by Chloe Cole
"Speak for yourself," a low voice grumbled from over my shoulder. Horrified and electrified all at once, I whipped my head around to see Lucian standing behind me, arms crossed over his massive chest, face twisted into a thunderous scowl.
"I, for one, just bathed two hours ago and I smell like a fucking daisy." Gatlin's low drawl sent the blood rushing to my ears as he stepped out of the shadows to stand between his brothers. Only Michael was missing from the--
But the tap on my shoulder stopped my thoughts dead in their tracks.
"H-how?" I sputtered, glancing at Michael, whose grim smile didn't reach his sea-glass green eyes.
"You're smart, little one. I can't lie about that. But smarter than the Saint John brothers?" Lucian's scowl lifted for a brief moment as he let out a low chuckle. "Not quite."
Mentally, I ran through the evening again. Every single one of them had drained their glasses more than once.
"I don't get it. I know those herbs. You're all large, but you're not invincible. There should've been enough to fell an elephant for at least a few hours." My palms were slick with sweat and I could feel the pulse in my neck beating. Artemis, bless her heart, must've sensed my fear because she whinnied and butted my shoulder gently with her nose.
"You were acting strangely all day. So when you went down to the kitchen, Gatlin followed you. He saw you load your pockets with carrots and sugar," Connor said, tossing the piece of straw he'd been chewing to the ground.
"And you were so adamant about us drinking the burgundy," Gatlin added, stepping closer to me. “We drank some to appease you just to see if you’d go through with it, but the second you left, we all went to the kitchen and mixed charcoal with water and drank it until we got sick."
So the herbs hadn't stayed in their systems long enough to make them sleep.
Damn it.
I let my eyes drift shut and swayed on my feet as the ramifications of this settled in. I'd failed. And now that they were on high alert, I'd never get another chance to--
"We'd better get on with it, though,” Lucian said, his tone curt. "We've only got maybe six hours until daybreak and we can’t have anyone see us on the road traveling in daylight or we lose our head start.”
My heart hammered as my eyes snapped open.
What the hell was he talking about?
As four pairs of eyes drilled into me, I tried to comprehend the words that had been spoken. It was only when I noticed that each of them to a man was dressed in riding clothes and boots, same as me.
"No," I murmured, wrapping my arms around my shoulders to ward off the chill that had washed over me. "No, you cannot come with me. Not all of you...not any of you!" I exclaimed, fear clamping at my heart like a vise. "You'll be caught and strung up without even a trial. Me, I'm no one. The king has a whole harem. But you all?" I let my gaze trip over each of their beautiful faces--each so different, each equally precious to me--and shook my head. "I won't go with you. We'll go back inside and you can have me guarded day and night. I'll take my chances with the king when the time comes, but I refuse--"
"Such a spoiled brat, all the way to the end," Gatlin muttered. His harsh words were softened as he reached out and stroked my hair gently. "It's not up to you, Anaya."
Connor pushed himself away from the stall and strode toward me, reaching down to take my hand in his. "Our job is to teach you and to guard you with our lives. Even if that means guarding you from the king himself. And that's what we're going to do, love. Actually, that’s what we planned to do for the past few days, if you must know.”
I stared at him, nonplussed.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why do you think we’ve kept you so busy reading and have hardly scheduled any lessons with you? We’ve been planning. We had hoped to convince you tomorrow and then leave tomorrow night, but this will do just as well now that we know you’re with us. Do you honestly think we could just hand you over to him?”
I was still reeling and had no idea what to do or say.
“I hate to break up this reunion, but can we get this show on the road now?" Lucian demanded, his gaze flinty.
The second our gazes me, I realized I’d hurt him. As I looked around, I realized dully that I'd hurt them all by trying to leave. By not trusting them. They were trying not to show it, but I could see a haunted look in each of their eyes that hadn't been there before.
"I'm sorry," I whispered miserably. "I didn't know what else to do. The servants said there were rumors about girls getting killed, and even if they’re not true, I just couldn’t imagine letting him touch me the way…” My throat went tight as Gatlin tugged me into his arms and held me close.
“I know. And I heard the rumors as well. We have been discussing it at length. We’re not giving up on the idea that we might be able to prove that either he or Gwynthryl have had murderous intent. If we can find a way to prove it and get the people on our side…” he trailed off and shook his head sharply. “For now, we need to focus on getting some distance between you and the castle and we’ll worry about the rest later. Just promise us that you won't pull a stunt like this ever again, all right? We need to communicate with each other.”
I nodded against his warm chest, pausing for a second to listen to the comforting beat of his heart before pulling away.
"I swear it."
Gatlin gestured to Artemis with a smile. "She's the perfect choice for you. Let's get her saddled up, shall we? We’ll travel on them by night, and leave them at a farm and shift to travel by day. We’ll get further that way without risking our exhaustion or theirs.”
Each of the brothers selected a horse and, ten minutes later, we were mounted, overlooking the vast, rolling hills before us.
“This is it. If anyone wants to back out, the time is now,” Gatlin murmured, glancing around at his brothers and me. “I won’t sugar coat it. The king hates to lose what’s his and he hates deception. He will go to the ends of the earth to find you, Anaya, even if it’s just to punish you.”
He didn’t need to tell any of us what he would do to Gatlin and his brothers, we all knew.
“Ready?”
“Ready,” we all replied as one.
And so it was done. We snapped our reins and began to ride into the inky darkness, our horses hooves pounding against the earth.
Now to find a place where the most powerful man in the land couldn’t find us…
God help us all.
Stay tuned for Book Two of Anaya’s Pride, Coming In August!
Also by Chloe Cole
Check out more steamy paranormal romance by Chloe Cole, available in KU!
