by J. L. Weil
Dash spun around. The bow in his hand was drawn back and aimed just above my head. Anger radiated off him in waves. He was itching to let the arrow fly. Keeping the fear from my face became a strain, especially with the knife held at my throat, but I refused to let this nomad sense I was shaking in my boots.
Besides, my captor smelled like ass, and I found it hard to feel anything with the stench of a swamp permeating off him. They must bathe in their own funk. My nausea came back tenfold.
“So much as twitch and the girl gets it,” the stinky douchebag informed us.
Dash’s silver eyes hovered over me, glaring at the nomad leader with open disdain. He weighed his options, and I knew the moment he decided to not risk my life. His expression collapsed. “Shit,” he breathed, lowering his bow. “If you harm her, I’ll kill you,” Dash growled, downright evilly.
Wow. I didn’t think he cared that much. This was one of those times it was nice to be wrong.
“Is that a threat?” the leader asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Do you know who I am?” Dash prompted.
A humorless chuckle left his lips. “The slayer.”
Dash shot him a merciless grin. “Then you know it’s a promise.”
The nomad shifted his other hand over my belly and yanked me back, securing me deeper in his clutches. “You’re trespassing on our territory. Why?” And just in case Dash needed a reason to provide him the answers he sought, the nomad pressed the tip of the blade deeper to my skin.
I felt a sting and winced.
Murder leapt into Dash’s eyes. “We’re just passing through. I’m looking for someone.”
“Aren’t we all?” the nomad replied.
If Dash’s plan was to taunt our captor, then he was doing a bang-up job being extra dickish. He excelled at it. “Then what is the point of all this?” he argued.
I wanted to tell him to chill, but one of the four nomads surrounding Dash grabbed ahold of his wrist and flipped it over, revealing a black mark on the inside of his arm. A series of three stars, interwoven together, had been branded into his flesh.
Dash sighed, yanking his hand free. “I’m no longer part of the guard.”
The nomad didn’t seem to believe him. “Don’t move,” he warned Dash. Lowering the blade at my back, he grabbed my wrist and spun me around. My breath was coming out in quick pants. I was finally able to see his face. His skin was bronze, darkening the color of his mahogany eyes. I had pictured someone younger from the sound of his voice, not that he was extremely old, somewhere around my father’s age maybe. His black hair was secured in a man bun. There was gunk smeared under his eyes and down along his defined cheekbones.
Guess that could be what the smell was.
“You don’t really believe that, do you? The Institute never releases one of its own,” the nomad leader fired back. “And besides, this one intrigues me.” He clutched my chin between his fingers, staring at my face. “There is something about her eyes. …”
I was tired of being manhandled, so I did the first thing that popped in my head, I spit in his face before jerking my chin out of his grip. “If you don’t let go of me, I’m going to string you up by your nuts and hang you out to dry.”
The leader threw his head back and laughed. “See what I mean? There is spirit inside her and strength—qualities a woman needs to survive the Badlands.”
His comrades chuckled and nodded their heads in agreement.
I didn’t like the nomad’s implication. There was something brewing behind his dark eyes, something that spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e.
Dash’s scowl deepened. The next thing I knew, Dash flicked up his arm at the elbow, fist clenched, hitting one of the sneering nomads in the nose. Crunch. Blood burst from his nostrils, running down over his mouth.
“Why did you have to go and do that? We were just starting to get along.” My detainer’s hand snaked up into my hair and grasped a handful, jerking me back. The blade once again pressed to my skin—my cheek this time. “You better tell your boyfriend to behave.”
I shrieked, tears of sharp pain stinging my eyes.
Dash held up his hands and backed off, but I could see the desire for blood blazing in his glare. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I would kill you.”
The guy Dash had decked spit a mouthful of blood before taking a cheap shot at Dash. He planted his fist into his gut. Dash barely made a sound, and I found his lack of emotion frightening.
“You’re quite the killer, aren’t you?” the nomad prompted. “Isn’t that why the Institute is so interested in you, Dash Darhk?”
My hand itched to wrap around a very unladylike place and twist.
The nomad leader must have sensed my edginess. “Move,” he ordered, pushing me forward. I thought Dash growled, but there was nothing either of us could do.
The nomads herded us through the desert. Not that I was allowed much personal space. The stinky pig kept my arms cuffed in his grasp as the band of misfits led us to God knew where.
I dragged my feet, testing his restraint. “Where are you taking us?”
A wry grin appeared on his dirty face. “You’ll see, Grà.”
“Stop calling me that,” I hissed.
He just chuckled.
The longer we walked on foot, the more time my mind had to come up with gruesome situations. Rape. Torture. Murder. I didn’t know what their agenda was, and the unknown that waited for me was feeding my fear. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I seethed, struggling to loosen his grasp.
His fingers dug into my skin, and I grimaced.
“Freckles, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Dash said evenly.
I shot him a cold glare. A lot of help he was being. How was he so calm, especially when I was freaking out inside?
It didn’t seem fair.
After several unsuccessful attempts that only made trekking it through the desert difficult, we came upon a sand tunnel that hadn’t been there a minute ago. I blinked and glanced around to see if anyone else found that odd. Nope. Just me.
Following the tunnel—a maze of twists and turns—it finally ended with a curtain of thorny, dry vines, opening up into a vast clearing of a hidden village. Tents were strung up in rows like a suburban cookie cutter neighborhood—all the same, just lacking the white picket fences and manicured yards. A few heads turned our way, checking out the commotion, but for the most part, everyone went about their daily business.
There was a lady carrying a bucket of water, and a group of children playing with wooden blocks. It all seemed … normal.
Good to know it was a common sight to see their leader bringing home hostages. It gave me no hope they would help us escape.
“Nice place you got here,” Dash said dryly.
I tried unsuccessfully to keep the smirk off my lips.
“My daughter is a cloaker. It keeps us off the Institute’s radar,” the nomad offered—the first piece of insightful information we’d gotten on this expedition.
“Clever,” Dash said, actually impressed.
What was going on here? Fraternizing with the enemy? I got that they had a common adversary in the Institute, but anyone who kidnaps me automatically gets put on my shit list.
We had come to the center of the camp, and our little group disbanded, dropping our bags on the ground and leaving Dash and me with the big chief. “Is she yours?” the nomadic leader asked Dash as his eyes roamed over me.
Ick. Gross.
“No, I’m not,” I said swiftly.
“Yes, she is,” Dash rapidly replied at the same time.
I glared at him. What was he up to?
The crooked teeth leader grinned. And then I remembered Dash mentioning something about the tribes rebelling against the Institute and how they abide by their own rules. My mind ran with a million different scenarios, all bad.
Dash and I exchanged looks.
“Yes,” I said, changing my mind.
“No,” the doofus said in unison with me
.
OMG. We were so dead.
The nomad’s grin spread. He enjoyed watching us dig ourselves into a hole. “There seems to be a little confusion. Is she, or isn’t she, yours, slayer?”
Apparently, in this tribe, women were possessions. This time, Dash flicked me a pointed look. He wanted me to keep my mouth shut. “What’s it to you?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest, not a single bone in his body intimidated by our situation.
The same couldn’t be said about me. I was somewhere between bawling my eyes out or going berserk. It was a toss-up.
“My name is Brunlak, and it is my responsibility to ensure my son has a future. He needs a woman,” he informed us.
I gulped. And this nomad thought I would make a good woman for his son? Ha. He had another thing coming. Talk about caveman. Me. Want. Woman. If he tried to drag me off by my hair, I was going to lose my shit.
Dash glowered, and the muscle along his neck pulsed. “Your son would be better off with someone else. This one is too much trouble.”
Brunlak only seemed more intrigued. “She is spirited, no?”
Hell yes, I was. He didn’t know the half of it. And if he kept talking about me as if I didn’t have my own mind, I was going to show him just how spirited I could be. Brunlak wouldn’t be having any more sons—that was for sure.
A glint entered Dash’s gray eyes as if he could read my mind. “I guess you could call her that. Although I have a few other choice words; she has proven to be far more troublesome than she is worth.”
I kicked Dash in the shin. The nerve of him. I should have stood there quietly with a sweet smile plastered on my face, but it was a kneejerk reaction. Why doesn’t he just hand me over now to the chump? It was no secret he hadn’t wanted me trailing along. Here was an easy way to get rid of me.
Dash’s eyes narrowed.
I tapped my foot, back rigid, and gave him the stink eye.
The leader rumbled low in his chest at Dash’s implication. “This one has a mind of her own. Good. She will do well in my tribe.”
Shit.
That got my attention and Dash’s too. Ruthlessness darkened his eyes like granite. “I think you misunderstood. She isn’t available. Like I said, she’s mine.” He stepped in front of me, and there was no doubting the menace lacing his tone. He meant business.
I exhaled. Dash wasn’t going to throw me to the dogs. If he wasn’t such an asshat half of the time, I’d kiss him right now.
He moved protectively in front of me in case the nomad hadn’t gotten the message.
Brunlak eyed him, weighing his options. “It’s a pity. She would have made a great wife for my son. There is a warrior’s heart in this one.”
I choked. Wife? I wasn’t even eighteen. Well, if you didn’t count the hundred years I’d been dozing.
The arrogant half smile I was beginning to dislike tipped the corners of Dash’s lips. “There’s no arguing that.”
He was lucky I didn’t kick him again.
“Still, you don’t act like lovers,” Brunlak insisted, crossing a leg and leaning back against a wooden pole holding up a tent. Doubt lined every inch of his face.
Damn, he was persistent and perceptive. Dash and I weren’t anything. We were barely friends, but I had a feeling I better start acting like Dash hung the moon, or I was going to find myself in an unwanted situation.
Dash slipped a hand around my waist, taking the nomad’s resistance as a challenge. I willed my face blank, regardless of the fact that my heart thudded as Dash pulled me closer to him. Blood rushed to every point in my body. “What are you doing?” I hissed through my teeth.
His head dipped, brushing just past my cheek. “Giving him what he wants. Kiss me,” he whispered in my ear.
“What?” I muttered, lost in the sensation of his breath on my skin.
“You heard me. Now kiss me like you mean it.” He traced the line of my jaw with his words.
This absurd discussion no longer became about my safety but telling Dash no out of spite. I wasn’t sure a girl had ever refused him anything. Well, universe, I was about to be the first. The consequences at the moment didn’t seem to matter. No one demanded I kiss him. And if we kissed … no way was I going to have to pretend. The tension between us was enough to tell me we would light the sheets on fire, but it didn’t mean I jumped when he said, “Kiss me.” Where was the romance in that? “I’m not going to kiss you, Dash. In your dreams—”
Dash kissed me.
Chapter 11
He swooped in, taking possession of my lips, and I stopped thinking. Excitement dazzled inside me, like the lights of a disco ball. And just like that, the desert, Brunlak, the little village, all faded around me, and there was no one else but him. I stepped forward, closing the space between us and pressed against the length of him. My fingers dug into his hair, keeping his lips right where I wanted them—on me. His hair was silky and soft, like his lips.
He shuddered, and there were fireworks of emotions sparking off inside me. Thrilling. Scary. Urgent. But one of them I hadn’t expected was familiarity. It was as if we’d done this before—kiss.
His hand came up and tangled in my hair, the other at the small of my back. His tongue pressed between my lips, and he received no resistance from me. The moment our tongues danced, little shivers skipped down my spine.
I moaned, and the soft sound was swallowed by his kiss.
Separating our lips, he touched his forehead gently to mine. “I’ve never wanted to be alone with someone so much in my life.”
Then why weren’t his lips still on mine? I stared into his clouded eyes, caught up in the storm. As the seconds ticked by, clarity swept through my muddled brain, but it only left me more confused. “Why did you do that?” I breathed, stumbling toward him. My balance was off-kilter.
His eyes flared as his hands slipped to my waist, steadying me. “Because I’m saving your butt. Again.”
If he wanted a thank you, my mind was too jumbled to form the words. Had that been real or an act for my benefit? I was positive I hadn’t imagined him telling me he wanted me alone. My head was starting to hurt.
“Did you enjoy the show?” Dash snarled, his entire body tight.
The nomad’s amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully, judging how sincere our little display of PDA had been. “You proved your point, slayer. It would be a pity if anything happened to you.”
I didn’t like the look on his face or the threat on Dash’s life. Although he appeared satisfied, there was something sinister lurking behind his eyes. I didn’t trust Brunlak and neither did Dash.
“I’m pretty hard to kill. Are you going to tell me why you’ve brought us here?” Dash asked.
“The safety of my people comes first. Once I am satisfied this isn’t a ruse and you haven’t led the Night’s Guard to my doorstep, you’re free to go.”
My stomach twisted. “How long will that take?” I wanted to find my family. Each day that went by left me more anxious.
He shrugged, cocksure now that we were in the confines of his domain. “Time isn’t important. Why don’t I show you your accommodations? I think you’ll find our little community quite homey, if you don’t mind the heat,” he said with a smile, in a sad attempt at a joke.
“We just can’t leave the confines of your compound,” Dash muttered.
Although we were no longer outnumbered and he wasn’t holding a blade to my throat, I refused to let my guard down. “I don’t get it. You’re pissed because we encroached on your territory?”
Dash squeezed my hip.
I ignored him. Just because we shared a few mind-blowing kisses didn’t mean he was the boss of me.
“You have much to learn, Grà. There have been whispers trickling down from the white city. The Institute has doubled their security.”
Dash found this information enlightening. “Twenty-four hours,” he conceded. “After that, I find my own way out of here, and I will take out anyone in my way. That’s a promise. Oh, and
Freckles here, she stays with me.”
My head whipped around so fast. I figured he’d be dying to get rid of me for a night or two.
“No harm will come to her,” Brunlak maintained.
“All the same, I’m not letting her out of my sight or this tribe will be minus a leader,” Dash threatened, his voice dipping into dangerous levels.
Dash’s unrelenting protection of me amused the nomad leader. “As you wish.”
Brunlak ushered us through the camp. No one said anything as we passed, but they had friendly expressions of interest. They didn’t seem to be savage but people trying to pick up the pieces, make a new life. Brunlak stopped just outside the watchtower, where a guard was stationed. I was sure it was a tactical move. He wanted us watched day and night.
Oh, goodie.
Dash kept a rueful eye on the guard as I meandered into the covered tarp. My first thought was: Will I ever see a bedroom with four walls and a mattress again?
I sighed.
“What? Not the Caesars Palace?” Dash sneered, coming in behind me.
Once again we were in close quarters with the scent of him tantalizing my senses, reminding me how incredible it had felt to be in his arms. My body instantly reacted, humming, which in turn got under my skin. I spun around and glared. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“Which part? Save your ass?”
“Kiss me.”
Dash’s eyes surveyed the circular space. “It was the only way. Brunlak sees something in you. Power. And he wants you to marry his son, to use you as an ally against the Institute. I needed him and everyone here to know that no one is to touch you.”
“How the heck did you get all of that?”
His lips twitched. “I’m perceptive.”
I rolled my eyes. “What do you care what happens to me?”
“I don’t.”
“Of course not. That would require you to have feelings.” I crossed my arms. Suddenly, sleeping in the same quarters as Dash no longer seemed like a fantasy but a setup for me to do something utterly stupid and reckless, like jump him in the middle of the night.