Rejected by the Dark Lord(Breeder#6)

Chapter 3 : Out of Options

They were talking about someone named Aeris as they tore down the small camp. I watched Jared intently, taking in every inch of him, sizing him up. He was younger than I thought he would be–better looking, too. Without that ghastly mask, he was handsome and rugged, but his eyes held nothing but ice whenever they met my gaze.

I'd been given food and drink. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten anything. It could have been days, for all I knew. But sustenance had only melted away the shock from the breeder auction and the events of last night, leaving me burning with new-found desperation to escape, to run, to free myself from the clutches of what I could only describe as violent strangers.

These men were tough and wore their scars proudly. All of them were large, muscled, and moved with the agile grace of their wolf counterparts even in their human forms–warriors, all of them.

I was kicking myself for snubbing my nose at warrior training when I had the chance. As it was now, I was still dressed in the skimpy nightgown from the breeder auction, the fabric torn and weaving itself around my knees as it drifted in the early spring breeze. Jared's shirt covered me, at least, hanging midthigh. Someone had found me a pair of boots to slip over the thick socks, but the boots were several sizes too large, which would make it hard to run.

What were my options now? I could slip out of the boots and make a run for it. I could find a place to hide. Hiding was my only option at the moment. I had no idea where I was. I was unfamiliar with this land, and so far its people were nothing but roughened criminals who sold women at auctions and dragged them through windows into snowstorms.

“This is the largest bounty we've ever fetched, you know," Archer said, kicking snow and rotten leaves over the warming fire, which sizzled out in a puff of smoke around his boot. “When do we retrieve our payment?"

“A week's time. The crew needs to rest before we set out again, and then–" Jared glanced at me, then rolled his eyes back to Archer as I glared at him. He was going to mention something about his plan for me, but thought better of it since he knew I was listening.

Before long the men began to move out, and I was made to follow, keeping in step with the brown-haired man with blue eyes, the only one who seemed concerned about me in the slightest. His name was Brandt, and I found that he was willing to answer any question I threw his way.

“Aeris is an Alpha who hired us to kill his brother," he said flatly as he walked a pace behind me down a narrow trail leading out of the woods. “The brother was the man who bought you."

“So, you're bounty hunters?" I asked, wincing as a piece of shale came loose beneath my feet and I slid forward. Brandt caught me by the arm, steadying me. “Thanks," I murmured.

He just smiled kindly and continued, “Among other things."

“And Jared is… your leader? Or your Alpha?"

“I mean, by definition, he would be our Alpha, yes. But don't call him that. He hates it."

I added that tidbit of information to my growing arsenal and we continued to follow the group out of the forest and into a wide valley, where another forest stretched before us in the distance.

“What did the man do to deserve to die?" I asked, wondering if it had something to do with buying women from an auction, especially those being sold against their will. I glanced over my shoulder at Brandt and he shrugged, but his eyes clouded with sudden fury.

“Ambrose was his name. He killed Aeris's sons, his own nephews. They weren't even sixteen."

I bit my lip, letting my gaze settle on the men walking before us so Brandt couldn't see my pained expression. Part of me wanted to ask why, but I also didn't want to know. This dead man, Ambrose, had bought me to use as a breeder, or worse. That should have said enough about the kind of man he was. I didn't need to know more.

We walked in contemplative silence for at least an hour before reaching the other forest. Through the trees I could see the beginnings of a settlement, where run-down cabins made of dark wood and old stone cottages wove across the forest floor, all leading up to a stone house in the distance, its windows glinting in the afternoon sun.

“We're not going to hurt you, you know," Brandt said softly, his voice sending a ripple of gooseflesh across my arms. “That's not why–"

“That's not why I'm being forced, against my will, to follow a group of bandits through the woods to Goddess knows where–" I paused, the word Goddess catching in my throat.

Jared, who was walking a few paces ahead of us, glanced at me over his shoulder. I felt color rising on my cheeks and quickly worked to stop the heated blush from spreading.

“It's not safe for a woman alone out in these parts, okay? Jared is… he's good. There's more like you at his house, in his village."

“What do you mean by that?"

“Just that he… you're not in danger, alright? And you're not in shape to just take off running either, not with a head wound like that. So don't even think about it."

I reached up involuntarily and touched the base of my skull where my curls were matted and tangled with dried blood. I sighed in silent surrender. Brandt was right. Not only had I been hit with what felt like it could have been a metal bat, but I'd fallen off Archer's back and cracked my head open a second time. I was lucky I wasn't dead.

Some of the men walking in front of us had split from the group, walking toward cabins and small stalls selling goods and things to eat. The smell of food hung heavy in the air, thick and warm and delicious, enough to make my stomach clench with longing. A single leg of roast rabbit earlier this morning hadn't been nearly enough, especially after Archer took a bite from it before tossing it at me, a smug grin on his face.

Bastard. And not just Archer, but all of them. Even Brandt, who had been nothing but nice to me, so far.

“Now, didn't I say I wasn't going to put the girls through any more mending after the last time you lot came back from a mission?" came a sweet feminine voice as we neared a large house made of stone.

I couldn't help but look up at the house, which was decaying with age. Dead vines snaked their way all the way up to the third story, twisting over the stone and along the flaking white paint of the windowsills. It would have been a grand home when it was built–a manor, in fact.

“Miriam," Jared said warmly, then sucked in his breath as I ran into his back, my nose crunching against the tight muscles on either side of his spine. I'd been too busy looking up in awe at the house to realize the men had stopped walking. My eyes watered as I brought my hand to my nose, and Jared glanced over his shoulder at me, eyes narrowed.

“And what is it you're hiding behind you, Jared?" Miriam quipped as I peeked around Jared's shoulder to face her. She was short and stout, but had a friendly face with rosy cheeks and kind hazel eyes. “Oh, my dear. What happened to you?" She pushed Archer and Jared out of the way and clasped me on the shoulders, then placed her warm hand against my cheek.

My throat tightened around a sob at the gentleness of her touch, her concerned expression so like my own mother's.

Miriam looked at the men, waiting for an explanation as to my state. I was filthy, bruised, and half frozen. I'm sure I looked absolutely pathetic.

“You lot usually have so much to say," she clucked as she jabbed her finger at the three of them, her gaze settling on Archer with a look of motherly disapproval. “Especially you, Archer."

I glanced at Jared, whose cheeks had colored to a ruddy pink. Even Archer dropped his shoulders, his eyes downcast.

I was beginning to wonder if Jared was the one in charge, or if it was Miriam.

“We found our mark at a breeder auction. He bought her, so we took her with us. I couldn't leave her behind," Jared stated.

“She fell off my back. Hit her head a bit," Archer added with a shrug.

“A bit?" I mouthed with a scowl, which caught Miriam's attention.

She grinned at me, rolling her eyes as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and began to lead me toward the house.

“There's food laid out in the dining room for you," she said over her shoulder to the men, then gave me a gentle squeeze. “I'll draw you a bath first and foremost my dear, and then we'll take a look at that wound on your head."

***

Miriam hummed to herself as she poured jug after jug of hot water over my head, washing away the last several days of trauma caught in my tresses. She'd already drained the tub and refilled it, twice. Now, I was squeaky clean and the numbness in my limbs had faded, leaving me acutely aware of the dull ache of my injuries.

I peered down at myself through the lavender-scented water, seeing the deep purple bruising lining my legs and hips, and one particularly bad bruise along my ribs that wrapped around to my back. The water was heaven, however. I knew that the second I got out of its warm embrace, I would feel every single scrape and bruise to their fullest.

“It's already beginning to heal," Miriam murmured as she gently pushed my hair away from the injury on the base of my skull. “I don't think I'll need to stitch it up after all."

“Thank you for doing this for me," I whispered, and meant it.

Miriam smiled down at me, twisting one of my curls around her fingers before rising from the stool beside the tub and reaching for one of the towels warming next to a roaring fire in a stone hearth.

“It's no bother. We take in girls like you from time to time. Jared said you're a skilled seamstress. I could use some help in the laundry, poor Scarlett is drowning in mending."

I pursed my lips, looking down at my knees in the water as Miriam wrapped my hair in a towel. A seamstress? Where had he gotten that idea? I could sew–not well, but enough to patch a pair of jeans from time to time. “Jared is over exaggerating–"

“Jared wants you to stay busy while you heal, that's all. I told him that after a hot meal and a full night's rest, you'd be as good as new in the morning, but he was adamant that I give you a job."

Only so he could keep me here and make it hard for me to sneak away. I bit my lip as I rose from the water. Miriam dried me off and wrapped me in a robe as she continued.

“They're not all that bad, you know."

“Who is Jared?" I asked, tying the robe around my waist as Miriam gathered my discarded clothes into her arms.

She caught my meaning, her mouth pressed into a hard, but somber line.

“I've known him for a few years, my dear. He… well, he had a rough go of it growing up, from what I understand. But, he's a good man. He takes care of us, all of us, and he'll see that you're taken care of too."

I didn't need to be taken care of. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get back to my family.

“Come," she said softly, coaxing me toward the door. “I had stew and fresh bread brought up to your room. You'll be sharing a room with Scarlett–"

She continued to talk but my mind wandered elsewhere, going over everything I remembered from the last several days. It wasn't much–only fragments of images that formed a distorted, violent memory. But through it all, one thing stood out to me, something that had been nagging at me since the very moment Jared had burst through the window and I met his gaze for the first time.

His eyes… something about them was so familiar. And, I thought with conviction, I was going to find out why.

#