Gunner appears surprised. “You talk as though you are older than twenty-five.”
“I was lethal by six, fighting in the field by eight.”
“That’s awful.” Rose sounds weak.
“But I haven’t seen any children in training.” Gunner shifts in his cot.
“Since the split, after your mom, that custom has been dropped. The young are allowed to be young with minimal training. Another thing your mother changed by breaking rules.”
Gunner grins with pride.
“May I come in?”
I see Storm. “Of course.”
“Hey there, you fine-lookin’ female.”
Storm blushes at Gunner.
I step away so Storm has room next to Rose. “I was just leaving.” Roses grasps my hand in fear. I lean to her. “It’s okay. You’re heavily guarded outside by a male named Bolli who refuses to leave your side. Nothing will get through him, I assure you.”
In pain, Gunner struggles to sit up. “And what are you doing, Ryder?” After seeing my expression, he answers his own question. “To chit chat with your successful mission.”
Even though he’s seriously injured, my bag of treats didn’t get past Gunner. “Saw the prisoner, did you?”
Gunner nods and waves for me to help him up. His arm goes over my shoulder as I lift him to his feet. He hobbles to Rose. His gasp alarms her. I have been staring at her injuries, and that is why it’s time to interrogate.
“I look that bad?” Rose’s lip is split and double the normal size. Her eye is black and blue, and she has a knot on her forehead the size a small rock. It’s bandaged because it too was busted open. But it is still clear how badly she is hurt.
“You saved her life,” I tell Gunner, still holding him up.
He shakes as he reaches for her face but doesn’t seem to know where to touch without causing more pain. She reaches for him, and he notices both wrists wrapped because the Kreets were so cruel to her. He growls, “Take me to this bastard.”
Storm pulls up a tree stump. “I will stay with her.”
I kiss Rose’s hand then help Gunner through the door. His eyes squint at the bright daylight. “How long we’ve been out?”
“Eight hours.”
“A pure human wouldn’t be standing yet, right?”
“A pure human wouldn’t be alive, Gunner.”
“Damn, that’s heavy.”
Bolli appears to have much on his mind. His eyes look down in shame.
“Gunner, I would like you to meet a powerful fighter, Olaf’s son, Bolli.”
Gunner goes to shake his hand but recoils when Bolli takes a knee and bows his head. “I will never fail the Prophecy again.”
Gunner’s eyes widen. I say, “Bolli came across the trolls’ trail but did not know they were going after Rose.”
Gunner hits a knee in a blink of an eye and grabs Bolli’s hand and arm in a strong shake. “She was taken during my shift. This is mine to regret. All we can do now is fight for her and make it right. Yeah?”
Bolli nods and stands with less weight on his shoulders. “Fight, I will.”
Gunner also stands. “Then friends we’ll be.” He points to Crystal’s tent flap. “Watch her for me now?” Bolli stands tall, slams his fist to his chest with pride, and goes to Rose.
Gunner and I continue our journey. “You handled that well, Gunner. His fathers could not reach him, but you just did.”
“I didn’t feed him bullshit. This is mine to make right. Damn, that was the most scared I have ever been, Ryder. I thought—I thought—she would die. Did they”—Gunner coughs—“do anything else to her?”
Just the thought of what Gunner is implying makes me ill. I inhale deeply. “Trolls are not sexually driven, so no. Crystal checked to make sure during an exam checking on the baby. But the trolls banged her up, probably in frustration because they were most likely instructed to not eat her.” I don’t mention her fractured ribs, caused by some awful hits on her back, the deep puncture in her hip looking like they stabbed her earlier, or remind him about her stitched thigh muscle. Gunner is angry enough.
“Ryder, why did I Tie to her? What does this mean for us?”
“We are bewildered, Gunner. You are not Linked to her. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Gunner is approached by Warriors and Vikes, stopping our conversation. They cheer, “The Warrior who saved our Prophecy’s mother.” Gunner tries to smile, but it’s still clear he doesn’t feel he deserves the gratitude.
Moods change as we head into the makeshift prison. The Demon huddles in the corner trying to avoid the light, like how we found them, sleeping deep underground in a cave. That’s probably how they came across the Kreets. No luck finding the king. He is elsewhere, but we found a lively group of twenty we extinguished except for one, the one now sitting before me.
“They look different during the day.” Chase examines the Demon.
The glowing red eyes now seem pathetic and hollow.
“No night to hide behind, making themselves look scarier than they really are,” Sage replies. Blaze, Gunner, and I are silent. I feel their rage matching mine. It runs deep in our veins and is more than we know what to do with.
Parker steps forward. “Maybe he will live through some questions if I start.”
“I’m willing to talk.” The Clone’s voice is eerie with a grating whisper and an accent I can’t place. “We have known all along that you would take one of us and have been prepared.” Chills. Chills vibrate through my soul with the callous manner in which this creature speaks. “How is Asta—”
Olaf swings his fist so fast it’s impressive, even to me. The Demon slams to the floor with the powerful blow to his mouth. Thord pulls Olaf back.
The Demon sits back up, reconnects his jaw, and… smiles. “Predictable Vikes. Are you predictable, Ryyyder?”
The breath in my chest is caught somewhere between duty and love. The duty and promise of being a Guardian Warrior is to stand strong, show no weakness, but the part of this male who is in love with the Prophecy’s mother wants to run as fast as I can, grab Rose, and hide her away.
“Your actions have taught us so much, thus far.”
I have to hear her voice, so I reflect, Rose. Are you safe?
Bolli is making Storm and me laugh uncontrollably. My ribs…
My eyes shut as I beg myself not to run to her side and guard her with the very breath I breathe.
“Yes, fight that urge, Waaarriorrrr.” The Clone sounds… demented.
When my eyes open, Ivar is in my face. “No be open book, Guardian.” Ivar touches my neck and shows me oozing vital fluid.
Son, he already knows too much.
I nod at Parker.
The Clone quickly finds another target. “How about you, half-breed? Your mother was a fighter. Are you?” Gunner steps forward until Blaze blocks him. The wicked voice continues. “I would say, yesss. Biting you, half-breed, was our first clue. The one to plague you died that very night. We were so confused. Eve was the clue the Oracle gave us.” I’m not the only one confused by these words. I look around the tent. All minds try to put the puzzle together. Gunner had no marks. We didn’t think he was ever bitten. Maybe he healed in moments due to being part elf. My thoughts stop when I hear the Clone say, “We came to stop her from being born—”
“Eve was two hundred years old. You were late,” Parker says with anger.
“Oh, blind leader. I speak of Rose.”
Silence.
“We did not know who to kill, so we started killing many. The Oracle told us to stop the female’s birth. Once we saw the Oracle was wrong—well, we thought she was wrong— the plan changed. The mission became to take Rose by twenty. The Oracle said all changes at twenty. Every twentieth birthday was
a treat. Soon, Eve’s young led us straight to Rooosssse.”
Gunner grabs his chest.
“Yessss, thank you, Gunnneerrr. She was to be captured and taken to my king so he could produce the unborn. See, Rose is the Prophecy for both sides. It came down to who impregnated her first.”
The tent explodes. Males are all over Gunner and me as we attack this lying Demon. We’re dragged most unwillingly from the tent. “Ryder! Stop!”
“Gunner! You’re illuminating!” Everyone’s yelling and drawing a crowd. Finally, Gunner and I are outnumbered and subdued. It is an hour before they dare take us back in.
“Back for more?” The Clone grins.
Ivar picks the creature off the floor, holding him in the air. “Watch yur words! Dey decide how we keell yu. Sweeftly or slowly.”
The Demon acts as though Ivar was simply annoying. “Where was I? Oh, yes, who would mate with Rose?” He eyes the room, waiting for another explosion and seems disappointed when Gunner and I stay composed. “And create the destined within her luscious womb.” He grins. “No more fun?”
Olaf kicks him in the face. “Geet on with it.”
“What horrible hosts I have. Since half-breed placed seed, plans changed again. Rose’s presence is requested by me—my king, so the abomination can be destroyed and greatness can be created.”
We all react this time. A pile of males lands on the Clone until a voice overrides our screams. “Enough.” Isolde demands to be heard. We back away with our heads hanging low. She speaks calmly and with a sly confidence. “King, I see you have met everyone?” Not once did that Clone cower with us, but Isolde’s presence seems to unnerve him something fierce. He wipes blood from his face as he carefully watches her every move. “Oh, I’m no longer speaking with a king?” She glares at us. “Fools. Can you not see through his search for weakness?” She paces, whipping her dress to follow. “Parker. Ivar. Now he knows Rose has two Tied males. Look at them.”
Gunner and I examine each other. I’m dripping blue, and he has gold droplets exuding from his pores. No one says anything. We only stand confused by Isolde’s claim we have caught the king.
Isolde gestures to our prisoner. “The one who sees through him is poking and prodding—trying to learn. You teach him much.”
“See through him?” Blaze asks.
Sage inhales as if breathing fire. Isolde spins to him. “Yes, pureblood, speak.”
“I can’t believe I did not see it earlier, but they all look alike because they are true clones, and the king uses them…”
Isolde nods then glares back at me. “If his king wanted to prevent the mating with Gunner and Rose, why didn’t they come the night of her birthday?”
“Because of the hour she was born.” That is what I understand to be true.
The Demon, that had been frightened to the bone, chuckles as if possessed by someone else again. “You named him wrong, Isolde.”
“Silence, king,” is all she says to the Demon, not even turning around to address him formally. Chose? I wonder what that means. Isolde speaks through clenched teeth, “Think, Ryder.”
After a moment, I quietly say, “He wasn’t trying to prevent the mating.”
Solemnly, Isolde nods to me as the possessed Demon laughs in the background. “Why would I cease what is needed?”
“But why?” I ask with fear.
Instead of answering me, Isolde turns to the Demon. “Are you just here to torment these males, or should I keep them from killing you because you have something of importance to tell me?” The Demon stares at her, grinning. “If I walk, you die.” Still grinning, he shrugs, appearing not to care about his fate. When nothing is said, she bows her head. “Be well, Demon.” She heads to the entrance.
“Your death is better than his.” The arrogant Demon sounds scared again, his body folding into itself.
Isolde stops and faces him with an expression I cannot understand. “Is it you?”
The Demon cowers and shivers. “Yes, it is me. Why—why did you do this—” He stops when Isolde holds up her hand, silencing him without a word. Parker and Hunter are as perplexed as the rest of us. I had hoped the elders knew what was happening. “He—he will torture me for failing him.”
“For this, I am sorry.” Isolde bows her head.
The Demon nods in some sort of surrender. “I suppose this you already knew.”
Isolde approaches the Demon. We all step forward too but are stopped by her gesture. “All life deserves respect, even evil life. Demon, there is always hope for change.”
“I want change.” The Clone nods, almost as if wanting reassurance from his mother. Isolde is kind and gentle as she lays her hand upon his head.
His hand grasps hers and pulls it to his face with a deep need I did not expect. “Please,” he begs, “don’t send me back.”
She crouches before him, eye to eye. “You’re not truly here, Ince.”
Parker and Hunter release an audible gasp.
Red eyes meet Isolde’s. “He wants Rose. He will stop at nothing to have her. Has become obsessed—traveling far—reclaim his prize—I just want to protect the girl—Why not choose me?” He makes no sense.
“Shh. Fate is the reason, Fate. Ince, is the king obsessed with Rose because of the unborn?”
The Demon seems to be losing an internal battle, rocking his terrified body. “Obsessed—The girl…”
“Fight his control. Tell me what he wants.”
“…Sacrifice—Fire gods of the underground…”
Isolde touches his face with her palm. The Demon stops mumbling and rocking, looking to her with hope in his eyes. “I thank you for your service and want to pay you in return with mercy.”
Tears roll down the charcoal leathery skin of the Clone. Isolde holds out her hand. A sharp knife with venom is placed upon her palm. Demon eyes catch the knife, then—as if giving up—he nods.
Isolde plunges the dagger into his chest.
The Clone slowly slumps forward. Isolde holds his face to her chest as his eyes close. She whispers, “Bless you, misguided innocent,” and lets his body slip from hers. She rises to her feet, hands me back my blade, and leaves the tent with a tear streaming down her cheek.
Chapter Thirty Two
Rose
“Awchoo!”
“Are you okay?”
I’m trying to tend to Gunner, but he’s wigging out. Ryder’s blood healed me quickly, which I’m thankful for, but ever since Gunner has learned of my broken ribs, I can’t sneeze without him thinking I need an organ transplant.
“Do you need to sit down?” Ryder’s arms are ready to catch me as if I’m going to keel over at any moment. Storm giggles, aware of my frustration as she walks away, carrying dirty water from shaving Gunner. She and I have become quite close. I guess our life-or-death situation solidified a much-needed female relationship.
One or both—Gunner and Ryder—are with me at all times. No one is interested in telling me what took place in the tent that day after I was abducted, and something tells me it’s probably for the best.
“I love you both, but you’re causing me village fever.”
Ryder grabs me. “You have a fever?”
I give Gunner a glare. He raises his palms. “Okay. Okay. Breathe, Rose. Ryder, you may want to do the same, or she’s going to haul ass.”
Ryder looks at him—not releasing me. “But fever?”
“My girl here is referring to cabin fever. It means we are being a bit much for her.”
“Oh.” Ryder releases me. “I’ve just been worried.”
“I know, and thank you, but this is well—I just need space to move a little.”
Ryder nods in thought. “How about a walk later? The sun is coming out.”
I inhale deeply. “A walk woul
d actually rock.”
Ryder opens his mouth, but Gunner tells him, “Not now, Brainiac. I’ll explain ‘rock’ later.”
Ryder is unusually quiet as we take our walk. I’m thankful he knows how much I love the sun when the winter sky opens up and lets the sun through. And after what we have just been through, the rays are needed. He holds my hand. “Even though we are Linked, I want you to know you will not be forced to be with me.”
“Ryder, where are you going with this? Are you dumping me?”
“Dumping?”
“Umm, breaking up with me?”
Confused look.
“Ryder! Do you not wish to be with me any longer?”
“What? No! Oh, I am doing this all wrong!”
I’m panting with the thought of no longer being with Ryder. “Then what? What is it? Is it something you learned in the tent?”
Ryder drops to his knees and wraps his arms around my waist. “Rose.”
Dizziness takes me over as I realize Ryder is pushing me away—probably in some effort to save me. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Rose, will you Bond with me?”
“Ryder, I don’t care what danger I’m in, but please—”
Wait. What? I search my memory bank. Bond. Bond. Why do I know this word? I gasp then cup his face. “Ryder, are you asking me to marry you?” He nods into my stomach, being bashful, which is not his way. “Why won’t you look at me?”
His face stays to my belly as he shrugs.
“Ryder.”
His voice is muffled in my shirt. “Circumstances have changed. I don’t wish to lose you to—”
“You could never lose me, Ryder.” I smooth his long hair.
After quiet moments, he lifts my shirt a little. I feel tender lips caressing my stomach. “Please let that be true. Please choose me. Bond with me, Rose.”
My head leans back, and my eyes close because his affections feel so damn good. “Convince me, Warrior.”
Rain (Stranger in the Woods Book 1) Page 33