Page 11 of Taken By Raider Kings
The woman stared at him like he was speaking German or something.Finally, she stirred.“Sophie,” she whispered.
“Sophie.That’s pretty.What’s the rest of it?”Nice and easy.Good job, Zach.
“Harr—I mean, Wilson.My maiden name’s Wilson.”
Married?Huh.He didn’t see a ring, but anything was possible.Fortunately, mentioning a maiden name usually meant divorce.“Nice to meet you, Sophie.Listen, you really should eat.You just saw anupirkill two people.”He couldn’t put a nicer shine on it than that.And the more he kept a tone of normalcy, the better she might respond.
Or so he hoped.
She shook her head, and tears stood out in those big, wounded eyes.“Lucy.”Her lips shaped the word, and he had to stop staring.It was goddamn indecent, how soft her mouth looked.
“Was that her name?”Christ.Itwasher friend.Hard on the heels of that thought came another: Sophie was indeed a really pretty name.He liked it.
Pay attention to what you’re doing, Zach.
She nodded.Her fingers curled around the milkshake’s waxed paper cup, brushing his skin, and a jolt of heat slid up his arm from the contact.Married or not, hopefully divorced or not, the animal thought she belonged to him.
It was a tricky situation if she was married, but it did happen.Especially with “found” shamans.There were ways to fix it.
Lots of ways.Especially if one of his kind decided not to play overly nice.
She took a long pull off the straw; a diamond-glittering tear tracked down her soft cheek.“She wanted me to have a little fun, that’s all.Since Marc…” Another flinch, and his sensitive nose caught the discordant note, an acridity in her scent.
Fear.More fear than she was already in.It smelled like old terror, like prey.Like blood in the water and an easy meal.
He pushed down the rage bubbling in his guy.Slow and easy was the way to handle this.
Her gaze stuttered to his face and she flinched again, as if she’d read the emotional weather there and didn’t like it.Swallowed hard, slim vulnerable throat moving.“Whatever he’s paying you, please don’t do this.Please don’t hurt me.”She looked away, at the milkshake, as if she couldn’t quite figure out how it had gotten in her hand.
What the hell?His jaw was threatening to clench hard enough to break a tooth or two.The fear in her was all wrong.A shaman in outright terror yanked hard on the protective fury of any Tribe within sensing range, andthatwould open up a whole can of worms—not just for him, but for the younger ones, too.
“Get this straight.”He took a deep breath, leashed the animal, and continued.“We’re not going to hurt you.We need you, and I’m sorry it happened this way, but from now on, you’re one of us.You’reours.The sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be.”
It would take a lot of repeating before that sank in.Might as well get the first iteration out of the way.
“I have to go back to work on Monday.”She blinked again, swallowed hard, and more tears slid free.“I’ve got night school, too.I’m studying to be a social worker.”
Well, Christ, honey, we’ve got tons of fieldwork for you right here.“We’ll settle that later.For right now, you have to eat.”And stop smelling like a downed deer.
She just stared at the milkshake.Zach retreated, settling on the floor behind the driver’s seat, the rhythm of the road soaking into his bones as he tore open a fresh bag and found a burger.The Silence folded around all of them again, and he didn’t think he’d done too badly.
There was no easy way to handle this.But goddammit, she was indeed a shaman; some humans and fewer Tribe carried the potential, and they were too precious to pass by.Once she was triggered, she could be the nucleus of a new Family, a way to rebuild everything.With a shaman they could settle down, even in a territory held by others.They were no longer rootless wandering non-persons, dangerous because they lacked the one thing which kept their kind from running amok.
They could be somebodies again, instead of fugitives.She wouldmakethem somebodies.
That was worth a little kidnapping, he decided.Whatever life she had back in the city they’d left behind, she would just have to learn to let go of.
His little Family needed her too much.
seven
The van joltedand Sophie clawed up into full wakefulness, biting back a forlorn little cry.Someone had draped a corduroy coat over her on the bench seat, and she couldn’t believe she’d nearly dozed.The tinted windows showed leafless trees standing in thin winter sunshine, a few ragged pines, not blurring by but merely ambling.The vehicle made a deep turn, braked to a halt, and the engine cut off.
Finally.They were stopping.The eerie quiet in the car was breaking up, too, like ice in a river.Her ears had felt stuffed with cotton wool, but maybe that was from the tears she couldn’t swallow.
“Wake up.”The girl shook her shoulder, fingers biting in.Her voice was rusty, as if she’d spent weeks instead of hours not talking.“Time to wash, bleeder.”
Sophie uncurled enough to sit, blinking, and found the tank top had ridden up and twisted around, plus the skirt—never very decent in the first place—was hitched high enough to show her panties, for God’s sake.Her entire face was crusty, aching, and she had to use the bathroom like nobody’s business.Her stomach rumbled.
