Snared by Saber

Something woke Eva. An out-of-place noise. A faint rustle. A footfall?

She sat up in bed, eyes straining to pierce the darkness of their chalet.

“Casey?”

Casey didn’t answer.

“C-Casey?” Although she aimed for a firm timbre, her voice emerged coated with fear because her gut was screaming something was wrong. Casey was a light sleeper. Why wasn’t she answering?

A prickling sensation crawled up her spine while her gaze roved the darkness, searching, searching, searching, as senses honed from growing up on the streets worked overtime.

Someone, something was in their chalet.

“Casey, are you there?” Her friend hadn’t been sleeping well during the two solar days they’d been at the resort and sometimes went for a walk along the beach. Maybe that was it. She’d woken just as Casey was leaving. She listened for an instant longer and heard nothing. Slowly, she willed her body to relax, her breathing to return to normal.

A black shape leaped at her without warning. She screamed, scrambled back, away. A hand slapped over her mouth. Another pushed her flat to the mattress. Memories rose like a specter, tossed her into a thick pool of fear.

“Keep still. I’m not going to hurt you,” a masculine voice growled against her ear.

Her breath seesawed in and out. A shudder went through her. He wasn’t going to get her again. He wasn’t.

She was stronger now. More capable.

She let her body go limp, waited for her captor to relax…

Then kicked, connecting with hard muscle.

“Fuck,” he snarled and grabbed her roughly.

With a screech, she sank her teeth into his arm and bit down until blood flowed into her mouth. He bellowed, flinging her away. She was up and racing for the door before he could seize her again.

“Oomph!” She blundered into a low table, bashing her shins. The table skidded across the tiles, signaling her location.

Escape. She had to get to the door. Run to the next chalet for help. Find Casey. Frantic, Eva hugged the wall and slid toward the door, her gaze darting to and fro, trying to locate the man in the darkness.

He’d felt big, muscular, but he stalked like a predator, so silent. A tremble rippled through her body, her skin prickled, hair at the back of her neck lifted with foreboding.

Damn it. Where’s Casey?

A hell of a time for her to do a moonlight flit.

Eva inched farther along the wall, trying to picture the chalet interior in her mind. She reached out, hit the door handle.

“Got you,” a man whispered.

Eva yelped and she ducked her head to bite again. Her captor grunted, grasped her firmly and tossed her back on the sleep-bed.

No surrender! No capitulation without a fight. She wielded her elbows, aiming for his ribs.

“Fuck it. Stop fighting.” He cursed a colorful streak, snatched her again, fingers biting into her arms.

Strong. Too strong.

Gods, it was happening again…

“Let me go. Please, let me go and I won’t tell anyone.” Her voice scarcely recognizable, she gulped, frantic for air. His hands shifted, grazed her breast. She lashed out with her fist, wriggled, kicked, sobbed. “No. No, no, no!”

“Fuck.” The man’s grip tightened and he twisted what felt like rope around her wrists.

“No!” Panting, she lashed out with her feet. “Please don’t do this.” Terror crawled over her. Her pulse thundered in her ears. Fast. Choppy. She lashed out again and almost wriggled free. “No, let me go! Please, please. Don’t hurt me!”

She backed up on the sleep-bed, toppled off the mattress, hit the floor with a spine-jarring thump. Unable to break her fall, her head struck the tiles. Pain speared through her skull, stunning her for an instant.

He was on her in a trice, his weight pressing her down before she could gather her addled wits.

She felt a cloth pressed against her nose. Pungent and unpleasant, the scent brought tears to her eyes. Couldn’t get away. Couldn’t hold her breath. Stark panic loomed then, but it was too late. Had to breathe.

She slumped, edges of black sliding over her vision.

Lights out.

Nobody home.

“You done?” Saber’s voice ripped through the darkness. His nostrils flared and he stiffened. “Who’s bleeding?”

“She bit me,” Felix said in an aggrieved tone.

Unexpectedly, a laugh escaped Saber. He flicked on the light and saw his brother sitting on the floor with the unconscious woman. She was bleeding too. “You hurt her. I told you not to hurt her!” For an unexpected second, Saber wanted to rip the scantily clad woman from his brother’s arms, cradle her protectively in his own.

Sweet baby Jesus, he had to get past his…his…infatuation with this woman.
He didn’t want another woman, didn’t need one after Lori.

He clenched his hands into fists, the prick of claws bleeding through the tops of his fingertips shocking him even more. What the fuck?

“I didn’t do anything. All I did was hold her so she wouldn’t hurt herself. Why is she bleeding?” Felix asked in alarm upon seeing the woman’s head. He brushed aside her blonde hair and probed the wound. “Honestly, I didn’t hit her when she bit me. I heard a thump. She must’ve hit her head when she fell off the sleep-bed.”

“Bring her. We’ll treat her injuries on the way. Hurry before we attract attention.” Saber waited until Felix picked up the woman and carried her from the room before he flicked off the light. He tried not to notice the generous swell of her breasts as Felix passed. He tried not to notice the length of her bare legs beneath the bit of pale-blue silk she was wearing.

He tried to focus on Lori, the woman he’d loved and lost.

He failed on all three counts.

“She’s okay,” Felix said when Saber joined him at the rear of the vehicle. “The bleeding has already stopped. I’ve sprayed the area with anti-infection serum.” He strapped her into the rear of the vehicle, checked her pulse and nodded. “I’ll stay with her, just to make sure the bleeding doesn’t restart.”

Saber gave a clipped nod and closed the rear door for his brother. He jogged around to the cockpit and strapped in, trying to get past his rush of guilt.
No choice.

Saber started the shuttle, and moments later, when they were clear of the resort, he hit vertical climb and punched in the coordinates for the camp. Instead of setting the vehicle to automatic pilot, he operated it in manual, needing something to concentrate on other than his zigzagging thoughts. He’d failed Lori, but he wouldn’t fail everyone else who depended on him.

By the time they reached the captive camp on the far boundary of their land, daylight had broken. Saber landed the vehicle and powered down. He opened his door and leaped out, the tweet and chirp of birds and insects an assault against his ears. The vivid flora on this island attracted bugs and beasties by the truckload. They seemed to thrive in the fragrant tropical heat.

Saber wiped the sweat from his forehead and strode to the rear of the vehicle. He hoped his family thrived too.

“How is she?” Saber’s eyes went right to the woman, her pale face and her loose golden hair.

“Still sleeping due to the sedative on the medi-cloth,” Felix said. “I’ll wait around until she gains consciousness.”

Leo appeared, with Joe and Sly trailing him.

Saber scowled. “How is the other woman?”

Leo lifted his hands in surrender. “Whatever the problem is—I didn’t do it.”

“Not guilty,” Sly and Joe chorused.

Felix carried the woman past Saber. A low growl built in Saber’s throat when he noticed Sly and Joe’s undisguised interest, their gazes lingering on the woman’s legs and breasts. The warning rumble escaped before he could halt it.

What was wrong with him today?