Page 48 of Mastering their Maiden

Had they only trusted me like I trusted them.

CHAPTER 17

Zander

It probably wasn’t normal that my cock got hard when I thought about my warrior woman doing violence. Even if that violence was toward me.

But I didn’t care much for what was normal and what wasn’t.

I was hard, and my cock was telling me to run after her. I needed to catch her pretty ass and hold her close. She could rage and scream and hit and slash at me if she wanted. Her anger was warranted. I was a little pissed at Kaiden myself. He should have seen this coming.

But then again, I should have too.

We all should have.

“Zander.”

Kaiden’s voice was hard, and I could tell that shell he closed around himself when things hit too close to his heart was settling into place. “She’ll stab you. Then you’ll need to heal. And if things get worse, I’m going to need you. We have to give her space.”

“Fuck space,” I said. “She gets a day. She needs us.”

“Does she?” Umber asked, and the three of us turned to look at him. He’d flopped on the floor, his face darkening as he let guilt consume him. “Yes, we’ve helped her village, but… we didn’t protect her.”

“We had our duties.”

Kaiden’s expression was stoic, but he had yet to rise to his feet. He knelt where Aria had put him, palms on his thighs, shoulders sagging even though I could tell he was trying to lift them. Dex let out a sigh behind me, and I turned to watch him rake a hand through his thick hair.

“Duties that largely took care of themselves.”

“They needed to see us together,” Kaiden growled. “Niall’s men, Edvall’s men. Even Draven’s. They needed to know they weren’t coming down here to fight alone. To know we weren’t going to back out or betray them. They needed to know where we stand.”

His voice was filled with so much conviction Dex quieted, a solemn look crossing his face. Umber sat up, expression stoic as he turned toward the door where Aria had been moments ago.

“They know where we stand. And so does she.”

“She should admire us for that,” Kaiden snapped, jumping up and pointing at the door. “Our loyalty to our tribe is the same loyalty we have to her! She just needs to… to calm down and she’ll see. She’ll see it herself, or we will make her see.”

Dex gave Kaiden a look, then turned his eyes to me and Umber. “I have a feeling we won’t be able to make that girl do anything after today.”

* * *

Dex’s warning stuck in my head during the next two days, which passed in a blur, one task mixing in with the next. Kaiden had Rober and the rest of Ryne’s men put in chains. He set guards outside their barracks and sent our two captains on a furious ride to the cliffs below Magilin. We needed to stop anyone who might have run off to tell Ryne of our plans. The captains returned the following morning with a clear report. None of Ryne’s men had made it out of the village.

But that didn’t mean we were all in the clear. The Elders were the ones to tell Rober of their suspicions and throw Aria in their path, but we weren’t sure for what aim. It was clear they didn’t truly care either way what happened to our tribe, but Kaiden began to have suspicions that something more was going on. As Aria said, they were treacherous. The other girl taken captive said Elder Hoval came in to taunt Aria while she was in chains, whispering something about the king and promises he’d made, and something about reclaiming their village. We wanted to find out exactly what Hoval said, but we needed Aria for that.

And she’d vanished.

No one knew where she was, not even her friend. One woman who stayed in the maiden’s barracks said Aria came in briefly and gathered a bag full of things, then left without a word.

The first night passed and all of us assumed she’d gone out to the woods to cool her head, but when morning came and she didn’t return, we started to worry. Now, another three days had passed, and we were all tense. Umber paced back and forth by the fence. Dex polished his already shining sword to the point I worried he might dull its edge. Kaiden barked orders and pored furiously over our plans, then he tossed and turned at night like his skin was being peeled from his bones.

We needed to find her. We needed her back.

“Kaze and Ellis might help us,” Kaiden grumbled when afternoon came and there’d still been no sign of her. “Their woman is her friend, and she was with her when Rober—”

He cut himself off, anger darkening his face while I filled in the words. “When Rober had her chained to a wall. Just like Ryne would.”

Kaiden glared at me but didn’t refute the claim. “I’m going to talk to them. Make them tell me—”

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