True Refuge

by Annabelle McInnes

  Trust would need to be won. He understood that, more than anyone. But it would be a battle. Their height difference in this moment was acute as her gaze was forced to lift to meet his. He was a titan in her home, an awkward behemoth not accustomed to the delicate beauty that surrounded him. In this space, everything felt like glass, breakable—including her.

  His gaze remained on her, but his focus shifted to the house where he could hear Nick shutting the blinds and locking the doors. His boots were loud as they stomped over the timber floor. The delicate scent of lavender and citrus was in his nose. Christ, how had she survived? So close to the gate of the underworld, how had the demons of the damned not darkened her door?

  ‘I’m glad you’re here. It’s been lonely.’

  At her quiet words, his attention snapped in her direction. The tickle of sardonic humour fluttered in his chest. They had been desperately searching for anonymity. To them, loneliness was a blessing.

  Unless it was true isolation. Separation from a fundamental need, an essential human requirement for companionship and connection. Then loneliness was a curse of the ages.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered.

  He saw it again, that flash between strength and brittleness. As if she was a granite statue encased in ice. His words shifted something inside her. Her blink was drawn out. In the gloom of the room, her shoulders slumped.

  She was a dichotomy. The ultimate contrast between Amazonian warrior and fragile girl. A strange sensation developed in the pit of his stomach, an abnormal reaction to the beauty before him. A reverence to respect and protect. But maybe something more …

  Nick re-entered. His features were cast in shadows. ‘Done,’ he told them.

  Euan nodded and swallowed down the building of unease. He turned back to Kira. ‘Show us.’

  Chapter 13

  God almighty.

  Euan had considered that Kira’s underground hidey-hole was potentially a single room she had made comfortable. A cellar that had been turned into a home.

  But what confronted him when his feet hit the carpet after squirming through the tiny man-hole under the bed was something he had never considered.

  A wave of nausea confronted him, washed through and over him. The single meal of boiled eggs was a weighed stone in the pit of his stomach.

  This was as unfathomable as the woman who lived here.

  It was a bunker. An impossible one.

  Kira voice was soft, her expressions and hand gestures a mix of nervousness and pride. She had her back to him. Her cropped hair was a riot of white-gold. The nape of her neck was exposed and that single area of skin seemed more confronting than if she stood naked before him.

  ‘It’s equipped with a workshop, power room, water treatment plant and storage facility. There are sleeping quarters for up to six people and a working bathroom,’ she explained as her hand pointed to each area while she spoke. ‘It’s all powered by either the solar generators on the roof of the house or a geothermal generator with supporting battery banks. Those vents are for the built-in fans that circulate fresh air. There is a septic system buried further beneath us.’

  She turned to face him. Around them, the air was warm. He heard the whirring of the ventilation system she spoke of. Down here, the lavender scent was richer, but something else mingled in with the strong fragrance.

  Food.

  Nick stomach gurgled. It was a rumble loud enough to make Euan flinch. Nick’s face was a pale as the beige walls that surrounded them. His fists still held the straps of their packs in each hand and his knuckles were white. His forearms were exposed and the ropy muscle was tight with tension. They were surrounded by homeliness and comfort and Nick resembled a creature pulled from a swamp. Gaunt cheeks, lank hair, covered in filth. Euan had no doubt he was in a similar state. They faced the simple concept of luxury and security and both of them were unable to trust it.

  ‘You can put the bags down Nicky,’ Euan murmured.

  Nick slowly turned his head. Their eyes met. He braced and was glad for it. Nick’s bewilderment was a mirror to his own. Seeing the reaction through Nick’s eyes made it real.

  ‘Would you two like some dinner?’

  The both jerked when Kira spoke. Nick placed the bags down on the taupe carpet and raked his fingers through his hair. He blew out a breath and turned to the stove where an innocuous stainless-steel pot sat on the electric burner. He tried to speak, cleared his throat when he couldn’t and tried again. ‘That’d be good, yeah.’

  Kira moved to the two-burner stove in the basic kitchen. The beige laminate cabinetry was affixed to one corner of the living room, with a faux golden-marble laminate bench top to complement the surrounding interior. Her khaki shorts hung off her hips, stretched from time and wear. The shirt was stained yellow from her skin and the collar and hems were threadbare and worn. His gaze snagged to the backs of her knees, and the blatant visible vulnerability made him swallow.

  To focus on them was to feel the odd shift inside him, so he allowed his eyes to linger on his surroundings. They were surrounded by smooth steel walls that were adorned with pressed flowers in handmade frames. There were worn paperbacks with disintegrating spines stacked neatly in a small bookshelf. A two-seater red fabric sofa with a noticeable sag in the left cushion was against one wall. Piles of throw pillows, some with hand-stitched landscape motifs visible, were settled against the arms and back. A single floral teacup, stained with tea, sat on the left side of a pine coffee table.

  It all made his throat ache.

  Nick moved to the white plastic dining table and Euan did the same. Its cheap, flexible material bent ominously when he hefted his large body into one of the four seats positioned neatly around it. It confused him. The upstairs homestead was furnished with beautiful, cared-for pieces of expensive mahogany, polished stone and leather. Down here, plastic, fabric and laminate reigned.

  If they were to stay, that would need to be rectified.

  No one spoke. Nick’s head was in his hands and his elbows were on the table. Euan was acutely aware of blood on his clothes, the filth under his nails, the scabs on his knuckles.

  ‘How did you know we were here?’ he asked as Kira flittered around the kitchen.

  Her reply was distant. ‘There is a surveillance system that is set up to focus on the driveway. I saw you and thought I would come out to meet you.’

  Euan closed his eyes at that and squeezed them tight. This beautiful little sprite was not only here by herself, but she was living comfortably in what was the Holy Grail of survival accommodation, something left in this world that was more precious than gold, diamonds, crude oil and every dollar ever printed combined. And she just saw them on the surveillance system and wanted out to meet them?

  Christ.

  He cleared his throat and turned in his chair to watch her. The smell of warm stew began to saturate the air around them. Saliva pooled in his mouth. Across the table, Nick’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

  Kira’s gaze bounced around the kitchen cabinetry and shelving like a nervous rabbit. She was uneasy, and trying hard not to show it. A sinister feeling began to build inside him, twist around his chest, tangle in his ribs. This was it. This was where they discovered her true intentions. Would she poison them? Was the stew created with the tenderised meat of her last visitors? Did she have nefarious intentions with their bodies?

  He narrowed his eyes and studied her as she plated the meal. Chunks of steaming vegetable casserole were spooned into bowls that were glazed with dandelions. Her fingers trembled as she replaced the spoon in the pot before she turned to take slow steps towards them at the table. Her lips were glossy where she constantly wet them.

  She placed the bowls in front of them and hovered anxiously. Across the table, Nick readjusted in his seat, a frown developing between his blond brows as his awareness in the shift of the mood built. On the table, his fingers flexed and turned into fists. Their eyes met and Nick nodded in silent agreement. Euan returned
the gesture, content that if he perished by consuming what was in front of him, Nick would not follow.

  The vegetables were glossy with broth; the smell was overwhelming, consuming. His instincts were at war. The primal need for substance was an internal bear that bellowed its demands that he get down and damn well eat. But his survival reflexes urged caution.

  Through sheer force of will, Euan ignored the bear and met the apprehensive cobalt blue gaze of the woman that lingered over him. He gave her one final chance. If she attempted something malicious, he didn’t know what he would do, but it would not be ignored. However, the look in her eyes didn’t scream duplicity; it cried fear of disappointment.

  ‘Everything okay?’ he questioned, his voice a low rumble in the still room.

  She plastered on a fake smile, her eyes wide. She clasped her hands together, her fingers interlaced and twitching. ‘I just hope you like it.’

  Euan dug his spoon into the stew and hesitated. He met Nick’s eyes over the mouthful and brought the food to his mouth.

  It was warm. The flavor burst over his tongue.

  He chewed slowly, and nearly gagged.

  Damn.

  It was disgusting.

  Christ, so fucking terrible.

  Whatever she had done to the simple fare, it should have been used to strip paint, not to eat.

  As he endeavoured not to grimace, he understood the true sentiment behind her hesitation. She was not attempting to capture them to use their bodies as sex slaves, or to give them up to the next passing renegade. She was simply a god-awful cook, who knew it.

  And Euan didn’t give one single fuck.

  ‘How is it?’ she asked anxiously.

  ‘Beautiful sweetheart,’ he told her, maintaining eye contact. It was the truth. For even though it was maybe the worst thing he had tasted besides rotting garbage—which he’d had to ingest in the first few months after the initial wave of the plague—seeing her, the smell mixed in with her feminine essence, housed in this unbelievable bunker … It was perfection.

  Her shoulders relaxed, and the tight nervous smile she’d plastered on her face in anticipation of his reaction became a genuine one.

  Across the table, Nick grabbed the bowl with his hands and brought it up to his face. He didn’t flinch after his first mouthful, though there was a pause that had Euan’s lips twitching.

  For the next few moments, the only sound in the room was the two of them wolfing down the vile vegetable casserole with barely a breath between mouthfuls.

  Nick was the first to finish. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His gaze was drawn to the stove as if it sung the song of Sirens.

  ‘I can get you some more?’ Kira offered, still standing, still watching, still unbelievable.

  Nick used his fingers to wipe the grease from the edge of his bowl. He didn’t look her way when he answered. ‘I’ll get it.’

  The food in his belly gave Euan the opportunity to fully comprehend the magnificence of what was before him, around him. They had come from the fiery pits of hell to be led straight into the waiting arms of a goddess. A woman with white-gold hair and tanned skin, who couldn’t cook and lived in a bunker that could withstand the torments of the new world. Despite the dangers that still nipped at their heels, Euan didn’t hold back his grin. The smile split across his face, creased the muscles around his eyes, eased the ones in his forehead. It felt unnatural. It had been so long since he’d smiled. Truly smiled.

  ‘Shit, big man. You should smile more. Makes you look human,’ Nick commented, the bowl halfway towards his mouth, his tongue stuck out as he licked the ceramic clean.

  Euan lost his grin and frowned at Nick. ‘You’re not an animal, kid.’

  He turned back to Kira as Nick grumbled. The astonished look on her pretty face was fading, but her lips were still parted in awe from his brief smile.

  That feeling in his stomach grew, blossomed. The food took the edge off his anxiety, but replaced it with a deep understanding of the implications this bunker and the woman in it presented.

  The opportunities too.

  There was a small spark of hope that tingled up Euan’s spine. The potential that Kira’s presence could be the secret to overcome Nick’s trauma. A woman could offer him the gentler hand, the listening ear, the softer touch that only a female could provide. He met Kira’s gaze once again, and noticed another aspect he’d forgotten, a characteristic intrinsic to the female spirit, the absence of which had been akin to a bloody, gaping wound inside his heart. An injury that had bled profusely, yet he’d never been able to pinpoint the leak.

  The solution to stem the flow shone in her sympathetic eyes.

  Compassion.

  Euan breathed through the brand that her empathetic look burned into his heart. This was what Nick needed.

  Maybe it was what they both needed.

  Euan stood up out of his chair as his eyes devoured her. The skinned knees, the shapely legs, the threadbare shirt, her short, tangled hair.

  ‘How long have you been on your own?’ he asked, his voice deceptively mild, in contrast to the turmoil that swirled inside him.

  Kira searched his face as her chin tilted to accommodate his height. She began to take a step back, thought better of it and held her stance. The tickle inside him shifted into a caress. So brave, so courageous. So fucking brilliant.

  Impatient, Nick got up to retrieve his second bowl of stew behind her.

  They both ignored him. She spilled the information with a quiet murmur. ‘Over a year. Since last summer.’

  Euan nodded, took another step in her direction. He was relieved it hadn’t been three full years of solitude. Prolonged isolation could do terrible things to a person’s mind.

  ‘Husband?’ he offered.

  She shook her head, pulled at a lock of her hair. ‘Brother.’

  He stayed silent. A brother. So they’d both been immune to the plague. This was probably their childhood home. It made sense that they would come back here to survive the apocalypse.

  His throat thickened. ‘And you’ve been here all this time?’

  Kira saw the emotion emanate from his face and swallowed from the force of it. She nodded her silent agreement.

  Euan couldn’t help it; it was too soon, far too soon. But that look of aching desolation crippled him. She was alone in a world of chaos and mayhem, where just by being female she was open to violence and terror. Euan was desperate to wrap her in his arms, pull her close to his body, his heart, and never let go.

  So it was his heart that spoke before his head could catch up.

  ‘Come here,’ he ordered.

  Kira jerked like a startled rabbit, suddenly aware that the wolf was in her burrow. This time, she did attempt to take that step back, only to find herself boxed in by Nick’s finely muscled frame.

  At Euan’s tone, he had moved in behind her. His blond hair waywardly fell over his brow, his green eyes glittered with comprehension and sympathy. Nick still battled the demons that seared his soul, but he’d set that internal torture aside, along with his bowl of food, to meet Euan halfway to protect and nurture the woman caught between them.

  Over Kira’s head, their gazes connected, clashed, tangled in an almost visceral melding of minds and understanding. After everything they’d suffered. Because of everything they’d suffered. On this, they were in agreement.

  ‘Both of you,’ Euan continued. ‘Come here.’

  Nick nudged Kira in Euan’s direction. They moved as one until she was pressed between the two of them. Nick’s defined arms banded around her waist, while Euan’s heavily muscled limbs wrapped around both of them. It was an embrace of solidarity, one of hope, to herald the start of a relationship that, at that point, only two parties were aware of.

  Euan bent and rubbed his nose, lips and chin back and forth over the crown of Kira’s head. The delicate strands of her hair caught in the bristles of his beard. Under his palms, Nick’s shoulder blades rose and fell. The mixed scent of
intoxicating feminine essence and masculine exertions flooded his senses. Kira’s soft puffs of breath fluttered against the cloth of his shirt at his chest.

  He wanted to protect them, shield them both from the horrors of the world they now resided in. A reality that was terribly close to their door. He’d become their safeguard, the impenetrable wall that buffered them from the truth and sheltered them from their enemies. He inhaled slowly. His eyes drifted closed while he comprehended the beauty he held in his arms. He began to unravel the thoughts that had twisted in circles inside his mind ever since he’d first seen the little sprite appear out of the trees. He was old enough to know himself, to know what he wanted. He wasn’t a man who got hung up on the direction of the moral compass of a defunct society. So he knew without hesitancy, that he wanted them both.

  Together. Forever. Or for as long as this life allowed.

  Euan moved his hands up Nick’s spine and squeezed the nape of his neck. He coaxed the him to look in his direction. Nick’s eyes were bright with emotion and desires that mirrored Euan’s. He could do this. He could make this work. If he approached it like the precious stone it was, polished the rough edges with a careful, methodical, delicate hand, it could be the kryptonite that banished both Nick’s and Kira’s pain.

  ‘Let’s get this girl to bed,’ Euan’s command rumbled low in his chest. ‘It’s been a long day for everyone.’

  Nick nodded and together, they turned Kira in their arms. Kept sheltered within their embrace, they directed her to the hallway and towards the bedrooms.

  Chapter 14

  There were two sleeping quarters in the bunker—one with a large double bed, the other with four single bunk beds. They were all exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster they’d endured that day, so it had felt natural to usher both Kira and Nick into the room with the double bed.

  Kira was silent and malleable as both Nick and Euan helped her undress. She lifted her lean arms as Euan pulled the worn off-white t-shirt over her head. She obediently stepped out of her khaki shorts and sat mutely on the bed as Nick removed her boots. Her socks had darns in the seams where she’d repaired them multiple times, and Euan suspected her undergarments were similar, as she’d likely had no opportunity to scavenge for more. He took the time to clean the grazes at Kira’s knees, while she sat on the edge of the bed, waiting with shallow breaths for him to complete his task. He didn’t think of the softness of her skin, or the delicacy of her limbs; he did what was needed in silence until he was satisfied.