Unbound (The Captive #7)(89)

They glanced nervously at each other. “Timber, Max, and Daniel will go,” William answered.

“I’ll go too,” Maeve said.

“We’re not giving you a chance to escape,” Daniel said.

She gave him a scathing glance. “I am a fighter. I don’t back down from that, ever.”

“Take her with you,” Braith said. “Give her a chance to further prove herself, and kill her if she tries anything.”

Maeve gave a brisk nod. “Fair enough.”

“Will the humans be ready for this fight?” he asked.

“We never stopped being ready,” Maeve replied. “We always suspected one day we’d have to fight again. It’s all we’ve ever done.”

“That’s true,” Timber said as he rocked back in his chair.

“They follow Aria. They like and trust her. She was once one of them, and even when she was teetering on the edge, she managed to put up a strong front for all of them,” William said. “They’ll fight for her, for themselves, and for their children.”

A shimmer of distress radiated over him. He turned toward the room where he’d left Aria as the door opened. Her reddened eyes turned blue when they latched onto him, and she took a step forward.

“Even if the storm is still raging, leave at dawn,” he said to them over his shoulder as he strode over to her, lifted her up, and carried her back into the room.





CHAPTER 34


Max

The rain pelted Max’s skin as they made their way through the trees toward the last safe house location. He felt as if he’d been out in the rain for weeks instead of the two days it had taken them to traverse the distance to all of the safe houses. They would have made much better time, but the storm continued to lash the earth.

At his side, Maeve shivered and pulled the hood of her cloak closer around her face. Despite their brutal pace and the punishing weather, she continued onward without once complaining about the travel conditions. One of them had always stayed by her when they arrived somewhere new, but never once had she attempted to tell anyone else what she knew. Timber and Daniel were beginning to trust her more, and Max firmly believed she would not betray them.

He stopped outside the tree hiding the final safe house and pushed the button, opening it up and slipping inside behind the others. Within, they discovered well over three hundred people gathered and waiting for word it was time to move on. Max accepted the food and ale as well as the dry clothes offered to him.

The occupants of the safe house informed them there were more humans and vampires waiting in some nearby caves. At every safe house they’d gone to, they’d been told the same thing. Their numbers were more than they’d hoped for, and their recruits were ready to wage a war.

He would have given anything to be able to spend the night here, but they had to return to let Aria and Braith know they’d succeeded in making the rounds and that everyone should be arriving by tomorrow night.

With dry clothes and a full belly, he stepped back into the rain and in minutes his clothes were plastered to his skin. Maeve shivered again and he had to resist the impulse to drape his arm around her shoulders and draw her close to give her some of his body heat. He knew she would only draw away from him if he tried. They moved swiftly through the trees and back toward the safe house closest to the palace.

No one spoke as they walked and jogged over the sodden terrain. They were only five miles away from the barn when Daniel came to an abrupt halt. He ran a hand through his blond hair, shaking the rain from it as he tilted his head to the side. Max took hold of Maeve’s arm, drawing her back to stand beside him while Daniel surveyed the woods.

“What is it?” Timber asked.

“I don’t know,” Daniel said. “But I don’t like it.”

Max’s gaze ran over the trees and woods as he searched for anything out of the ordinary. As the hair on his nape stood up, he turned to look behind him, but still saw nothing there. “I think we need to get out of the open,” he said.

“Yes,” Daniel agreed.

Daniel turned and jogged up a steep hillside. Max followed closely behind him with Maeve, while Timber brought up the rear. At the top of the cliff, Max turned to look back down the rocky face as Daniel and Timber slipped into the small cave created by an outcropping of rocks. Maeve stood at his side, her arm trembling in his grasp. He knew the tremor was from the cold instead of fear; she had little fear of most things.

A flash of movement within the trees drew his attention to the right as a dozen vampires rode into view. The two of them slipped back, creeping into the small cave. Daniel and Timber were twenty feet away, examining the back wall. “Any way out?” Max inquired.

“No,” Timber said.

“There’s at least a dozen of them down there.”

“I don’t think they’ll come up here,” Daniel murmured as he turned toward them. “At least I hope not.”

Max crept back toward the opening of the cave and crouched at the entrance. He rested his fingers on the stone as he gazed down at the vampires clustered below. “What are they doing?” Maeve whispered from behind him.

“I think they caught our scent, but with the storm they can’t pinpoint us,” he replied.

“Wonderful,” she murmured.

Max remained kneeling, keeping watch as the vampires mulled about for a few minutes more before slipping into the woods. He didn’t trust them not to be somewhere down there, waiting to ambush them, and neither did the others as no one suggested continuing on right now.