Read Renegade (The Captive Series Book 2) for Free Online

palace. The cane clicked off the floor,
but it was Keegan that always alerted him to any new obstacle that
may have been placed in the way. With a subtle pressure against his
leg Keegan could steer him easily one way or the other.
    Braith made his way swiftly down to the
stage that held the future blood slaves. He looked it slowly over,
but he saw nothing. There was no glowing light upon it, no
redheaded girl staring in horror and fear at the crowd. He had been
shocked into immobility at the sight of Arianna, unable to move,
unable to believe that he could actually see anything again, let
alone the frightened, dirty, bedraggled girl that was everything he
had ever disliked about a woman.
    She was not round, she was not
voluptuous, she smelled far from decent, and yet he had seen her.
She was the first thing he had witnesses in over a hundred years.
And slowly, over the time he spent with her, she had become
infinitely beautiful to him. Yes she was defiant, harsh, far too
skinny for his taste, and not beautiful in the classical sense but
she was also strong, sweet, innocent, and unbelievably wonderful.
He had come to care greatly for her, until he had realized that it
was all a lie. That she was in fact none of those things, and was
instead a cunning, manipulative shrew.
    He looked over the stage once more, but
still nothing popped out at him. No other women appeared to him, no
one else gave him sight again. “Is there anyone up there that could
be her family?”
    Caleb was silent for a few moments.
“Not that I can see. I’m going to grab a few of them, I’m sure
they’ll eventually tell us more. And if they don’t,” Braith heard
Caleb’s shrug of indifference. “I will enjoy trying to make them
talk.”
    Braith stood silently, listening as
blood slaves were brought forth and auctioned off. Caleb claimed
four of them. Braith briefly contemplated taking a few more of his
own, but decided against it. He had enough for now.
    He turned away, if there was anything
to learn, Caleb would do it. He made his way back toward the
palace, wondering where Jericho had been during the raid, wondering
who it was that she had been with. Another man? Just how many damn
men did she have in her life? He tried to tell himself that he
didn’t care about the answer to that question, but he knew he did.
He could not deny it. The bitch had betrayed him, and now she was
running free, wrapping even more men around her devious finger in
order to get them to do whatever she wanted them to. He hated her
for making him one of those men.
    He made his way easily through the
crowd, his mind churning; anger simmered hotly inside of him. He
needed a new plan. He couldn’t simply sit here and allow her to get
away with everything that she had done. He could not allow his
brother, the youngest, to be sitting amongst the humans, laughing
about how he had managed to deceive his eldest brother, and his
family.
    Braith had made the decision to let
them be, he was now beginning to rethink that decision. They should
pay for what they had done, and he could make them do that. They
may be able to avoid his men, but they could not avoid
him.
    Especially not her.

    ***

    Rain dripped softly onto the makeshift
tent. The piece of canvas offered little protection against the
elements, but Aria didn’t care. The air smelled wonderful, it was
freeing after all the time in the caves. It helped to ease the
sense of claustrophobia that still clung to her, but it did little
to wash away the lingering screams that had woken her every night
for the past week.
    She could retreat to the shelter and
warmth of the caves, but she knew that she would not. She couldn’t
bring herself to go back in them now, if ever. So instead she sat
in silence, listening to the plop of the water upon the tent. Max
and William sat beside her; they had been her constant companions
since the night of the raid. William would wander out once in
awhile to gather food but Max would not leave her be,