“I lied because I knew you’d hate me. I didn’t want you to hate me and I just-”
“Stop.” He needed her to stop. Her tears were breaking his heart and he just needed to think straight.
She didn’t say anything else. She kept crying, and he just stood there and held her as the tears came. He abandoned his own hurt, his own feelings of betrayal, and he gave her what she needed: comfort.
As she calmed down, he slowly pulled back. She looked up at him, eyes puffy and pink. She was waiting for him to say something, he knew it, but he didn’t know what to say.
He knew what she wanted, but he just couldn’t give it to her.
He placed his hands on her cheeks and brushed his thumb along her skin. She licked her lip, one of his favorite moves of hers.
Hunter sighed. “Listen, Rain. I just need time. Okay? Just let me think. Please.”
Her lip quivered, and despite it all, it hurt him. “Are you disgusted by me?”
“What? No. Hell no. I just… you lied to me, Rain. I just need some time to think about all of this.”
She closed her eyes and another tear slipped out. “Do you hate me?”
He used his thumb to wipe the tear from her cheek. “I don’t hate you, Rain. I just… I just need some time.” He needed to think, the breathe, to let his emotions settle. He wasn’t used to feeling at all, let alone feeling so much. He didn’t like it.
She nodded.
Hunter exhaled. He dropped his hands. “Do you know how to get back?”
She nodded again. “I might get some air while I’m up here.” Her voice was so shaky, so fragile.
Hunter hated that she was hurting.
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
Another tear fell from her eyes. “No, no. I’m the one who lied. I’m the one who did this. You take your time.”
His chest ached. “I can stay with you, Rain. It’s really okay.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m the one who hurt you, and you’re still trying to take care of me. You really are a superhero, huh?” she laughed. Then she brought her hand to his cheek. It felt loving as ever. “I know I don’t deserve this from you, but can you promise me something?” Anything. “Can you promise that I’ll see you later, and that we’ll talk? Even if it’s just you saying goodbye…”
He turned his head to kiss her palm. “I promise we will talk later.”
She smiled softly and then turned from him. He took the cue and began walking the other way.
He felt angry, betrayed, and like a fool for walking away from her. Still, he knew from the moment she was in his arms again, back there in the woods, that he’d forgiven her. How could he not?
She was hurting. She lied about a horrific past, and who wouldn’t? Hunter wasn’t exactly broadcasting every shitty detail from his past. He didn’t lie, but he’d omitted plenty, and wasn’t that pretty much the same thing?
He kept walking, playing out every scenario in his head.
He fantasized about finding her father and putting a bullet in his head for selling her to a monster. He thought about how much more satisfying their assault would be on the compound, and how he’d make sure the governor was all his.
Then he remembered how sweet her lips were, how soft her body was, how feminine her voice was.
He remembered being unable to move, his body torn apart and writhing in pain, and he remembered her talking to him, singing to him, caring for him. He hung on her every word.
He remembered thinking he’d died, and that she was his angel. And then he woke up and found that he was right about one of those things…
What was he doing? Hunter didn’t need time to figure out what he wanted, he knew. He’d always known. From the second he heard her voice, looked into her eyes, tasted her lips, he knew that he was a goner.
He stopped walking. He looked up at the sky that glared at him through the leaves of the trees.
Then he heard a scream.
***
When Rain saw them, she ran. When he grabbed her, she screamed. When another one stuffed a rag in her mouth, she kicked. When he pressed her into the dirt and crushed her with his weight, she thrashed. When they tied her arms and legs so she couldn’t move, she squeezed her eyes shut and fought to keep the bile from making its way up her throat. When they threw her in the back of a truck, she gagged, whether on the cloth or the fear, she didn’t know.
Think, think, think.
“I can’t believe that’s the thing that killed Timmy.”
“Yeah, and don’t forget about Jordan.”
One of them laughed. She struggled against the ropes, but they just tore into her wrists, not giving any sign of loosening.
“It’s wild that she survived out here for all this time on her own.”
“It’s wild that the boss had us searching for her for all this damn time.”
“Hey, did you see the ass on her? I can understand him wanting that back.”
The nausea was rolling through her again. She continued to struggle against the ropes.
“Rain!” Her heart stopped, and then suddenly kicked into overdrive. Hunter.
“Oh shit.”
She maneuvered her face against the bed of the truck, working to get the gag out of her mouth. She needed to get to him, needed him to find her. She caught the end of the cloth on a nail and jerked her head back, effectively pulling it from her mouth.
She gasped and took in big gulps of air. She saw one man run to the driver’s seat, the other to the passenger’s. She wormed her way to the back of the truck and pulled herself up so that she could see behind it.
There he was, a hundred or so yards back, barely visible, but he was there. Her Hunter. And he was running towards her…
“Hunter!” she screamed as loudly as she could.
A dirty hand slapped over her mouth, yanking her backwards. The car kicked into motion and they started moving.
No, no…
Rain bit the palm that covered her mouth, hearing the man behind her scream and tasting iron as her teeth drew blood. She bit down harder and shook her head.
“You bitch!” he screamed.
He released her mouth.
“Hunter!” she screamed again.
The man’s other hand knotted into her hair, and just as she went to fight back, he slammed her head down with brutal force. Everything went black.
Chapter Twelve
“SAWYER!” HUNTER’S ROAR THUNDERED through the air as people quickly dispersed and cleared out of his way. “Sawyer!”
His feet pounded against the dirt floors, but he couldn’t move fast enough. He’d wasted so much time. Too much fucking time.
“Brother!”
He turned and saw Hayden and Derek jogging towards him.
“Where is Sawyer?”
“Probably in his office. Why?”
He surged forward, sprinting through the room, the doorway, the halls, taking any shortcut possible to get him there faster. He didn’t need to explain himself to Hayden and Derek. He knew his brothers well enough to know that they’d follow him. He counted on it.
When he slammed through the door of Sawyer’s office, it nearly fell off its hinges. Sawyer’s eyes shot up to Hunter’s and he fidgeted with one of the drawers. He was taking too long to compose himself, and Hunter didn’t have time.
“They took her.”
Hunter heard the footsteps approaching from behind him, and he knew that it was Hayden and Derek. Good, they’d hear. He could barely concentrate over the pounding of blood in his ears.
“Who?” Sawyer finally spoke.
“Rain. They took Rain.”
“They?”
Goddammit! “The UNR, who the fuck do you think?” Hunter was losing his damn mind.
“Hunter, slow down. Tell us what happened.”
For a moment, he tried to get control of his breathing, but he knew it was useless and quickly gave up, talking in pants. “I heard her scream. I ran towards
the sound and saw them with her. They stuffed something in her mouth, they tied her arms and legs and threw her in the bed of a pickup.” He clenched his fists. “I tried to chase them, but they had a truck, there was no way I could catch them on foot.”
He felt sick. “I left her. I told her I needed time away from her and I fucking left her. And they took her.” His heavy breathing wasn’t helping with the nausea.
Sawyer stood. Derek and Hayden slowly moved around him. Soon, they were all standing around him, staring at him.
They were wasting time. They needed to be acting.
“We need to go. Now.”
“Hunter, we can’t just-”
“Damn it, Sawyer! You don’t understand where they’re taking her. You don’t get it.”
Hayden cleared his throat. “They’re taking her to Governor Alan. He’s been searching for her for more than two years, now.”
Everyone got quiet and stared at Hayden. Derek was the one who finally asked what he was talking about.
“The journal we found. He mentioned her name in there. I recognized it the day we first met her. She was his wife.”
“And you said nothing? Don’t you think allowing the wife of our enemy into our home is kind of something we should know about?” Sawyer looked furious.
“She ran away from him. She’d been away from him for months in the journal, killed two guards to escape, and after hearing that she’d been living alone in a bunker for two years, well, I think it was very clear she belonged here with us.” Sawyer seemed to growl. Hunter’s head was still pounding away. “She wasn’t a danger, she was in danger. It doesn’t take much wisdom to see the difference.”
Hunter turned away and placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. She wasn’t a danger, she was in danger. Of course she had lied to him. She finally found the one place in the world where she could almost be safe, and she knew that if the assholes in charge, himself included, knew the truth about her, they’d throw her back to the wolves.
Of course she lied. She was in danger.
And Hunter just threw her right back into danger’s arms.
Knives began twisting in his gut as he thought about what they had done to her, what they would do to her. All because he was too enraged to listen. He might actually be sick.
“We need to go out now and get her. Right now.”
“No.” It was Hayden again. “We need to go through with the plan as scheduled.”
“He’s right. We can’t throw everything away for some girl.”
Hunter lunged at him, but he stopped himself before making contact. He and Sawyer were eye to eye, the same height, the same general build. He wasn’t intimidated. “She’s not some girl. And I’m going after her, with or without you.”
“Hunter, think about it,” said Hayden. “This man spent more than two years searching for her, do you really think that he’s going to kill her within 24 hours of finally finding her?”
“He’s going to hurt her.”
“She’s a strong girl. She’s a smart girl. She will be okay.”
“Her being strong means we can let her hurt?”
“Seeing you killed in front of her and watching the Resistance crumble will hurt her more than a couple bruises.” Hayden’s voice was cold, as usual, but Hunter couldn’t feel fury towards him. “We’ve spent decades building up this Resistance. Attacks, missions, trying to create chaos for them and hope they just give up… we are finally ready to make a big move and take back our lives. That includes hers.”
Hunter waited, breathed, chewed over the things his brother had said. He hated it, but he knew in his gut that Hayden was right. Rain’s best chance was for them to go through with the plan. Thirty good men, all storming the compound at once. There would be no escape for the UNR soldiers there.
“When I find the governor, I’m going to hold his heart in my bare hands.”
A hand fell onto Hunter’s shoulder, and he traced it back to Sawyer. Derek’s hand fell on the other shoulder. Hayden nodded, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“We will get your girl,” Derek smiled.
“Or die trying,” Sawyer tacked on.
The three men around him laughed, and Hunter did his best to force a smile.
“Dawn. Be ready.” Hunter turned and sauntered away, ignoring the calls for him and intent on making sure that within twenty-four hours, he had his Rain back where she belonged: in his arms.
And then he’d never let her go again.
***
“You’re broken!” he screamed as he kicked into her ribs once more.
Rain rolled in pain and squeezed her chest tightly. She began to cough, but it only made the pain worse.
“I’ll just have to find another wife who can give me a damn child!”
“No!” she shouted, finding her voice.
Alan quieted and stared at her, something absolutely evil in the smile that spread across his lips. “My, my, are you jealous, wife?”
Rain wanted to vomit.
“I am,” she lied. She had to. She couldn’t bare the thought of another girl being brought in and tortured. It killed her inside.
“Tell me that you want me all to yourself.” He knelt onto the ground, brushing a hand over her bare knee. She shivered, but she was growing accustomed to his touch and did not pull away.
“I-I-”
“No.” He suddenly squeezed her thigh and yanked her closer to him. Now he was between her legs, pressing against her, making her feel sick to her stomach and… “Tell me right now how much you want me. Or I’ll go find a wife who isn’t broken.”
She squeezed back tears and fantasized about letting another woman take her place, about being able to escape him, even if just for a few days. She thought about how lovely it would be to pretend it was out of her control while she heard the screams of whoever the other girl was.
Then she placed a hand on his chest and fluttered her lashes. “I want you, Alan. And I want you all to myself.”
He squeezed her closer, and she fought her natural reaction to pull away. “Darling, I’ve never heard you so excited for me.” His tongue slid across her ear and she flinched. “Maybe I should make you jealous more often.”
She shoved down the bile and imagined being somewhere else, anywhere else.
As she felt him undoing his belt, her brain drifted off to the other girl, whoever she was. She was somewhere now, calm and relaxed. Maybe working, maybe reading. She had worries and fears and pain all her own, but she had no idea of the Hell that she had just been rescued from. Rain thought about her innocence, thought about what she was doing to save that innocence, and suddenly, she felt okay.
She would suffer if it saved another.
***
Rain’s head was pounding. She tried to open her eyes but the light burned them and she squeezed them shut again. She brought her hand to her forehead and felt thick moisture… blood.
She felt herself groan as she moved her limbs, trying to figure out where she was and how much damage had been done while she was unconscious.
She remembered being thrown into a truck, screaming for Hunter, and then things went fuzzy.
Slowly, she squinted her eyes and let them adjust to the light. As she opened them, she began to focus on her surroundings. Stone walls, hard floor, cold metal. She looked to her ankles and saw the thick metal cuffs around them. She tugged at them, but all they did was clank about.
Rain knew where she was.
She was back in Hell.
“Who are you?”
Rain jumped and felt her heart leap at the words. She looked up and saw a woman standing there. Her hair fell in dark red curls to her shoulders, her eyes a dark shade of mocha. She wore a flowing white gown, and while she looked healthy enough, Rain could see the sunken cheekbones and the yellow remnants of bruising on the bit of her flesh that was exposed.
“Are you her?” the woman asked.
Rain pushed up onto her elbows, surprised to se
e that her wrists were not cuffed. It was only her legs.
“Am I who?” Her throat was sore, her words came out hoarse.
“The other wife.” Rain’s heart sank.
“You’re his wife?” she asked.
The girl nodded, and then knelt down so that she was at eye-level with her. “And you’re Rain.”
Her head felt like it was going to explode, but it was nothing compared to the guilt she felt eating away at her insides.
“I am so sorry,” she breathed. She began apologizing more, over and over again, but the girl cut her off.
“Don’t be sorry. I love Master Alan.”
Rain couldn’t see herself, but she could only imagine the shock that must’ve been painted across her face.
“My name is Julia.”
Rain knew the kind of monster she was dealing with. She knew there had been many times she herself had feigned love for the monster that tortured her. She had to be delicate.
“Hi, Julia. How long have you been here?”
The girl shrugged. “It’s been a little over a year. Maybe more. I don’t really keep track anymore.” No need to keep track when there’s no end in sight…
“Has he hurt you?”
The girl’s smile saddened. Rain had already known the answer. “It’s always been my fault. Master doesn’t mean to hurt me, you know.”
Rain felt her heart bleeding for this girl.
“I’m going to help you escape,” she said suddenly without thinking it through.
The girls eyes widened, and then she returned to her schooled expression. “I don’t want to escape. I love Master Alan.”
Rain wrapped her hand around the girls arm and pulled her close, lowering her voice so that it was barely audible. “I met with the Resistance. They’re real. And they’re going to save us.”
Julia’s eyes were wide, and Rain could hear the hitch in her breath as she realized what that meant. She shook her head. “They’re not real,” she whispered.
“They are,” Rain smiled, nodding. “And they’re coming.”
She leaned into Rain, brushing her hair back so tenderly it reminded Rain of the touch of her mother. “He will kill us if we don’t do what he wants.” The girl licked her lips. “Don’t fight.”
Born to Fight (Can't Resist You Book 1) Page 14