“He knew we were in that tree Jack. If he was here to hurt us, or to recapture us, he would have turned us in. I couldn’t have escaped them all, and I wouldn’t have left Max behind.”
“He might not have seen you. He said himself that his vision comes and goes; we have no idea of knowing how good it is when he does have it.”
“I know he saw me,” Aria insisted unwilling to discuss how she knew this.
Jack leaned back, biting on his bottom lip as he closed his eyes. He shook his head before pacing away and coming rapidly back. He stopped before her. “I don’t know what this bond is between the two of you, I don’t know what to say about it, but I do know that it has put us all in danger. Especially if Caleb is here.”
Aria’s jaw clenched, her eyes narrowed as she glared up at him. “Did you stop to think that maybe Braith is here because Caleb is here? Did you ever think that he is here to offer what protection, and help, he can?” she demanded fiercely. “You say you and Braith were close, and that you were good friends, yet you have no faith in him. You have no idea what kind of a man he truly is!”
“And you do?” he growled.
Aria stared defiantly back at him. “I know better than you.”
He studied her for a long moment before cursing loudly and pacing away again. “We need to get these people somewhere safe.”
“Yes.”
He cursed again before retreating toward the caves. Aria was unwilling to follow him into that dark, cavernous zone though. The last thing she wanted was to be trapped within the caves again, but that was where everyone had retreated to in the hope that they would stay safe. He turned back to her, but she remained unmoving just feet from the cave.
“Aria!” he hissed.
She shook her head, trying hard to keep breathing, but finding it very difficult through the constriction in her chest. She had never truly liked the caves, but now she found herself terrified by the prospect of going back in there. Her skin was clammy, she was shaking. She found she would almost prefer to be in the hands of Caleb than back in there, trapped amongst the cold rock.
She took a small step back as Jack came toward her, frowning in puzzlement. “Aria?”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t go back in there.”
His eyes widened in disbelief. “Aria you must,” he insisted.
She shook her head again, taking another step back. Her heart was thrumming, her whole body was shaking. His gaze raked over her, then turned back to the caves. “I’ll be fine in the trees,” she told him.
“Like hell,” he hissed.
“I’ll be safer in the trees than in there!” she retorted sharply. “I can move through the trees faster than I can through the caves.”
“You can’t stay out here Aria; we cannot take the risk of you being captured again.”
He was coming at her before she even had time to blink. A scream welled in her throat, but his hand was over her mouth as he lifted her up and forcefully carried her toward the caves. Aria struggled against him, wanting nothing more than to be free of his ironclad hold. Then he entered the cave and all she wanted was to be free of the confining space, and stale air. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think as her head began to spin rapidly. She went limp against him, struggling to inhale through her nose as she watched in wide eyed horror as he carried her deeper into the earth.
They were a half a mile down before he finally released her. Aria fell to her knees, gasping the thin air, struggling to control the rapid beat of her heart as a scream rose in her throat. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, what was happening to her, but she couldn’t control the wild, frantic sway of her body. She tried to choke back the scream, but she could not keep it bottled within her any longer.
It ripped free of her, echoing loudly through the caves, bouncing off of the rock walls in an endless wave that pierced sharply though the air.
Chapter 9
Braith froze in mid step, his foot hung in the air as his head turned slowly to the side. He tuned out the normal sounds of the forest, filtering through the noise as he strained to hear what had caught his attention. He was certain that it had been a scream, certain that it had been Aria’s scream. His foot dropped upon the forest floor, crackling the leaves and sticks beneath his boot. The men with him stopped walking, turning back to him.
“What is it?” Caleb demanded.
Braith shook his head. His brother had not heard the scream, neither had the others. He didn’t know if it was because they weren’t as attuned to Aria as he was, or if it was the fact that his hearing was more acute due to his blindness. At his side, Keegan bristled, turning to survey the area of the forest Braith was certain that scream had come from. “It’s nothing,” he replied.
Though it was far more than nothing. That scream had been echoing and terrified. And it had come from the one person that he cared about. “I have to go.”
“Wait what!?” Caleb stammered.
Panic was beginning to seize hold of him, clawing at his chest, tearing through his insides. He had to get away from his brother, and he had to find her. He had seen her in the tree with that boy if he had done anything to hurt her Braith was going to rip out his throat. He moved swiftly through the trees, blurring as he raced across the forest. Though he could not see his surroundings, he could sense the obstacles in his way as he swiftly dodged them. Keegan was unable to keep up with him, but Braith sensed when the wolf broke off, going deeper into the woods.
The others tried to keep up with him, but he was faster and stronger than them, and he lost them easily amongst the forest. He jumped on top of a boulder, racing up the side of it before reaching the top and leaping off. Trees began to blur into focus, wavering on the outskirts of his vision. He could smell her blood, taste it in his mouth again. He was getting closer to her.
Hunger spurted through him, his veins burned with the almost intense need to feed that engulfed him. He had not fed since he had left her here a week ago, he had returned briefly to the palace, but no one appealed to him anymore, not even the willing humans he had fed from before. In fact, he was surprised to realize that the mere thought of feeding from anyone else repulsed and sickened him. It was her blood he wanted, her blood he needed, and until he could feed from her again, no one else would do.
And then Caleb had insisted upon going on one of the searches, had insisted upon going into the forest with one of the hunting parties. Braith had known that he’d have to go with him, he couldn’t take any chances that Caleb might accidently find her, that he might stumble across her. The thought was horrifying to him. He’d come with Caleb to make sure that such a thing didn’t happen, and it nearly had earlier, and might still happen if Caleb was somehow able to track him.