Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,52
crazy, wide grin. “Though you have to admit that use of the arrowhead was pretty ingenious for such short notice.” Just beyond his wide shoulder, outlined in the open door, she could see the pythile lying still in the dirt. “For a moment there, I really thought those bastards were going to get us. I—”
“Where did you think you were going with that?” He cut her off, his voice hard, his gaze locked on the spear at her feet.
Alarm whispered through her. Something wasn’t right. Caine wasn’t…right. His gaze was even harder than the first time she’d laid eyes on him.
She backed up a few steps, her ankle throbbing. “I was coming to help.”
“I told you to stay inside.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Just like I told you to stay on that cliff. Just like I told you to drop that damn arrowhead and make a run for it.”
“And leave you to fight them alone? Not likely.”
His nostrils flared. “So you thought you’d die instead?”
“I was hoping it would be neither of us.”
That only seemed to make him madder. “Hoping? Hope doesn’t get you anything but dead on this fucking planet.” He slammed the door closed. She got the distinct impression he wasn’t so much shutting everything else out as locking her in.
She took a few more steps back. “But that didn’t happen.” She spoke in the same coaxing tone she’d used with the pythile. “I’m okay. You’re okay. We both survived.”
“It’s not okay.” He started toward her, his hands fisting by his side. For the first time since he’d told her his name, she felt wary around the man who’d become her protector. “I’m supposed to keep you safe. I’m supposed to keep you alive….You want to know who Gwen was?”
Dread washed over Bella. She nodded anyway.
“She was my wife.” Pain twisted his features into a mask of anguish. “And I couldn’t keep her alive. She was stubborn and stupid and she didn’t listen to me, and she died. Murdered by a corrupt bastard because she refused to heed my warnings. Now she’s nothing but dirt while I pay penance in a hell that doesn’t even require an afterlife.”
“I’m so sorry.” Bella’s voice was little more than a whisper.
It was as if he didn’t hear her. As if old demons had taken hold and drowned out anything else.
“I’m not going to let the same thing happen with you.” He jerked a strap used for tanning meat from the table, wrapping it around one fist before pulling it taut. “I thought we settled this last time, but I guess not. I guess you need to have it driven home. I guess I’ve been too soft and let things go too far. While you’re here with me, you’re going to obey me. You’re going to get it through your pretty, stubborn head that this is a dictatorship. That I rule and you follow.” The strap cracked ominously in his hands. “You may hate me when we’re through, but if that’s what it takes to keep you alive, so be it.”
“No.” She backpedaled faster, bumping into a stool before righting herself. “You’re not thinking clearly. Whatever you’re planning on doing with that won’t solve anything.”
He kicked the stool out of his way. “It will keep you safe.”
She sprinted for the door. He caught her easily, his arm a tight band around her waist as he carried her kicking and screaming to the bed.
She landed in the middle in a tangle of limbs. She tried to use one of his fighting moves, but he subdued her easily, flipping her onto her stomach, grabbing hold of her wrists with one hand. The rough edge of the blanket pressed into her cheek. His knee a heavy weight against her spine, not hurting her, but holding her down just the same.
“I’ll never forgive you.”
“At least you’ll be alive.” He jerked her pants down her hips, leaving her ass bare. Her skin prickled.
She turned her face away, bracing for the pain. “I never knew you were a coward, but I’m glad to learn it now.”
He stilled above her. “I’m no coward.”
“You don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing?” She tugged against his grip. No give. “Five amazing days together, and now, when you think the end is near, you’re back to pushing me away so you don’t have to feel anything at all. So you don’t have to risk caring for anyone else that might leave you or die.” She bit back a sob.