Page 41 of Taken By the Soldier
“That’s the thing,” I say, striving to keep my voice calm. Don’t want to piss the guy off when he has a weapon aimed at my head. “We don’t want to be saved. We appreciate the thought, and we admire your bravery, but we’re happy here and don’t want to leave.” I force a smile, but he doesn’t return it.
“Ungrateful bitch,” he spits out. Then he grabs at me with his free hand, trying to haul me out of the bushes.
I duck down and swing my knife at his leg, and he screams when I drag the blade roughly across his calf. His blaster goes off, but he’s not aiming it at me. The red beam shoots into the air, and I roll away and finally jump to my feet.
I take off around the side of Harriet’s house, running for my life.
Oh God. Where’s Luka?
More blaster fire. It goes straight past my head and hits a nearby tree. I start running in a zig zag as I head for the woods, hoping I’ll make for a difficult target. He fires a few more times but keeps missing.
A thundering noise approaches and I nearly cry out with joy at the sight of the Zasforran trucks.
What happens next is quick but brutal.
Hundreds of men pour out of the trucks. I hear blaster fire and gunshots, but thankfully there are no more explosions. No more missiles.
“Judith! Judith!” It’s Luka. His deep voice booms over the noise of the fighting.
I peer over my shoulder just as he shoots the drunk soldier in the head. I stop running and turn to face my husband, who’s rushing up to me with a concerned expression. He grabs me and looks me up and down.
“I’m all right,” I say. “I’m not hurt.” My hands are trembling, and I drop the knife. I can’t believe I actually kept holding it until now, even as I ran away while ducking from blaster fire.
Behind him, I witness the rest of the slaughter—the Zasforrans are quick to kill the rogue American soldiers. Their bloodied bodies start to litter the ground. Most are shot in the head, though some take blaster fire to the abdomen.
Luka forces me to turn around so I can’t watch the rest of the fighting, and he uses his body to shield me from any weapons fire. After a minute, everything goes quiet, the sound of battle ceasing, and I can suddenly hear the waves gently lapping at the shore.
It’s over. Thank God, it’s over.
“I’m glad you’re all right, princess.” He kisses my forehead and peers down at me with an affectionate look that steals my breath. “I was so worried about you. If something happened to you…” His voice trails off and he looks severe as his grip on my arms tightens for a moment.
“I was worried about you, too, Luka,” I confess. “And I’m happy you’re not hurt. What-what happened exactly? I know the American soldiers thought they were rescuing us, but why did all of you leave in your trucks a while ago?”
He strokes a hand through my hair and kisses my cheek. “I’ll explain everything to you soon, I promise. But first, I want to make sure no one on our side needs medical attention, and I’ll need to debrief my men too.” He grasps my hand and leads me toward the American soldiers’ truck. I’m relieved all the women, children, and older folks who disembark it appear unharmed, though many are shaken and understandably so.
“How about you speak with the women and try to help calm everyone down,” Luka suggests, hugging me to his side, “and I’ll go debrief my men. I’ll meet you back here in thirty minutes at the latest. Deal?”
I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his bearded cheek. “Deal.”
Chapter26
LUKA
The full moonsparkles over the lake as a cold wind sweeps across the clearing beside the chaplain’s cabin. I keep an arm wrapped around Judith as we walk toward our cabin after spending the evening surrounded by friends. After today’s harrowing events, people in the settlement had wanted to come together tonight. We must’ve been invited to ten different gatherings, but we’d decided on the impromptu pizza party hosted at Easton Phillip’s house.
“What a beautiful night,” Judith says as she gazes up at the starry sky.
I murmur my agreement as we reach our cabin, and once we hit the top of the stairs, I scoop her into my arms and carry her over the threshold, just as I did on the night we were married. She gasps and wiggles around, but I only hold her more tightly to my chest.
“I’m getting some serious déjà vu right now,” she says with a soft chuckle. “Especially since we just left the chaplain’s house. This reminds me of the night we got married.”
“Shall I feed you medicated tea and buttered toast and put you to bed?” I arch an eyebrow at her and she flushes.
She traces a finger over my chest and her eyes spark with desire. “Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of…” Her voice trails off and her blush deepens.
I carry her upstairs and into our bedroom. “You were thinking what?” I ask.
She glances at the bed before giving me a frustrated look. “You know very well what I’m thinking.”
