Authors: N J Walters
The General was trying to stamp out the Resistance, but as long as there was breath in their bodies, they would all fight. Which brought her back to her reason for being out on this godforsaken night. She’d found one of the strangers. She’d lost his trail over and over, but she’d persisted until she’d located him again.
Tonight, she was determined to follow him back to wherever he was living. Once she knew his location, she’d hurry back and tell Adrian so he could decide what to do. She winced as she imagined his reaction. He’d told her in no uncertain terms to leave this man alone.
Actually, his exact words had been, “Stay the hell away from him, Silence. And that’s an order.”
Adrian was their leader, the leader of the Resistance. Normally, she’d follow whatever orders he gave her. But not this time. This man was a huge threat to Adrian and he was her family. She would protect him at all costs. It didn’t matter to her that he was bigger, stronger and older. He might be an excellent tracker, but no one was better than she. She would find this stranger and take his location back to Adrian.
Now she wasn’t so sure. It seemed as though she’d lost him yet again. The man was skilled at evading. But if he was one of the General’s assassins, she’d expect nothing less.
Even though she couldn’t hear a thing, she waited. Seeing him was out of the question. In this fog, she was lucky to see a few feet in front of her face. A shiver crept down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck lifted. She might not be able to see or hear him, but he was out there.
For the first time, she began to think that maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. Not on a night like tonight. The shadows were too deep and the air was tinged with something dark and dangerous. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It wasn’t desperation or fear. It was more like anticipation. Expectation.
Silence swallowed back the lump in her throat. She sucked in a deep breath and held it, trying to slow the wild rhythm of her heart. She’d evaded teams of security police many times in her life, tracking information and people to the very edge of the Gate itself. To be caught was certain death. Yet she’d done it. And in all those times, she’d never been as scared as she was at this moment.
The hunter had become the hunted.
He knew she was out here. He knew she was following him.
But how? No one ever knew. She could even track Adrian for a short time without him knowing, and no one was better than Adrian at detecting a tracker. No one.
She froze in place, not blinking, her chest barely moving as she kept her breathing shallow and light. If he didn’t know her exact location, she didn’t want to attract his attention. Nor could she move until she knew he was gone. She would outwait him. She was good at that.
And if it came down to it, she’d run like hell. Silence knew this area of the outer city like the back of her hand. There were plenty of bolt-holes and camps where she could find shelter. No one would turn her away, not unless they wanted to get on Adrian’s bad side, which no one did. She loved her adopted brother, but she knew his strengths and his faults. He was strong, incredibly smart and loyal, but he was also ruthless and unforgiving. You didn’t cross him if you wanted to live.
That was the way it had to be. It was the only way to keep some kind of order among the Resistance. What had started as a ragtag group a dozen years ago was now an organized fighting machine.
Time lost all meaning as she stood next to the Dumpster. Sweat trickled down her temples and burned her eyes, but she didn’t dare reach up to wipe it away. Her dark T-shirt stuck to her body beneath her thin black jacket. She could have been standing here five minutes or five hours.
Realistically, she knew it was more like five minutes, it just felt much longer. Nothing moved in the shadows. A rat scrambled down the alley, scampering over the toe of her right boot before disappearing through a crack at the base of the Dumpster.
She had to move. All her senses were telling her she was alone. There was no scent or sound of another human being around. The fog was disorienting. It was easy to convince herself that the earlier feeling she’d had of being hunted was nothing more than a combination of the strangeness in the air tonight coupled with her imagination.
She’d go home and try to find her quarry another night, one that was much brighter.
A sense of defeat descended on her. She hated the feeling. The days of being a victim were long behind her. She wasn’t a defenseless child with no one who cared about her. She was Silence, legendary tracker and adopted sister of Adrian. If the stranger knew anything after living in the ruins these past months, he’d heard about Adrian’s reputation. If anything happened to her, Adrian would come after him and wouldn’t stop until he was dead. That gave her a sense of peace and bolstered her courage.
She’d just ghost around the building in front of her and see if she could pick up his trail. If she could, she’d come back tomorrow, in the daylight and have a better look around. Two minutes and she’d be on her way home.
Her boots made no sound as she slipped quietly around the Dumpster, still keeping to the shadows. She might think she was alone, but she wasn’t stupid. The building loomed before her, a hulking beast. But she wasn’t afraid of it or the dark. The dark was her friend, hiding her from those who would hurt her. Most people feared the shadows, but not Silence. She’d learned at an early age to use the blackness of night to her advantage.
And she did so now, stepping carefully down the alleyway. Her muscles twitched, wanting action, but she ruthlessly controlled her movements. Sweat soaked her body, plastering her hair to her skull. Adrenaline surged through her veins, causing her heartbeat to race.
The knife resting against her hip was cold comfort. She’d used it before. Once. When she was sixteen, she’d used it to stop a man from raping her. She hadn’t killed him, but the wound had bled copiously, covering her hands and clothing. Her screams had also brought Adrian to her rescue. He’d killed the man with his bare hands, ripping his still-beating heart from his body.
No one had touched Silence again. At least not without her permission. She’d managed to have two short-lived relationships. Adrian intimidated all other men and they couldn’t handle the pressure of sleeping with the leader’s adopted sister.
It had been several years since she’d had sex. She’d had offers. The most recent from a fellow tracker. Sandor was handsome enough but there was no spark between them and she’d turned him down. He’d taken her rejection well enough, but she’d been careful not to be alone with him. She found it hard to trust most men. It was nothing personal.
She didn’t miss sex, not the act itself. What she missed was the closeness after sex, the few moments of being held securely in a man’s arms.
It was a weakness, and one that could be used against her. She’d decided it was much easier to be alone. At least that’s what she told herself as she lay alone in her cold bed night after night.
She released a tiny sigh. She was certainly in a strange mood tonight. She rarely thought about her childhood or the lack of a relationship in her life. There was definitely something in the air.
It was time to go home.
Swiveling on her heel, she started toward the opening at the end of the alley. She’d had enough tonight. Tomorrow she would begin again.
There was no warning, no sound. A huge forearm suddenly wrapped around her midsection and another banded across her throat, cutting off her supply of air.
She kicked back at her attacker, while slamming her head toward his face. The two simultaneous moves should have loosened his hold. He countered each move so quick it was as though she’d never made them.
His hold tightened, making it harder for her to breathe. Blackness tinged the edges of her vision. The entrance to the alley was merely a few steps away. It tempted her, taunted her. Now she knew why she’d had such strange thoughts about her childhood, Adrian and her life in general.
She was going to die.
Killed at the hands of an unknown assassin. Her only consolation was that her death would alert Adrian to the danger and he would be able to take the necessary precautions to protect himself and the people who depended on them.
She clawed at the arm pinned against her throat, but it was protected, covered in leather. Her movements became more sluggish as the blood supply to her brain dwindled. Still, she couldn’t quit fighting.
Silence thought she heard a male swear. The thought that she was making this difficult on him made her smile.
Then darkness swarmed up and consumed her, swallowing her whole.
Chapter Two
Tienan swore under his breath as he checked the woman’s pulse. It was weak and thready, but it was there. She’d fought silently and with tenacity and quickness. He admired the fact that she hadn’t given up, but it had almost cost her life. He’d loosened his hold long enough to depress a pressure point on her neck. He’d had to be careful. Too light and she wouldn’t pass out. Too hard and he’d kill her.
She felt insubstantial in his arms as he carried her into the decrepit building behind him, her slight weight a contradiction to the fighter she was. He’d planned to sling her over his shoulder as he hauled her inside, keeping his hands free to help him maneuver among the ruins. Instead, he cradled her in his arms. The need to protect her and keep her safe overrode all else.
The smell of honey and soap wafted up from her still form and he buried his face in the curve of her neck and inhaled. His cock stirred, pressing against the zipper of his leather pants. It was painful, but he welcomed the small hurt. It was a reminder that he was still alive and human. Sometimes he had his doubts.
He carried her through the rubble, stepping over downed beams, piles of brick and other debris as he made his way to the staircase. Holding her with one arm, he yanked open the door and stepped inside. Darkness met him. But with his superior eyesight he could see well enough to navigate the stairs. Closing the door behind him, he made his way to the basement, his cargo held carefully in his arms.
She shivered and he frowned. Her hair was damp and so was her clothing. He worried she might be cold. His frown deepened.
Why the hell should he care if she was cold? She’d been following him, tracking him for weeks. His sole purpose in capturing her was to find out who she was and what she wanted. The fact that his tracker was a woman didn’t matter. Shouldn’t matter. Yet somehow it did.
Her breath feathered his cheek, a light caresses. Every muscle in his body tightened and his cock jumped. Rock hard now, it strained for release
. He ignored his body’s reaction, concentrating on the job at hand.
The basement room was dark, an interior room with no windows. He needed to put his captive down long enough to light a candle. His arm muscles tightened at the thought of releasing his precious cargo.
He growled at himself in displeasure. She didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the information she could give him.
Tienan forced himself to set her in the wooden chair he’d placed in the center of the room when he’d set it up as his interrogation chamber. She mumbled and slumped to one side. Grabbing the arm restraints, he cuffed her wrists to the arms of the chair. A belt encircled her waist and he pulled the loops behind the chair, tightening it to keep her upright.
His fingers stroked her hair, an automatic gesture that made him curse. He jerked his hand away, rubbing his palm against his thighs, trying to erase the softness he’d felt. Turning to the small table behind him, he struck a match and lit a candle, one of several he’d
liberated
from a camp several nights ago. The candle flared to life before settling down to a slow, steady burn. Taking a deep breath, Tienan faced the woman in the chair. She’d been his nemesis these past weeks.
She was about five-foot-seven and very slender. Her legs were long. Hair as dark as his own was cut short and shaggy. It had little style and looked as though she hacked at it with a pair of scissors whenever it got too long. For some reason the image of her standing with a pair of shears or a knife, cutting off whatever hair was in her way, made him smile.
Her heart-shaped face was ordinary, her cheekbones high, her skin pale. Her nose was straight, her lips full. She wasn’t beautiful by any means, but for some reason his heart beat faster just watching her.
There was something about her.
Cocking his head to one side, he studied her. He knew she was smart and tenacious. She’d been tracking him for weeks, picking up his trail again days after she’d lost him. He was curious as to how she’d managed that. He was very good at evading, but she seemed to always be on his tail.