Falling Warriors Series Collection (Books 1, 2 & 1.5)

by Nicole René

  No man would take her.

  It was the most absolute way of ownership and possession.

  Leawyn closed her eyes tightly, a lone tear slowly trailing down her smooth cheek as her lip quivered. Xavier watched her, giving her a moment. “Are we understood?”

  He waited, until finally, her body deflated and she gave a slight jerk of her head, nodding her consent while staring at the floor.

  Xavier cupped her cheeks and made her look at him, and kissed her lips softly.

  “Good girl,” he breathed out before claiming her lips completely in a hungry, primal kiss that oozed satisfaction. He pulled back and turned her so his chest pressed against her back. Wrapping his arms around her, he bent down to her ear. “Now, get dressed, and pack a bag. We’re leaving as soon as you’re done.” He gave her an encouraging nudge toward her chest containing her clothes.

  When she took two steps away from him, he reached for his dagger on the floor and quickly unsheathed it. His arm shot out swiftly and silently, pulling her back against him roughly.

  “If you break your word to me, Leawyn…” Xavier raised the small dagger and held it in front of her to see before he lowered it slowly to rest against her neck. She hissed when he pressed the steel just hard enough to make a small cut below her throat.

  “I will kill you, and send your body back to the Rhoxolani you miss so much, and into your father’s hands. And any alliance we have set up will be broken. All because the chief’s daughter didn’t know how to behave.”

  Leawyn trembled in his arms, but he tilted his head to bite her earlobe. Her breath hitched.

  “Then, I will kill them all.”

  Xavier turned and exited their hut, leaving Leawyn to stand there trembling in shock and horror.

  The travel to Rhoxolani was long, but it was worth it the minute Leawyn smelled the ocean air. When she heard the call of seagulls, her body tightened with excitement, causing Killix to flick his ears forward.

  When she heard waves crashing against the rocks, she smiled.

  When her village first came into view on the crest of the cliffs, she could do nothing to try to hold back the tears.

  When they got closer, Leawyn couldn’t hold in her cry.

  There were bodies everywhere, dead.

  Nothing was left of her village except the charred remains of some of the huts.

  The Rhoxolani had been destroyed.

  “NOOO!”

  She didn’t give Xavier any time to stop her from throwing herself off Killix’s back. She faltered but scrambled forward, stumbling in her haste. She threw herself down, grabbing her hair against her face as she stared out in horror.

  “No!” she moaned pitifully, shaking her head against her tears. “No, no, no!” she wailed, choking against her sobs.

  “Leawyn...” Her husband’s hand touched her shoulder gently. “We need to go.”

  She shook her head, shrugging his hand off her.

  “Leawyn—” he tried again, pulling her towards him. “We need to go, Leawyn.”

  “No! Let me go!” she screamed, struggling against his hold, turning into his chest and raising her small fists, beating them against him.

  “Leawyn!” Xavier shouted, narrowly avoiding her nails as she went to scratch his eyes. “Leawyn!” he screamed into her face, shaking her roughly until she stopped.

  “We need to go,” he said sternly. She could barely see from the tears spilling over her eyes, but she could tell his expression softened, and he brushed her hair away from her face with gentle fingers.

  “It’s not safe here. We need to go,” he said more gently as he slowly lifted her up with him.

  She could barely walk, and her legs gave out halfway to his horse. Xavier swooped her up and placed her on top of Killix before swinging himself up.

  “Ten of you stay, look for any survivors,” he ordered quickly before yanking Killix’s head around by the reins and taking off at a full gallop, leaving her tribe’s grave behind them.

  They rode past a lone pike with a human head on top of it.

  Leawyn’s father.

  They were in their spot.

  It was the spot Leawyn would always run to when she wanted to play, when she was sad, or when she needed to escape from the duties that were expected of her as the chief’s daughter.

  Leawyn knew Asten would always be there, waiting for her. He was her best friend, her savior.

  If only he could save her from him.

  “Lea...”

  Leawyn closed her eyes briefly; his gravelly voice washed over her, and she wanted to savor the sound. She knew their time was coming to an end.

  “Look at me, Leawyn.”

  Asten used her full name. Leawyn could do nothing but fight the sting of tears. He only used her full name when he was serious. He was many things, but serious was not one of them. She didn’t want to look at him. She didn’t want to hear what she knew he was going to say.

  She didn’t want to say goodbye. His hand cupped her chin gently and urged her to look up at him. He knew, and he wasn’t giving her a choice. Leawyn stopped fighting him and opened her eyes.

  Don’t cry. Don’t cry, she thought.

  Asten smiled. It was a sad, gentle smile. He brushed his thumb underneath her eyes. “You’re going to be okay, Lea.”

  The tears she fought so hard to keep back slid down her cheeks.

  “You’re strong, and smart. You’ll be fine,” he continued.

  Leawyn bit her lip against the sob that wanted to escape.

  “Let’s just run away,” she whispered. She grew desperate when Asten’s frown deepened and he sighed sadly. “We can take a boat, sail east and make our own way. No one can find us, we—”

  Asten placed his finger on Leawyn’s lips, silencing her.

  “You know we can’t.” He shook his head, pushing a lock of golden hair away from her damp cheek.

  “Why?” her voice cracked with tears. “Why can’t we?” He tugged her into his arms. She pressed her face against his tunic, soaking it with her sobs.

  “Because you don’t deserve that life, Leawyn. You deserve better.” She sobbed harder when his voice wavered, unsteady with his emotion. She was about to lose her best friend as well as her freedom.

  “Don’t say it. Please don’t say it,” she begged, barely able to speak through her ragged breaths. “I don’t want to say goodbye. Please!”

  Asten didn’t say anything back, just pulled her tighter against him and let her cry until she exhausted herself to the point of sleep. No matter how hard Leawyn blinked, she couldn’t fight the darkness trying to take her.

  She was on the verge of sleep when his soft voice broke through the fog enough for her to hear him.

  “I love you, Leawyn.”

  She relaxed against him and let sleep claim her, his lone tear mixed with her own.

  The next morning, he was gone. Even when Leawyn returned to their spot days later, he wasn’t there. He didn’t come.

  After a week, she stopped waiting for him and accepted what she already knew—that night he said goodbye and let her go.

  Leawyn continued to cry into Xavier’s arms as he sprinted Killix away from her decimated village.

  All her once-vibrant and beautiful people, who were loving and strong, laid waste behind them in a giant charred mess.

  They didn’t deserve that.

  Her father...

  Brees...

  Leawyn let out another sob, nearly crumbling with her grief.

  They were gone.

  All gone.

  She was the last, the sole Rhoxolani.

  She truly was an Izayges now.

  “How could we have missed this?” Xavier thundered as he paced furiously in front of Tyronian, throwing him a murderous glare as he did.

  “This shouldn’t have been able to happen, Tyronian. We’re the first in line, damn it!”

  Tyronian eyed him as he paced. Xavier could barely restrain his anger as he stepped with quick, jerky m
ovements.

  “Perhaps Leawyn might know of a route that could explain how they were able to slip by the Rhoxolani guards. She’s from the land, after all; she would know the schedule and routes.”

  “That’s to say if they even had guards!” Xavier snapped, jerking his head to Tyronian as he passed by. “I always said the Rhoxolani were getting lax,” he seethed before Tyronian could comment. “They didn’t believe anything could encroach with their precious sea and the Izayges protecting their back.”

  He jerked to a standstill, his back to Tyronian, knuckles cracking when he clenched them in a tight fist. “We lost a tribe today. My wife—Leawyn’s tribe.”

  Tyronian nodded solemnly. “What will you have us do?”

  Xavier stared outward to the darkened tent where he had left his wife once she’d finally exhausted herself to sleep from sobbing. “They need to be destroyed.” He whirled around to Tyronian. “Send the message. The tribes must gather. This isn’t a potential threat anymore—it’s a full-fledged one.”

  Tyronian nodded, clasping his hand hard on Xavier’s shoulder. “I think—”

  “Chief Xavier!” Both their heads snapped to the side at the panicked yell.

  Hassef ran in, looking frantic. Tyronian and Xavier were instantly alert, their dominant hands reaching for their swords.

  “It’s Lady Chief!”

  Xavier’s muscles tensed, a feeling of dread filling him.

  “What about her?” Xavier gritted out.

  “She’s gone!”

  The sight of her desecrated village wasn’t any easier to view in the cover of darkness than it had been in the light of the sun.

  Though it was harder to see all the bodies littered across the fields, she could still smell the stench of death. The aroma of burnt, rotting flesh with the added stink of old blood drying mixed together was so pungent it made her gag.

  But still, she continued. She silently made her way through the remains of her little village, stepping around the bodies of her people, animals, and the few charred remains left of their homes. Killix was her ever faithful companion, trotting steadily behind her. Ever watchful, his ears constantly flickered with the sounds only he could hear, craning his neck this way and that, alert to the possibility of protecting her. Leawyn had no doubt Killix was once a great warrior before he was reborn again into his mighty stallion form.

  She walked until she reached the path that would take her to the destination that had been her plan all along.

  The reason she had agreed to Xavier’s mark.

  It was the way to their spot.

  Leawyn turned, reaching up and catching Killix’s muzzle until he bent his head into her arm. “Wait here. Please.”

  Killix stared into her eyes, and she could almost hear him speak with that look.

  Not a chance.

  She simply sighed and continued on her way.

  “I knew you would come.”

  Leawyn’s shoulders relaxed, her breath leaving her as Asten turned from looking out at the ocean, to her.

  He was so different now. His curly hair was styled differently, and his physique almost rivaled that of her husband’s.

  He was broad, silent, and powerful. While she was away, her friend had turned into a warrior.

  “Why are you here?” Leawyn asked softly as she took a timid step forward.

  Asten smiled at her, just a quick uplift of his lips as he caressed her face with his eyes. “The same reason why I expect you are, Lea,” he said just as softly. “I knew it would be only a matter of time after I saved you that you would come looking for me.” His lips curved upwards with a wry grin as he took slow, measured steps to her. “You always were too curious for your own good.”

  Leawyn had to tilt her head back when Asten stopped walking so she could meet his eyes.

  “Lea…” he whispered, reaching up to stroke her cheek.

  Her eyes closed, fighting the different array of emotions coursing through her.

  Happiness.

  Confusion.

  Hurt.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Anger.

  She flinched away from his hand with that proclamation, turning her back on him as she moved away to put some space between them. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “Why are you here, Asten?”

  “Why are you here, Leawyn?” he asked in return, taking a step towards her again. “You came here. Some part of you knew I would be here waiting for you.” He didn’t stop his advance until she could feel his heat behind her, his solid muscular chest flush against her back.

  She suppressed her shiver as his hands heated a path down her shoulders and trailed down softly to her wrists. The brush of his beard scraping against the side of her neck as he nuzzled her made her head tilt away from him.

  “Why do you flinch from me so?” he breathed into her ear, following her movement.

  “You left me!” Leawyn cried, spinning around and, bracing both her hands on his chest, shoved him away from her.

  “I asked you to save me—to run away with me.” She pushed at his chest again. He stumbled back with a shocked look on his face.

  “You left me to him!” She shoved him again, harder. “To marry a man, I hate!” she cried angrily. “To a man who only knows how to hurt me.”

  “Leawyn—” Asten started, his arms reaching for her.

  “No!” she shouted, shoving him away. “You bastard! How could you do that to me!” she sobbed. Completely worked up, she slapped his face, the force of it causing his head to turn. He winced, but he took it without complaint.

  “I asked you to save me, and you left!” Leawyn shouted hoarsely against the emotion clogging her throat. “I hate you,” she choked out, staring up at him through bleary eyes.

  Asten’s face hardened, and before she could react, he rushed her. Grabbing ahold of her wrists, he brought them behind her back and held them there, jerking her chest into his.

  “You want to know why I left?” he growled out behind bared teeth, tightening his grip around her wrists when she struggled to break his hold.

  “Do you?” Asten demanded, jerking her against him again.

  “Let me go!” she screamed in his face, struggling.

  “Because I know the kind of woman you are!” he bellowed back at her, shaking her hard enough her teeth rattled.

  “The truth is, I wanted to take you away,” he yelled down into her bewildered face, his eyes flashing with his frustration and anger. “I wanted to run away and never look back.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “But I couldn’t live with myself knowing I shamed you,” he choked out before he slammed his lips onto hers.

  Leawyn whimpered weakly as Asten dropped her arms and bent down, grabbed the backs of her thighs and lifted her up against him, slamming her back against the tree nearest to them in one fluid motion. She gasped in surprise at the contact, but it was swallowed by his mouth, his greedy lips taking every sound she made.

  “I’ve loved you since I was sixteen years old,” Asten growled against her mouth, moving down her neck with little nips and kisses. “I still do. I never stopped loving you.” He pulled back, reaching up to grasp her chin and tilt her head back until her eyes met his.

  “I’ll always love you, Lea.”

  Leawyn didn’t know what to do. She was conflicted. Part of her rejoiced in hearing those words coming from his mouth. They were the words she longed to hear in her childhood.

  So why wasn’t she happy now? She refused to believe it was because of Xavier.

  So, this time, Leawyn was the one to kiss him, and she tried desperately to ignore the regret that wracked her as soon as she did.

  They were lying in the sand, staring up at the stars. Leawyn was wrapped up in Asten’s strong arms. He blanketed her in his warmth as he lightly brushed his hand through her long locks.

  It was as if she’d never left.

  After Leawyn kissed him earlier, she could tell Asten wanted to do more. She felt his want throu
gh his breeches as he held her up and pressed her back against the tree. When he started to guide his hand between her thighs, Leawyn had tried to convince herself to just let him touch her there. She thought about letting Asten claim her body.

  But…she couldn’t do it.

  When she thought about joining with Asten, her body felt cold, and her heart raced in such a way she knew wasn’t from anticipation or pleasure. She stopped his advances, and, though disappointed, he understood. He made no further attempts after that.

  It was Killix who warned them. He lifted his head and looked into the distance, his ears flicking forward. That’s when they heard it—her name being called.

  They both shot up, Leawyn staring in horror at the sound of Xavier’s voice growing closer.

  “You have to go,” she said quickly, fear laced heavily in her voice. She turned and started to push Asten back, towards the cover of the trees surrounding them.

  Asten shook his head, grabbing her wrist. “I’m not letting you go.”

  Leawyn shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again. “He’ll kill you!” she cried, pushing him back again. He didn’t budge. “Please, go,” she begged.

  Asten’s eyes narrowed in determination. “I’m not leaving you again,” he growled.

  “You have to!” Leawyn cried desperately, looking over her shoulder and growing more frantic when she heard the sound of hooves getting closer. She turned back to Asten, her fear and desperation evident on her face.

  “Please, Asten, leave. Go! He’ll kill you if he sees me with you, and then he’ll kill me. Please,” she begged, shoving him back hard. “Just go.”

  Asten groaned deep in his throat, bending down and kissing her roughly. It was hard and desperate.

  “Listen—” Asten said quickly, turning Leawyn’s face back to his when she looked over her shoulder. “I’ll find you, and I’ll save you. I promise.”

  “Go!” she whispered brokenly. With one last longing look, Asten turned and disappeared out of sight just as Leawyn whipped around and Xavier crested the corner.