Hadaen [The Marujan Brothers Series] Book One (11 page)

"
Uh uh
!" The soldier clicked his
tongue. "Let's just get to know each other for minute
here."

Hadaen exchanged glances with his
brother. "Take Esyth and go."

"I'm not leaving!" Gideon grounded
out. "Let's kill this bastard."

"Cocky family, aren't you?" the
soldier cackled. "It's a shame, really."

Hadaen nodded at Gideon. "Go get the
others. I'll handle this."

His youngest brother let out a sharp
hiss before he grabbed on to Esyth and sped up towards the
mountains.

"Charming display," Hadaen heard the
enemy say. "The name's Xavier, by the way." He then brushed his
rough face against Amelia's neckline. "Beautiful bitch you have
here..."

"Let her go, dammit! Your fight is
with me..."

"Don't know...," he continued. "Maybe
I should sample her first."

"Not unless I'm dead and rotting in
the deepest trenches of hell."

Amelia's gaze held his strongly at
that point, her eyes slightly damp with unshed tears. Her left hand
gripped the enemy's tightly where he held the knife at her
throat.

I'm
sorry
. Her thought drifted into his head
like a silky lullaby. His heartbeat raced. She had trusted him with
her mind. If that didn't give him all the strength he needed, he
didn't know what would.

"Don't be making wishes too soon,"
Xavier taunted. "Perhaps I could let her join you in your trenches
after I savour her sweet Marujan body. It's not like I haven't done
it before."

The fire blazed in Hadaen's eyes. The
man saw it, no doubt the reason he flinched.

"Move one inch and the girl loses her
head," Xavier yelled, yanking Amelia's head back by her
hair.

Hadaen centered his mana and worked on
invading the man's mind. He smiled at his own success when Xavier's
hand unwounded from Amelia's neck reluctantly. It was obvious he
was fighting it. But Hadaen was far stronger. Xavier's frightened
glare connected with his at that point.

The man knew his loss.

Hadaen knew just the right time to
make his attack. Releasing a deep growl, he broke off in a rapid
pace, the heat of his energy scorching whatever came in contact
with it. In a second he had Xavier by the throat, his other fist
ripping through the man's abdomen like a spear.

Amelia broke free and held her hand up
to her throat, breathing hard. Xavier's eyes widened, bloodshot and
pulpy before he fell to his knees, his bowels falling in a sticky
mess on the ground.

Hadaen heard Amelia gag twice before
her scream rang like a siren in his ears.

"You're bleeding!"

Hadaen shifted his footing and it was
then that he felt the pain in his gut. He looked down to see
Xavier's knife wedged in his flesh. And then everything else became
a haze. He knew he'd heal and even as he felt himself falling
heavily to the ground,

he never took his gaze from the
expression that rode her beautiful face.

She cared.

Chapter Eight

T
he light from the lanterns brightly illuminated the interior
of her tent. The Hub of Lensai was not what she had expected it to
be. Rows of white temporary tents scattered across a tiny valley
surrounded, protected by mean yet gently sloping hills. Above that
stood the high peak of Mount Lensai.

Amelia stared down at her entwined
fingers which lay in the lap of her crossed legs. She wondered if
he was awake yet. It was far past sunset; she supposed Hadaen had
been unconscious for far too long. She hadn't seen the sweet gray
of his eyes...or heard the deep timbre of his voice since hours
before. Since he had fallen, limp and lifeless before her very
eyes. Hadaen Maruj had been stabbed in the abdomen all because of
his need to protect her, to save her.

Only a couple minutes later had Gideon
returned with a few of the other protectors. They had bowed to her
and she still could not understand why. At that point all her
concern had been stemmed on seeing Hadaen well and better again.
Esyth had assured her that he would heal, that he would awake after
a well-earned rest without even the faintest of scars.

Amelia had begged her to swear on it;
and she had.

When they had first arrived at the
Hub, Esyth had none but yanked her off to introduce to every single
occupant of the village; the grayest of heads to the tiniest of
babes. It hadn't taken Amelia long to realize that the woman had
only intended on distracting her from the crowd of elders who
entered Hadaen's tent while he 'healed'.

She knew he was alright; she had been
told time and time again that he would recover naturally. But she
could not help but be concerned. So, for that sake, she had gone
through the next few hours staring down at her hands as if she'd
never seen them before.

Amelia cursed herself a fool for never
appreciating him since recuperating from her amnesia. After all, he
had somewhat sought to protect her. Hadn't he? Trust him; that was
a whole different alley altogether. And if she were ever capable of
that, how long it would take to put aside the events of the past
was like a puzzle to her. All Amelia knew at that point was that
she needed to see him. Guilt was never an emotion she could deal
with. She would express her gratitude for his protection; his
sacrifice.

And then she'd walk away.

A slender shadow moved outside along
the side of her tent. Amelia gathered her wits quickly, pouring
herself a cup of water to pass off as being somewhat pre-occupied.
For she knew the worry on her face would be as plain as
daylight.

"How are you feeling?" Esyth asked,
after moving aside the flap and striding to sit next to
her.

"Slightly sick to my stomach." She
couldn't forget how the Xavier man's guts had spilled out at her
feet. It took damn balls to rip a man's guts out. She gulped down
the crystal liquid. How could something of no flavour at all taste
so damn good? "And a bit tired."

Esyth nodded her understanding. "You
should be. After what we all dealt with today, we deserve a
vacation." Amelia chuckled. "Look... I never got the chance to
explain why I never told you that I was your protector
before."

Shaking her head and gently bumping
her by the shoulder, Amelia smiled. "It's alright. If you had told
me, I'd probably have told you to go hang yourself. The mortal mind
is one hell of a thing."

"You always did have a temper growing
up as a mortal child..."

Amelia looked Esyth in the eye. "Do
protectors age because you--"

"--look fresh and young and green?"
she giggled.

Amelia was surprised when a bubble of
laughter spurted from her own mouth. She could tell that Esyth was
being humorous on purpose, obviously in an attempt to dismiss her
dismal mood. "Yes, that."

"Well, it all depends in the age at
which The First decides you are ready and full-deserving of the
power. We now strive to live up to expectations from a tender age.
The older folks are mostly healers since they are less capable for
combat if the occasion arises."

Amelia drained the rest of the water
from the vessel. The First certainly had a strict system. She did
not quite understand how she was selected. Why she was
the

Daughter of Liberty.

She scarcely even knew what the term
meant.

"Who exactly is the Daughter of
Liberty?"

Esyth stared at the steady flame
burning in the lantern for a while. When she finally locked gazes
with Amelia, her eyes held a spark that was never there
before.

"She is the beholder of freedom; the
issuer of true redemption. The destined mate of the holder of the
beacon."

Destined? Mate? Amelia jumped at the
sound of the words. She frowned confusedly and glanced at Esyth.
But the woman's face was blanker than the fabric of the tent.
Devoid of all emotion.

"What do you mean? Mate for whom? And
what beacon?"

Esyth smiled slowly and rose to her
feet. It was obvious she knew something that Amelia didn't. "You'll
figure it out when the time is right." She then nodded and moved
towards the flap of the tent. "Oh. What I had really come for was
to inform you that Lord Hadaen is awake. I thought you would have
liked to know."

And then she disappeared, leaving
Amelia to detangle her own web of thoughts. It took her quite a
while to fully realize and comprehend what Esyth had last
said.

Hadaen was finally awake.

* * *

"
W
here is she?"

Hadaen lounged against the pillows as
he stretched his full length along the blankets of the makeshift
bed. It was far more comfortable than it appeared to be. His tent
was large enough to suit him; high enough to prevent him from
bending his neck if he needed to move about.

Gideon had informed him that he'd been
unconscious for six and a half hours. It had never taken him even
close as so long to recuperate before; a matter of minutes was the
normal. But the healers who had been with him a couple minutes ago
had assured him it was quite natural. His body was merely fatigued
and needed rest.

Seven centuries worth of rest. At
least he managed to cramp it all in a few hours' sleep.

"She's fine as far as I've heard from
Esyth," his brother replied, tossing an apple up and down in his
hand before biting into it with a crunch. "She's been locked away
in her tent ever since we brought you here. Been rejecting all
company."

Hadaen frowned and stared up at the
ceiling of the tent. "I saw the look on her face when she realized
I'd been stabbed. She was horrified."

"Yup, the woman's got it bad for you."
Leave it up to Gideon to put things right out there.

He chuckled and knotted his fingers
beneath his head. "It'd feel a whole damn lot nicer if she'd admit
it, trust me."

"Yeah," Gideon grinned, his mouth
full. "Women love being rescued, you know. They can't help it.
Makes them feel all grateful afterwards."

Hadaen smiled to himself. He knew his
brother was right. Hell, he'd saved a few damsels before back in
Maruj. And they were damn well grateful; his cock could testify to
that. And boy did he love where his thoughts were trailing to at
the moment; Amelia wet and naked in his arms, those long sexy legs
wrapped tight around his waist as he--

Then he shot up straight at that
moment, his cock pulsing with need. "Am I that much of an asshole?
I refuse to believe it."

Gideon paused in his chewing, his
eyelids drooped and slightly hooded. He was apparently giving him
the 'dumb' look. Then he burst into a fit of laughter. Hadaen
scowled and sank back down to the blankets. His brother sounded
like a damn fool!

"Okay, I'm sorry," Gideon muttered,
catching his breath but obviously straining from holding back the
laugh. "Wasn't expecting that one at all."

"Get out."

He quickly sobered up. "Come on! We're
flesh and blood here. You're not going to throw me out of your
tent." But the grin was right there hidden in his eyes.

"I'm giving you three seconds, Gideon.
Or I'll throw you out my fucking self!"

"All right! Damn..." He pushed himself
up to his feet and mumbled his way out the tent. "I swear, you've
got no sense of humour."

A
sshole. The word echoed through his head as Hadaen tried to
still his racing hormones. His cock was as hard as an iron rod. If
he didn't find something warm and wet by the end of the night to
bury his swollen member in, he'd die for sure.

Shifting, he widened his thighs a bit
as the painful throbbing threatened to rip him apart. Sweat beaded
his forehead, trickled down his temples. Why didn't he want another
woman but her? Amelia Kunar was destined to drive him off the plain
of sanity and into fucking dementia. And there was no kidding about
it. He couldn't describe the emotions he felt for her; the feelings
that shook him to the core whenever he laid eyes on her. It was all
too much to take in. The simplest way possible that he could
explain it all was that he wanted her. Needed her.

Hadaen closed his eyes as he allowed
the sweet lavender scent of her to wash over him. He pictured her
smile; the delicious curve of her lips, the innocently sultry beam
in her eyes. Amelia was all woman; pure loveliness straight down to
the detailed slopes of her slender curves. She wasn't skinny. Just
slim enough to entice the advances of any man who was in his good
senses. He wondered if she knew just how beautiful she
was.

Utterly breathtaking.

And he'd protect her with his life.
He'd stand as a shield before her until Deorci’s burnt remains blew
with the wind. For eternity.

Hadaen's eyes flew wide open and he
tossed a blanket over himself to conceal his straining his shaft.
He could sense her coming from miles away if he wanted to. He
allowed his gaze to follow her shadow as she approached his tent.
He swallowed. He'd never before felt so stupidly anxious in his
life.