more connected to an inner part of her that she suspected was her.

  It is. It is my heart, Elspeth thought sadly. Aaron is my heart.

  Blinking tears out of her eyes, she made her way to the garden gate again only for it to be yanked open.

  “Elspeth!” Aaron called when she turned around and hurried away. He eyed Voss critically but stepped over the man when he didn’t move. “Elspeth!”

  But Elspeth didn’t stop. She waved an airy hand to make it clear she had nothing else to say and walked into the garden, away from the source of her pain, fears and fury. She was angry that Aaron didn’t seem to understand how much he mattered to her.

  Of course, he won’t because I have never told him I love him.

  Elspeth couldn’t tell him, no matter how much she tried. While he had been tender and gentle with her she had no idea if he was duty-bound to do what her brother asked of him. He had yet to tell her how he felt, and that had to come first before she made an utter fool of herself. Or did something reckless and ridiculous with her own future, like fall head over heels in love with him.

  It is too late. I already have.

  “What happened?” Niall demanded when she slammed into the house.

  “Go and help Aaron, please. He has Voss on the path out
side.” Elspeth explained what had happened. “He needs your help.”

  With that, she made her way up to her bed chamber. Once there, Elspeth lay on the bed and caved in to the misery that surrounded her. This time, it had nothing to do with grief, or the loss of a loved one. It was because she felt, for the first time in her life, that she had what she wanted right before her, only circumstance was going to take it – Aaron - away again, and there wasn’t a damned thing she could about it.

  “I can’t lose him,” she whispered, not to his work with the Star Elite, or the criminals he fought daily.

  Elspeth was deeply shaken by the morning’s events, so much so she didn’t think she would ever be able to sleep soundly in her bed at night again. He, however, had barely even blinked. Aaron had taken it all in his stride, as though it was an ordinary part of life. Their different attitudes toward life seemed to erect a very unrelenting barrier between them, one which she wasn’t sure she could ever find a way through.

  Aaron quietly let himself into her bed chamber several moments later. It hurt him to hear her misery when he found her crying, and know it was because of his work. Not for the first time in the last several weeks, he started to doubt whether he should continue to work with the War Office. It didn’t seem fair that she should ever go through the circumstance where she learned of a loved one’s death through a note for a second time in her life. While he could be certain he could take steps to make sure she wouldn’t ever be destitute, his death wouldn’t give him the time, the family, or the life he wanted with her.

  “I am sorry, Elspeth,” he whispered. With a sigh, he sat down carefully on the edge of the bed.

  Upon hearing his voice, and without even thinking about what she was doing, Elspeth flung herself into his arms and began to kiss him.

  “Elspeth,” Aaron growled in warning.

  But Elspeth was far beyond listening. She wanted this one special moment with him, and nothing and nobody was going to deny her. With a determination that came from her very soul, she grabbed his shirt with shaking hands and lowered herself back down onto the bed.

  This time, Aaron followed her down without a murmur of complaint.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Many hours later, Aaron was dragged out of a blissful slumber by persistent knocking. He blinked sleepily but immediately sighed with supreme contentment when he realised where he was, and what he had spent the last couple of hours sharing with Elspeth. He was warm, wonderfully relaxed, and had the love of his life in his arms. Life didn’t get any better.

  Before answering the summons, he took a moment to savour his situation. Eventually, when he couldn’t stand the pounding a moment longer, he eased out of bed but not before he pressed a loving kiss to Elspeth’s lips. She huffed a contented sigh, snuggled further down under the covers. Aaron grinned and tugged the covers up to her chin before he slowly eased out of bed and dragged some clothes on.

  Quietly, he opened the door and waved a frowning Oliver away from the door. Stepping out into the hallway, he sighed in disgust when he noticed Oliver was fully dressed, heavily armed, and ready to go out.

  “What’s happened?” he asked, aware that Niall and Jasper had earlier taken Voss to the gaol to face charges for attempted abduction, and assault upon himself. He wondered, albeit briefly, if Voss had escaped.

  “Horvat’s been found,” Oliver said. “He is in the damned village.”

  Aaron’s brows shot skyward. “Cromley? Here?”

  “Wouldn’t that be a laugh and a half, and the deepest embarrassment of the Star Elite, if the damned man was living in the same village as us and we hadn’t even noticed,” Oliver was annoyed, but that was what had happened.

  “How could we miss him?” Aaron demanded.

  “Because we have been looking for Voss and Frederick, haven’t we? We haven’t been looking for Horvat right under our bloody noses,” Oliver snapped.

  “Damn,” Aaron whispered.

  Oliver threw Aaron his cloak. “Get ready. We are going to capture the bastard.”

  There was such an air of certainty in Oliver’s voice that Aaron knew the men were ready to do whatever it took to capture their quarry, even if it meant killing the man. Aaron didn’t mind. As far as he was concerned, Horvat had brought enough people abject misery. It was time he was put out of action.

  Aaron crept back into the bed chamber and heaved a sigh of relief to find Elspeth still asleep. He didn’t want to wake her for fear of worrying her while he was gone. Minutes later, he reached the hallway downstairs just in time to find the men waiting for him.

  “Is nobody going to stay to keep watch?” he asked warily when he realised everyone was ready to leave.

  He wanted to go after Horvat with them but not at the expense of Elspeth’s safety.

  “The house is secured. The shutters are locked tight. All the locks have been reinforced. It would take a blasted miracle to get in here,” Oliver informed him briskly.

  “Besides, Frederick is likely to have gone home to lick his wounds, don’t you think? Now that he has lost Voss, he isn’t going be half as confident as he was this morning,” Jasper warned.

  “We aren’t going to be long,” Sir Hugo assured him. “We know where Horvat is. There is a team already watching his house, but we must hurry. We are adding support, that’s all.”

  “Well, why don’t the team mount the attack and save us the trouble?” Aaron demanded.

  “They need reinforcements,” Sir Hugo replied coldly. “We have lost this bastard several times already. Don’t you think it is time we threw everything at capturing him? I want him behind bars. Here. Today. No excuses.”

  Aaron swore. “I am staying here,” he declared flatly.

  “Don’t you want to see the bastard drop?” Oliver demanded.

  “Are we killing or arresting?” Aaron demanded.

  “Arresting,” Sir Hugo murmured. “We can’t kill him because we don’t know where the victims are. We need to be able to interrogate him to find out what he has done with the victims once he has snatched them.”

  “With us there the Star Elite have enough men to surround the property. Horvat won’t be able to get through us. Ten men, that’s all we have. Given how slippery Horvat is, even that may not be enough unless we have the element of surprise on our side for once,” Jasper warned.

  Aaron nodded but knew Jasper had just directly quoted what Sir Hugo had said to him.

  “We need every man on this, Aaron, and time is short. We must move now while we know where he is. One hour, that’s all this should take. If Elspeth stays in the house there is no reason for her to be in any danger, is there?” Sir Hugo argued.

  Aaron sighed. He contemplated Elspeth upstairs, tucked up in bed, and suspected she was going to be there for more than an hour. He hoped so in any case.

  “Let me leave her a note telling her to stay inside and not to answer the door to anybody,” Aaron said.

  Without another word, he let himself into the study, quickly wrote a note, and hurried upstairs to leave it propped on the small table next to the bed. When he was assured she remained undisturbed, he raced downstairs to join his colleagues.

  Seconds later, Aaron rode through the village with his colleagues to the house Horvat, for the time being at least, called home.

  “Horvat has done what he did in St Magdaline, hasn’t he?” Jasper murmured when they were all studying the house that was most definitely not Horvat’s.

  “What? Done away with the house’s elderly resident so he can live there? Looks like it,” Sir Hugo snorted in disgust. “We will find the owner’s body, but only once that evil fiend is out of the way.”

  He waved a hand at the assembled men who all took up positions around the perimeter of the house. They all studied the property’s entrance points. Each man had a point of entry and it was different to the man beside him. There would be some men who would remain outside in case Horvat tried to escape. They would also work to keep the public away while the worst
of the chaos settled down. Horvat, hopefully, wouldn’t know what had hit him until it was all over.

  Sir Hugo lifted his hand.

  Seconds ticked by.

  Aaron readied his gun. He tensed. While he waited for the signal to storm the house, his thoughts strayed to Elspeth. He wished he was back at the house, so he could be the one to wake her. The last thing he had anticipated was having to leave her to wake alone. It felt wrong, especially given what they had shared, and the significant changes it brought to both of their lives. Still, his consolation was that if they could capture Horvat, the investigation would then lose some of its danger because it would become a recovery mission to try to find Horvat’s victims. That could only allay Elspeth’s fears about his work with the Star Elite, couldn’t it? Aaron certainly hoped so, because he suspected he couldn’t give up his work for the War Office any more than he could surrender his love for Elspeth.

  Sir Hugo suddenly lowered his hand.

  As one, the men surged toward the house. The front door was kicked in at the same time as the back door was broken into a thousand tiny sticks. All the windows were smashed downstairs. Men shouted orders as they stormed the property, and cornered the unsuspecting inhabitant who hadn’t even noticed the men were nearby.

  Horvat stared in stunned disbelief at the wrecked house that had seconds earlier been warm and a temporary home. The destruction the strange intruders wrought was instant and left him lifting his hands meekly when he found himself staring down the wrong end of several guns.

  “Move, Horvat, and you die,” Jasper declared coldly.

  Sir Hugo sauntered into the house as though paying a visit for afternoon tea. He studied the contents of the kitchen table, broadsheet cuttings of reports of Horvat’s crimes, and shook his head chidingly at the kidnapper. When he was done, he sauntered up to the man who had caused them all so much trouble and looked him squarely in the eye.