Born to Fight (Can't Resist You Book 1)

by Brittany Anne

  Julia pulled back and rose to her feet, walking towards the barred window and sitting on its ledge.

  Before Rain could say anything else, the door flew open, and in strode the devil himself.

  Chapter Thirteen

  RAIN FELT DIRTY HAVING his hands on her as Alan guided her along some sort of grassy path. She couldn’t see a thing through the heavy blindfold he’d tied too tightly around her head.

  She was shocked, but when he had entered the room, he didn’t berate her, he didn’t ask any questions, and he didn’t hit her. He simply introduced her to Julia, told her that he’d missed her, and then said he had a ‘welcome home gift,’ and here she was.

  Her stomach twisted as he squeezed her side, urging her to the left. It was weird, how one man’s touch there could make her sick and another’s could light her on fire. She shoved down all thoughts of Hunter. She couldn’t think about him right now.

  Rain knew Alan well enough to know that he was a psychopath. He was calm, cool, collected, even charming at times. But he was pure evil, and she would never forget that. Whatever this gift was? It wasn’t going to be good.

  “We’re almost there, darling.”

  Rain had no idea where they were going. Alan had blindfolded her before they left his chambers. She felt them leave the building and get into a car. They drove for about six minutes before stopping. Then Alan had began walking her forward over uneven ground.

  The air felt crisp and wet, like it had been raining earlier but wasn’t anymore. She could smell sweet flowers. Lots of them.

  She thought they may have left the compound, gone to one of the outside areas. She wasn’t sure, though, as she hadn’t heard any gates lifting.

  Finally, they stopped.

  Rain could hear Alan moving around her, and forced down any reaction. She couldn’t do anything wrong. She couldn’t screw things up before Hunter got there.

  If he got there.

  She silenced the thought. Of course he’d come. He had to…

  She flinched a tiny bit when hands touched her face, but they were gentle. She calmed.

  “Are you ready for your present?”

  “Yes,” Rain said.

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, master.” Rain rolled her eyes beneath the blindfold. The master thing was new, but she was sharp enough to know what he wanted after hearing the way Julia spoke about him.

  He chuckled. “You are a quick one.” He stroked his hand along her cheek, her jaw. “That’s why you’ll always be my favorite.”

  Alan pulled the blindfold from her and it took a few seconds for Rain’s eyes to adjust to the light. She saw trees, grass, and… graves. Cement stones littered the field they were in, all in different shapes and sizes, most with small engravings and a few with none, some with rotting flowers tucked beside them.

  They were in a cemetery.

  “I don’t understand,” she said as she looked around the stones. There must’ve been at least a hundred of them just in front of her, maybe more.

  There were two cemeteries outside of the compound that she knew of, one for those who died honorably, meaning they were UNR or at the very least, compliant citizens who died of natural causes, and one for enemies of the state, meaning anyone who disobeyed or disagreed with the UNR.

  Judging by the number of headstones she saw, she quickly assumed which cemetery they were in. And when she began noticing the markings on the headstones, she knew for sure. None of the headstones in her line of vision had names on them, simply words.

  ‘Treason.’

  ‘Insubordination.’

  ‘Attack on the state.’

  ‘Speaking out of line.’

  It wasn’t a cemetery, it was a warning from the UNR. It was their way of saying ‘this is what happens when you don’t do exactly as your told, without question.’ As if weekly public executions weren’t enough.

  What she didn’t understand is why she was here… was Alan going to show Rain her own grave? Was she being brought here to be killed? Or just scared into submission?

  “Right here, darling.” Alan held her elbow and guided her forward. She looked down at the rock he was leading her to and sucked in a deep breath of air when she saw the engraving. “Do you love it? I did it just for you.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Oh, Rain, I know. I would’ve fed him to the dogs if it was my choice, but I had to be crafty about this. I decided since your mother clearly blessed us all by gifting you her charm, my present to her would be the chance to bury him. I thought that was fair.”

  Rain ignored him, staggering forward and falling to her knees in front of the grave. The only grave in eyesight with a name on it. Her father’s name.

  She touched a hand to the stone and a million emotions ran through her. “Why did you do it?”

  “You sought him out for safety, and he called my men to report you. If there’s any man in the world you’d hate more than me, it’s him. So, as a token of goodwill, I killed him for you. A gesture of kindness so that I may return to your good graces.”

  Rain felt sick. “How did you do it?”

  “Oh, don’t worry. He didn’t suffer much. I sent my best men for the job. It was all rather quick.” He sounded so casual, as if he were talking about what to have for dinner, or how the weather was.

  After she first ran away, Rain spent many nights dreaming of confronting her father, of slapping some sense into him and reminding him that she was his daughter. She’d never felt as betrayed as she did when he turned her into the UNR. But… he was her father. And he didn’t deserve to die for her.

  Rain leaned in closer to the stone and placed both hands on it. “You missed out on having a wonderful daughter,” she said quietly, hopefully too low for Alan to hear. Then she raised her voice ever so slightly as a single tear slipped from her eye. “I am so sorry that this happened to you, dad. I hope that we meet in Heaven someday so I can look into your eyes when I tell you that I forgive you.” She let out a small sigh. “I hope that you can forgive me, too.”

  She pressed her lips to the stone, stood up, and turned to Alan. She felt strength course through her veins as she released a decade’s worth of baggage that had been holding her down when it came to her father.

  What he did was vile and wrong in every way, but Rain would not allow herself to be held back by it any longer. Not every man in the world was bad. There were good ones, too. There was Hunter.

  Her hand instinctively went to her abdomen as she thought about what an incredible father he would be. She then scolded herself, reminding herself that she could never think such thoughts, especially not now while staring the devil in the eye.

  “You don’t thank me?” He had to be joking.

  Rain knew she just needed to hold out for a few hours for Hunter, she knew she just had to go along with his craziness for a short time and… screw it. She wasn’t some scared little girl anymore. She was a fighter, she was a member of the Resistance, and she was strong enough all on her own.

  “Did you honestly think I would thank you for murdering my father?”

  He actually looked surprised by her reaction, which only angered Rain more. He quickly wiped the emotion from his face, turning to his charming smile that made her stomach flip.

  Actually, her stomach really was flipping. Rain didn’t expect the nausea that rolled through her, and suddenly found herself heaving. Sickening as Alan was, she had no idea where that had come from.

  “I-I think I’m sick.”

  His eyebrows crooked at her, his face filling with accusation. He surged forward and grabbed her, yanking her along, most likely back to the car. “I’m having my doctor examine you,” he snapped.

  She remained silent as they walked back, all the while thinking about how much she yearned to be with Hunter.

  ***

  The wilderness echoed with noises of the night. There were crickets chirping, small mammals scurrying about, and a gentle breeze rattling the trees as th
e men made their way towards the compound. It was a fitting battle song for the group.

  It was too conspicuous to move so many men through the trees, even in the dark of night, so Hunter had instructed everyone to travel in groups of five. They moved about 150 yards from each other, far enough to avoid being seen as easily but close enough to communicate quickly if necessary.

  All Hunter could think about was Rain.

  His head should’ve been on the plan, on the fighting, on the inevitable killing that was about to take place. He had to be thinking of a battle plan for after, of an exit strategy if things went wrong.

  He couldn’t give those things a moment of his mind’s time.

  The only thing that mattered to him was Rain. He had to get her back, to keep her safe.

  He suddenly understood why his bloodied father didn’t fight back after the UNR guards had killed his mother. It always bothered him that his fighter of a father just gave up. But he understood it now.

  If anything happened to Rain, his world would come tumbling down.

  He sent up a silent prayer and told himself once more that she was okay.

  She was fine.

  She had to be.

  ***

  Rain had slept through the night feeling fine. Whatever kind of bug she’d had, it was out of her system, now. No doubt, it was caused by the stress of being recaptured by Alan’s men and then almost immediately shown the grave of her father, who she had always loved despite the fact that he had never loved her.

  Plus, she most likely had a head injury from when the Alan’s henchman slammed her head into the bed of the pickup truck. Head injuries and an upset stomach, for whatever reason, seemed to go hand in hand.

  Nonetheless, Alan had called in his doctor and was forcing her to see him. She hadn’t seen Alan since he dropped her into what was essentially a jail cell at the compound, not the room she’d woken up in with Julia.

  Alan was always squeamish. He loved passing the sentence, but he’d always had an executioner do his dirty work. Rain was almost thankful for her little show of sickness; it had saved her another few hours before the torture began again.

  Another few hours for Hunter to come find me…

  She hushed down the thoughts. Right now, she just needed to survive.

  When Rain heard a key jiggling in the door, she sat up, feeling the heavy weight of iron around her ankles. She was already in a cell, the shackles seemed a bit like overkill…

  The door swung open and in walked a UNR officer. She was a female, probably somewhere around Rain’s age, with cropped blonde hair and bright green eyes.

  Rain knew that women belonged to the UNR, but she’d never interacted with a female officer before. And for whatever reason, she never expected one of them to be as pretty as this one.

  Rain swallowed down her judgements as the woman approached her and commanded her to stand. Her demeanor was soft, but words coming from her mouth were indistinguishable from every other UNR officer Rain had met. They were all the same, and they were all a danger.

  The officer only removed Rain’s ankle shackles after first cuffing her wrists. Then she pulled her up and dragged Rain from the room. They walked silently down the hallway.

  As another small bit of nausea rolled through Rain and the clanking of her handcuffs began to bother her, she decided to speak.

  “What’s your name?”

  After a bit of silence, Rain assumed she wouldn’t get betting an answer. Then, the woman spoke, her voice far softer than it had been while she barked out commands earlier. “Anna.”

  Rain nodded, thinking over what to say next as they turned a corner.

  “How long have you been with the UNR?”

  The woman’s face might as well have been carved from stone. There was nothing there. “Three years.”

  “Hm,” Rain muttered. “I hope you aren’t bothered by me saying this, but you look so young.”

  Anna abruptly stopped them and stood directly in front of Rain. “I am not your friend. Stop what you’re doing. It won’t work. Is that understood?”

  Rain just nodded, and then Anna stepped aside and pushed Rain forward. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

  ***

  Hunter touched his fingers to each of his holstered weapons, ensuring they were secure and in place. Check.

  The grabbed his extra rounds of ammo and tucked them into his vest. Check.

  He put his shotgun into a shoulder holster and then picked up his automatic rifle. Both were fully loaded. Check.

  He turned towards Derek, who was about fifty yards from him. Derek caught his eye and nodded. Next, Hunter looked to Sawyer, who was to his left. Sawyer gave the same sign.

  It was time.

  Hunter lifted two fingers high into the air, waited just a moment, and then urged his men forward.

  ***

  After plenty of poking and prodding, Rain sat on the exam table and waited for the doctor to return. She watched Anna, who simply stared at the wall with her stone cold expression.

  The room was all white, intimidatingly so. The lights were too bright and the air was too heavy.

  The door swung open, and in walked the doctor, a concerned look on his face.

  “Okay, Rain. We have an answer for what’s been causing your symptoms.”

  She scooted to the edge of the exam table, surprised there had been a cause at all. She had assumed it was nothing. Perhaps a head injury, as she’d earlier predicted… “Is it my head?” she asked.

  The doctor turned to Anna. “Would you give us a moment?”

  “I’m not to leave the prisoner.” Prisoner?!

  “You can wait right outside the door. I just had a couple things I’d like to discuss privately to ensure Rain is giving me honest answers.”

  Well that didn’t sound good. Rain started to feel her heartbeat speeding up again.

  Anna stood there for another moment, as if considering whether or not she would give the doctor what he had wanted. Then she turned, left the room, and shut the door behind her.

  The doctor sighed. “Rain, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come right out with it… you’re pregnant.”

  What? But she… “I can’t get pregnant. You’re the one who told me that.”

  “I… I know, Rain. But the truth is, you weren’t the problem. It was… him. I couldn’t tell him that, though. He’d have me killed. And, well, I didn’t think it would make a difference. I never thought there’d be another so it didn’t matter at the time.”

  Rain felt so many things at once that she didn’t know what she felt. The world was spinning around her.

  “I’m pregnant?”

  He just nodded. “Yes.”

  “Are you-”

  “I’m positive,” he said, already knowing what she’d ask. “I ran three separate tests to be sure.”

  “Oh my God…”

  “It’s not his.”

  Rain looked at her hands and began knotting her fingers together. Oh God…

  It was easier to ignore her situation when it was only her life on the line, but now… Hunter’s baby was growing inside of her. Her entire world had changed in a single moment.

  Everything that happened next happened in a blur. She begged the doctor not to tell Alan, and he said he wouldn’t. Anna came back in and escorted Rain from the room. They walked in total silence down the corridors. Anna took Rain back to her cell and began chaining her ankles to the floor once more.

  Rain sat on the bed and stared off into the distance, her heart beating in her throat and her stomach doing cartwheels and threatening to empty itself right there.

  As she was removing the cuffs, Anna looked up at Rain, a slight squint in her eyes.

  “You’re pregnant,” she said quietly.

  “How did you-”

  “I was listening to you two talk.”

  Rain felt her hand start shaking as fear pulsed through her. The minute the cuffs were off she grabbed the woman
’s shoulders and pulled her close. She expected Anna to fight, but she didn’t.

  “You can’t tell him,” she begged.

  “I could be killed for-”

  “I will be killed. And so will my baby. Please, Anna.” Rain felt tears welling in her eyes as she stared at the other woman, desperate to break through to her.

  “The father. He’s outside of these walls?”

  “He is.”

  “Was he kind?”

  Rain’s breath came out in a hurry, hope finally seeping in to combat the fear. “He is kind. The kindest man I’ve ever known.”

  Anna almost smiled, and for the first time since meeting her, Rain saw past the rough exterior and saw her for what she was. A human, just trying to survive like everyone else.

  Anna placed the cuffs on her belt as she stood, and then she began walking towards the door of the small room. Rain desperately wanted to call out to her, to plead one last time, but then the woman turned to her and nodded, as if she knew.

  Rain let out a deep sigh of relief as the door closed.

  Alone, she sat there and processed everything that had happened. Her brain struggled to handle all of the information, to sort through all of the emotions, but then something happened.

  Rain placed her hands on her belly, looked down, and realized that nothing mattered anymore except the little life growing inside of her. Her emotions, her fears, her situation…

  She was terrified of rejection from Hunter, or worse, of him never coming at all, but she would survive. Not because she was the strongest, or because she was the smartest, but because she was a survivor and there was no other option for her.

  She ran her hands along her lower abdomen once more, and despite being chained up in Hell, she managed to smile.

  Chapter Fourteen

  THE RESISTANCE DID NOT believe in groupthink, in categorizing other humans, in judging groups as the same based on one or two observable traits. The Resistance supported the individual and was founded on the belief that all men and women were unique and special, and by embracing their differences, they could come together and form one living, breathing machine.