Fractured Refuge

by Annabelle McInnes

  Euan blinked while his eyes took a moment to adjust. They needed it. What he saw on the red fabric sofa could not be real. Two women sat, side by side, not a sliver of space between them on the chair. Their new charge had a cup of water in one hand, her other was wrapped tightly in Kira’s.

  Euan inhaled deeply. The searing flash of wildfire that burst through him was equal parts annoyance, anger and fear. His focus shot to Nick, who read the emotion that would see him flayed.

  ‘It’s my fault she’s up here,’ he equivocated, holding his regard. His green eyes implored that any wrath Euan had be directed his way. ‘I needed help restraining the little mouse.’

  Euan cocked a dark eyebrow and turn his focus to the women on the sofa. His anger squirmed inside him, and he had no patience for clemency. Ignoring Kira’s ire was for her own self-preservation. Nick was telling him a lie, but he’d deal with her defiance of his very specific orders later.

  The captive on the couch flinched when their gazes met. Irises of whisky-gold were rimmed red. Despite the heightened emotions in the room, they implored for news of her companion.

  ‘He lives,’ he told her without inflection or malice.

  Nick stiffened, pushed himself off the wall and took a step forward. Anger radiated off his tightly strung body. The silent mouse sagged in obvious relief and leaned further into Kira’s embrace. His little sun-sprite firmed her lush lips and glared, daring him to take her up on her threat.

  All in due time, sweetheart.

  He pointed a finger at her. ‘Stay inside. I mean it. We’ll talk when I get back.’

  He turned to Nick and aimed his chin towards the front door. ‘Outside. Now.’

  The man obeyed without hesitation and Euan did not miss the shared look that passed between his two lovers as they negotiated the terms of the oncoming battle.

  He didn’t wait for Nick to fall in behind him. He just moved back out to the foyer, towards the sunshine. He held his tongue until the limited warmth of the sun beat upon his head. He rubbed a hand over his shortly cropped hair in agitation and exhaled.

  ‘So?’ Nick asked when he stood by Euan’s side. Both sets of eyes scanned the surrounding trees of any oncoming threats.

  ‘You wanna tell me what the fuck happened in there first?’ he rumbled in reply.

  Nick took a deep breath, let it out slowly. In his peripheral vision he could see Nick’s jaw clench, the muscles in his cheek flinching. ‘She kneed me in the balls. Almost escaped. Kira came up and calmed her down.’

  Euan’s heart stuttered, but he masked the effect with a scowl. ‘You told her to come up?’

  Nick had the decency to flinch.

  ‘I’m going to tan her ass.’

  When Nick snorted, Euan growled in agitation.

  ‘I get that,’ Nick conceded, turning to Euan, meeting his blazing eyes. ‘It was a stupid thing for her to do. But you didn’t see them together. I don’t know what happened to that woman, but she sobbed when she saw Kira. I don’t think she’s seen another woman in a long time, and probably not one looking like our girl. She practically threw herself in Kira’s arms and hasn’t let go since.’

  Euan searched Nick’s face. The man’s features were twisted with righteous fury. He felt the heavy burden of the indignities that had likely happened to their unnamed charge. What she had suffered, the pain she still bore.

  He swallowed. ‘He’s the one that’s been watching us,’ he told Nick by way of answer, letting him into the game that was being played. ‘Don’t know what he saw that flicked the switch in his conscience, but being at Mickey-O’s side, I can guess. Either way, he stole her from him. From what I can gather they came straight here.’

  ‘He stole her?’ Nick’s anger was laced with real fear.

  Euan reached out and took Nick’s shoulder in his hand. His palm was able to wrap around the man’s muscle, bone. He felt the strength, the power beneath his fingertips, even through the layers of clothes. Nick had gained a significant amount of weight since they’d found their home—they all had—but he still needed Euan’s protection. Always would, despite his own capabilities. ‘He told me only one man knows of his escape.’

  Nick was silent for a time, holding Euan’s gaze, burning a hole in his features as he studied them. ‘You believe him.’ he finally murmured, his blond eyebrows rising in disbelief.

  Euan considered the man he loved. He took in his wayward blond hair, shorter now that Kira had cut it, his sharp cheekbones, stubble that dusted a granite jaw. His eyes that harboured no shadows of his past, his firm lips as they pressed together in resentment. Lips Euan wanted to kiss, devour, taste.

  ‘I believe him,’ he uttered slowly, holding up his hand when Nick moved to interject. ‘Our problem isn’t his honesty; our problem is that he brought one of the last surviving women to our door.’

  Nick swallowed. ‘This is bad.’

  Euan jerked his chin in agreement.

  Nick pulled himself out of Euan’s grasp. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it from his face. He grasped the strands in a fierce grip at his nape. ‘He’s led them straight here.’

  Euan moved up behind him, pressed his larger body against his shoulderblades, felt the heat of his form through their clothes. ‘Probably.’

  Nick turned his face up towards Euan, but kept his body still. He saw a flash of despondent jade-green. ‘We have to leave.’

  Euan shook his head. ‘We’re not gonna leave.’

  Nick jerked in disbelief, a ripple slicing down his spine. ‘We have to. Mickey-O will bring everything he has to get to us. We have two women now.’

  When Euan didn’t reply, Nick turned and stomped towards the gravel path that cut through Kira’s endless sea of lavender flowers. His hands were lost in the mass of hair and as he traversed the trail, the crunch of his boots and the warbling of the native birds were the only sounds that cut through the quiet.

  Euan watched him and said nothing. When Nick’s anger finally subsided, he pulled his hands from his hair and met Euan’s eyes across the expanse of green-grey.

  Euan spoke before Nick could. ‘We also have his right-hand man.’ At Nick’s frown, Euan continued. ‘He’s young, Nick. Maybe was still a teenager when everything went down. Easy to manipulate at that age, but as you and I both know, as you get older, you begin to ask questions. Of your surroundings. Of yourself.’

  ‘Doesn’t make up for the things he’s likely done,’ Nick mumbled through gritted teeth.

  Euan’s eyes drifted to the garage. The timber building was windowless, the structure sound. Inside was a boy likely cleaning his mess. Crying as he did so, his soul in tatters, the shadows in his heart black. ‘No, it doesn’t,’ he said.

  Nick breathed deep. ‘You gonna kill him?’

  Euan blinked, turned back to Nick and held his gaze. He didn’t respond. Nick knew that answer.

  ‘Maybe I should kill him,’ Nick murmured, returning his focus back towards the building that held their captive.

  ‘You do anything that stupid …’ Euan let his threat trail off.

  ‘He’s a danger to us alive.’

  ‘He’s an asset to us alive.’

  Nick was adamant. His features were twisted, the furrows in his brow were deep. A lock of hair had fallen into his eyes. ‘It could be a trap.’

  Euan nodded. ‘It could be a trap.’

  ‘And the girl?’ Nick asked, his voice laced with scepticism. ‘She hasn’t said a word since she got inside. Kira can’t even get her to tell us her name.’

  Euan let his chest expand as he deeply inhaled. The air was cold, the crisp edge burned as he held it in his lungs. There was no mist when he exhaled. ‘He said she’s mute.’

  ‘Mute? Jesus.’ Nick stamped off again, only to turn on his heel and return in three strides, his face in Euan’s. ‘Nobody goes mute for no reason.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Jesus,’ Nick echoed. He scrubbed his face with his hands. He tilted his eyes towards the sky.
Puffs of cloud sat fat and bloated on an endless blue landscape. The reflections of white and grey were mirrored in jade-green.

  Euan crossed his arms over his chest waited. He licked his lips, rolled them.

  ‘He tell you why?’ Nick asked. His focus returned to Euan. His feet were wide, the gravel path crunching under his boots. They were boots the woman didn’t own. Boots the man inside the garage would kill for. ‘Do I want to know why?’

  Euan sighed. That lock of hair was distracting. ‘He told me it wasn’t what happened to her, but what happened to her family.’

  Nick shook his head angrily. ‘You believe that too?’

  He held Nick’s now irate gaze. In this, he would not be swayed. ‘I believe that’s what the boy knows, yes.’

  ‘So it could be worse?’

  ‘It could be worse.’

  Nick looked towards the sun. He blinked at the brightness when it stung his eyes. ‘I don’t know if this makes our situation better or worse.’

  Euan’s lips twitched. ‘Bit of both.’

  ‘And Kira?’

  Euan frowned then, his dark eyebrows pulling down in frustrated anger. ‘First, I’m gonna tan her ass for leaving the bunker.’

  Nick’s lips twitched, despite focus still tilted upwards. ‘No, you’re not.’

  Euan grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. His eyes travelled back to the garage where the boy was either cleaning up his mess, or gone. ‘Go inside. I’m gonna make sure their tracks are covered. Take the girl into the bunker, but blindfold her before you take her down.’

  Nick sighed. ‘I doubt she’s gonna like that.’

  Euan’s frown deepened. ‘Don’t care. There are still too many variables to be sloppy.’

  Nick nodded his assent, but remained still.

  Euan moved down the path to meet him. His boots crunched the gravel under each step. When he reached him, Nick’s chin tipped back to accommodate Euan’s height. He reached out, tunnelled his fingers through the blond dishevelled locks, fanning them out until a semblance of order was in place, and met with his own those sparking jade eyes he loved so much.

  ‘This hasn’t changed anything, Nicky,’ he whispered solemnly. ‘Your lives are my priority as always, but I can’t—’

  ‘I know it, big man,’ Nick interrupted, as one corner of his lips kicked up. He reached out. Where Euan had hesitated, Nick took command. He wrapped one large hand around Euan’s nape and pulled him down until their lips met. When his mouth moulded against his, his tongue demanding entry; Euan complied with a groan. The hand in Nick’s hair fisted, Nick grunted from the sting. He wrapped one arm around him and pulled him flush against his larger body. Their kiss was aggressive, messy, wet. Tongues and lips melded, teeth clashed and breath was secondary to their physical desires. When Nick began to thrust the growing bulge inside his tactical pants against an equal straining member, a feral grin split across his face.

  ‘Eager for something, Nicky?’ Euan asked snidely.

  Nick was panting. ‘You’ve been holding things back on purpose. It’s pissing me off.’

  The rumble of laughter that Euan would have usually held in burst free from his chest. ‘Impatient?’

  Nick snorted. ‘We both are, and you know it.’

  The bright midday sun was warm on their skin despite the time of year, the morning chill burnt off with the length of the day. The overpowering scent of lavender and masculine desire filled his nostrils, infiltrated his lungs. Euan strengthened his hold on Nick’s hair and tugged. When their eyes met, Euan’s grin was wicked. ‘Maybe that’s the way I like it.’

  ‘There’s no maybe.’ Nick smirked and moved, despite Euan’s hold, to recapture his lips.

  Euan denied the effort and instead pulled Nick’s head back further so he could feast on his corded throat. First it elicited grunt of annoyance, shortly followed by a groan of pleasure. Euan’s tactical pants became uncomfortably tight.

  His teeth bit, his tongue circled. ‘Go inside. Make sure they’re safe. Get the little mouse fed and cleaned up. See if she’ll write anything down. Don’t push her though, she’s got time to come out of her hole.’

  Nick groaned when Euan’s tongue traced a provocative line down his throat to curl into the sensitive skin under his ear. ‘Okay,’ he gasped.

  ‘Now go,’ Euan let go of Nick abruptly and relished the delicious confusion and bereft longing that emanated out of those jewels of jade.

  ‘Need help?’ he teased.

  Nick only punched him in the arm as he stumbled past. ‘You can’t hold us back forever. Kira’s good at knots, and you have to sleep sometime.’

  Euan’s laughter echoed through the trees.

  Chapter 7

  Nick couldn’t comprehend how one tiny woman had caused so many complications. Trying to blindfold her had been almost impossible. Tears had been shed by both females as he struggled to confine their skinny visitor for the descent into the bunker. In the end, Nick just embraced the fact he was going to be an asshole. He wrapped her entire body in a blanket and dragged her down the hidden entrance.

  As he closed and secured the hatch door above them, Kira scurried across the living room to peel back the coverings after the little scrapper had tumbled out of Nick’s arms and hit the floor.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she apologised to the feral wretch that peered out of a mass of bedclothes. Kira’s cheek hollowed as she gnawed on the muscle inside. After a nervous swallow, she reached out to smooth back the dark tangles. ‘Are you hungry?’

  The woman’s bottom lip trembled and a slow nod followed. When Kira remained immobile, Nick moved to the kitchen and organised the ingredients to cook them all a meal.

  The kitchen was organised just the way he liked it. As the main cook for the three of them, nobody had argued when he’d rearranged their supplies to meet his standards. They survived off stews and eggs. Meat came from a rabbit-breeding program and roosters that grew too big for their chicken coop. One glance at Kira’s expanding waistline and anyone would know she ate well, and often.

  Unlike the bag of bones that trembled on the carpet.

  He wanted to speak to the two women as though he was entertaining, as if they were about to consume a six-course degustation he’d designed, with tiny portions and matching wines. His career as an electrical engineer had kept his mind whirring, but the nine-to-five drag had stifled his creativity. Food became his outlet, and he’d relished any opportunity to impress his friends and his family.

  Now, food was a necessity for survival. Taste and flavour were distant cousins to sustenance and satisfaction. If it filled the belly, it was consumed without thought.

  In the last two months, Nick had tried to provide both. His fingertips traced the swirls of gold patterns in the laminate benchtop. He turned when he heard Kira attempt to help the woman to her feet. ‘Lapin à La Cocotte, ladies?’

  Two bewildered sets of eyes swung his way. The grin that split across his face felt good. He outright laughed when Kira scrunched up her nose adorably and said, ‘Just something simple, Nicky.’

  Chuckling, he replied, ‘It’s essentially rabbit stew, Pix. I won’t try and force-feed her escargot, promise.’ His tone sobered. ‘How about you see if you can get her in the shower?’

  The pile of blankets made a small, choked sound. Kira’s focus returned to the woman, and from his vantage point he saw Kira’s features soften. In silence, she helped the woman from her nest until, hand in hand, they disappeared down the hallway together.

  Once out of sight, Nick shuddered as he inhaled and placed his hands on the edge of the kitchen counter. The laminate was warm under his fingertips. The ventilation system kept the room temperature moderate despite the cold outside. He thought of Euan, stalking the woods aboveground, continuously striving for their ongoing safety. For Kira, whose untainted soul would be forever warped and reformed by the unspoken implications of what drove a woman to speechlessness. Of what type of villain kept her captive, keeping her from suste
nance and care. Both he and Euan were in unacknowledged agreement on the matter. Kira’s naivety was a burden that they bore willingly. Neither man was prepared to suffer the consequences of her enlightenment. Ignorance, in this instance, was the epitome of bliss.

  But the encroaching dangers were now impossible to deny. They’d had two months of freedom from the tyranny of depravity. Only two months to heal, to balance the fear with the relief, to nourish their souls and bodies, to let their relationship flourish.

  As Nick’s head hung low between his outstretched arms, as the soft pattering sound of running water trickled through the room from the hallways and the gentle echo of Kira’s voice resonated in his heart, Nick knew that even if they’d had an entire lifetime enveloped in untainted sanctuary, it would never, ever be enough.

  ***

  ‘I’m not comfortable with her being locked in that room.’ Kira’s muttered.

  Nick sighed. ‘Like I said before, it’s for our protection, Pix. We don’t know anything about her.’

  Kira huffed in agitation and crossed her arms over her chest. ‘She didn’t want to be trapped in there. You’ve scared her. She’s harmless. I know it. I feel it,’ she placed her hand over her heart. ‘Here.’

  He shook his head; on this, he would not be deterred. ‘I’m sorry.’

  It was Kira’s turn to sigh. ‘Fine. But I don’t like it.’

  Nick reached out, tweaked her nose to elicit a small smile. ‘I know, it’s noted. All fallout will be on my head.’

  There was short period of comfortable silence between them before Kira spoke up again. ‘Should we go out and look for him?’ Her blue eyes emanated the worry they shared for the absent member of their triad.

  Nick shook his head. ‘Not yet,’ he told her.

  Though it wasn’t the truth. There was no fucking way she was going aboveground to look for Euan. She might have broken the rules today, but inside the house she was still hidden, still a myth to those bastards out in the world. Subsequently not even the threat of burning in the fiery pits of hell would force Nick to allow their girl go outside, especially if Euan went missing.