Prideful Savage (A Warrior's Redemption #1) - Miranda Bridges Page 0,14
my idiotic behavior.
“Let me see what I can do,” he says. After letting go of my hand, he crouches in front of me and reaches for my leg.
A little part of me dies inside. There’s ale that’s been added to the dirt and grime already present on the tops of my feet, making them sticky as well as gross. I may not be hunting for a husband, but no woman in her right mind would be comfortable with a gorgeous male holding her dirty foot. Actually, given the way I look right now, embarrassment is an inadequate word.
But it doesn’t matter because I’ll never see Bravik again.
I back up a step and shake my head, unable to voice my shame aloud. His smirk disappears and is replaced with a look of determination mixed with irritation. He snakes out his hand and takes hold of my leg, just above my ankle. Then he slides his fingers down my skin until they circle the anklet. That’s about the time I steel my spine against the shivers wanting to course through me at his touch.
“Don’t move.”
That’s the only warning I get from him.
I bite the inside of my cheek when heat flows from his hand and directly onto the tracker. As though his palm has become a furnace, Bravik melts the alloy, cleaving straight through it. The metal burns against my ankle, but I stay silent and motionless. My eyes fill with tears when my flesh throbs with pain, and just as I’m about to cry out for him to stop, the device falls to the ground with a metallic clang.
Bravik picks up the tracker and looks at me, drawing my gaze to his. He holds the broken gadget like it’s a trophy, and the message is clear. “You were saying?”
I glance from the anklet to him and back. He’s removed every excuse I have to stay behind, and as much as I want to make sure Niya is all right, I have a mission that needs to be completed.
Thousands of human lives depend on it.
This group of Incarus may not be trustworthy, but I swore an oath to do everything in my power to support the rebellion. If that means taking a chance on these strangers, then I have to try. At this point, it’s better to move forward than stay Emji’s prisoner.
And my former owner is one eye twitch away from combusting with anger.
Ezarith doesn’t take his gaze off Emji, but he tilts his head from side to side, cracking his neck while balling his hands into fists. “Vik, it’s time to go…”
Bravik stands erect and tosses aside the anklet. “You are quite right.”
And that is the only warning I get. Again.
From one blink to the next, he snatches me to him and lifts me into his arms. I suck in a breath to say something, anything, about how my legs and feet, although disgusting, are fully functioning. But I never get the chance.
He sprints from the cantina at a breakneck speed that dries my eyes and makes them water. I wipe away the tears just in time to lock gazes with Niya over Bravik’s shoulder. She gives me a wave and blinks once, but it’s very slow, which means it’s a wink. My eyes water again, and this time it’s due to emotion. I give her a wink in return and just hope it’s enough to communicate how grateful I’ve been to have her as a friend. I’ll never forget her kindness.
“Varyx, move your ass!” Ezarith’s voice has me jolting in Bravik’s arms. “We are on a timer.”
The Incarus male, who was unnamed before, takes a position to my left. “Aren’t you just full of humor tonight?” Varyx asks, his tone sarcastic. “You don’t have to worry about me because I’ll beat you back to the ship even though you had a head start.”
Ezarith grins and shows no sign of being winded or tired despite the fact we’re all running at a high speed. Well, they are. I’m just along for the ride.
“I’m fucking hilarious,” Ezarith says. “And will put your speed to shame just like I do your stamina.”
The two males race off like children playing tag, zigzagging through the back alleyways of the small rundown city. Kalach runs alongside us now that Ezarith is gone, and I swear I don’t make out a single footfall from him. He is very quiet for such a large male.
I was squinting before to keep my eyes from drying out, but at