Read Tara for Free Online Page B

barely heard him moving.
    It was impressive.
    He’d also trusted her to stay still. Dumb, or maybe she was already making an impression. Tara leaned against the wall and listened to the nothing. If he wasn’t the one laying the claim, he was going to take her to whoever wanted her badly enough to kill off the household. She hated new masters. New rules to learn, a new personality to figure out, a new person to be. Hard to be perfect when you didn’t know what they even wanted. And they always wanted to hurt you for it. For not being whatever they had pictured in their head.
    “Tara!” A voice hissed off to her left and she turned. It was one of the security detail, Tony, and he had his gun out, pointed down at the floor. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Sebastien’s body at her feet.
    Time to look terrified, Tara .
    She caved her shoulders forward and the tears came on command. He waved her over and she stayed right where she was. With wide eyes, she shoved her hands into her hair and let out a quiet sob. Gianni and his men had already lost, they just didn’t know it yet. She wondered if Tony even knew Gianni was dead. Either way, she couldn’t go with him, the Brit with the gun was her best bet, and he at least wanted her. Gianni had sold her. Bastard .
    She heard Tony curse and stomp towards her. Good, predictable man. Damsel in distress over here! Time to come save the day.
    “Tara-” he hissed as he moved closer, stepping over Sebastien’s body to grab her arm. Off balance and just where she needed him. Grabbing the chamber of the gun she bent it up and his hand twisted sharply, he started to shout and she threw the gun to the side. Covering his mouth with one hand she pulled him forward towards her, driving her knee up into his stomach so he’d bend over, and then it only took a sharp yank of his chin towards the ceiling.
    Snap .
    Dropping him to the floor she felt herself thaw a little on the inside, her body and her mind working in perfect sync. For a moment she was Faeoihn again, a daughter of Eltera, a warrior. The smile that spread across her face was finally real, because she felt real in that moment for the first time in centuries.
    I don’t want you anymore – I want someone real.
    Gianni’s words kicked her in the stomach and overwhelmed her thoughts – the chill coming back into her chest like the tide returning to the shore. She was just a commodity, she wasn’t a warrior anymore. She hadn’t been worth the blood in her veins for millennia. She felt herself pull away again, numb again, just in time to hear that British voice echo across the marble floor from the foyer, “Come on!”
    Right. It would be such a waste to kill all of these people and not have the prize.
    Stepping over the bodies she moved into the foyer on swift, silent, padding steps. The soldier was at the front door looking up the stairs and scanning the halls around them. He tugged the door open and shoved her through it and to the side, sweeping that gun left to right on the empty driveway. His hand stayed gripped around her upper arm, but he didn’t hurt her.
    “Do you know how to get the gate open?” He spoke quietly and when she looked up at him his eyes struck her again, in the streetlight they were almost the color of amber. “Hey! The gate! Do you know how to open it?”
    “The security detail always has the remote. I don’t know where it is.” She heard herself respond automatically, and he just nodded.
    “Stay here.” He took off across the open driveway and crouched in front of the gate, digging in the bag that had been on his back. He was completely unprotected except for the shadow the gate threw across him. Standing by the place where the gate joined the stone wall. He was doing something for a minute or so and then came back across to her. He put his hands on either side of her, his body almost touching hers as he leaned close to her and she pressed herself back against the house, waiting for him