Skye's Sanctuary (The Sanctuary Series Book 5)

by Nikita Slater

  “Stupid. The second they got what they wanted they would’ve left you dead in the dirt.” My words are scathing. “Did you seduce Denny into helping you?”

  She nods.

  “And later, how did you manage to give our doctor up to the New York Sanctuary?”

  She sighs and leans back against the wall behind her bed. “You make it sound so bad.”

  “It is bad, Scarlett.”

  She glares at me. “Do you know what Wolfe did to me to get the doctor’s location?”

  I roll my eyes. “Nothing probably. I’m sure you gave up the information the moment you felt threatened.”

  “He slapped me!” she exclaims, launching herself off the bed and pointing at her cheek.

  I laugh, which makes her glare even harder.

  “A light slap is going to be the least of your problems,” I tell her, sobering. “Now tell me how you met Malachi and why you gave up our doctor.”

  “Fine,” she snaps. “I met him outside that mountain village. He was scouting the area and I caught him watching me. He asked some questions about Sanctuary and I realized by his accent that he wasn’t from this area. He told me he was from a wealthy Sanctuary out east. New York. He told me if I gave him what he wanted, he would make me a rich woman.”

  “So you gave him what he wanted.” I shake my head. “Do you have so little faith in your own Sanctuary?”

  “What faith should I have?” she growls, pacing toward the bars again. “I was torn from the harem and forced to live like a pig in the muck in Tucson. Then I was given two choices, rebuild a life outside of the Tucson Sanctuary or follow you into the desert with your stupid vaccine.”

  “None of that was anyone’s fault,” I tell her. “You could have made a good life here, Scarlett. Why betray us?”

  She grips the bars, staring at me angrily. “It’s not enough. I was a Warlord’s favoured concubine once. I will take nothing less than the same or better. I don’t want to live in the dirt with the rest of the rats. I want my place. I earned it!”

  I’m disgusted by her actions, but not surprised. She was always the most manipulative and self-involved of the harem women. I’d truly believed she’d changed when she joined my vaccine team to help us spread the word. Now, I see her for what she is. An opportunist. Always out for the best deal.

  I reach for her so quickly she doesn’t have time to move away. I grab her hair at the nape of her neck and smash her face into the bars, slipping my knife through and placing it against her throat. “You betrayed me, and you betrayed the doctor for your own gain. Tell me why I should spare your life? It’s a pretty pathetic one from my point of view.”

  She squawks in protest and tries to back up, but I press the blade into her throat hard enough to draw blood.

  “Answer,” I snarl.

  “We were friends,” she says quickly. “Please don’t kill me.”

  I shake my head. “You were never my friend. You were a petty bitch when we lived in the harem together. Now, you’ve set yourself up as an enemy. You deserve this blade, but you don’t deserve a quick death. You were a fucking idiot for coming back to Sanctuary after you betrayed us.”

  I release her and step back.

  She scrambles away from the bars, her hand clutching at her throat, her eyes wide with fear. She quickly recovers and arranges her expression into a pout. “Malachi was supposed to take me with him, but he never showed up.”

  I stare at her, amazed that she managed to survive this long. Her idiocy should’ve gotten her killed years ago.

  “What are you going to do with me?” she asks, fear colouring her tone.

  I study her, trying to decide.

  “I should have you executed. It’s what any other Warlord would do if someone betrayed their Sanctuary.”

  Her eyes widen and she gasps. “You wouldn’t do that to me.” She blinks back tears in a dramatic show. “Please, Skye. You used to be kind. Please, have mercy. I know I screwed up, but I don’t deserve to die.”

  “And I did?” I ask her savagely, smacking the bars in my anger. “What about the doctor? Did she deserve to die?”

  “She’s dead?” Scarlett asks, blanching.

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “We were forced to leave her in a New York prison. You did that to her.”

  “I’m sorry,” Scarlett whispers.

  “Shut up,” I snap. “You’re not sorry for her, you’re sorry you got caught.”

  Her guilty expression tells me all I need to know.

  Coldly I say, “I’ll give you more than you gave her. I’ll give you a choice.”

  She nods eagerly. “Thank you, Skye. I promise you won’t regret it.”

  She’s one dumb bitch if she thinks her choices are going to be even remotely pleasant.

  “First choice: execution.” When she shakes her head emphatically, I hold up a hand. “Hear me out before you decide. Death might be the best of the choices.”

  She bites her lip and nods.

  “Second choice: banishment.”

  She pales.

  “Third choice; you remain imprisoned here in this Sanctuary for the remainder of your life. You will spend your nights in a prison cell and your days labouring with the work crews.”

  She looks hopeful after I mention the third choice.

  “I want you to understand exactly what the third choice entails,” I say coldly. “You will work from morning to evening. You will take meals with the rest of the prisoners. You will be guarded at all times. If there is even a hint of impropriety or manipulation on your part as you carry out your sentence, you will be expelled from Sanctuary.”

  “I understand,” she whispers. “I choose the third option.”

  Then so be it.

  “I’ll let the duty guard know of your sentence.”

  “Thank you,” she says, looking more defeated than I’ve ever seen her.

  I don’t trust her, but I’ll give her a chance to prove herself.

  “One more thing,” I add. “I want you to give me the exact location of where the vaccination team was attacked.” It was over a month ago, but there might still be something out there. “If I find Deacon’s dead body out in the desert your life will be forfeit.”

  “But I didn’t kill him!” she cries. “The Outsiders shot him before I ever negotiated with them.”

  I smile grimly. “Life’s not fair, is it, Scarlett?”

  I turn and leave her sobbing in her jail cell, fear for her future hammering home the reality of her situation.

  Forty-Two

  “Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I say as I hyperventilate.

  I take another lap of the room and then curse the fact that it’s not larger. I’m wearing a path in the rug as I walk from one end to the other, repeating myself like a broken parrot.

  “I don’t think breathing is a choice,” Taran says sarcastically, then goes into a prolonged wince as another labour pain strikes.

  “So, Doc Bishop is definitely on his way?” I ask, dropping to my knees next to the bed and taking Taran’s hand.

  It’s damp with sweat.

  “Yes,” she gasps.

  She clings to me, baring her teeth, then breathing a deep sigh as the pain releases. She settles back against the pillows and picks up her book as though nothing had happened. She’d raided the old paperback romance novels from the harem bookshelves and is steadily making her way through them.

  Meanwhile, I have to swallow a few times to banish the dryness from my throat before I can speak.

  “I don’t know how you can be so nonchalant about this,” I say, pushing myself back to my feet and continuing my pacing. “You’re about to squeeze a baby out of your vagina.”

  “Thank you,” she says mildly, not looking up from her book. “I was wondering what was about to happen.”

  “Aren’t you terrified?” I ask, unable to help myself. I don’t want to freak my sister out, but I’m freaking out and need assurance. “I mean anything can go wrong. It’ll take
hours for the doctor to arrive from Tucson. What if the baby comes before he gets here?”

  Taran sets her book down and pats the bed beside her. “Come sit with me.”

  I don’t want to stop moving, but I sit anyway.

  She leans back against her pillows and rests a hand on her belly.

  “First, the doctor got held up by an emergency, he’s on his way. But even if he doesn’t make it in time, we have Jessa and the other hospital staff. They know what they’re doing. I feel perfectly comfortable in their hands. Second, you know what happened when I had Blaze, right?”

  I nod.

  “Well, the worst has already happened, and I survived it. I know what to expect and trust me, this birth is already going much easier.” Her gaze drops to my stomach. “You’ll find out what I mean when you and Wolfe have children.”

  I snort and shake my head. “This isn’t convincing me that giving birth is awesome.” I glance at the door. “I don’t know how your husband isn’t more worried.”

  “He is,” Taran assures me. “But he also knows there’s nothing he can do but wait. I’m pretty sure he’s waiting on top of the city gates right now, watching for the doctor’s arrival.” Taran takes my hand and squeezes. “Now tell me about this place.”

  When I frown my confusion, she adds, “The harem. I’m curious about what it was like to live here, now that I’ve spent time inside. It’s very comfortable. Did it bother you to know you were one of many women? I would murder Diogo if he even thought about starting a harem.”

  I know that she’s trying to distract me by changing the subject, but I’m game. “It never really bothered me. When I was brought to this Sanctuary the first time, I was used to having my ability to make choices taken from me. The Warlord’s logic seemed sound to me. He had his choice of women, so why shouldn’t he exercise it?”

  She looks at me curiously. “Do you mind now?”

  I think about it, delving deep into my feelings. I’m not always the most in touch with myself, so the exercise isn’t an easy one.

  “I suppose a part of me resents that I didn’t have a choice, but I grew to care about the Warlord. He had a sort of integrity that I appreciated. Though there were other women here, I knew I was important to him.” Finally, I admit the thing that I’d never dared to say out loud, “Perhaps the most important to him. He married me and gave me power he didn’t give any of his other women.”

  “Yet, even after he fell for you, he still had a harem,” Taran points out drily.

  I nod. “He liked women.”

  “So do I,” Diogo says, striding into the room with a plate piled high with food. “But I never had a harem.”

  Taran glowers at him as she reaches for the plate. “You might not have a harem, but you had laws making sure women were forced to marry and reproduce.”

  Diogo leans over the bed and presses his mouth to Taran’s, then murmurs against her, “I’ve since learned the error of my ways.”

  “You brought me food, so I will forgive you,” Taran says, shoving a cookie in her mouth.

  “Don’t eat too much,” he warns. “The doctor said you could become sick.”

  Taran rolls her eyes. “You need to stop worrying.”

  I quietly leave the room, giving them some privacy.

  Their love for each other makes my heart ache with happiness. It makes me appreciate what I have with Wolfe that much more.

  The man of my thoughts appears before me as I wander through the harem. He walks straight at me, sliding his arms around my waist and kissing me fiercely. My breath catches and I wrap my arms around his neck, holding on tightly as the storm of his kiss washes over me.

  When he releases me, I nearly fall over, but he slides his hand around my back to steady me.

  “I’ve moved the Primitives,” he says.

  Going from a heated kiss to discussing the Primitives is like having a bucket of cold water tossed in my face. I take a moment to switch gears.

  “You moved them to the house?” I ask.

  He nods.

  We’d organized a house on the edge of the city, away from most of the citizen residential areas, for the test subjects. They’d agreed to live together for now, as they are more easily watched by our security forces.

  “Did they all go easily?”

  He nods, then adds, “Hannah may be a problem.”

  I sigh and wonder what I should do with the woman. She’s survived so much in her life and has fallen so far. She seems lost at sea with her new restrictions. Since she didn’t fully turn, she doesn’t understand why she can’t go back to the way things were. She’d requested a home closer to the centre of the city for herself and Silas. She’d wanted to resume her work in the schools, which of course I couldn’t permit.

  It breaks my heart to deny Hannah her wishes, but I have to put the safety of Sanctuary first.

  “You made the right choice.”

  I look up at Wolfe and say, “I know, but it doesn’t feel good.”

  “Being a responsible leader won’t always feel good.”

  I laugh grimly. “Sage advice from a former Warlord.”

  “I was keeping the throne warm until you arrived.”

  “I know,” I whisper, going onto my toes to kiss his jaw.

  His arm tightens around my back, and he holds me tight for a few moments.

  I look back at Taran’s closed door. “How long do you think the birth will take?”

  He gives me a look that says I’m asking the wrong person.

  I laugh out loud and shake my head. “Of course, you have no idea. Let me rephrase, how long until the doctor arrives?”

  He thinks about it, then says, “Diogo sent the message six hours ago. If the doctor left immediately after receiving it, then, providing he doesn’t run into trouble on the road, he should arrive within the next four to six hours.”

  It seems amazing to me that travel between our two Sanctuaries is becoming more and more routine as we send convoys back and forth. The cooperation we share will have benefits for both cities for years to come.

  “Do you think she’ll keep the baby inside until he arrives?”

  Again, Wolfe gives me a look.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll stop asking you baby questions.”

  He takes my hand and leads me to the door of the harem. “Come with me, you need a break.”

  I look back and bite my lip. “But what if…”

  He shakes his head. “She won’t have the baby in the next half hour.”

  “How do you know? You seem pretty sure you know nothing about giving birth,” I say cheekily as he drags me from the harem.

  We climb the stairs to the Warlord’s chamber, where we’re greeted enthusiastically by Nova, who drags Christine, her new babysitter, by the hand. Nova grins at us as she launches herself against our legs, wrapping her tiny arms around both of us.

  “For a child who doesn’t talk, she sure makes herself loud and clear when she wants something, and she’s been wanting you two to come home for hours,” Christine says wryly, crossing her arms over her chest and watching her little charge with amusement.

  Christine, who loves children, agreed to spend time with Nova when we’re unable to watch her ourselves. Christine supervises the city schools and plans to take Nova with her when she does her tours. We’re all hopeful that eventually Nova will want to stay at school and make some friends among the other children. So far, she seems reluctant to go anywhere without either me or Wolfe, though she’s warming up to Christine.

  Wolfe picks Nova up in his arms and takes my hand. “Come,” he says.

  My heart bursts with pride at my little family as we climb the stairs to the roof.

  Wolfe likes to stand on top and watch the city. I’m less enthralled with the height, but Nova loves it when Wolfe allows her on the roof.

  Together the three of us stand and watch as our city bustles below.

  “Taran made a comment about our future children,” I murmur, my head leaning a
gainst Wolfe’s bicep. “Do you think we’ll have any more?”

  He turns his head to look down at me, and when I look up at him, kisses the top of my head. I know his mind, know what he’s thinking. What will happen, will happen. If we have children, we will raise them and be happy, same as we are now.

  “Yeah, me too,” I sigh.

  We spend a comfortable afternoon on the rooftop, pointing out various landmarks to Nova and promising to drive her up the mountain to meet the Mountain People. Taran is in the back of my mind, but I feel more relaxed.

  Doctor Bishop arrives after the supper meal is served and immediately heads into Taran’s room. He declares that her time is close and banishes me, Wolfe, and Diogo to the common room where we alternate between sitting and pacing. I’m surprised that Wolfe has elected to stay, when, of the three of us, he could most easily escape. I suppose it’s time to admit that no matter where I am, he will be too, even if it’s at the birth of my sister’s baby.

  “She’s asking for you,” Doctor Bishop says, sticking his head out of Taran’s room and calling for me.

  “I was afraid of that,” I mutter, edging toward the bedroom.

  I pick up my pace when Taran lets out a shout that sounds more like a strangled swear. I hurry to her side and crawl onto the bed with her. Her face is red and sweaty from exertion and her hand shakes as she reaches for me.

  “It hurts,” she says, tears in her eyes. “I don’t think I can do this.”

  As if like magic, her words calm me down. If Taran needs her big sister to help get her through this moment, then I will be here.

  “Of course you can do this,” I tell her. “You’re the badass who climbed down the side of a building while you were seven months pregnant.”

  “I fell!” she wails as pain grips her.

  I stare in amazement as her stomach ripples. She’s wearing a shirt pulled taut over her belly, with nothing below. There’s a blanket covering her hips and legs, but as the doctor takes his place at the end of the bed, he moves it to have a look.

  I’ve never been near someone giving birth, let alone in the same room. The experience is nerve-wracking, but I know I have to keep my shit together for Taran’s sake. The doctor doesn’t need two patients.