Unbound (The Captive #7)(11)

The shadows created by the torch lengthened and swelled imposingly with each flicker. Sniffing at the air, she detected the feral, musky scent of wild animals within, but she didn’t smell humans or vampires. No footprints could be seen in the dirt within the cave, only the paw prints of some fox, raccoon, and opossum showed.

Her head tilted back to take in the stalactites forming on the ceiling above her. No bats hung from the ceiling, something Ashby would appreciate, as she knew from past experience he hated bats.

That was if her brother-in-law made it here.

“Don’t think it,” she whispered to herself.

Turning her attention back to the chamber, she carefully picked her way down the rocks to the open space beneath her. Arriving at the bottom, she carried Braith into the center of the cavern. Gently, she set him on the ground and propped his side against a rock to keep him from falling back on those arrows.

She had to get the arrows out of him so he could begin the healing process, but first she had to make sure they were safe here. With the torch in hand, she ran down each of the three side tunnels branching off from the lower level. She checked for keys before shutting the gates behind her.

William, Daniel, Max, Timber, and Jack would know where to look for those keys if they made it here. The others wouldn’t, but the others would never make it this far into the cave without someone to guide their way. Returning to the cavern, she raced up the rocks with far more ease than she’d descended them and closed off the gate in the one other tunnel up there.

Once they were secure within, she ran back to Braith’s side and fell to her knees before him. She pulled her bow and quiver from her back and set them on the ground within easy reach. She couldn’t look at the pallor of his skin or the way his cheeks had hollowed out, as she broke off the feathers of all the arrows going straight through his body.

Her fingers shook when she gripped his shoulder and wrapped her hand around the first arrow head protruding from his chest. With a swift jerk, she yanked it from his body. She cried out as if it had been torn from her flesh. He, however, showed no reaction to the arrow being pulled from his body. Fresh blood trickled out of the hole, down his pale skin and broad chest.

“Keep going,” she whispered.

He showed as much reaction to the next arrow as he had the first one, but her entire body shook uncontrollably. With a bleeding bottom lip that she bit to stifle her cries, she removed the seven arrows going completely through him, except for one. She couldn’t bring herself to pull that one yet.

By the time she was done with them, she couldn’t stifle the flow of her tears. They slid down her cheeks and dripped off her chin as she stared at the six remaining arrows in him. These six still had the arrowhead embedded inside of him. She would have to pull those arrowheads out through his body from behind. It would tear at his flesh and bones, and it was going to hurt him far more than anything else she’d done so far.

Or at least it normally would have.

She wiped her tears on the end of her cloak and moved around to his broad back. More blood trickled from the holes of the arrows she’d already pulled out. Bending, she kissed his flesh and rested her cheek on his back as she took a minute to stabilize herself before going back to work on removing the rest of the arrows.

Grabbing the first arrow below the feathers, she bit her lip again as she pulled it out. Her body jerked as if it had been pulled from her and pain bloomed through her chest. Braith showed no reaction that the pointed end of an arrow had just been torn from his body.

With a surprisingly steady hand, she inspected the still intact arrow before slipping it into her quiver. At some point in time, she would put an arrow tainted with Braith’s blood into that bitch claiming to be queen. The idea caused her fangs to prickle with anticipation as bloodlust rolled through her.

Aria gripped the five remaining arrows and pulled them free. She didn’t realize she was crying again until her tears dripped off her chin to land on his back and trickle down his pale skin. Her tears mixed with his drying blood, creating pink rivulets over his battered flesh. She ran her fingers across his skin as she lifted him so his back rested against a rock.

Making her way around to his front on her knees, her gaze fell on the arrow she’d broken the flight off of and left within him. The head stuck an inch out of his chest, the shaft directly through his heart. She stroked her fingers over the metal before dropping her hand away. He wouldn’t be able to heal if the arrow remained within him, but what if the arrow was all that kept him alive now? What if pulling it out killed him?

She crept closer to him and rested her cheek against his shoulder. Normally his arms would wrap around her, dragging her against him as he enfolded her in his warmth and love. Now his arms remained unmoving at his sides, his palms turned up as his chin rested against his chest.

“Braith,” she whispered as she fought to keep from screaming and cursing anyone and everyone who had ever lived or died. “Can’t fall apart now. Get it together.”

However, she didn’t know how to get it together right now. They were supposed to be living in peace, humans and vampires finally united and working together. Instead, their world had crumbled in the blink of an eye.

“And it has before,” she said aloud and forced herself to sit back away from him. “It has before and we’ve gotten through it. We will get through it again.”

She had to keep the faith that would happen this time too. The bloodlink was still between them, which meant he still lived. She would know the second it was severed.