The Tainted (The Tainted Series Book 1)

by Anna Hill

  Without her there for support, Liam’s head fell forward, causing him to wake with a start. He gasped and his eyes popped open, immediately searching for any danger. He stopped, however, when he noticed Rebecca staring at him, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

  Liam raised an eyebrow, unable to ignore her embarrassment. “Are you quite alright?” he said as he rolled his shoulders, cracking his back.

  Rebecca laughed uncomfortably, trying to hide her unease, “Who, me? I’m--I’m fine. I just, you know, well, I didn’t expect to, um, wake up with you so, uh, close…”

  Liam’s other eyebrow raised and he stared at her in confused silence for a moment before moving to stand. “If you feel up to it, we should get going.”

  Rebecca took a deep breath, inwardly chiding herself for her reaction.

  “I’m fine,” she said as she started to stand. She’d barely gotten halfway up, however, when her knees buckled, sending her falling back towards the ground.

  Liam caught her before she could collapse fully and, with a gentle pull, he lifted her upright.

  As he placed her firmly on her feet, Rebecca became acutely aware of Liam’s closeness and the warmth of his hands on her waist.

  “I’m fine,” she repeated as she took a step back, creating some distance between them.

  “We shouldn’t stay here any longer,” he said, ignoring her reaction, “but I don’t want you pushing yourself too much.” Liam looked over Rebecca as if he were sizing her up.

  Standing tall, she stared at him defiantly, “Like I said, I’m fi--” But before she could finish, Liam’s hand shot up over her mouth.

  He shook his head slowly and stared intensely at Rebecca. “Someone’s coming,” he whispered harshly, before lowering his hand and scanning the trees around them.

  Liam repositioned himself directly in front of Rebecca, with one arm down blocking her and the other held tensely in front of his body.

  Rebecca held her breath as she too searched the surrounding woods for any sign of someone, listening intently for any hint of approaching footsteps, but there was nothing. She was just about to say as much to Liam when she suddenly felt the world around her slow to a stop. Her lungs ached to call out a warning, her limbs fought to reach out and grab Liam, but she was completely frozen. She was forced to watch helplessly as, out of nowhere, Maverick appeared, racing toward them at full speed, his face awash with hatred and rage.

  As he took his final steps toward their position, Maverick cocked his muscular arm back. Letting loose a deafening yell, he swung his fist straight into Liam’s face, putting all his body weight behind the blow.

  Time accelerated back to normal as Liam flew backwards, knocked clean off his feet by the brutal blow.

  Still caught up in his rage, Maverick was about to pounce on Liam’s already flattened form when Rebecca threw herself in front of him, screaming and beating at his chest in a desperate attempt to save Liam. “Stop! Stop! What are you doing?”

  Pulling away, Maverick panted heavily as he looked down at her, his face now plastered with shock and confusion. “I’m--I’m saving you, Rebecca. I’m getting rid of that scum.”

  Rebecca’s anger surged through her and she glared up at him. But just looking at Maverick, just being close to him again, made all her feelings resurface. Her body seemed to instinctively yearn to be held by him, to feel his warmth around her, to be kissed by him. And she hated herself for it.

  Unable to speak as she fought to conceal her emotions, Rebecca shook her head at Maverick and then made her way over to where Liam was slowly sitting up. His hand was gingerly holding his already swollen face.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, about to kneel down to help him when he began to stand on his own.

  “I’m alright, it’ll just blend in with the rest of the damage,” he said, lightly brushing off his uniform once he’d stood tall beside her. “Care to more formally introduce me to your friend here?” He motioned at Maverick, causing Rebecca to look back over at him.

  Maverick’s expression of shock and confusion had only intensified, his eyes now rapidly darting back and forth from Rebecca to Liam. After a moment, his face fell into a hateful glare, aimed directly at Liam.

  “You! What did you do to her?” Maverick took a step closer to Liam, his hands balling back into fists.

  Rebecca quickly stepped between them, cutting Maverick off. “He saved me, that’s what. If it wasn’t for Liam, I wouldn’t be alive right now!”

  Maverick’s eyebrows furrowed and he started to speak when he was cut short by the crashing sound of several swiftly approaching footsteps.

  The first to emerge was Faolan. Given her blisteringly fast pace, she came to a surprisingly elegant stop behind Maverick, remaining completely silent as she examined the scene that was unfolding in front of her.

  “Rebecca!” Owen’s voice called out joyfully as he and Aedan arrived next, coming to a sudden halt at the outskirts of the growing group. Their happiness disappeared instantly, though, when their eyes landed on Liam.

  Etain was the next to arrive, approaching from the opposite side. “Back off, Aillil,” she threatened, dropping into a fighting stance. Both Owen and Aeden followed her lead.

  Rebecca sensed Liam grow tense behind her, ready to defend himself at any moment. In front of her, Maverick still held his tight fists tensely at his sides. The atmosphere was so intense that it felt like any slight movement would cause them all to attack.

  “This is ridiculous! Stop it! All of you!” Rebecca cried out in frustration, pushing Maverick away from her and taking a step back so that she stood directly beside Liam. “Liam isn’t a threat, he’s on our side.”

  “That’s just what he wants you to believe,” Maverick growled through clenched teeth, his stern gaze never wavering from Liam. “Aillil are all the same. They’re evil and corrupt, Rebecca. They’ll say anything to get what they want.”

  “Really? That sounds an awful lot like someone else I know,” Rebecca spat back at Maverick.

  Maverick finally broke his intense stare away from Liam and looked down to meet Rebecca’s glare. Her eyes filled with a mixture of anger and hurt. Seeing her pain, a realization dawned on Maverick and his face fell instantly.

  “Becs, no, you don’t understand--”

  “Save it,” Rebecca said, cutting him off. “I understand completely.”

  “Care to fill us in on what exactly is going on here?” Owen said as he dropped out of his ready stance. “Why are you here, Rebecca? And more importantly, why are you with him?”

  “Him is Liam,” Liam said as he turned toward Owen, his earlier tension fading away.

  Aeden, who was more hesitant to let his guard down, let out a forced laugh as he spoke, “Did we ask you your name, Aillil?”

  “No, but now that you know it, I’d prefer you call me by it.”

  Aeden was about to snap back with another retort, when Rebecca waved him off. “Aeden, quit being absurd. I told you he’s not a threat, so please calm down.

  “Like I was telling Maverick before you guys arrived, Liam saved my life. And he risked his life to do so. If it wasn’t for him, I would never have made it away from the Aillil. I have absolutely no doubt that they would have tortured me to death.”

  Etain audibly gasped at Rebecca’s last statement, her face swiftly filling with pity and concern.

  Rebecca ignored her, remembering that Etain was calling for Rebecca’s removal from the group not that long ago. “He’s no more a threat to any of you than he is to me, so step off and calm down. As for your concern Maverick,” she said, turning her attention back towards him, “I trust Liam wholeheartedly, which is more than I can say about some of you.”

  There was a long silence following her rant. Rebecca could almost feel the group’s reluctance to accept what she’d said, hear the warring thoughts in their heads.

  The silence was finally broken when Faolan stepped around Maverick and toward Liam, staring intently. “Why do you look so
familiar?”

  Liam’s face suddenly went straight and tense and he stared back at her. “It’s not me you’ve seen before, but rather someone who looks like me.”

  Etain gaped inquisitively as she too took a step forward. “It’s your eyes.”

  Liam lowered his gaze and focused on a seemingly empty space in front of him. Rebecca heard him catch his breath as his entire body went rigid.

  “They’re my eyes,” a soft voice said, as Trysten’s form appeared in the spot where Liam was staring.

  “Trysten,” Liam said breathlessly.

  Trysten was shaking slightly, his eyes were narrowed and his mouth held taut. But he made no move to step away from Liam. “How do you know my name?”

  “Because I’ve been searching for you for over half my life. Because…I’m your brother.”

  At Liam’s words, Rebecca heard a quick intake of breath from every member of the crew. Even if they didn’t want to believe what he’d said, the truth was undeniable. Except for their age difference, they were nearly identical. From their hair color, to their eyes, to their facial structure, there was no refuting their shared bloodlines.

  “They do look eerily similar, I’ll give you that,” Aeden said as he, along with the rest of the crew, glanced back and forth from Trysten to Liam in astonishment.

  “But you’re an Aillil soldier…why in the world would you want to find your Truaillithe brother?” Etain asked.

  Liam kept his gaze centered on Trysten as he answered, “For our mother.”

  Trysten’s bottom lip began to quiver as he struggled to hold back his emotions. In the long silence that followed, he looked away from Liam, unable to maintain his stare.

  “This is insane!” Maverick’s face had gone a dark shade of red as his fury took over. “You’ve got to be kidding if you think that I’m going to believe a word this Aillil says.” He took another step closer, pointing an accusing finger at Liam, “I should have finished you the moment I saw you with her.”

  Trysten turned to face Maverick, placing himself directly in front of Liam. “Don’t touch him, Maverick! I won’t let you hurt him.”

  Maverick refocused his attention on little Trysten, trying to fight back his rage. “Don’t tell me you believe him? He’s not one of us, he’s one of them.”

  It was Rebecca who answered, “Not every Aillil is bad. You, more than anyone, should know that. What about your father?”

  Deep pain and sorrow flashed across Maverick’s face as he locked eyes with Rebecca. Then, without saying a word, he shook his head slightly and backed away from them.

  Ignoring the pangs of guilt she felt over what she’d just said, Rebecca spoke to the rest of the crew. “Liam saved me. He put his life on the line to get me out and find Trysten. He’s not like the other soldiers, you have to trust me.”

  “If that’s true,” Owen tentatively said off to the side, “then what do we do now? It’s not like Liam can take Trysten back to their mother--the Aillil soldiers will kill them all.”

  “That’s why I’m joining your group,” Liam said very matter-of-factly. “I’m going to take care of Trysten and train Rebecca.”

  “Oh no you’re not!” Maverick instantly responded, a hint of forced laughter in his angry voice. “I refuse to let an Aillil be a part of this crew. End of story.”

  Defiantly, Trysten crossed his arms across his chest, “If he can’t stay, then I’ll leave with him.”

  “And so will I,” said Rebecca, copying Trysten’s stance.

  “No, you won’t! Either of you!” Maverick was barely able to keep his temper under control as he glared at them.

  Faolan, who hadn’t been ruffled by anything that had happened thus far, addressed Maverick in a calm voice. “It might be good for us to have an Aillil around. He knows about them--how they fight, how they track, how they train. He can teach us, prepare us for battle.”

  “She’s got a point,” Owen said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Etain took a few steps toward Maverick. “If he comes with us, it doesn’t mean he’s one of us. But, we could use his help, Ricky…Becs especially.” At her last words, Rebecca noticed Etain make a quick frightened glance in her direction.

  As her anger surged, Rebecca bit her lower lip to stop short the snide retort she wanted to spit out at Etain. She wasn’t going to so easily forget the conversation she’d overheard between Etain and Maverick. After all the lies they’d told to her, and for so long, Rebecca had no intention of forgiving them. In fact, she’d never intended to return to the crew. As far as she was concerned, she was done with them. But she understood why Liam wanted to be with Trysten. And if this was his decision, then she would follow him. Rebecca knew she needed Liam’s help. For the first time, someone had given her hope that she might be able to control her gift, and she wasn’t willing to give that chance up, even if it meant rejoining the crew.

  Maverick remained silent and scanned over the whole group, desperately hoping one of them would protest Liam’s joining, but no one spoke. Finally, he looked down at the ground and shook his head. “We’re going to regret this; don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

  In one swift motion, Maverick lifted his head and locked eyes with Liam, his fierce glare filled with hatred. “If you put one toe out of line, if you do one thing that endangers my crew, I’ll finish what I started here today. Do you understand?”

  A small smirk lit up Liam’s face, “Your love for your crew is commendable, but you’re blinded by your prejudice--”

  Rebecca threw a hard elbow into Liam’s side, cutting off anything else he had to say. “What he means is, ‘Thank you,’ ” she said.

  “Alright, let’s move out; back to the SUV,” Etain called out. “These woods are probably crawling with Aillil.” She turned and headed off through the trees, waving for the rest of the crew to follow.

  The crew instantly complied. But both Aeden and Owen took a moment to give Rebecca a swift hug, welcoming her back, before they continued on. As angry as she was at Etain and Maverick, she had to admit it was still really nice to see the others. She would have missed them if she’d never seen them again.

  As the group made their way forward, Liam and Trysten walked together. Though they stayed silent, they remained incredibly close to each other, as if neither was willing to let the other out of arms reach.

  Rebecca had walked no more than a hundred yards when Faolan came up beside her. “You look tired and weak. Will you be able to make it to the SUV?”

  “I’m fine,” Rebecca said, smiling at her friend. “I’m safe and that’s all that matters.”

  Faolan returned Rebecca’s smile. “It’s nice to have you back--we missed you. Some of us more than others…” She nodded back to where Maverick was straggling far behind the group.

  Rebecca’s face dropped into a scowl, “I don’t care.”

  Faolan raised her eyebrows in surprise, but didn’t say anything. She only shrugged her shoulders and then sped forward ahead of the group, presumably to scout the woods.

  Rebecca continued on alone in silence, watching the others in front of her. She was starving, her parched throat felt like sandpaper, her broken rib throbbed painfully in her chest, and her tired body threatened to collapse at any moment. But she was free. She was alive. And that was enough.

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

 

 

  Archive.