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“Well, what the fuck took you so long? I have been down here waiting for thirty minutes,” I shot back.
Liam reached behind him and grabbed a satchel off his shoulder. “I had to get this for Kaia,” he informed us, handing it over.
One hand holding tight to her wrists, I grabbed the bag for her with the other, shoving it into her bound hands. I ignored how bad of an idea touching her was, choosing not to let go of her yet. “Well, how important could it be that you risked this entire mission?”
He looked at Kaia, answering, “Very,” just as the door to the room swung open, letting in fucking Ralph.
I don’t care what it looked like when he walked in— me holding Kaia to my chest and Liam inside the room instead of out in the hall guarding the door as he claimed he would be. I turned and punched the fucker as hard as I could in the face with the hand not holding tight to Kaia’s wrists. No hesitation. He went down hard. Instantly, lights out.
My anger was not appeased with one blow. That man was responsible for her. She had more injuries than I’d seen on her hours ago, despite the king's demand that she not be touched. She was in his charge. Whether the fucker laid his hands on her or not, he was responsible for protecting her, and he didn’t. He deserved more hits than I had time to deliver.
What scared me was the lengths I knew I would be willing to go to protect her. It was a soul-deep need, no matter the consequences. And I knew that need would only grow now that I had allowed myself back into her life. I had pushed her away, but that was no longer an option.
Kaia stared up at me slack-jawed, entirely still. Everything about her was still screaming her pain, but my actions seemed to have lessened it some, at least temporarily. She had a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips and amusement in her eyes. There she was.
I have always been protective of Kaia. She was always around. We may not have been as close anymore, but she was always like a little sister to me— until she wasn’t. The few times I was willing to grace her with my attention in recent years, my authority and self-assurance left her weak and awed. She practically screamed it at me. It drove me crazy. Plus, Liam was infatuated with her. It felt wrong to steal her attention.
I never outgrew the need to protect her, shelter her. I would have always come to her aid if she needed me, even when she thought I wouldn’t. Helping would have been easy; resisting the urge to protect her was much more complicated.
“I’ve always wanted to hit that fucker,” I hedged, letting Kaia know the punch was not for her but for me.
I stepped back, releasing her before I wanted to. Reaching into Ralph's pocket, I retrieved the manacles key and freed Kaia’s wrists, pocketing the key.
My eyes scanned her one last time before I turned to secure Ralph to the table using the manacles I’d just removed, his body left to hang on the floor. I sent a swift kick to his face as I turned back to Liam and Kaia, hoping it left a boot print on his cheek to match the one on her ribs. If I had more time, I’d find out everything he had done to Kaia and return the treatment tenfold.
Liam was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Fuck him.
“Now he won’t wake up,” I informed them as I walked over.
The way Kaia was looking at me was too close to the way she used to look at me, and I did not like it. Her thankful eyes were humbling. The amusement reminded me of old times, and I hated that. Worse, she’d stepped slightly into me.
I looked away from her with a scowl, took half a step back, and let my anger take back over.
“Liam, you were supposed to be the lookout. Ensure he didn’t come back. Yet, you’re in here wasting time we don’t have. If he wasn’t alone, we’d have been in trouble. You should have given us a warning.”
“I’m sorry,” Liam said, gesturing for the older man to proceed him out of the room. “I needed to see her.”
I glared at Liam’s retreating back as he left. “Hopefully, everyone else is in place and didn't decide to completely disregard my directions.”
I took Kaia’s hand. I would keep her close until we were free and clear. She didn’t fight me, looking up at me with a shocked expression. Fuck me. I grumbled and tugged her towards the door.
This whole operation was off course, but still salvageable if we got moving.
I would take Kaia and make sure she was somewhere safe and protected, as I should have done the day they executed her father. This was a promise I had made to not only her father but to myself, as well. She was in this cell because of me, and no one could protect her the way I could. She would become my number one responsibility. That was a promise as well.
Chapter5
Kaia
Elijah Ashton’s magnificence always staggered me.
I looked up to him in practically every way when I was a child. He was strong and confident, intelligent and handsome, and everything a man should be. He was my Ash. He had always left me dazed.
He was six years older than me. To him, I was a child. His kid brother’s bothersome little friend who asked too many questions and followed him around. I loved to watch Elijah interact with his friends. They seemed to have so much fun. I also loved to watch him train. He was impressive.
During my teenage years, I no longer studied his skills. I did, but I also appreciated how his physique moved beneath his black uniform. He was much larger than any kids I had ever interacted with. It was impossible to miss. I was awed.
Then he would open his mouth or react in any way to my very presence, and I was reminded that he was such anasshole.
