Page 7 of Darken
“If we could just stay the night, we would be on our way in the morning.” As Darken spoke, he looked each man in the eyes. He wasn’t afraid for himself. He had conquered many more than these men before him. But he wouldn’t do anything that would risk Gina’s safety.
“Well, sir, I don’t think Mr. Morenza would like that. I think you’d best be on your way. He doesn’t like strangers on his land,” the leader said.
“He would deny an injured female rest and water?” Darken looked at him in disbelief.
At that, the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at Darken. “You’ve been asked nicely to leave. Do we need to help you?”
It wasn’t a classic six-shooter but some kind of automatic pistol. They could shoot bullets at him all day, and it would only sting, but they could kill Gina. Darken was starting to get annoyed because this man was obviously a bully.
“And who are you to speak for Mr. Morenza?”
“I am his foreman, and he will back me up.”
Darken studied them for several seconds. “Then I guess we will leave.”
Wading from the water carrying Gina in his arms, he strode between the horses and headed north. He wouldn’t stir up trouble and put her in danger. Darken would pick a better time to educate them about the situation and his purpose.
The people in the West had been on their own for a long time. He needed to tread carefully in asserting the authority of the Enclave over the territory. Without consideration of Gina’s safety, Darken could have ended all of them with little effort.
But this wasn’t a war. His mission was to bring this territory into the fold, not start a civil war. And none of it would get in the way of taking care of his female.
As soon as he was out of sight, he ran up the steep bank and hid in some brush atop the waterfall. He sat on the ground with Gina on his lap.
She sighed and opened her eyes. “What happened? The water felt so good. Why…”
Before she could say anything else, Darken pressed his lips to hers in a slow, tender kiss. He didn’t end it until he heard the riders leave.
“Wow, what was that for?” she asked with a slight smile.
“I needed you to stop talking. And kissing you was the nicest way I could think of—and I wanted to.” He looked at her as though he couldn’t get enough, or maybe he could hardly believe she was real. “Some men from a local ranch, I’d guess, tried to run us off. They said we were trespassing. So, I left and circled back and hid here, waiting for them to leave.”
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Physically, fine, but my processors haven’t come back online yet. It’s disorienting. How do you feel?”
“Better after a bath and some water. But in this heat, my clothes are already drying.”
“Do you feel like you could eat something? I have some protein bars in the pack that are fairly palatable.”
“Yes, my head doesn’t hurt so much, and I don’t feel queasy anymore.”
Darken shrugged the backpack off his shoulder, opening it and pulling out two bars wrapped in biodegradable paper. He gave one to Gina and opened the other one for himself. She unwrapped hers and took a bite.
“Right now, this tastes wonderful. I haven’t eaten in at least twenty-four hours. I’m not even sure how long since that thug grabbed me.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“Not really,” she said, taking another bite.
“Then why was there a bruise on your cheek when I found you?”
“Oh, that. Devlin slapped me when I told him to go fuck himself. He said he would forgive me if I would get my sister Mindy to come back and be his submissive. That would never happen even if she wasn’t dead. But I’d rather let him think she doesn’t want him.”
“I can kill him for you….” Darken said entirely seriously.
Gina did a doubletake, and her mouth dropped open for a moment. “That’s a tempting offer, but the Enclave has a non-interference agreement with the eastern overlords.”
“Yes, and he broke it by having you abducted. Then they tried to kill us and destroyed the brand-new sky cycle that I brought from Phantom.” Darken growled. “That’s reason enough to kill him.”
