Branded

by Abi Ketner

  “Oh no, she’s not! Sending her into war isn’t exactly what I call protecting her. I’ve worked my ass off to keep her safe—alive and in one piece. And you’re going to throw her into combat? Something she knows absolutely nothing about! You’re going to kill her!”

  “You better watch what you say.” Keegan pushes me to the right, but I step back between them.

  “Both of you, stop,” I beg. I don’t want to see them come to blows. I just know it won’t end well.

  “If you really care about her, you’ll protect her,” Cole says as spit flies out of his mouth. His fists clench at his sides and his eyes darken.

  “Protect her? Like you have? What—try to get in her pants? Try to schmooze your way into her heart just to tear it to shreds? Don’t think for one second that I haven’t noticed what’s going on between you two. You’re the one treating her like a slut!”

  Then Keegan shoves me onto the cot and fists begin swinging. I start screaming for them to stop, but no one listens. Cole knocks him to the floor, straddles him, grabs his collar, and sends his fist straight into Keegan’s jaw. Keegan returns the punch, forcing Cole backward onto his side. Cole moves to hit him a second time, so I throw myself between them just as he swings a punch that lands in the middle of my back.

  I land on Keegan. I try to inhale when a sharp pain shoots down my back, making me arch.

  “Lexi,” Cole says, rolling me over onto my side. I curl into a ball. “Damn it. I didn’t mean to hit you.”

  “Get off of her, you idiot.” Keegan shoves him into the wall with a burst of speed.

  I’m immobile on the ground. I look up just as Keegan moves toward Cole and delivers a head-swerving hook. Blood spurts from Cole’s nose and drips off his face. I feel warmth overtaking my body and my vision blurs at the edges. Blackness seeps into my field of vision.

  CHAPTER 18

  The noises of grunting and barking bring me back, and I open my eyes in time to see Bruno charge into the room, closing the door before Zeus can enter. He pulls Cole away, and they both fall down. He curses under his breath. Blood trickles from Cole’s nose as he covers it and his eyes hold hatred that I’ve never seen before. Keegan bolts to my side and lifts me up.

  I groan while digging my fingers into his arm. The pain on my right side cripples me.

  He puts his strong arms around my waist and pulls me upright. “You make me sick,” Keegan says to Cole. He sets me on my cot. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he yells.

  Cole turns to him, wiping his nose with his shirt. “Who the hell do I think I am? Who the hell do you think you are? What, her brother? The one who walked out on his sister when she needed him the most? Face it, Keegan, you don’t have the slightest clue who she is now. The woman she’s become. But I do. I know everything about her.”

  “You prick.”

  “Stop it! Calm down, both of you!” Bruno commands.

  Bruno plants himself between them before another fight breaks out. He takes Cole’s arm and drags him away.

  By now, other men have filed into the room and they point their guns at Cole and Bruno. Bruno pulls out his gun and points it at Keegan. Zeus bolts in and plants himself in front of me as the tension dams at my throat. I don’t even know where to begin.

  “Are you okay?” Keegan says, ignoring the insanity that’s about to erupt.

  Part of me doesn’t want to speak to him at all. He ruined one of the best moments I’ve had in forever. Yet he also believes I should fight. And I want to.

  “No. You idiot. I’m not okay.” I shout.

  “Lower your guns and someone find her a medic.” Keegan stands tall like there isn’t a gun pointed at his face. Reluctantly, the men lower their pistols and place them back in their holsters. Bruno follows suit.

  Keegan turns back to me. “No, seriously, how are you?”

  “Well, let’s see… the two people I care about the most are ready to tear each other’s heads off. How do you think I am?” I say. The pain forces me to clench my teeth.

  Cole butts in. “No way in hell she’s fighting.”

  “Last time I checked, she was alert and oriented, so she’s quite capable of making that decision for herself,” Keegan says.

  Cole pushes from behind Bruno and meets Keegan’s eyes with his own death glare. “She just found you and you’re willing to lose her that easily? Throwing her into combat? No way can anyone train her in the short amount of time before the revolt starts. She’s not going out there. Use your brain, Keegan! These are trained guards we’re talking about. She won’t last a minute out there and you know it!” he says.

  “You don’t know anything about me,” Keegan retorts. “She’ll be ready and you can just sit and watch!”

  “That’s enough,” Bruno says and puts his arm around me, leaning in close and looking me in the eyes. “What do you want to do?”

  All eyes rest on me—Keegan’s angry deep blue, Cole’s pleading obsidian, and Bruno’s brown eyes glare. I don’t know what to say. My answer won’t make Cole happy or make things easier for myself. But if I ever want to be with him, uninterrupted, without fear of death, then I have to make my choice known.

  “I want to fight,” I say while reaching my hand toward Cole. “It’s the only way for us to be together.” I try to push myself into a sitting position, but the pain makes it unbearable.

  Cole’s jaw clenches and his knuckles turn white. I can tell he feels like I’m betraying him. “Don’t. You have no idea what you’re talking about.” His jaw relaxes. “If you fight, I’m not leaving your side and I can’t guarantee that’ll be enough to keep you alive. Do you see where that leaves me? I’m not fighting—I’m protecting you. Please… I’m begging you. I love you. I can’t lose you. Not like this.”

  I grasp his hand with all my strength and start sobbing. The loud, uncontrolled, obnoxious kind. “I love you too, but it’s what I need to do—for me. My father would want me to stand up for what he believed in—what I believe in.”

  “He wouldn’t want you dead.”

  “Oh, and you know our father how?” Keegan says.

  Cole ignores him completely. “What are you trying to prove? I just don’t want to lose you.”

  “Damn!” Bruno says. “I mean, I knew you were getting weak around her, but holy balls! You love her… Wow!”

  “He doesn’t love her, and she doesn’t love him,” Keegan says.

  “Yes I do,” I say forcefully. I push aside my pain, swing my legs over the side of the bed, and take a step toward Keegan. “Don’t you dare tell me how I feel. You might be my brother, but Cole’s my life now and you’re going to have to accept that whether you want to or not.”

  “You’re kidding me, right?” Keegan stands. “You can’t be serious.”

  I gasp for air between sobs, trying to calm myself down enough to make sense of the situation. Instead, I get hiccups, which make me feel even more humiliated. “I do love him and it’s real. He never used me for anything and you should respect him. He protected me when you couldn’t.”

  Keegan glares at Cole, at me, and back at Cole. “Wow, you really pulled one over on her, didn’t you?” he says with a skeptical voice.

  Cole stands up, his entire body shaking. “No, it’s never been like that—ever.”

  “I can’t even listen to this.” Keegan punches the wall in explosive anger.

  Zeus bares his teeth, growling deep in his chest. “Zeus, back off,” Cole says.

  Keegan practically spits in my face. “What were you thinking, Lexi? A guard? You can’t trust him, even if he is one of the ‘nice’ guys. Where’s your head?” He throws his hands up in the air in frustration. “It takes a long time to trust any guard, and here you are, jumping into bed with one.”

  “You don’t know anything about him,” I say. “How dare you judge me.” I chuck my pillow as I clench my teeth and shake with anger. Keegan chucks it back at me, and Zeus snags it, ripping it into pieces.

  “Don’t stand up for m
e, Lexi. I have nothing to hide.” Cole eyes Keegan. “From the minute she became my assignment, my job was to keep her alive. I never knew why. I just knew that’s what I was ordered to do and that’s exactly what I did. I was professional from day one, and with every bone in my body, I fought my feelings for her—believe me, I did. But each day I was falling for this girl who loves life but doesn’t know how to show it, because she doesn’t think she deserves to be happy. I watched her befriend a dying child. I watched her give that little girl the best days of her life before she passed away. Please tell me how the hell was I not going to fall in love with her? Without a doubt, she’s the most amazing person I’ve ever known. So you know what? Yeah, she broke me. She weakened me. But it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me… because I have her. And that’s one thing I wouldn’t change. Not once did I ever take advantage of her. Not once did I ever consider her a whore. Even deep down before I knew the truth, I knew she was innocent. Keegan, you can think what you want of me, but the truth is I’d take a bullet and sacrifice my life if it meant I would save hers.”

  Before I can say anything, Keegan says, “It will only end badly and you know it.” Keegan glares at Cole. “The safest place for her to be is with me.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because she’ll make you a weak fighter. You’ll be more worried about protecting her. She already made her choice. She’s fighting.”

  “Over my dead body!” Cole says.

  “Man, you’re whipped,” Bruno says under his breath but loud enough that I hear him.

  “Get the hell out of here. That was a lovely speech, but I’m telling you to leave!” Keegan steps toward Cole.

  “No! He’s not leaving. He’s staying here with me. I need him. Keegan, you know he can’t go back yet! Wilson knows I’m gone, and he knows Cole’s my guard. He’ll torture him to find me or even kill him.” I plead with Keegan, placing both hands on his chest.

  “I don’t give a damn. He can’t stay here.”

  “Please… please don’t do this to me. I’m begging you. I’ll never forgive you.” I pound on his chest now, and he rips my wrists away. His blue eyes bore holes into mine.

  “In case you forgot, Sutton sent you here to be with me. I’m your brother and I’m in charge.” He shoves me back onto the cot. With pillow stuffing plastered on his face, Zeus barks a warning. Keegan’s men drag him out of the room while trying to avoid his sharp teeth.

  Cole jumps in Keegan’s face. “Who left her?”

  “Here we go again,” Bruno says.

  Several of Keegan’s men inch their hands toward their holsters, sensing the rising tension.

  “If you really care about me like you claim, then you’ll let him stay.” I stand up and slap Keegan across the face before Cole can pull me away. The sound bounces off the walls like a thunderclap. Keegan’s eyes turn murderous. My emotions overwhelm me. Why can’t I just make my own choices without someone dictating them to me? It reminds me of how my stepfather treated me. Always picking out my clothes, telling me whom I couldn’t associate with, or forcing me into the darkness of the closet. I can’t breathe remembering his obsessive need for control.

  Keegan’s voice pulls me back. “Get the hell out of here before I kill someone,” Keegan commands. “It’s better she loses you now—when she has me.” He extends his arm from across his chest and points toward the hall.

  I step in front of Keegan, but he pushes me aside and restrains me against the wall as his men force Cole out of the room. “No, Keegan. No! I swear to God, I’ll—”

  “You’ll do nothing,” he threatens in a low voice. His hands lock around my wrists and squeeze until they go numb.

  “Lexi, I’ll be back. I promise!” Cole shouts. The men drag him through the doorway.

  “Damn it! Keegan! Let me go!” I lunge forward, trying to break free from Keegan’s grip, but he’s like steel and I can’t move.

  “I can’t, Lexi. I’m sorry.”

  Cole’s gone and I hear him yelling the entire way down the hall before silence settles. My heart shatters into a million little pieces. I want to beat in Keegan’s face.

  “It’s better for you this way. You’ll see,” Keegan says. “At least Bruno will be with him.” He pats me on the shoulder but lacks pity. I feel dead inside and I’m afraid if I look at Keegan I’ll strangle him.

  I stand up, brush the dirt off my pants and lock eyes with Keegan. “The only reason I’m standing here is because I want to fight. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. You can’t and won’t control me, Keegan. I’m not a little girl anymore and I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

  “Are you done now?”

  "Are you serious?" I let out a cackle laced with a mixture of delusion and fury, then lower my voice. "Keegan, I haven't even started yet." Stepping forward I press my fingers into the flesh beneath his clavicles. "Listen up. Cole and I are in love. So you can either suck it up and get over it, or you can continue on your way without me. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you say about him. I know the real Cole. You don’t.”

  “Lexi, he doesn’t love yo—”

  “You have no claim on me. You have no idea who I love or who loves me. You left me. Cole has never left me. He has done nothing but save me.” I push him away from me with both hands. “I owe him my life and by default you owe him. We may be family, but I have done without any family for a long time. I have survived against the odds.”

  He narrows his eyes again, shakes his head, and slams my door. My adrenaline seeps out and I begin to feel the pain of Cole’s absence.

  My world feels like it’s collapsing. He’s gone, really gone. And it’s my fault. He might get killed going back out there. I have no idea where he’ll hide from the commander or Wilson.

  My body hurts so much, yet I burn with anger toward Keegan. How is it possible to love someone yet feel so conflicted about them? I can’t survive without Cole and Zeus. I almost lost Cole once and don’t ever want to know what life would be like without him. Tears pour down, soaking my blanket, my clothes, and my pillow. The nightmare feels like it just came true and everything fades to black.

  A few days later, Keegan stomps into my room. “Get up!” He yanks off my blanket and tosses it to the floor. “We’re running out of time. If you want to fight, like you said you did, then get your ass out of bed and to the training center.” He throws my clothes at me with a look of annoyance.

  I sit up slowly and inspect the shirt. The last time I wore it my heart was torn to pieces. I catch a faint whiff of Cole’s cologne and swallow hard to keep from crumbling. Ugh. I look up in time to catch my boots in midair.

  “We don’t have time for you to lick your wounds.” He stands over me, a dark shadowy figure.

  “I’m not licking my wounds. Let’s go.”

  “He’s no good for you and you’re going to lose him one way or another. I’m not making this up. Your relationship will never end well.”

  “Shut up. Teach me to fight.” I cut him off.

  “Now that I can do. Let’s go.” A real smile seems to appear at the corner of his mouth.

  I’ve lost everything. I’m done losing people without fighting back.

  “Lexi, I know how you feel… I’ve lost a lot too. It might not seem like it, but I miss Dad.” Keegan puts a hand on my shoulder.

  A tear trickles down, but I wipe it away. My father loved me deeply. He never yelled but always treated me with dignity and quiet respect. I never went to bed without a hug and kiss from him. Every night the last thing he would tell me was, “Remember, you can overcome anything short of death. I love you.”

  “I lost you, I never wanted to leave you, but it was a choice I had to make. Can’t you see that? Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices.”

  I wipe my tear away and shrug off his arm. “I don’t hate you for leaving… I understand now why you left. But as for sacrifices, I’ve made enough.”

  He looks into my face. “What c
an I do to make it up to you? Besides the obvious.”

  I take a deep, painful breath. “Get me the hell out of here.”

  He reaches out his hands. I take them, and he gives me a strained smile. “Then let’s get started. It’s time you learned how to fight.”

  His words make me cringe. I close my eyes and remember Cole’s face when I told him Bruno was teaching me. He was so accepting of it, so understanding about why I wanted to learn. Yet he didn’t want me to fight for the one thing I hold most dear.

  “I started learning some already,” I say while pulling on my boots.

  “From who?”

  “Bruno,”

  “He allowed that?”

  I can tell whom Keegan means by the way he says his name.

  “Yes, Cole did.” My fingers pull the laces tight as I say his name.

  “Well, I’m sure it was just simple stuff like self-defense moves. That won’t help you in the least in this. You’ll learn the hard stuff now.”

  I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean the hard stuff?”

  “Like how to kill people,” he says in a nonchalant manner.

  I raise my eyebrow with skepticism.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but guards aren’t people.” I give him an indignant look. “Well, most of them anyway. They’re animals,” he says. “Channel all your anger into your training. It gets easier as you do it. Believe me.”

  His words reflect his cocky ignorance, but I refuse to get into an argument with him. After all, he’s had to survive here a lot longer than I have and has probably seen worse things. Maybe.

  “Now get focused and put these on.” Keegan throws worn wraps on my bed. “We train for two hours in the morning and three in the evening. If you want to fight, these sessions are mandatory.” His tone demands obedience and I get the feeling he’s used to having orders followed.

  “Wait.”

  “You changed your mind?”

  “No, not about that, but I wanted to ask you if you could get me paint?”