Unbound (The Captive Series, Book 7) (10 page)

“Are you sure?” he croaked out.

“Yes. I know this wasn’t planned—”

She never got a chance to finish before he lifted her into the air. Melinda bit back a laugh as he spun her around. They couldn’t draw attention to themselves, but the radiant smile on his face and the glow in his eyes made her almost scream with joy. He crushed her against his chest, his hands smoothing back her hair as he rained kisses across her face. She giggled as she hugged him close.

“How long have you known?” he inquired when he set her on the ground and clasped her cheeks.

“I’ve suspected for a couple of weeks now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.

“I was waiting until after the wedding, until we were home, but now we may never make it home.”

The growl rumbling through his chest surprised her. His good-natured ease, roguish charm, quirky smile, and whistling habit were some of the things she loved best about him, but he was not a willing fighter.

“We
will
make it home,” he grated. “We will grow to see our child play in the gardens with his many cousins over the years to come.”

The joyful image of such a thing filled her mind; she could practically hear the laughter of all the children, but as the image rose, it died away. There may never be cousins if something were to happen to Jack too.

“It could be a girl,” she murmured instead of expressing her depressing thoughts.

“And I will spend many years fending off all the men sure to be chasing her around if she’s half as beautiful as her mother.”

Melinda wrapped her arms around his back. Her fingers dug into his flesh as she held him against her and simply allowed herself one second of serenity in a world that had become filled within nothing but grief.

“We must go,” she whispered and turned her face into his neck to kiss him.

He took hold of her hand as they turned to finish making their way around the boulder. Stepping out from the back of the rock, Melinda gasped and took a startled step back when they came face to face with half a dozen bows and arrows pointed directly at them.

William

“William.” He turned to find Tempest standing in the doorway of the storage room established within the cave. She looked so small, so fragile with the dark circles under her eyes and her silvery hair falling around her shoulders. He drank in the sight of her slender body with its enticing curves.

Releasing the clothes he’d been gathering, he covered the ten feet separating them in an instant. Her hands fell on his shoulders when he lifted her up, clasped hold of her hair, and pulled her head back to claim her mouth with his. Her lips burned into his, heating the chill permeating his body since Aria, in her grief and despair, had collapsed into the snow to claw at herself like an animal trying to free itself from a trap.

Shoving the image out of his mind, he carried Tempest over to the wall and rested her against it as he released her mouth. He lowered his head and sank his fangs into her throat. Her sweet blood surged into his mouth, strengthening him as it flowed through his system. He growled low in his throat when he felt the scrape of her fangs over his flesh before they sank into him.

He was being too rough with her, but he couldn’t get close enough to her right now. All reason vanished as the bond between them swelled and grew further. He could stay in here with her for the rest of their lives and be fine with it.

But he couldn’t, and no matter how badly he desired her now, no matter how badly he
needed
her, he could not lose himself to her. He forced his fangs to retract and rested his head in the hollow of her throat. Her familiar and much-loved wintry scent assailed him.

He understood what Aria was going through. If someone took Tempest from him, he would tear the world apart, but he had to keep his twin from getting herself killed, and he had to keep Tempest protected.

“I lost control. I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely against her throat.

“Don’t be,” she whispered as she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled his head back to look at him. “I need you too, badly, but there are things we have to do first, and your sister…” Her voice trailed off. Her doe brown eyes darted away before settling on the clothes he’d been holding. “I think getting her cleaned up will help. I came to ask if there is water somewhere in these caves?”

William reluctantly released his hold on her and stepped away. “I’ll get it if you’ll take the clothes out to Aria.”

Tempest walked over to retrieve the clothes he’d dropped. This store room had some provisions in it, but there was no human food remaining here, and there were no medical supplies or bandages. Thankfully, most of Aria’s injuries would heal soon enough. As he turned to leave the room, he kissed Tempest again.

Taking one of the torches he’d lit, he didn’t look back as he left her behind. He snaked through the tunnels before arriving at a locked gate; he dug out the key and slipped through to the other side. After they’d made it to the center cavern, they’d discovered two of the locked gates no longer had keys, which limited their options for fleeing if they had to, but they wouldn’t be leaving here tonight anyway. They had to rest and get cleaned up before they could continue on.

He hoped in the morning Aria would agree to return to where they’d left the others, but he wouldn’t bet on it. His sister was as stubborn as he was, and she was determined to seek her revenge. He understood what drove her now. It hadn’t been that long ago that he’d been driven by his need to kill Kane. Tempest had helped to ease that driving thirst for vengeance in him, but Aria had no one to temper her, not anymore.

A chill ran down his spine as he recalled the night in Hannah’s tavern when Aria had revealed Atticus’s journals to him. Had it really only been days ago? He could never forget Aria’s words to him, or the lifelessness within her when she’d spoken…
“So if he is taken from me, I need you to understand why I may have to be destroyed too. To really understand, William, and not just say you do.”

He’d wanted to blow her off at the time, to convince her nothing would happen to Braith, but he’d been unable to. Aria expected him to be able to destroy her if it became necessary. He would do it before he ever allowed her to become as malevolent and warped as Atticus had become, but he would also do
every
thing he could to save her before he ever considered the possibility of ending her life.

The trickling sound of water drew him to the spot in the caves where water from a stream above flowed down the rocks. He placed the torch beside the ice flow forming on the floor and over the wall of the cave before grabbing the pitcher sitting on a rock shelf beside the water. He filled it and made his way back to the main cavern.

Entering the cave, he found Aria sitting on one of the rocks, her head bowed and her shoulders hunched up around her ears. Over the years, he’d seen his sister boney from lack of food, withdrawn after being separated from Braith, and devastated by the loss of their father, but he’d never seen her look so small or broken before. Her torment made him feel more helpless than he’d ever felt in his life.

Tempest lifted her head from where she sat beside Aria, her hand resting on Aria’s shoulder. It surprised him that Aria allowed Tempest to touch her right now, but he had a feeling she had little real acknowledgement of the world surrounding her anymore.

He walked across the room toward them and Tempest turned to pull a rag from a pile sitting beside the rock. “I’ll take care of her,” she said and took the pitcher from William’s hands. “Can we build a fire in here or will the smell of it travel?”

“It will travel,” he replied and walked away to inspect the gates they’d closed off upon entering. They’d lost their pursuers in the forest, but he couldn’t let his guard down even a little right now.

“I can do it,” Aria said to Tempest.

“Let me help,” Tempest said, and though he’d expected her to protest, Aria didn’t speak. “I couldn’t gather all of the clothing, can you do it, William?” Tempest asked him.

He nodded and turned to leave. He froze when he heard the crunch of a footstep from within one of the tunnels. Aria was up and beside him in an instant, her bow raised and an arrow nocked as she took aim at whoever hid within the shadows beyond the closed gate.

“Who’s there?” Aria demanded.

Silence met her question.

***

Melinda

“I’m sorry milady,” one of the king’s guard apologized and hastily lowered his bow.

Melinda’s shoulders slumped in relief, but Ashby continued to scowl at all of the men and women who had pointed their weapons at them. Behind the king’s guard, the residents of Chippman and the refugee survivors of Badwin were huddled close together. Their eyes were filled with alarm as they surveyed her and Ashby.

“Where is the king?” one of the king’s men inquired.

“We were ambushed by the same group of people who devastated Badwin.” Cries of alarm met her statement, and frightened murmurs raced through the crowd. “My brothers are working to try to keep everyone protected.” Not entirely a lie. “We’ve been sent back to see you safely onto the palace, but we must move quickly.”

“Is Hannah okay?” An older-looking vampire shoved his way to the front of the crowd to demand. Melinda recognized him as Hannah’s uncle Abe.

Many of the residents of Chippman had some kind of genetic defect. Abe hadn’t stopped aging until he was sixty-two. He was spry and healthy, and wouldn’t age another day, but he looked older than most of the vampires surrounding him. Beside him stood his son, Lucas, and Hannah’s best friend, Ellen. Their faces were filled with worry as they stared anxiously at her. Tempest’s best friend, Pallas, and a few of the children she’d fled Badwin with also pushed their way to the front to stare at her.

“Hannah is fine. Everyone is fine,” she assured them, or at least most of them had been fine the last time Melinda had seen them. “Now, we have to go.”

They would be able to move faster now that the sun was down and the vampires from Chippman who were unable to stand its rays, like Lucas, could travel without the hindrance of the covered carriages built for them.

“Leave the carriages behind,” Ashby said when some of the vampires started to ready the horses for them. “We will be returning to the palace tonight.”

“What if we don’t?” one of the vampires demanded anxiously.

Ashby’s gaze didn’t waver as he met and held the man’s. “We have no choice but to reach it tonight.”

Uneasy murmurs went through the crowd. “Then we will reach it tonight,” Lucas declared. “Easy enough if we move out now. Let’s go everyone.”

Melinda took a minute to gather herself as she watched them all saddle their horses. They were doing as she and Ashby had instructed. Now they had to get them all to safety. Ashby claimed a horse from one of the king’s men and lifted her into the saddle.

“I can get up on my own,” she said.

“Nope,” he said as he swung onto the saddle to settle himself behind her. “Get used to being pampered and not lifting a finger. I intend to spoil you.”

“More than you already do?”

His smile was strained; his normally lively eyes didn’t dance, but she still saw the joy in his gaze as he stared at her belly then her. “Far more.”

She settled back against him when he nudged the horse in the side and they took off at a brisk trot through the woods. They weren’t as familiar with this area of the forest as Aria and her brothers were, but Melinda had been through here enough to know at least three ways back to the palace.

“We can’t take the main road,” she said.

“No, we can’t,” Ashby agreed as he steered them toward a rocky ledge and two side roads.

One side road ran parallel to the main road, about three miles away from it, but still too close to the main for her liking. The other was a convoluted pathway that meandered through the woods, over a mountain and down into a valley. It was a little known road and rarely traveled, but it would add hours onto their trip, and if they were cornered in the valley, there would be no escape.

“We’re going to have to stay in the woods,” he said.

“Yes,” she agreed and rested her hands on top of the lean muscles of his forearms. “Let’s hope we don’t get lost.”

“I’m like a compass. I always know the way,” he replied.

“I feel like your compass might have us going in circles.”

“Then it’s a good thing I have you to help guide the way.”

“I hope so.”

He led the horse down a steep embankment and into a gully; she didn’t think it was the same gully from earlier today—had that really only been today? It felt as if days had passed since they’d first been attacked. Looking out at the landscape before them, her stomach turned at the reminder of her brother’s death.

Aria

“I know you’re there! Show yourself!” Aria commanded.

“Don’t shoot,” a woman replied from the shadows. “I’m coming out now, and I mean no harm.”

The woman stepped out of the tunnel where she’d been hiding. Her hands were raised in the air. Gray speckled the brown hair tumbling around her thin shoulders and weathered face. She was probably only in her late thirties, but life had etched lines around her brown eyes and mouth.

Something about the woman tugged at Aria’s memory, but she didn’t lower her bow. Even if this woman had known where the keys were and how to traverse these tunnels, she trusted no one right now.

“Your Highness,” the woman said and kept her hands raised as she gave a small curtsy. “It has been a while.”

That
voice
, she’d heard it before, but where? If her heart wasn’t so badly shattered and her mind could grasp at anything other than death and destruction, she was sure she would know who this woman was, but the answer continued to elude her.

Her gaze ran over the woman again as her voice tickled at the back edges of Aria’s mind. Then, recognition burst to life within her. “Mary?” she inquired.

Her voice hitched as the memory of being trapped within the king’s dungeon slithered through her mind. Mary had been in the dungeon with her.

The woman smiled and dropped her hands to fold them into her skirt. “It is me,” she confirmed.

Aria finally lowered her bow. She may not trust Mary completely yet, but she sensed no one else standing behind the woman, and she’d be able to kill a human easily enough if it became necessary. “What are you doing here?”

“My son, John, said he saw you coming into the caves,” Mary said.

“You found him?”

“It took some time, but yes, I found him after I was set free of the dungeon.”

John was the reason Aria had been captured and brought to the palace to be auctioned off to the highest vampire bidder in the first place. Braith had stepped forward to claim her from the man who had originally bought her and taken her with him to the palace. At the time, she hadn’t known why Braith had done it, but eventually he’d told her it was because she was the first thing he’d actually been able to
see
in a hundred years.

Aria had sacrificed herself, allowed herself to be captured in place of John, and everything in her life had changed for the better. Even now, when she felt at her bleakest, she had to remember that. Mary had been taken with her on that long ago day, imprisoned in the dungeon and freed when Braith had come to rescue Aria. Mary had had no idea where her son was when she’d left the palace, but she’d found him once again. A small beacon of hope swelled within Aria at the realization.

Aria’s capture had been the beginning for her and Braith, and they had already come to their end. No matter what happened from here on out, no matter the heartache she endured now, it had all been worth it.

“There is always good in the bad,” Aria whispered.

Tempest squeezed her arm and William shot her a look, but she didn’t acknowledge either of them.

“What are you doing here, Mary?” Aria inquired.

“John said it looked like you were in trouble when you came in.” Her gaze ran over all of them, taking in their bloody and torn clothing. “Judging by the looks of you, I’d say he was right. You saved my child. I owe you much, and I’m here to help.”

“There are vampires after us. This is not something you should be entangled with.” Aria glanced at her brother. “Our guard was down if we didn’t notice John out there.”

“John would have made a fine rebel. He’s nearly as silent as your family was in these woods,” Mary said proudly.

William’s face seemed to say exactly what she was thinking;
had they missed someone else?

Mary’s brow furrowed. “You are our queen and a vampire. Why would vampires be after you?”

“There is a new threat rising,” William said.

“Get John somewhere safe, Mary,” Aria said.

“Will this new threat hurt us if they uncover us?” Mary asked.

“Yes,” Aria answered honestly.

“Then we are already in danger. Come with me. I know somewhere safe.”

“Safer than these caves?”

“And warmer,” Mary replied with a smile. “And there will be clothes. Come, Your Highness, I promise you will be safe with us.”

“I’m just Aria. Please don’t call me Your Highness.” Mary blinked at her.

“Where is the king?” Mary inquired and Aria couldn’t stop herself from flinching.

“Elsewhere,” she replied crisply.

Mary frowned but didn’t press it further. “Then come, let’s get you clean and warmed up.”

William glanced questioningly at Aria as she remained unmoving. Part of her plan had been to locate new recruits. Mary had been a rebel too. Aria was certain she still associated with many of the people who had once moved freely through these woods and caves. They would need vampires too, but humans could be almost as lethal as a vampire when properly armed and trained. After years of having to be stealthy, humans could often be quieter when necessary.

And if Sabine’s soldiers followed them here, Mary and John would need help to stay safe. From what William and Tempest had told her, Sabine did not treat humans well.

“I promise you will be safe,” Mary said.

Aria swung her bow over her back and returned the arrow to her quiver. “Lead the way then.”

***

Melinda

Melinda had no idea where they were in the forest, only that they were going in the general direction of the palace, or at least she hoped they were. For all she knew, they could be heading back to Chippman, something that would prove lethal to all the vampires susceptible to the sun’s rays.

She really didn’t want to tell Hannah they’d been responsible for her cousin’s horrific death by sunlight. At the edge of a stream, Ashby didn’t hesitate before plunging the horse into it and guiding him through the flowing water. The animals had to be exhausted. Many of the vampires and humans surrounding her were slouched forward in their saddles and struggling to keep their eyes open, but they couldn’t take a break and they couldn’t let up on their relentless pace.

Every muscle in her body ached from sitting in the saddle for these past hours. Her ass had to be bruised, but she didn’t utter a complaint and neither did any of those with them. Ashby’s body thrummed with tension as he constantly surveyed their surroundings.

Splashing out of the stream, a flash of something on her right caught Melinda’s attention and she sat up straighter in the saddle. Joy burst through her chest when she spotted the treehouse Braith had built for Aria nestled within the trees. They were going the right way, and what was more, she knew her way back from here!

“Look!” she slapped her hand against Ashby’s arm and pointed to the treehouse. “We’re almost home.”

Ashby relaxed a little against her before going rigid once more. She didn’t think he would relax again until Sabine was destroyed.

“We are,” he said and kissed her cheek.

He turned their mount to the right and nudged him into another trot.
Lots of carrots for these horses when we get back
, she decided when the animal grudgingly resumed his pace. Ashby lifted his hand to push aside branches when they plunged back into the thick woods once more.

***

Jack

Jack finished helping to clean the blood from Xavier and sat back on his heels. He could bandage the wounds but saw no point. The blood had ceased flowing and the holes were closing. He’d already taken care of the humans who had fared better than Xavier. He was fairly certain Daniel had a concussion and suffered from blood loss and exhaustion, but their bruised bones and bodies would mend and none of their arrow wounds would be deadly if they were kept clean.

“I should have go… gone with her,” Xavier said. His voice already sounding better, but it was still difficult for him to get words out.

“You would have only slowed them down,” Jack replied.

Xavier gripped his wrist when he went to turn away. “I believe she is right, about Sabine and about Bra…ith.”

“Believe or hope?” Jack inquired.

“Both.”

“I hope you’re right. I’m not ready to lose Braith and Aria, and I’m not meant to be king.”

“No, but you would do well with it if it became necessary for you to assume the throne.” Xavier released his hold on him. “You should ma… make sure Braith has blood.”

Jack glanced at where they’d placed Braith’s body in the shadows of the cave. They’d covered him in some of the furs and blankets from the store room, and Jack had tried to make sure his brother was as comfortable as possible, though he questioned if it mattered and doubted Braith could tell the difference.

“I don’t know about that,” he murmured.

“Your father was decaying when he rose from the earth, starv… ing and frail, most likely from lack of blood. If we can get some blood into Braith, he’ll be strong… er when he rises.”

Jack appreciated that Xavier said
when
instead of saying
if
Braith rose; he wished he could have Xavier’s confidence in this matter.

Atticus returned
.

He’d also been over a thousand years old at the time. Maybe there was an age someone had to reach for resurrection. At nine hundred fifty-four, Braith was pushing one thousand years old, but still shy of the millennial milestone. He may never get there now. Sabine hadn’t been a thousand when she was killed, but did they really know if she had actually been killed and not faking her death?

Then he recalled Sabine’s words,
“Kill them all, but bring me his head.”
There had to be a reason for that specific command with Braith, there simply had to be, or was he grasping at straws in the hope Braith could return from the dead?

“How long do you think it will be before he comes back, if he does rise again?” he asked and saw the other’s heads turn in their direction.

“I don’t know,” Xavier replied. “It was about a month before we saw Atticus, but in his weakened condition it could have… taken him a while to dig out of his grave. We ha… have no idea how much time he spent in the woods before he made it back to the palace. For all we know, he could have risen again two weeks after his death, but… I… I doubt it.”

Jack rested his fingers on the cool stone beneath him. A month within these caves, trying to keep Braith protected. It could be done, it
would
be done, but it would be a month for Sabine to gather more troops and wreak more damage upon those who could, or did, stand in her way.

“When Aria returns—”

“I don’t think she will return,” Daniel interrupted Jack. “She’ll lead Sabine and her followers as far from here as she can, but if she knows he’s gone—”

“She knows,” Hannah murmured and her gaze latched onto Jack. She ran her hands over her arms as she stared at him. “Believe me, Aria knows Braith is dead.”

Daniel’s fingers clenched around the rock he was resting his arm on. Anguish twisted his features as he turned his head briefly away from them. “Then she will go to work,” he said.

“Doing what?” Hannah inquired.

“Raising an army, learning what she can about our newest enemy,” Daniel replied. “She won’t die without making that woman pay first.”

Hannah glanced nervously at Jack and folded her hands before her. “I’d make her pay too.”

Jack rose to his feet and stalked across the cavern to her. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close against him.

“Won’t she come back for Braith?” Hannah inquired.

“I know what she said about this woman being Sabine, about there being a chance Braith could rise again, but I imagine right now she doesn’t believe in much,” Jack said as he ran a hand over Hannah’s silken. “And if Braith does rise again, instead of coming back here, she’s going to do whatever she can to protect him, which means gathering an army.”

“She’ll be going back to our rebel roots,” Daniel said. “I bet she’s already formulating a plan. It’s what we would have done before.”

“Aria will go for the humans and she will try to get closer to Sabine, if that is who that woman is,” Max said.

“What do you mean go for the humans?” Hannah inquired.

“Many of the rebels are still living within the forest,” Max explained. “The rebel life is what we knew for so many years, so even after peace was achieved, many chose to stay. These woods are the home of the rebels and where we were always more comfortable, even Aria. We know how to avoid vampires. We may not have their strength, but we know how to hide, know how to sneak up on someone and how to set traps. We know how to take a vampire down. Outside of the palace walls, Aria will return to the rebels.”

“And she’s going to get closer to the palace walls,” Daniel said. “She’ll want to know what is going on there. We will find her somewhere in that area when we go to meet with her.”

“You can barely walk,” Jack said.

“Not now,” Daniel replied. “But as soon as we’re feeling up to it, we’ll go for her. It has to be done.”