Deadly Secrets: Paranormal Reverse Harem (Dark Realms Book 1)

by Abby James

  At the bottom, we gathered by the door. Such was my concentration, needing a sudden gasp of air was my first sign I’d been holding my breath. Picard’s warning resonated through my head. Who would listen to Miss Tule plead a case for Maya’s and my release? I couldn’t find it in myself to worry about Picard since he’d claimed to have taken this route many times before.

  There was no way back. I might have managed to climb up the wall, but there was no way I would be able to climb down. But strangely enough, I found I didn’t want to. All young children knew the allure of going where they were forbidden. Illicit acts held a greater prize.

  “Wait for my signal.”

  I heard a clunk of metal, then our narrow tunnel was bathed in filtered light. Picard poked his head out first, then disappeared, slipping through the door and closing it behind him.

  “I don’t like this,” Maya said. “I should’ve guessed he’d do this.”

  “Who is Picard?”

  Maya stared at me through the small flame. The light softened her features, making her look pretty, except for the shadow that fell under her eyes and nose.

  “Trouble. I’m not going to tell you because I don’t want to encourage anything.”

  “Like what?”

  “Picard has a way with the ladies. Something tells me he’s already sparked your interest. And you’ve definitely sparked his. The kindest thing I can do for you is keep the two of you apart. He’s going to land himself in strife one of these days and you don’t want to be brought down with him. He already operates too close to the line when it comes to the authorities. Sure, he’s dead gorgeous. And I have to admit I had a big crush on him once, but I came to my senses. Miss Tule has a fond spot for him, but she won’t let any of us near him. She’s not willing to risk being associated with a criminal.”

  “He’s a criminal? What has he done?”

  “Everything. His arrogance will be his downfall. I’d hate to see it ’cause I’m still very fond of him, but the guy’s pigheaded. Won’t listen to anyone.”

  “Do you think he’ll get into the military?”

  “Not if he’s in the dungeons. But he’s good enough to be in the military. I’d say he’s better than half the guys in there now. If they would let him fight in the Arena, they would see his skill and let him in. Like I said, he’s cunning, but he’s also courageous and loyal. They would benefit from having a man like him, instead of half the rich toffs that pay a fortune to buy a place.”

  The door opening silenced us.

  “All clear. But stick close.”

  Maya grabbed my hand and we both squeezed out into a dim tunnel. Accustomed to being underground, I felt at home surrounded by the rough cut of the stone tunnel, but unlike the tunnels of the mine back home, these were lit with circular balls of dim light spaced evenly on the walls.

  Picard shut the metal door so it flushed with the wall, all but disappearing into the stone. “There are too many people down here because of the tournament, so it’s best we head straight up to the docks, otherwise I would give you a tour.”

  I wanted to tell him a tour would be great, but it would perhaps take our luck one step too far.

  “Come.”

  We headed off in single file, Maya and I sliding along the stone wall like rats scurrying for shelter. On the left up ahead, sounds of metal chipping on metal came from an arched door that looked as though it had been cut out of the stone wall.

  Picard slowed so he could speak in low tones. “Practice room.”

  We inched closer, enough for us to be able to peer into a vast chamber with a ceiling that disappeared to the heavens. Inside, half-naked men swung weapons as a warm-up or sparred with an opponent. As Maya had exuberantly warned me, their bare chests glistened with sweat, which ran down their torsos, soaking their leather pants. Some wore wrist braces or harnesses that crisscrossed their chests, studded with metal bolts.

  I was captivated with the strength, agility, speed and skill with which they ducked, swung or struck. Occasionally a weapon would find its mark and one of the men would grunt as his knees buckled, but the weapons had to be blunt, for no blood was drawn.

  Picard’s face was a painting in concentration. He’d turned to marble, his eyes laser focused on the performance in front of us. He consumed every twist and strike like a man caught in the desert who finally found a pool of water, no doubt compiling it into a catalogue of fight moves. Was this how he gained the skill Maya claimed he had?

  Maya tapped his arm. “We should go.”

  Like being brought out of a trance, Picard looked down at Maya as if he’d only just realized she was there. “You’re right.”

  He held his finger to his lips, then darted across the open archway like a shadow. Maya looked at me, eyes wide with nerves. I shrugged, as if to answer a silent question with we’ve got no choice, and led her to the opening. Squeezing her hand, I pulled her along with me as I moved as quietly as I could past the doorway. Picard waited on the other side. I rushed for him and he grabbed me by the waist and spun me around him to the other side, away from the archway. I looked up at him with my blood pulsing through my veins like the harvest trucks streaming through the desert. My breath came quick with adrenaline, and a childish smile, the sort that burst out of you in a moment of exhilaration, spread across my face.

  Picard held me, his eyes exploring my face, catching my excitement. I could see in his eyes the moment of unity between us, his understanding of how I felt. For one wild minute, I felt released from the bonds that had me doing the right things, that kept me safe. This was as close to intimacy as I’d ever come, closer than my few short naked moments with Shacks. For the first time, I was stripped bare.

  Someone barked orders in the chamber we’d just scampered past, which was enough to snap us back to the stone tunnel. Up ahead, people laughed, boots smacked on stone.

  “This way.” Picard slipped along the tunnel on silent feet. I scurried after him with Maya coming behind. Maya’s and my soft-soled shoes made moving with minimum noise easy, so we shuffled through the dungeon like ghosts. Up ahead, Picard disappeared from sight. I slowed, caution in my steps. As I neared where he’d disappeared, he stuck his head out and waved me in. Maya ducked in behind just as a small group of men marched toward us.

  We were in a small alcove, and pressed ourselves into the shadow, thrown by the overhanging arch. The whites of our jumpsuits were caught by even the dullest light, but tucked up against the stone, they were unlikely to see us.

  They passed, marching with military precision. We waited until we heard the echo of their smacking boots fade, then Picard inched his head out. “We better make our way to the Arena. I think the first fight will be starting soon.”

  “Gladly. Lead the way,” Maya said.

  “Now the problem is, we have to head the way of the competitors.”

  “Jesus, you’re joking, right?” Maya said.

  “But it won’t be too hard with a little costume change.”

  “Picard,” Maya barked in a forceful whisper. “You knew we would have to do this and yet you still brought us down here.”

  “Honestly, Maya, you’re losing your spunk.”

  “What about Malachi? She’s not as adept at becoming someone else.”

  And Maya was?

  “She’s going to have to learn real quick. Besides, I don’t think you give her enough credit.”

  “The girl you’re talking about is right here.”

  “And here you will stay until I come back.”

  “Where are you going now?” Maya said.

  “To get us some uniforms.” With that, he was gone. Not even his echo could tell us where he went.

  Maya slumped against the stone. “I’m sorry, Malachi. I’ve got you in a mess. Miss Tule is going to reassign me, after she punishes me.”

  “What? No, I won’t let her. I’ll tell her it was my fault.”

  “She won’t believe you.”

  “It doesn’t sound so bad. I can p
retend to be someone else. All we need to do is get out of the dungeons and then we’re at the Arena, right?”

  Maya stayed quiet. I couldn’t see her face in the shadow, so I had no idea what she was thinking. “Do you really believe Picard would put us in danger?”

  “No, but Picard has a skewed sense of danger.”

  As if summoned by our conversation, he returned, making us both jump because he’d managed to reappear without a sound. “Here you go.”

  We couldn’t see much in the dim light, but what I could see looked flimsy. In his other hand, he carried boots.

  “You’ll have to remove your jumpsuits, I’m afraid.”

  Maya snatched one of the uniforms out of Picard’s hold. “I am not wearing that.”

  “You have to. It’s what the women combatants wear. You’ll have to remove your bra. But the bust is firm enough, you shouldn’t need one.”

  I took the other one. “How did you know what size to take?”

  “I know a woman’s body.”

  “Oh, brother,” Maya sighed.

  Maya and I pressed back into the shadows and stripped. Picard turned his back and removed his own clothes. I slowed and watched his silhouette as he pulled his shirt over his head. The definition was missing, but I could still see the outline of his torso in the dim light. He was like no guy I’d seen before, except maybe Seb, but given Seb was still only seventeen and Picard a man, his musculature was more mature. When he lowered his pants, my heart rate jigged along at a quick pace. Again the silhouette was all I had, but it did just nicely in hugging to his strong thighs.

  Maya nudged me, un-stalling my undressing. I took everything off except my knickers, then fumbled around in the dark, trying to work out how the uniform was supposed to go on and trying to be quick smart about it. I was in the dungeons under the Arena, out of bounds and practically naked. If I wasn’t feeling so vulnerable, I would laugh. I could feel my nipples harden in the cold air, which only made me feel more vulnerable. Beside me Maya swore under her breath, having just as much difficulty as me in slipping into the outfit in the dark.

  “How you girls going?”

  “This is impossible,” I said.

  “Do you need a hand?” Picard said, with obvious mirth in his voice.

  “Stay right where you are.”

  “You girls need to hurry along. Don’t want to be caught with your pants down.”

  I balled up my jumpsuit and threw it at him, but miraculously, he flung out a hand and snapped it up without even looking around.

  After some effort, I managed to get my legs into leg holes, but there seemed to be too many straps in the top to work out where the armholes were, but I finally succeeded. The uniform was more like a pair of bathers than something I would choose to fight in, but it did allow a lot of freedom of movement without the restriction of zippers or seams. The top, which was like a fortified bra, with straps that crossed at the back, was a little small, so my breasts were constricted. A thick belt held the bottoms up, the length of which reached to cover my butt and not much more. He’d managed to get the boot size correct, which made me wonder if he’d chosen a small uniform deliberately.

  “We better join the ranks.”

  Picard left the shelter and went into the dim light, where I could see him better. His top half was bare. On the bottom he wore short leather pants, not unlike our own, but with more material. The fighter’s uniform hid nothing of his body. My mouth salivated as my eyes explored the feast, but once I reached his face and caught his wink, I snapped my attention to elsewhere.

  The sound of people coming turned us into fluid motion in seconds. Picard dragged me forward. I scrambled to grab Maya, but Picard was moving too fast. He dropped my hand and we raced back the way we’d come, past the metal door we’d entered through, past more entrances into training chambers and around a bend. Suddenly I wasn’t moving forward anymore, but bouncing off a hard surface and staggering back, colliding with Maya before falling onto my ass and taking Maya with me.

  The hard surface turned out to be a man. Not one, but three. Maya squeaked and scrambled to her feet. Picard had turned to stone. No smart attitude to be seen. His eyes were fixed on the guy in the middle of the three. I couldn’t place his expression—stunned perhaps, awe, surely not.

  On my ass, I stared up at the three men in front of me—tight military haircuts, smart military uniforms, blunt stone boots. We were so screwed.

  Chapter 14

  No one spoke, which stretched the silence into a taut thread. Any minute now it was bound to snap. The three soldiers’ eyes were on me, turning the silence into a weapon. To his credit, the soldier in the middle kept his gaze on my face, but the other two allowed their attention to wander down my body. Why was I suddenly the only one in the tunnel? I resisted the urge to cover myself. I was supposed to be a fighter, but there was so much of me on display. I would need more arms to have any effect.

  The guy on the right stopped ogling me and turned to Picard. Surprisingly, he quirked a smile. “Well, well.” He paced his way over to Picard, meeting him eye to eye because they were the same height. Picard seemed unable to defend himself with his usual smart mouth. I stepped forward.

  “We were distracted and got left behind…sir. But we are on our way to join”—the ranks? division? group?—“everyone else…umm…sir.”

  The guy on the left snorted a laugh, but the guy in the middle wasn’t amused. His face turned to chiseled rock. A dark menace rippled its way across the short space between us. This was a guy you should never meet out of bounds, in a dark tunnel, dressed in leather bathers.

  “It looks like you won’t have to pay a visit to the ring fights after all,” the guy on the right said to the others, which was enough to gain the middle guy’s attention, finally, because his eyes had been drilling into mine.

  The middle guy took the two strides he needed to step right up into Picard’s face. To Picard’s credit, he kept his ground, but neither did holding his place seem a threat. The soldier ran his eyes over Picard, keeping his mouth in a ruled line. “We head to my chamber. Let’s see how good he is.” He turned from Picard and settled his eyes on me again. With a quick flick to Maya, he said, “Chett, return her to the academy, after you find her some clothes. I’ll let Miss Tule deal with her.” His hard eyes fell back on me. “I’ll deal with this one.”

  Picard stepped in front of me. “Their being here is my fault.”

  “I don’t doubt it. But they must learn to make better choices. Following you was not one of them.”

  He marched past us. Without needing to be told, Picard fell in behind him. At the last, he waved me along with him. The other guy brought up the rear. I looked over my shoulder in search of Maya, but the wall of man behind blocked my view. I also caught his eyes on my ass. He took all the time he wanted to lift them to my face and flashed me a smile. I detected no hint of embarrassment at being caught looking where a polite guy shouldn’t, despite how hard I made my stare.

  The soldier in front kept a smart pace, which Picard had no trouble keeping up with. I was forced to take a few extra quick steps. By the way Picard reacted, these guys had to be top-ranking military. Perhaps this would be my only chance to find out about my brother. I slowed a little to allow the soldier behind to catch up.

  “My brother arrived on a harvest truck a few days ago. His name is Sebastian. I was hoping you could tell me how he is.”

  “What makes you think I would know anything?” I’m not sure if you could describe a man’s voice as sensual, but that was the only descriptive that came to mind. It was low, gravelly, and moved over me like skilled hands seeking out pleasurable places to tease. I also sensed a small dose of humor.

  “A soldier took him the moment he arrived. I assumed that meant he was going to join the military.”

  Our quick-footed guide made it hard to have a conversation. My breath came fast, and it wasn’t easy to maintain eye contact half jogging along.

  “He’s undera
ge, so he will not be active until he turns eighteen.”

  “He won’t have to fight in the Arena until then?”

  “No one finds themselves in the Arena that soon. They need to learn how to fight first.”

  “Can I see him?”

  He glanced sideways at me. “Not any time soon, no. The training is intense and we do not allow distractions. It’s best that way.”

  “Does that mean I won’t see him for another ten months until he turns eighteen?”

  “I make no promises. It’s the initial phase that’s the hardest. Recruits are put under immense hardship. Any link to their old life can break many. He needs to learn where his loyalties lie first.”

  “Loyalty is not an issue for Seb. And what hardships do you mean?”

  He smiled and winked at me. I was startled by the familiarity between his wink and Picard’s, and by the way both winks made me feel—tingly. When I found my eyes lingering on his profile, I scolded myself.

  “I have every confidence your brother will thrive on the hardships he will face.”

  In the dim, I couldn’t work out the color of his eyes, but they were dark.

  “As I do with you.”

  “Me?”

  “You’re with Miss Tule, right?”

  “How would you know?”

  He gave me another one of his smiles. Hung on his generous lips, the smile stopped being about mirth and became something too deadly for a single woman to contemplate.

  “Nothing happens in this city without our knowledge.”

  “Our? Do you speak for the whole military or are you referring to a special group within the military that gets nosey about city business?”

  “Knowledge is power. More so than brute force.”

  “Aren’t we just talking about jobs here?”

  “On the surface, sure.”

  I was getting sick of the many layers of truth that seemed to inhabit life in Fortescue.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it too much now. Miss Tule will make sure you understand everything.”

  And with that, we entered one of the big chambers after having walked the length of the tunnel. Those funny balls of light ran in a line around the walls, lighting the chamber to almost day. On the walls hung all manner of weapons, but what caught my eye were two swords, crossed, central to the room and in obvious pride of place. On the hilt twinkled colored jewels like the stones in Myles’s wife’s jewelry.