"Gilbert?" Jai and Aria burst out as one.
"Let’s go!" Gilbert runs into the room past Aria.
Even before Gilbert’s completed his sentence, Jai’s shrugged on the scabbard with the sword, and run towards the door leading onto the decking.
Wrenching it open, Jai steps out and without a second thought vaults down from the first floor.
Looking up, he sees Aria hesitate for just a second. Then swinging her bare legs over, and clad in just a thin T-shirt and borrowed shorts too big for her, she drops down. Down, down into his open arms. The force of her landing barely winds him as Jai absorbs her full weight in his arms.
She’s off even before he puts her down. Even before Gilbert has hit the ground.
And then Jai’s following her, running through the trees, pulling ahead of her. The stony ground digs into his feet but he keeps going, absorbing the pain in his legs.
Behind him, he hears Aria wince, swear with each step. She’s fast, but her shorter legs mean she’s still not able to keep up. And she’s not used to running barefoot.
Realizing it the same time as him, Aria swears aloud again.
Gilbert draws up next to him, panting, and says, "Keep going… Boat waiting at the beach… I’ll delay them as much as I can."
Not waiting for Jai’s response, he turns and runs back.
Adrenaline pumping through him, Jai speeds up even more, gripping Aria’s hand, only to let go when she gasps in pain. Instead he focuses on running ahead, trying to even out the path a little more for her feet.
Her breath comes out in ragged puffs and she winces, her body shuddering with each step, but she doesn’t slow down.
"Not far to the beach," he says, sensing her nod as she follows him through the trees.
Then they turn a corner, and abruptly the rocky path gives way to sand and she heaves a sigh of relief.
Leg muscles pumping, sweat streaming down his forehead, Jai doesn’t slow down even then. His gut is still twisted, and something tells him they aren’t safe yet. Eyes searching through the night he heaves a sigh of relief when they burst through the trees and on to the beach.
Allowing his muscles to relax slightly, despite the fact that his stomach muscles are still stretched tight, he turns to tell her they’re safe now. The only indication he has of something being terribly wrong is when her eyes widen. Aria opens her mouth, a look of alarm on her face, and that’s the last thing he remembers before something rams into the side of his head with such force that he doesn’t even feel any pain before he goes down.
42
Jai crashes to the floor and I stumble over him. But even before I can hit the ground, I’m grabbed mid-air. And swung over a shoulder so massive, it’s as if I’ve been flung over a wide shelf. A hard shelf with rock-like bones that cut into my waist, sending white bursts of pain up my side.
It’s a shifter, no doubt about it, the characteristic smell of mud and vegetation confirms that. And yet while a part of me registers that, all I can see is that Jai’s body is still on the ground.
Then I can’t think any more, for the almost handsome shifter, the one I had seen on the ship and who had knocked Jai down, jogs past us and keeps going. A part of me registers that he has Jai’s sword. Jai’s mother’s sword.
And that’s when my mind screeches an alarm. Finally acknowledges what I already know.
That the shifter carrying me is him.
Gabriel. The one who’d tried to take me off the ship. And now he’s back here. And that instinct deep inside of me which can sense danger, which helped me survive the Jungle erupts to life.
I grip my fists together raising them above my head to bring them down on his back. I slam my fists against his back, forgetting the one that’s already injured. And this time when the pain flashes up my nerve endings and erupts in my head, I black out.
When I come to he’s crossing the beach, heading into the waves. I know there must be a boat waiting for us. And I know I cannot allow myself to be taken like this.
If he gets me on to that boat and takes me away from here then it’s all over.
A wave of sickness washes over me. The noise fades, goes silent in my head. I draw on everything I have and begin to struggle in earnest.
Is that me screaming?
Am I the one kicking out, digging my knees in; scratching at his back with my nails? Trying to get my teeth into whatever piece of flesh is closest to me?
Desperation is a twisting, churning thing in my gut and bile rushes up to my throat.
There’s an animal in all of us. It just takes the wrong circumstances to bring it out.
Even as a part of me is thinking that, something hits me on the side of my head. I’m almost grateful for the darkness that draws me in.
I’m being carried, bouncing against a hard surface. With each impact, pain flickers through me, bursting red and yellow sparks against my closed eyelids.
Then I’m being lowered.
Silence. Before the unmistakable throb of a motor which shudders through me. I’m swaying. Dipping. Moving again. I try to open my eyes but the surface under me rolls. The vibrations jerk through me, blasting against the pain radiating from my head. Sickness rushes up and I bite my lips trying to keep it down. Even half-conscious, I know I’m being taken away. In a boat. Boat.
They’re taking me away from the ship. Away from Jai. That thought blasts me straight out of the depth of unconsciousness. I struggle in earnest, only to fall off from where I am, hitting the ground with a thud. Shockwaves go through me.
Then, hearing voices, I freeze. I’m not sure why but I keep my eyes closed tight. I go still and stay that way as if I’m still unconscious.
A heavy tread and another. The vibrations from their footsteps travel to me. The hair on my nape rises and I know they are close. Very close.
"I told you not to hurt her." An angry voice with a lilt. An accent I cannot place but which sounds distinctly European. I find myself veering towards the owner of the voice too. It must be the almost-handsome shifter, the one who had hit Jai…but not killed him.
"Humans are such weaklings. All I did was tap her on the head, and she was out cold," says another voice.
The guttural edge to this and the sheer menace of the words send shivers of terror sparking down my skin.
"You should have killed the male. Why leave him behind?"
"We have no fight with him." The first voice says simply. "We have the sword and—’
‘The girl," the brute shifter interrupts him. "She belongs to me."
Sheer terror explodes inside me and I almost spring to my feet. The nails of my hand sink into my palm as I stamp down on the panic and try to stay still.
"Maya decides what to do with her. Or have your forgotten that you are simply a foot soldier? If you go against our Alpha, you are dead." His voice is steely, calm but with an edge of hardness.
"Just because you’re fucking our self-proclaimed Alpha doesn’t mean you can give me orders too." The words are hardly out when there’s the sound of a fist meeting bone.
A yell of pain, another growl.
Then, "Fuck!" the guttural voice exclaims. "Hey. Just joking, Luke. Don’t get all shitty about it, boy. Was just yanking your chain. The girl’s too weak for me, anyway. I prefer bigger ones where I have more to hold on to. Know what I mean?" He tries to joke about it, fails.
Another punch and the sounds of grappling. The thud of a body hitting the floor. Then the brute pleads again, his voice growing thinner with each word, until he half-howls, "Sorry, boss. I said I was sorry, didn’t I?"
Luke has overpowered the brute, and quickly. I feel a quick rush of respect for him. Then that fades and I hear the sound of someone walking away.
"Neil…" Luke's voice grows faint as he moves away, "Bind her so she can’t escape, then lock her in. And guard her."
I flinch at the unspoken meaning in his words. He’s asking one of the other shifters to keep an eye on me to protect me from Gabriel.
"Keep your
distance, Gabriel," Luke warns. "Else you’ll pay for it with your head."
"Of course, boss. Whatever you say," the other grovels.
But all I hear is the sly edge, that fake sincerity in the brute's voice, and beneath it all the feel of someone more animal than human, someone blinded by a need to hurt.
He has no intention of standing by his words. This one’s going to come for me at the first chance. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
43
When I come to next it’s to find something stuffed in my mouth and I choke as the smell of fish and sweat fills my nose.
I try to scream but the sound comes out muffled. Then the images rush over me – Jai falling. Me being taken.
Terror twists my gut.
For him.
For me.
For why I’ve been brought here.
I try to shove against whatever’s holding me down, a red rage of madness descending on my eyes, covering my senses. Till I realize my hands and legs are tied.
And it’s dark, so dark.
A wave of terror washes over me. I try to open my eyes, only to become aware that I’ve been blindfolded as well.
And that sends another burst of horror scrambling over me. My skin feels slick with sweat, and I can smell my own fear. Pungent, salty, metallic with the cold bit of ice. And strangely that cuts through the panic in my head.
I also realize I’m alone and sprawled on my side, hunched over like a fetus.
But I’m not as helpless.
I’m not.
I survived the Jungle. The journey back to London. Survived Jai's insane plan of jumping off the ship.
Jai.
Thinking of him sends a burst of anxiety through me. But I also have a strong sense that he’s alive. And that he will come for me. He will. All I have to do is survive till then. Hold on. Find a way to stay alive. And whole. I will not let this shifter get to me.
Another spasm of fear has me doubling up with pain. It’s as if my mind is jumping ahead, imagining the worst of what could happen. Of what the beast could do to me.
No.
Jai will come. Will come. Come.
I chant the words in my head. Keep chanting till the edge of fear subsides.
I sprawl there, getting my breath back, becoming aware of my surroundings for the first time. Below me is the throbbing of engines. We are moving, and…I am in a boat. We’ve left the beach behind, and are going towards…Bombay?
A dull pulse begins to hammer away in my head, sending little shivers of panic through me. And I take another breath.
In.
Out.
In.
Keep breathing, trying to calm myself down.
The boat seems to pick up speed and that spurs me into action. I slither around, trying to see how much space I have around me. I move again and again till I’m tired. Till I’ve managed to dislodge the blindfold enough to peer under it.
I can at least see my surroundings. But that doesn’t reassure me. I make out a small space. It's a cabin, probably the only one on the boat. There's faint starlight shining through a grimy porthole.
There's a bed, bare, no mattress. And I’m on the floor near it. When I move again, my back comes up against the wall and I manage to slither into a sitting position.
Feeling marginally better, I stay there for a few seconds. My feet are spread out, my hands still tied in front of me. But at least I can see the door and keep watch on anyone coming in.
I don’t dare to close my eyes and yet the vibrations against my back soothe me a little. Make me float. My thoughts ebb and flow as the boat makes its way through the night.
All I can think is that I never told him how I felt for him. I hadn’t bothered to reach out to him. I’d spent the last few weeks on the ship avoiding him.
And then I’d tried to seduce him.
I wish he’d let me seduce him, let me sleep with him…that way I’d have at least known how it’d felt.
I swear to myself. If I could turn back the clock, I’d tell him…tell him…what? That I love him? That I’ve been obsessed with him from the first time I’d seen him?
From the first glimpse of him at the camp when I’d been hiding in the background, trying to blend into the crowds. A scrawny girl who had watched the son of the Mayor, the handsome soldier with a heart, the one rumored to be a poet who wove his words into the kind of sentences that would tug your heart, and leave you wanting more. The reluctant soldier who’d help refugees when he could. But I hadn’t seen that, hadn’t seen the risk he’d taken hiding me for a few days, letting me stay. And yet a part of me had known even then, that he’d felt something…that he’d been attracted to me.
I’d blamed him for not finding a way to save me and my family.
Blamed him for having to flee from there.
Blamed him for what Vishal had forced me to do. And it’s only now, when I’m about to lose everything, when I know I’ll never see him again that the loss hits home.
As the thoughts rattle around my head, making it spin, the boat picks up speed and heads out into the open sea.
Desperate, I shove away from the wall, trying to slither to the porthole. But I only end up falling to the floor, uncaring when my chin hits the ground, sending a jolt of pain through me.
Swearing aloud, I shake my head, trying to jerk the hair away from where it’s fallen into my eyes. I’ve just managed to crawl a few more inches when the door is flung open.
Through the gap in my blindfold I see massive feet walk up to me and stop. My eyes travel up thighs like boulders and even as I strain to see more, the blindfold is torn off me.
44
I see him then.
His large expanse of chest, muscles clearly outlined against the blood-stained vest over which he’s folded his arms. Large, corded muscles, well-defined. Arms that can hurt, that can hold me up as if I don’t weigh anything. I know who it is even before I see his face.
Gabriel, the brute-shifter.
I shrink back against the floor, falling flat on my back in my hurry to get away. My mind is screaming in alarm or perhaps I’m screaming aloud, I can’t tell.
He takes a step forward, then another.
Waves of greed, a twisted want, emanates from him. It rams into me, engulfs me; holds me immobile. Fear twists my gut and I jerk back and try to move away. But all I end up doing is falling to the floor, my arms still tied in front of me.
He stands at my feet, staring down at me.
He raises his hands and I choke and squeeze my eyes shut, only to hear a sound. He’s unhooked the sword – Jai’s sword – from the scabbard over his back and dropped it to the side.
Then he bends down and I shrink back. And freeze. Knife in hand, he reaches out for me. I scream again. Silently at first, then the sound hurtles into my ears when he pulls off the gag. It’s so sudden that it cuts through the noise in my head and that shuts me up again.
In the silence that follows, he fixes me with coal-black eyes. Eyes that hold no life, no feeling. As if it’s all been wiped out of him. As if the beast is all there’s left.
He places one massive foot on each side of my knees, standing over me.
I press against the floor, press into it, try to fold myself into me. Away from him. I need to be away from him.
He continues staring at me and I can’t look away, almost perversely fascinated by the intent I can read on his face. His puerile need to hurt; that twists around my neck. I gasp aloud, a strangled noise, and the muscles in his neck twitch.
He can sense my fear, my almost inescapable need to escape from here. He drops to his knees and a small scream escapes my lips. Gone, absorbed in the darkness around him. An intense, corrupted black that’s beyond redemption. He bends over and sniffs my crotch, still not touching, but it’s worse. It’s as if he’s trying to rip into me and pull out my very essence, that part of me that I’ve kept hidden from the world.
Hidden from Jai.
Hidden even from me. And I
know then that he won’t let me go. Not till he’s ravaged me, taken me, used me to fill that sick need inside of him.
He sniffs again, his nostrils twitching – a flicker of the beast inside – then he looks up at me. "Do you know how good you smell?" His voice is hoarse as if trying to contain himself.
And my eyes dart down to the apex of his legs, to where his arousal is evident, straining against his leather pants.
"Virgin," he says, and it’s not a question but a statement. "Have you any idea how rare it is to come across a virgin human female, one who has reached puberty and not yet been touched."
He bends over me. His hot breath gushes over my face, almost burning my skin. I swallow, fear courses through me. A muddy-brown sludge that fills my mouth with an acrid taste of sickness.
"I am going to fuck you, initiate you to shifter cock. I’m going to ram into you, cleave you in half, till you smell and walk like one of us. Till you feel more shifter than human. Till you carry one of us within you." He leans closer as he says this and I try to sink into the floor, further away from him, but of course there’s nowhere to go.
"Don’t be afraid, little runt, by the time I’m done, you’ll be asking for more. Do you know what it feels like to be initiated by a true male shifter?"
A strange look comes into his eyes, his pupils dilate, growing almost gray as if just the thought of the act is arousing him.
A sharp sting of dread fills my senses, a roaring sound in my ears that propels me to get out of here. Go. Escape. Find a way to escape. Delay him. Buy time. But how?
"How is shifter cock different from human cock?" I ask, my voice stumbling over the words.
Distract him.
"Ah! You are a curious one, little virgin." He breathes out again, forming his lips around the words almost reverently.
"Is being a virgin so important?"
Keep him speaking.
"Yes." His voice comes out short, irritated. "Unlike human males, we don’t share. And the human female must be a virgin for the union to produce strong, untainted shifter pups. But your race is so promiscuous, so open to selling your virginity for survival that it’s difficult to find a girl who’s a virgin, let alone someone like you."
Taken (Many Lives Book 2) Page 18
