Читать книгу The Virgins - Complete Boxed Set - Grace Goodwin - Страница 21

Maddox

I climbed out of the saddle in my final move toward the rustic structure. I activated my retinal monitor as I prepared to hunt in earnest, searching for heat signatures, electrical signals, anything that might clue me in to Neron’s location. If he had a Hunter’s Cloak, he would be able to hide himself, but not his hostage.

“Thank you, boy.” I patted my horse on the neck but did not tie his reins to the dry, gnarled branch of a dead tree. There was no grass to eat, no water. Should I fail to return, I did not want the animal stranded here to suffer.

And if I survived, the walk back to the ship would be long, but nothing I couldn’t handle, especially knowing Cassie waited for me. I was not unprepared.

Cassie. Simply thinking her name was enough to make my mark flare with heat. She’d been so soft and responsive, her tight pussy so hot and wet and perfect wrapped around my cock. After the initial claiming, I’d taken her over and over. She rode me just like she did her mare, seated so well on my hips, my cock filling her completely. I’d cupped her breasts as she lifted and lowered herself, taking her pleasure. I’d even fucked her up against the wall, from behind and then again with her legs wrapped around my waist as I kissed away her screams. The table for meals was not neglected either, or the bathing tub. She was as insatiable as I.

Even though we were as close as two could be, the threat still lingered. Neron taunted our minds, our spirits. I knew she was scared. Hell, I was too. But I knew with her here on the Aurora she was safe, that the bastard couldn’t touch her. That was all that mattered to me. I couldn’t believe I’d found her, and now that I had, I walked into the coming fight a changed man. I wasn’t capturing Neron and returning him to Incar. I was ending his life, ending him once and for all. He’d no longer have a hold on me, on my family. I’d avenge Maddie’s death, add closure to my past. Then I’d ensure he could not affect my future. Cassie.

This time I had something to lose.

Fear for her tightened my chest as I activated my Hunter’s Cloak and faded from sight, my armor making me invisible to the naked eye and to most sensors. I suspected Neron wore one as well, which heightened my eagerness to find him.

The hunt. This was what I was born to do. This was what I’d come to Earth for. With our cloaks, the game became one of hunter and prey, a true test of the senses. Skill versus skill. Sounds. Scents. Instinct. There was no visual of the enemy.

Were it not for the Earth woman Neron held hostage, I would be confident in my ability to defeat him. But she would be my weakness in this battle and Neron knew it. That was what the bastard wanted, an uneven balance—the only way he could possibly win. But he wouldn’t. Fuck, no.

This mystery woman, I expected she would most likely resemble my sister, simply because Neron would enjoy torturing me with memories of my sister’s corpse. It would be just like him.

I approached the cabin in complete silence, my own cloak making me blend in with the surroundings. Neron claimed he was holding the woman inside the home made of logs. According to the map, it stood on a rise on the side of a steep ravine. Unfortunately, there was but one route to it from this direction and Neron knew I was coming.

A quick scan of the cabin revealed two bodies moving inside the structure, their heat signatures bright red and orange on my retinal monitor. One body was large and clearly masculine, his bulk as big as my own with massive shoulders and thick legs. The other, the female he’d taken, sat at a table with her hands together on her lap. I imagined she was tied up, bound at her wrists and ankles and unable to move quickly. At the worst, Neron would have bound her to the chair itself so she could not move at all.

When I was a short distance from the front door, Neron opened it and stepped forward as if he could sense my presence. I froze in place, knowing he would be unable to see me with his eyes. But, like me, he was from Everis, a hunter born, and I was not surprised at his seemingly unnatural awareness of my presence.

He appeared to wear no armor, still dressed as a human man. He held an ion blaster at arm’s length, the end pointed toward the woman seated inside the house. His gaze, however, was on the beautiful landscape, the setting sun, but he did not see it. He was, I was sure, searching for me.

“I know you’re here, Maddox,” he called, his voice carrying across the still air. “I can feel you.”

I did not answer, but remained still, not wanting to make the slightest sound. Long hours of practice served me well as I calmed my breathing to a nearly imperceptible shift of air in and out of my lungs and slowed my heartbeat to a quiet, steady rhythm. Were I to get closer, he might hear it, for I suspected his senses were as finely tuned as my own. We’d grown together, trained together.

He sighed, the sound an overly dramatic attempt to anger me, but I was no first-time hunter controlled by adrenaline and rage. I was old enough to know when to move, and when to wait.

“Maddox, either show yourself or I’ll kill her. One shot, right through the heart.” He fired once through the door behind him, his weapon angled down, solely to prove his veracity. The woman inside screamed in fear. I was relieved by the sound, for it meant she was conscious and, perhaps, able to escape if I could draw Neron’s attention from her.

But not for long. Neron would not hesitate to kill her if that would force me to reveal myself. He was a sick fuck and I had to relent to that. Reluctantly, I flicked my eye within my internal retinal display to the visual control center and deactivated the armor’s cloaking mechanism. The shifting colors of my body armor solidified to a mottled mixture that matched the soil and plants nearest me. I was camouflaged now, not cloaked. With the armor on, his weapon would have little effect should he shoot me, but his retinal monitor would immediately sense my presence.

“Let her go. I’m the one you want.” I took a step closer.

Neron smiled and nodded as he caught sight of me, gloating. “There you are, and just in time. Elizabeth was beginning to bore me.”

“What do you want, Neron?” I studied my enemy. As boys, he’d always been slightly larger than I, but now, after months of hard labor in Incar’s mines, he was monstrous, his shoulders wider than I remembered. He wore human clothing, brown pants and a plain shirt, but his dull hair, once golden, was now the color of an old man’s teeth, stained by years of drinking thick black bark tea. His features had always been sharp, a predator’s face, but now his cheeks were slightly sunken, his nearly black eyes bulged a bit farther out of their sockets and his lips were pale and thin. He looked hardened, meaner than I remembered, and more dangerous.

He let me look my fill. When my gaze finally returned to his, he spoke.

“I want what every man wants. Vengeance.” He turned to look over his shoulder and crooked his finger. “Come here. Now.”

Moments later a woman hesitantly stepped through the doorway. Her eyes darted about, searching, then settled on me. They were wide with fear. She was a tall woman, of above average height for an Earth female. While Cassie would only come to Neron’s shoulder, this woman didn’t have to tilt her head back much to meet Neron’s dark stare. She was statuesque, her long arms and legs elegant but strong. She carried herself with a fierceness I’d rarely seen in a woman. Long, dark red hair had been pulled into a simple braid that fell to between her shoulder blades. Even from here I could see the fire in her soft brown eyes. She had a handful of freckles across her nose; they stood out in sharp contrast to the rest of her pale skin.

Her physique was bountiful, not dainty. Her figure was lush, ample breasts, rounded hips beneath her dark blue dress. Her hair had partially fallen from the braid. It showed rough handling, and blood oozed from a cut at her swollen lower lip. Other than that, she had no marks upon her. I just had to hope he had not forced himself upon her or caused her injuries indiscernible to the eye.

Her hands were bound in front of her with a strip of leather. Instead of letting them hang down before her, she held them pressed against her abdomen, rubbing them together as if they were causing her pain. I saw no blood on her dress or hands, no wincing or hints of pain on her face. Only fear since Neron had always enjoyed breaking a woman’s mind before he broke their body. It appeared she was already aware of that truth.

When he pointed to the ground beside him, she lifted her chin in silent defiance yet moved the few feet to stand where he bid. She did not simper or cry; she was very brave. He shoved her forward, a hand none too gently between her shoulder blades, forcing her to precede him to the rail just outside the cabin used for hitching a horse. The woman stumbled and he grabbed her roughly by the arm, hauling her up once more. As her head rose she looked straight at me and I did not see terror in her eyes. I saw rage.

“Let her go,” I repeated.

Neron forced the woman to her knees, his ion blaster pressed to her temple, and tied her to the rail as if she were a dog at his feet. He remained there as he returned his attention to me, but a sick smile tilted the corner of his mouth. He was in his element. He enjoyed taunting this woman, taunting me.

“Remove your armor, Mad, and let’s settle this the old way.”

“You wish to fight me without weapons?” I longed to race across the short distance and end him. I would survive that choice, but the human woman would not. Rage boiled to the surface and I gritted my teeth to prevent saying something stupid. Neron hadn’t called me Mad in years, not since we were boys running around his father’s opulent home chasing girls and trouble with equal interest. When we’d had an argument to settle, we would resolve it with wild fists, then, when older and better trained, hand-to-hand combat.

“Yes. Take off your armor and step forward. Fight me. Don’t be a coward.”

“Only a coward uses a female as a shield,” I countered.

Neron was two seasons older than I, always just that much larger, stronger, faster. He was a vicious and dirty fighter, going for my eyes or my balls every chance he could get. The battle had always ended in blood and a trip to the medical station for one or both of us, but we’d both reveled in the release of our aggression. I had loved the uncertainty, never knowing if I would be victorious or in agonizing pain, stumbling to medical so they could heal a laceration or broken bone.

I’d been a boy of eight summers when I realized Neron enjoyed hurting me. But his father had served with mine on the council of Seven, the highest ruling body on the planet, and we’d both been expected to live up to certain… standards. Sons of the Sevens were not allowed to be weak. We did not cry. We fought.

For years.

Standing there, trying to figure out how to save the woman kneeling on the hard ground, I suddenly felt as if fighting was the only thing I’d ever done. I wearied of it.

“She’s served her purpose. She brought you here.” Neron laughed, the sound bordering on hysteria, and I knew the friend I’d once known was completely gone. In his place stood a madman. “If you kill her by refusing me, her death will be on your conscience. Again and again your misplaced sense of honor has made you weak.”

“Then show your strength, Neron. Come out from behind her.”

“Take off the armor,” he repeated.

“Why?”

“Because I want to kill you with my bare hands.”

When I hesitated, he twisted his fingers in the woman’s hair and yanked her head back, hard.

“Let go of me, you crazy bastard!” she yelled at him as her face tightened, but all he did was laugh and pull hard enough to make her cry out, this time in pain.

“Come on, Maddox. Take it off. Let’s fight like kids again.”

I weighed my options. I was fast, but so was he. If I made a move, I would reach him, but not before he killed the woman. He didn’t need an ion blaster to do that, just one twist of his wrist and her neck would snap. If I retreated, or turned my cloak back on, he’d torture her first, and kill her slowly just to make sure I heard the screams.

“If I do, how do I know you won’t simply shoot me dead and kill her anyway?” I asked.

His dark eyes narrowed, the glint in his gaze nowhere near sane. “I swear on Maddie’s soul.”

I saw red then. Red, the color of Maddie’s blood as it had seeped from her body. Red in rage that made me growl, but his gaze remained steady. He’d loved her with a fanatical and unhealthy obsession. “Why did you do it, Neron? You loved Maddie. Why did you kill her?”

He lifted his hand and ripped the shirt from his chest, the buttons on the Earthen garment popping off to land on the ground around him. He pointed to his right hand, just below the bone there and my heart skipped a beat. No. It couldn’t be. I refused to believe what he was claiming.

Neron was already nodding. “Yes, Maddox. She was mine. My marked mate. We were bonded, and still your father refused to acknowledge our bond. She promised me everything and then betrayed me.”

Thinking of Cassie, of the instinctive need I’d had to possess her, of my obsession with her taste, her scent, the sound of her cries as she came all over my cock, I finally understood what had pushed my childhood friend to madness. “I didn’t know, Neron.”

He hissed. “No one knew. Your father made her swear an oath, denied me. Had we ever gone public, officially mated, your father would have lost his seat on the council.”

Everything Neron said made sense. The ruling elite were discouraged from joining together two such powerful families. Neron and Maddie’s relationship would have caused political unrest and so my father had done what he always did, he’d taken care of it. He’d ignored the sacred bond between marked mates over politics.

The thought of being denied Cassie made me sick, but I knew that would never be enough to make me lose all sense of personal honor. Being denied would not make me a cold-blooded killer.

“I’m sorry, old friend, but nothing excuses the killing you’ve done. What you’ve become.”

“Remove your armor.” He didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. He was beyond redemption.

It was time. Neron could not be saved, but this Earth woman could.

He watched as I removed my armor and stripped of my clothing. Soon, I stood in nothing but the light gray pants designed to be worn beneath my hunting armor. I tossed it all aside, confident that in Neron’s warped mind, his oath on my sister’s soul, his twisted love for her would ensure he kept his vow not to kill me with the blaster. When I was finished, I stood before him and waited. While I kept my breathing calm, my heart rate accelerated with the adrenaline that was flooding my blood, preparing me for the life-or-death struggle I now faced.

“Step forward ten paces.”

I did so and he immediately released his hold on the woman’s hair. She crumpled to the ground as he threw his ion blaster into the dirt. He shrugged out of his ripped shirt as he walked toward me and threw it aside, forgotten. His pupils were dilated, his gaze fixed on me. “Maddie was mine, and your father ruined everything,” he growled.

“So you killed her.” I tensed as he neared, rising onto the balls of my feet and assuming a fighter’s stance. I could see it in my mind. My sister, distraught with our father’s edicts, sitting in her favorite chair beneath the window in my parents’ home. Neron, sneaking inside and throwing himself at her feet. And Maddie? She had been pure fire with a wild side and a merciless tongue. “Why?”

Neron was before me now, his stance mimicking my own. This close, I could see the hatred, the anger, the grief pouring from him. It tainted the air as it had tainted him. “The day she told me she would never be mine, she fucked me first, Mad. She fucked me, fused our marks and told me she wanted to feel the true bond of a mate just once before she was given to another.”

My heart hurt at his words, but I did not doubt their truth. I loved my sister, but she had been a bit stubborn. She and my older brother were both brought up to believe duty came before pleasure. If my father had pledged her to another, she would have honored his word, even denied her own marked mate. But she would have taken what she could first. Including Neron’s soul.

“So you want to destroy my family as mine has destroyed yours.”

He grinned then, lifted his hands. “We end this now.”

I couldn’t agree more. “We end this now,” I repeated.

We faced off, just as we had in our youth. But now, the stakes were higher. This was to the death. One of us would die on this far-off planet. I just had to ensure it was Neron, for I didn’t want Cassie to live on with the anguish that had ripped Neron’s heart from his body, destroyed his soul.

Our hands slapped as we tried to gain purchase on each other’s wrists, upper arms. It was Neron who lunged first, his head and shoulder in my belly in an attempt to take me to the ground. I dropped to my back and pivoted, tossing him over my shoulder. He rolled across the ground, coming up onto his knees. Dirt and tiny rocks clung to his sweaty skin. Anger flared in his eyes while a smile spread across his face.

“It’s been a long time. You’ve learned some things.”

I came up onto my feet, readied myself again. This time when he lunged, I sidestepped and punched him, hitting his jaw. He moved back, circled, working his mouth back and forth.

“That was to warm us up,” he replied. “Ready?”

“You’re circling, Neron. Scared like you were as a kid. There’s no med center to run to this time.” I taunted him, for while the rage drove him, it also blinded him. He wasn’t clearheaded when his temper took over. I remembered he was quick to anger, even when we’d been little.

He narrowed his eyes, lifted his hands once again.

The true fight began. We punched and kicked, hitting targets that were off limits in the practice ring on Everis. But we were millions of miles away and there were no rules now. Kidney punches, low kicks to the knees, jabs at the throat and strikes to the groin, nothing was too brutal.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but years of aggression were fought with fists and feet until we were both bloody, both breathing hard. He’d fallen, I’d fallen. He’d landed a punch to the face and so had I. Kick for kick, punch for punch. Up to this point, it hadn’t been about killing the other, but an equal battle one last time.

But when I stumbled over a tree root and landed on my ass, it all changed. Neron took the opportunity to kick me, a swift roundhouse to the head. While I’d put my hand up as a shield, it had been ruthless. My head was knocked to the side and my vision blurred. I’d bit my tongue, the rusty taste of blood filling my mouth.

He followed that kick with another that struck me hard, the punishing power of his booted foot across my jaw. I fell onto my back and struggled to rise to my hands and knees, my head spinning as I fought to remain conscious. My body ached, my jaw throbbed, nearly dislocated. Little specks of black floated in my vision.

In the corner of my eye I saw Neron walk away from me to where he’d thrown his ion blaster. He picked it up and walked toward me as I struggled to my feet, but stumbled. This was to be my end.

I fisted rocks in both hands and prepared to make my last, desperate move. If I could get the dirt and sand into his face, perhaps I could leap from the ground, distract him before he had a chance to pull the trigger.

He stood two steps away, the blaster aimed directly at my head. We were both breathing hard. “Goodbye, Maddox. When you see Maddie on the other side, let her know your brother will be next.”

I spit blood from my mouth and lurched forward, throwing the rocks and dirt at his face as I rose to a crouch and rushed him. My arms wrapped around his waist as he shouted and fired his weapon. The discharge caused a large group of rocks to explode from the side of the canyon behind my back and fall to the ground.

Pushing with all my might, I drove him backward in an attempt to tackle him, get him off his feet. I was too addled to stand, but I still had a chance in a ground fight.

His fists came down on my spine. I roared with pain but kept pushing forward to tackle him.

A loud shot sounded, echoed and reverberated off the stone walls of the ravine. The woman screamed.

“Aaaaagh!” Neron jerked in my hold but I kept pushing until, seconds later, hot, wet liquid flowed over my right arm and shoulder.

A second shot and Neron’s legs went out from under him. Without any resistance from him, I fell forward and we both went down in a heap. I landed on top of him with a hard thud.

Tensing for a fight, I wrapped my arms around him, ready to resume the struggle, but his body was limp, his arms and legs slack, offering no resistance.

I lifted my head from his torso to look up at his face. His mouth was open, his eyes wide but empty.

He was dead.

Shock made me numb but I turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. A rush of adrenaline had me jumping to my feet, arms raised, only to see my mate marching toward me with her rifle pointed squarely at Neron’s head.

Cassie

Seeing Maddox fight Neron was an amazing sight. They were both so well skilled at it, so evenly matched, that it had been almost a dance at first. Even though I knew of their past, it was clear they’d done this before, knew each other’s abilities. In a sick tradition I did not understand, they appeared to be enjoying themselves. That was, until the serious fight had begun.

As I pulled my rifle from the saddlebag, I knew the instant the sparring turned to more. The intensity of the kicks changed, the anger behind the punches, the elbows, even the knee strikes. Maddox would have held his own if he hadn’t tripped. When I saw him fall, saw the first and second kick that Neron delivered to my mate’s head, I panicked.

Maddox’s eyes lacked the focus he’d had only seconds before. He was injured. If I could see it, then Neron could as well. This was where Neron would finish him. I couldn’t allow that to happen. So I’d cocked my gun as I approached, raised the weapon and fired. Neron had stood before him and only his upper body was exposed. If my aim was low, I’d shoot Maddox in the back of the head.

But I hadn’t missed. I was too good of a shot and had too good of a reason to aim true. I either had to take the risk, or lose Maddox forever.

And so I’d quickly settled my arms on a rock, aimed and fired. Once, twice. The kick of the shots was powerful, but familiar. I’d shot cans first with Charles, then rabbits. Eventually I’d moved onto bigger game to put on the dining table.

But this moment was defining for me. While Maddox had grown up fighting with Neron as friends, I’d learned how to shoot alongside Charles. With him. When he’d died, I’d become obsessed, practicing as often as possible as a way to escape my loss. My past was what had saved Maddox, had taken the life from Neron faster than the blood seeped from the wounds. I’d used my past to ensure my future.

Nothing, nothing would keep me from my mate.

“Cassie,” Maddox said, his voice full of pain and surprise. He stood, although he weaved and swayed on his feet, unsteady. I moved to stand before him, to stroke his cheek, but he angled his head. “Help her.”

I flicked my gaze to the woman who was tied to the rail. Rising, I went over to her and undid the leather about the rail, then the other one about her wrists. “Hi. I’m Cassie. We’re not going to hurt you. You’re safe now.”

Once the bindings were gone, she flew to her feet and dashed across the ground, grabbing the blaster that had fallen from Neron’s hand after I shot him.

“Cassie, come here. Now,” Maddox said, his voice low and even.

I didn’t say a word as I backed up toward him, all the while keeping my eye on the woman. She was taller than I by several inches, but near the same age. Her hair was dark auburn that made me instantly envious, her skin pale with just a few freckles covering her face. Her eyes were a soft brown and wide in her face as she held the alien weapon in one hand. The other hand she rubbed up and down her blue skirt as if her palm itched or burned. I recognized the motion as one I’d made myself before Maddox appeared.

Maddox’s arm went about my waist and he tugged me behind him. She’d been through an ordeal and I didn’t know what she’d do next.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Maddox told her, putting his hands out in front of him.

“He’s dead,” I added. “You’re safe now.”

She scoffed at my words and walked forward, holding the blaster pointed at Maddox’s chest. “I don’t believe you. I have eyes. I saw your palm.” She nudged Neron’s shoulder with the toe of her boot. “And his. I know what you are.”

I stepped from behind Maddox to face her, ignoring his order for me to return to safety behind him. “You do?”

She eyed me with more curiosity than menace and I relaxed, waiting for an explanation.

“Yes.” She took a step back, her aim still on Maddox, judging him to be the greater threat. Smart woman. “Show me your palms.”

I lifted my hands before me, as Maddox had done, and her shoulders nearly slumped with relief even as she rubbed her own palm up and down her skirt with increased vigor. “Is he yours, then? Your marked mate?”

“Yes. He’s mine.”

“Thank God.” She lowered her weapon and apologized to Maddox. “Sorry about that, but you wouldn’t believe the crazy dreams I’ve been having.”

“You’re marked, aren’t you?” I grinned, but my amusement quickly faded as I studied her. My dream sharing with Maddox had been erotic and arousing. Every time I’d thought of them I’d grown wet and needy, not angry or afraid. It appeared this woman was both, and I struggled to come to terms with the possibility racing through my mind. I glanced at Neron’s still form, then back to her. “Was it him? Was he yours?”

She kicked his dead body in the shoulder, not with great force, but as a show of disrespect, of contempt. “No. But I almost wish he had been.”

Maddox sucked in a harsh breath at her words as I tried to soothe her. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving now. And I’m taking your horse.”

“All right. Her name’s Cali, short for California. She’s a good horse, smart and doesn’t need much pull on the reins.” I wasn’t about to argue with her. She’d been through hell, and I knew where Maddox had left his gelding. The ride back to the ship would be slow, but we’d get there. And then? I wouldn’t need a horse at all; I’d be headed for a new life on another world.

She glanced at Maddox. “Thank you for saving my life.”

He nodded, his shoulders back even as he struggled to remain on his feet. “You’re welcome.”

We watched as she climbed up onto my painted mare, nudged the animal into motion and turned her to the east. She rode off at a reckless pace, but I could not blame her.

Only then did Maddox pull me into his arms and sigh. He felt good, warm and solid, his heartbeat steady. Taking his hand, I lifted it so I could see the mark, then put mine over his. I felt the heat of it as the connection flared to life.

“I think I’m in love with you,” I whispered, the feeling of contentment and love washing over me, cleansing the horror of what I’d done. I’d just killed a man. A murderer, true, a cold-blooded killer who’d murdered my adopted father, but I could still feel the grief, the weight of Neron’s death on my hands as I held Maddox close. I did not regret the killing, for it had been necessary. But for the first time I was not afraid to leave Earth behind, to leave my home. Maddox was my home now. He was mine to love and to care for, and right now, he really needed to be looked after. “You’re hurt. I brought the ReGen wand. Let me heal you.”

Maddox stiffened and pulled from my arms. “No. Not here. Not where Neron lays dead.” Maddox looked down at his old friend’s lifeless body. “He was my friend once.”

“I know.” I leaned up on tiptoe and kissed his chin. “I’m so sorry, Maddox. I heard everything.”

He shuddered and looked down at me, his heart in his eyes. “I’m done, Cassie. When we get back to Everis, I’ll work with my brother, take my place in the family.” He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to mine. “I’ve lost the taste for the hunt.”

Together, we dragged Neron’s body into the abandoned log cabin and set the place ablaze. I helped him gather his things and we walked back to his horse, who, against all odds, was only a few feet from where Maddox had left him, chewing on fresh prairie grass.