by Olivia March
“Do I have a say in that? I was doing fine here in this room before I foolishly went up to see the stars. This place is safe, I have food and a roof over my head. Believe me, I’ll be much more cautious in the future when I need to venture outside. I’m not an idiot, I don’t want a repeat of tonight’s incident.”
The girl looked sad, and scared. To Nefarion’s eye, she looked like a timid little rabbit, all big eyes, softness, and vulnerability. Basically, everything that Balruin Keepers scorned. But he couldn’t despise her for weakness. Even after experiencing the trauma of almost being raped, the girl still wanted to stay here in this place, alone and unprotected. On his honor, he couldn’t allow it. Annabelle needed someone to take care of her, someone to protect her. And that person couldn’t be him.
“Gather what you want to bring with you Annabelle. I appreciate your bravery, but you pushed your luck too far tonight. When I come back through this way I don’t want to see your body ravaged and cold. Don’t fight me on this, we both know I will win. You can bring one bag with you, and I will give you ten minutes to fill it, starting now.”
Nefarion knew his voice was hard, and the girl responded to the harshness with alacrity. She jumped off her palette, grabbed a large sack, and began adding clothing, books, and provisions in it. Nefarion stood, a silent shadow in the corner, giving Annabelle space to do what was needed. He had to steel himself not to attempt to comfort her and tell her everything would be fine. It would be a lie, and he tried never to lie. Mislead and misdirect, yes. Lie, no. Everything would never be okay for her, not even once the Scourge were wiped off this planet. Her own kind had attacked her, and she’d never forget that. And here he was, forcing her from the home she’d made to go to a camp.
It didn’t take the girl long to prepare, her possessions were so meager. After a few minutes, she stood a few feet from Nefarion, hopelessness in her expression and scenting of fear. Nefarion turned and led the way out of the room, waiting until she’d cleared the space before concealing it again. Who knew what the future held? She might find use again for this place one day. Then he pulled her into his arms and lightstepped in the direction of the nearest human camp. It was some ways away from the direction he should be heading, but the night was nearly gone now anyway. He would see the girl safely to the camp and find a place to rest for a few hours. And he would not spend those hours thinking about this girl.
Chapter 3
Annabelle clung to the Keeper, exhilarated by the speed they were traveling. She couldn’t even open her eyes; the force of the wind was too strong. But it was intoxicating nonetheless. She could smell Nefarion’s sexy scent, feel the rush of the cool breeze on her face, and feel the hard strength of him around her. Even though he was taking her from her safe place and forcing her to a camp, she still felt oddly safe with him. His façade was hard, but he’d been nothing but gentle with her, that had to mean something. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that he was all bark and no bite, she’d seen how brutally he could kill. But there was still something gallant about him.
Annabelle had hoped the trip would take a while. She wasn’t eager to meet more humans tonight, not after what she’d experienced. Even if these camps were safe from the Scourge, that wouldn’t make her safe from other humans. The worst sort of humanity had attacked her tonight, and there was no guarantee at all that types such as that weren’t in these camps. Fear was threatening to choke her, but she didn’t want to show such a weakness in front of Nefarion. He was so strong, so hard, she didn’t want him to think less of her. He’d already seen her at her worst, she wanted him to see her at her best.
She swallowed her fear the best she could and focused on enjoying the trip. It was tempting to rub on Nefarion like a little cat, but he was a Keeper, an alien. For all she knew that would be a terrible insult to him. He might be married or have a girlfriend. Someone this sexy had to be attached in some way, they always were. She couldn’t resist a little touch though. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, so she took a risk and lightly stroked his hair, delighted by the feel of it. It was so soft and silky, completely at odds with the hard man it belonged to.
Their journey ended rather abruptly, and much quicker than she imagined it would. How marvelous it must be to travel with such speed on foot. It was just one more tally on the side of the Keepers with their impressive gifts. Nefarion could bend shadows, kill ruthlessly, hide himself and travel on foot faster than any car. Who knew what other talents he possessed but hadn’t revealed. Annabelle imagined she could spend her whole lifetime trying to figure out the mysteries of this man and still not even scratch the surface. He was like one of the stars she loved to watch through her telescope. Cold and remote from afar and full of mystery. But if you got too close, the brilliance would burn you alive.
Too soon Nefarion was lowering her to the ground. Annabelle looked around and saw a heavily wooded area. It was too dark to see much, but through the trees she could make out gates. A shiver of foreboding raced down her spine. The forest was too quiet, and the fort looked sinister in the dark. With all her being she knew she didn’t want to go in there. Call it paranoia due to her recent trauma, but her skin was crawling at the idea of stepping one foot inside those gates. Like if she did, she’d never make it out whole and alive again. Not in spirit and not in body.
“Please, Nefarion, take me back to my home. Let me stay there. Something isn’t right here. I can’t explain it, but…I can’t go in there. I just can’t.” Annabelle shivered in the chill, never once taking her gaze from those dark gates. She felt Nefarion’s gaze linger on her in silence. But still she stared.
“Keeper technology protects these camps from the Scourge Annabelle. I doubt it’s a place of much comfort, but you will be safe from slaughter here in this camp. It’s provisioned as well, so you won’t go hungry. These are the important things to remember. What it lacks in comforts it makes up for in safety. And you will only need to stay until we purge your planet of Scourge. After that you may move on as you wish.”
“I won’t be safe in there Nefarion! Can’t you feel it? Something is evil in there. Something that just feels so…wrong.”
* * * *
Nefarion frowned, taking in Annabelle’s huddled stance as he scented her terror. She was staring in the direction of the camp like a demon awaited her there, when really the true danger to her was standing at her side. His lust had amped up on the way here, the soft touch of her hand stroking his hair had almost pushed him over the edge. He needed to get rid of her, and fast. But her reaction to the camp made him take a second, closer look.
It was dark, but that didn’t bother him. He searched deep with his senses, and they pinged a warning. The human was right, something was amiss here. He couldn’t sense any activity, which wasn’t possible in a camp that should number in the hundreds. He saw no lights, heard no voices. That would be okay if he were outside of the shield, but he was inside it.
“I’m going to look inside, Annabelle. Wait for me here.” He’d walked only two steps before the pugnacious female grabbed him by the arm. He stared incredulously down at the dainty hand impeding him before he stared into her frightened eyes. “Release me woman, I have to investigate this situation.”
“You can’t leave me behind! Haven’t you seen any scary movies before? The stupid girl that gets left behind always gets horribly mutilated and murdered before her boyfriend comes back for her!”
Nefarion had no idea what she was talking about but didn’t have time to figure it out. “Fine, climb up on my back, and wrap your legs around my hips. If I need to shadow or lightstep away from this place, you need to be close to my body.” He turned his back and squatted. And then he waited. And waited. Turning back, he saw the girl shuffling her feet and looking hesitant.
“What is the problem, woman?” he asked, trying to reign in his temper.
“I just…are you sure that won’t hurt you, or impede you? I’m heavy, and if you need to make a quick getaway…”
&nbs
p; Nefarion rose to his full height, towering over the human’s slight figure. A small part of him was offended that she doubted his strength and battle abilities. But the larger part was amused by her perception that she was so heavy it would impede his ability to fight or lightstep away to safety. Her! The girl didn’t even reach his chest and looked to weigh less than a Keeper teen.
“I will teach you not to doubt my strength Annabelle. Later. Now you will listen to me. I’m taking you into the camp with me at your request. You will obey every order I give you the moment I give it, or I will leave you here and go myself. Understood?” Nefarion watched as she swallowed the retort she wanted to give and opted for a simple nod instead.
Nefarion turned his back again and crouched, and this time Annabelle climbed on quickly. He hardly noticed her weight, stopping only to make sure her arms and legs held secure before he gathered his shadows and stalked towards the gate of the camp. He knew none could see him, so he leapt right over the fence, absorbing Annabelle’s gasp of shock on his neck. That made him grit his teeth, blood filling his shaft painfully. He’d never been so aroused by so innocent a touch in his whole life.
Growling to himself, Nefarion forced himself to focus on the interior of the camp. What he saw was so disturbing he couldn’t move for a minute. There were bodies here. Hundreds of bodies. Nefarion slowly picked his way through them, gripping Annabelle’s thighs tightly as he did so. He felt her whole body quiver as she took in all the blood and gore on the ground, and he didn’t want her to slide off into this muck. He admired her for not making a sound, but she had her limits. The arms wrapped around his neck were cold and nearly strangulating.
Nefarion walked quickly through the bodies, careful not to step on any of the poor dead souls. This was a Scourge attack; their savagery was a calling card like no other. Nefarion could detect no signs of life, no survivors. The attack had happened less than a full day ago by his measure, but that there was an attack at all made no sense at all. These camps were shielded by Keeper technology. Humans were left in charge, but they had strict instructions on how to keep the fields active for their own safety. No Scourge should have been able to find this place.
“Where are the women?” Nefarion heard Annabelle whisper in his ear. Startled, he looked around again. He hadn’t thought to check the genders of the bodies on the ground. But as he looked, and looked again, he didn’t see any women. Nor did he see any children. All the victims were older males. This camp would have had several hundred men, women, and children. Nefarion picked up speed, checking different areas of the camp in his search for the women. If there were survivors, he could contact command and have them relocated to safety.
But there was no one. Nefarion didn’t have Mithrain’s talent of sensing life forms, but he was thorough, and his senses were on full alert. There were no women or children hiding in this camp. Nor were they out in the forest, dead or alive. That left only one disturbing conclusion; the Scourge had taken them prisoner. But if prisoners had been their goal, why kill all those men? They could have been converted to serve the Scourge war machine. In all his campaigns Nefarion had never encountered a female Scourge. Whatever purpose they’d taken only the women and children for couldn’t be good. He needed to tell Commander Helion about this.
But first he needed to get Annabelle to safety. And the closest place was where they’d just left. He shifted Annabelle quickly around to his front and lightstepped back where they’d come from. There were no soft touches from Annabelle now, and he couldn’t blame her. Something horrible had happened at this camp, the place he’d told her she’d be safe from the Scourge. If the camps were no longer safe, what option did he have for making sure Annabelle wasn’t slaughtered or taken prisoner? These troubling thoughts chased him all the way back to Annabelle’s hovel.
Chapter 4
Annabelle nearly cried with relief when Nefarion set her down inside her cozy basement. If she had her way she’d never leave this place again. It was grungy and closed in, but if she didn’t wander outside foolishly, she thought she could be safe here. As she lit all her candles again her mind lingered on the camp. At least this basement was a safer refuge for her than the camp had been for those poor souls. The sights and smells of that horror would linger in her mind forever, she had no doubt about that.
It had been tempting to shove her face in Nefarion’s neck and not look at the destruction. But she didn’t want to be a coward anymore. This new world was her reality, and if she couldn’t cope with it then she was already dead. So, she’d looked at the bodies. Those horribly mutilated, ravaged bodies. And before long she’d noticed that they were only men, no women or children. She’d looked deeper, searching for the women, and had seen no sign at all. That had sent a shock of dread through her whole body. What had they done with those poor women and children?
Annabelle was dragged out of her thoughts by the sight of Nefarion stalking around the basement. Stalking was the only word that could apply, the Keeper was far too dangerous a predator to be simply pacing. He was clearly deep in thought, bad thoughts judging from slashing dip of his black brows. What he’d seen at the camp clearly disturbed him as much as it did her, and there was some comfort in that. It made him a little more…accessible. Why he was lingering here was the question in her mind now though.
“Are you…you’re going to leave me here, right? The camp isn’t safe, obviously.” Annabelle was wringing her hands a bit, a nervous habit she was prone to but seemed appropriate when they were discussing her future.
“You won’t be going to that camp, no,” Nefarion growled, still stalking. He didn’t look at her when he spoke, instead began to wind his flowing hair back into a queue at his nape.
“But…if that camp can be compromised, they all can be right? Whatever was supposed to keep this camp safe didn’t work. I think I’ll be much safer right here Nefarion. Don’t worry about me, you can go do your mission and I’ll be fine where I am. I promise I won’t make any more foolish forays outside anytime soon.”
Annabelle needed something to do while she waited for Nefarion to decide her fate, so she went over to the shelves of supplies and debated on what to eat. Considering the night she’d had, a little indulgence was called for. She’d been saving a can of pasta for a while now. Back in her old life a can of pasta had been a cheap, childish indulgence whenever she felt like having it. Now it was a nostalgic treasure that she’d been loath to eat until now.
“You are correct, any of the camps could be compromised. This will need to be investigated to discover the reason behind the breach before the camps will be completely safe again.” There was definite bite in Nefarion’s voice now. Annabelle didn’t really mind the aggression, knowing it wasn’t directed at her. But at the same time, she recognized that she never did want it directed at her.
“You’ll be leaving then, and you’ll let me stay here?” Annabelle asked as she put her pasta in a bowl and put the bowl on a metal stand she’d rigged to heat her food by candle. It wasn’t a quick process, but it was better than eating raw, cold food. She was so focused on her food that it took her a minute to realize that Nefarion hadn’t answered her. She looked over at him, and immediately got snared in his eyes. Those encompassing black eyes were intense and moody, set in an alarmingly implacable face.
“Do you really think I’m that sort of Keeper, female? To leave a helpless woman in a place that has proven unsafe? You were attacked right outside of this room. You were helpless to defend yourself against your own males, and if a Scourge attacked you the odds of survival are even less. And you think I should just leave you here?”
Annabelle was a bit frozen in the face of Nefarion’s ire. She hadn’t been subjected to anger from this Keeper yet. All her senses were screaming to get far from him, especially when she noticed small tendrils of shadow leaking from his body. Her mind flashed back to those hazy moments when she’d seen those shadows savage her attackers. But surely he wouldn’t harm her. He seemed upset that others wou
ld hurt her if she stayed here. Why he even cared she had no idea.
“Nefarion, you know how thankful I am that you came to my aid tonight. Without you I’d be raped and probably dead now. But I can’t depend on you. You told me you have a mission from your Commander that’s urgent. I’m not your problem, you know that. I appreciate your concern for me, but I have to stand on my own two feet.”
Annabelle turned back to her food, noticing it was almost done. Then she slapped a hand on her forehead, just realizing that she hadn’t offered Nefarion anything! How inconsiderate could she be? He’d saved her from rape and death, then carried her back and forth all night. The least she could do was feed the man.
“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry Nefarion! Can I get you something to eat before you go? There’s plenty of options down here. Not the best food, I grant you, but it’s filling and has flavor. I can heat whatever you want up over here with this candle.”
Annabelle walked over to the shelves, looking for something that might appeal to such a large man. He probably needed a lot of calories to maintain all that muscle mass. She had one can of beef stew on the shelf, that was a meal for a man’s man, wasn’t it? She plucked it off the shelf and turned to show Nefarion, and promptly bumped into a large, hard chest.
Annabelle swallowed quickly. She hadn’t heard him move, not a whisper. And he was standing right on top of her. She could feel his body heat, smell his unique scent, and it sent a visceral tug through her whole body. Annabelle clutched the can of stew to her chest and edged backward as much as she could, which was precious little with the shelves behind her. But it was enough to lift her chin without putting a crick in her neck. Then she had to swallow again, because Nefarion looked just as forbidding as before, and now even more shadows were surrounding him.
