AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
Tearing my eyes away from hers, I look down at Brantham. He is no longer resisting me, but I dare not let him rise.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him before I punch him so hard he loses consciousness. “We need to find some rope to tie him up,” I say to Mira.
“I have some here,” she replies with a weak laugh, indicating her bound wrists.
I look at the mess the ropes have made of her skin. There are deep red welts where the abrasive ropes have dug in, andthere are also several gashes where she has attempted to release herself.
For a moment, I am tempted to finish the job and kill him. But somehow I manage to contain my fury. Mira needs me.
Carefully I untie her, my heart is breaking for the damage they have done to her.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing that won’t heal,” she tells me as if reading my mind.
I leave her rubbing the life back into her wrists as I carefully bind the rebels hand and foot, both the one that I knocked out at the start of the fight and the one I took out at the end. The third one is still tied up to the tree outside.
I may be allowing them to live, but I will not allow them to escape justice. Only one managed to flee, and I’ll have to hope that, with the rest of his team out of order, perhaps he’ll reconsider the merits of this lifestyle.
Mira staggers to her feet and nearly falls back down. The ordeal has evidently taken it out of her. I need to get her home and patched up.
“Come here,” I tell her and swing her into my arms.
She gratefully rests her head on my shoulder. “Thank you, my love,” she whispers in my ear.
I hold her tight and head for home. Within a few paces, I feel her body relax, and she falls asleep in my arms.
As I walk through the night carrying my precious cargo, I recall the times we’ve been together. I’ve been such an ass. I have fought against the most amazing and wonderful thing that has ever happened in my entire life because I didn’t want to end up like my parents.
It hits me that my unwillingness to be fully open and honest with her was probably the one thing that would have made our relationship most like my parents. Ironic, that my fear of lettingher in completely was nearly self-fulfilling and would have created the very thing I feared.
By the time we get back to her apartment, I am resolved.
I hate to wake her from her delicious slumber in my arms, but I have to open the door and she has the key in her pocket.
“Oh, yes, it’s here somewhere,” she mumbles, still half asleep.
She pulls out the keyfob, and I carry her over the threshold. Gently placing her on the sofa, I go into the kitchen to make us a hot drink.
There is something I need to do. These men need to be brought to justice, and the only person who has the right to do that is Thane Frastus.
Pulling out my comm, I call him up and give him the details. I am pleased by his reaction. He is outraged. His son has a fated mate who is human, and he will not allow the Purists to run amok in his district.
I send him the location of the barn and the names of the rebels. He says he will deal with them in the morning. A night tied up in the cold will do them good, he says.
Satisfied that the Purists will face trial, I take the hot herbal infusions made by the foodsynth to Mira. I find her sitting on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She smiles wanly as I enter.
“I called the Thane,” I tell her as I set about lighting the fire.
“Good,” she says. “I’m glad you didn’t kill them, it’s better this way.”
“I have to agree,” I tell her. “I was so mad I wasn’t thinking straight. I just wanted to stop them from ever hurting anyone again.”
“I think I was getting through to that Brantham,” she tells me. “The others wanted to kill me and have done with it. But he was at least listening to what I had to say.”
“They still kidnapped you and hurt you,” I remind her. “Don’t go feeling too much sympathy for them.”
“I know,” she says, rubbing the raw skin of her wrists.
