Unbound (The Captive #7)(12)

Tilting her head to the side, she studied the arrow, her fingers rising to wrap around it again before falling back to her side. Once she pulled it free, she had no idea what would happen. Together, they may all be able to stop that woman without Braith, but he was the only one strong enough to go head to head with her and the only one Aria knew for sure the vampires and humans would follow without hesitation. If she removed the arrow and he died, the peace could be lost forever.

Or maybe not forever, she thought. After what I saw today…

A crunch behind her had her snatching her bow from the ground and spinning with an arrow nocked and ready to fire.





CHAPTER 5


Aria

Jack threw his hands up and stepped back. “Easy, Aria,” he coaxed.

Aria stared at him as relief and love washed over her. They were alive; they had made it. Everything was still a mess, but they were here. Her tensed muscles held the bow for a minute more before she lowered it to her side. “I should have heard you,” she berated herself.

“I think you have more to deal with right now.” Jack’s gaze flicked to Braith; his jaw clenched as his shoulders went back. Sorrow and anger caused his eyes to switch from gray to red and back again. The colors within his black, brown, and gold hair danced in the torchlight. He was shorter than Braith at six foot three and leaner, but there was still a great deal of power within him and there was no denying they were brothers.

William’s shoulders were stooped and sadness radiated from him as he stepped toward her. Aria moved closer to Braith. She would have to leave him soon, but not yet.

“Aria, you can’t stay with him,” William said.

“He’s not dead!” she retorted when she realized what William and Jack were thinking.

She slapped Jack’s hand away and bared her fangs at him when he held it out to her. Hannah took a protective step forward, but Jack held out his arm to keep her back. “The arrow is through his heart,” Jack said to her.

“I know where the arrow is, Jack!” she retorted. “I also know I’m as intricately bound to him as you are to Hannah, so I would know if he were dead. He’s not!”

Aria’s gaze fell to the arrow sticking out of Jack’s right thigh and the broken arrow shaft protruding from his calf when he limped closer to his brother and knelt before him. Her fingers bit into her thighs as she resisted the urge to shove him away from Braith. Jack wouldn’t harm him, but the idea of anyone touching Braith right now made her see red.

Jack gently clasped Braith’s cheeks and lifted his head toward him. Vampires didn’t have heartbeats and they didn’t breathe, but Jack leaned toward him until their foreheads nearly touched.

Aria tore her gaze away to focus on the others. She couldn’t watch someone touching Braith in such a vulnerable state and remain restrained. Melinda had her hand against her mouth to stifle her sobs. Xavier leaned against Ashby with his arm draped around Ashby’s shoulders. Timber, Daniel, and Max had collapsed to the ground. If it wasn’t for the bruises covering their faces, they would be as pale as Braith.

“Daniel—”

“I’m fine,” he assured her and waved his hand dismissively.

“We all are,” Max said. His sandy blond hair stuck up in spikes around his normally handsome face. Bruises marred his cheekbones and eyes; blood trickled from his nose and the bite marks on his neck. An arrow protruded through his side. Judging by the position of the arrow, it wasn’t a mortal injury and would heal once the arrow was removed. His full lips were nearly white, but his blue eyes were steady when they met hers.

“He’s alive,” Jack murmured from beside her, and Aria’s shoulders slumped.

She’d known that, but hearing Jack confirm it made it more real.

“The arrow isn’t through his heart?” William inquired.

“It is,” Jack confirmed. “Dead center.”

“How is that possible?” Max asked.

Jack’s eyes were gray once more when they met hers. “A bloodlink makes a vampire stronger,” he said.

“Strong enough to defeat death?” Timber demanded.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “But the arrow has to come out if the wound is to heal.”

“Will that kill him?” Hannah whispered.

Aria tilted her head back to study her sister-in-law’s beautiful features. Hannah’s chocolate-colored hair tumbled over her shoulders and clung to her round face. Because she hadn’t been able to go out in the sun before meeting Jack, Hannah’s skin was normally alabaster, but now it was three shades paler. Her jade-colored eyes brimmed with tears as she stared at Aria.

Hannah went to kneel beside her, but Aria waved her away. She liked Hannah and loved how she’d finally made Jack happy, but she would completely fall apart if someone tried to comfort her right now, and there was no time to fall apart. “I can’t,” she whispered.

Hannah hesitated before taking a step away from her.

“I don’t know if it will kill him or not,” Jack said and looked to Aria again. “But it has to come out.”

“I know it does,” she whispered. Jack gripped the arrowhead. Aria seized his wrist before he could tear it free. “No.”

“Aria—”

“It has to be me who removes it. If it’s you, or anyone else, and he dies, I will kill you.”