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We were strong, and we’d been in many battles where we’d been overwhelmed by the enemy, either in numbers or in strength. Using what we knew about battle tactics, we’d retreated to a nearby clearing that functioned like a bottleneck, where the trees and brush were so thick that Nix’s men could only approach us through a very small number of directions. It had broken down the hundred men he’d brought with him, funneling them into a much smaller, more manageable number coming at us at one time.
The battle had been one of the bloodiest we’d ever fought together.
I’d used my knife in close hand combat and led the four of us to victory. Zane had been by my side, while Caleb and Valdus had used their guns from the backline. The results to the enemy had been devastating. The ground had grown slick with their blood. I suffered a number of cuts and bruises, same as my men, but we were strong, and we were smart.
Eventually, we had to move because the number of bodies was getting too thick to fight through. We climbed up into the trees and took down the rest from above.
We knew how to fight while Nix’s army didn’t. They’d probably never even seen a battlefield like this before. I knew the Vakarran army was a formidable foe, but this group of men was not representative of it.
Once we’d devastated their numbers, they ran around like toddlers, trying to figure out how to come together and form a plan. At that point, it became a simple matter to take the rest of them down.
It had taken several hours to finish the battle, leaving the four of us as the last ones standing. It had fallen dark and the four of us rushed to find out where Nix went. We couldn’t find a trace of him, leaving all of us roaring with frustration. We had looked for Kaela for days but had found no signs of her, Nix, or any more of his men.
I knew the chances of finding him and Kaela were slim, that he was probably long gone with her by now. He likely had a small Vakarran spaceship in his vicinity and he’d disappeared.
We’d assumed he’d take her to the ISS Starrider, back into space and far from us. It killed me to know that Kaela was in his custody and there was little we could do about it now. He’d probably hurt her badly, probably kill her too.
Days past and eventually, we had to swallow our sorrows and return to the war.
We thought we’d lost her forever and were on our way back to the Resistance to deliver the terrible news. Alaina and Danika were going to be devastated at her loss and we were prepared to devote ourselves to them in return for their loss. Never had we thought we’d find Kaela running around naked on the streets of Atlanta, but here we were.
The sounds of vehicles flying through the air murmured in the silence of the night and I stiffened. Kaela did too.
“We have to get off the streets. Now. We don’t have time to make it to the central hub, so we’re going to have to hide out in one of the buildings here until morning,” Zane said, his voice low, his gaze wary as he assessed our surroundings.
Valdus lifted his head and looked around, scanning for signs of the enemy, before pointing at an extravagant building nearby.
“That one. Let’s go there. It looks like an old hotel of some sort and we can take over one of the floors. Easy to secure. Easy to guard,” Valdus replied in a hushed tone. I scanned the opulent structure, noticing gold filigree peeking through the wild green vines climbing the walls. It looked as good a shelter as any.
“Good. Kaela looks like she needs rest,” Caleb said, and I admired the conviction in his tone. He wasn’t one to stand up to me often, but he needn’t worry because on this point, I agreed with him wholeheartedly. Kaela needed rest. And food. She looked dangerously dehydrated. She felt fragile in my arms and I could tell she’d lost several pounds since I’d last seen her.
If I wanted to kill Nix before for what he’d done to us and my mother, now I wanted to mutilate him before I killed him myself.
No one put a hand on my woman and lived to tell about it.
Fucking no one.
I lifted Kaela off the ground and flinched when I saw the state of her feet. Scratched and bloody, it appeared that she’d run over the remains of Atlanta in nothing but bare feet. I held her to my chest, wanting to take her pain away. She didn’t fight me and that’s when I realized she’d passed out from exhaustion in my arms. My face fell when I realized exactly how much of a toll these past few days had taken on her.
Quickly, we ventured into the hotel, taking care to barricade the entryway door before we ascended several flights of stairs. We settled on taking camp on the sixth floor.
Zane kicked in the door to the presidential suite and we all en
tered together. Valdus and Caleb did their best to block that entry too. If we were followed, Nix’s men would have to break through several barricades before they found us.
I laid Kaela down on the dining room table while Zane pulled out his medical kit. Slowly, we worked to heal all her scrapes and cuts, taking special care with her poor feet. Caleb and Valdus gathered towels and washcloths, and slowly washed the dirt and grime from her skin as much as they could, unearthing more cuts and bruises in the meantime. When we were done, we just let her rest. She slept for a fair amount of time. When she woke, she’d need to eat.
We had some nutritional pellets that I’d make sure to give her, but that wouldn’t be enough. Leaving the others to guard her, I went out, looking to gather anything the hotel might have left in its stores. There were some nonperishable canned food items in a pantry, along with some likely very stale crackers. I found a rather impressive wine cellar in the basement too.
I gathered up what I could and brought it up to the suite.
Kaela was awake when I’d returned and was chatting quietly with the others. I spread out the food I’d gathered on the table and gave her a flask of water.
“Come. You need nourishment and I won’t take no for an answer,” I demanded. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight me. When she rose to her feet and walked without flinching, I sighed with relief. I heard her stomach growl as she took in the sights of the food I had gathered. I handed her one of the nutritional pellets first.
“These don’t have much taste, but you need them. Did Nix feed you anything at all?” I asked gently, trying to hide my disgust for the man, and she shook her head.
My fury was almost uncontainable to learn what I had feared. I swung around and lashed out at a nearby wall, easily cracking the sheet rock from my strength.
