I blinked widely at her. “Sealed the sound?” It wasn’t the most unusual thing I had heard all day, but still, it piqued my curiosity.
“I’m sure you know by now that Dahr has specific strengths…” she let the information drop without offering more. Indirectly telling me that this was something I had to discover for myself.
“How long have you known him for?” I asked instead.
Karisha did not hesitate to tell me her life story, which stretched through the entire afternoon. We talked and we snacked on dried fruit, we drank wine, and we chatted some more.
I found out that she met both Dahr and her mate when she was a teenager, living in the captain’s camp. Dahr had always been kind and respectful towards her, even before Markos asked her to be his mate. I enjoyed listening to her voice, finding out about a new way of life and traditions and absorbed every information she dropped.
That was, until Markos entered the tent. Fury exploded on his features when he walked towards me, grabbing my arm in an abrupt movement, spinning me towards him so I could fully face him. I tried to shake away his hold, but his fingers slipped to my newly bound wrist and squeezed on the injury, keeping me in place.
“Markos, she is hurt!” I saw Karisha stand from the bed where we had spent most of the afternoon in protest for the commotion that interrupted our chatter, but her mate paid her no attention.
“You will keep your fucking mouth shut from now on, is that understood?” he spat, his rage-possessed gaze telling me that I had very little option but to agree with the tribe lord. “Whatever you told him, whatever lies you spun to cloud his judgement, you will take them the fuck back and act like the prisoner you are,” his voice rasped, fury clawing at his throat. “Is. That. Understood?” he pressed on my wrist with each word to cause waves of pain that flew through my entire arm and up to my shoulder.
To sum it all up as though my silence hadn’t been enough confirmation, Markos slashed the air with a final threat. “Otherwise, you will have to deal with me.”
Karisha wanted to intervene so many times, but I assumed she was bound by tradition and the fact that her mate was too enraged to even try to reason with. Still, I appreciated her intent.
“Say your goodbyes,” he ordered to no one in particular. “I’ll take you back to the tent.”
I grabbed hold of my injured wrist and pulled it to my chest, covering it with my good hand for extra protection before I turned to Karisha and thanked her for the day. The tribe lady smiled and gave me a long hug, which did nothing but annoy her mate even more. Still, once she finished and told me that she would be available to help with anything I needed, the stunning blonde moved over to her mate and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“How is he doing?” she asked softly, her calm-inducing voice layering with her mate’s angst.
“He’ll be fully recovered tomorrow,” Markos replied, his tone of voice just a little bit softer.
“Shouldn’t we give him a night of rest? She can stay here for the evening, share the tent with me…”
The calm she had managed to induce over the tribe leader evaporated when he snapped. “You know he has to spend every night with her, you know he—”
“Maybe Nora is different,” she interrupted with care, ensuring that her tone remained soothing, yet firm. “Maybe—”
“I’m not willing to bet your life on it,” Markos closed the argument and placed a small kiss on his mate’s cheek before he stepped toward me.
“Move,” he ordered, and when he saw that I was still grounded in place, he grabbed my good hand and pulled me towards the exit.
I had a few steps to look around and observe the sun setting over the camp, the bloodied warriors returning from training and the women that waited for them, the small fires that started to take life in front of every tent and to breathe in the scent of cooked meat, before we reached the large centric-built tent I had spent my days in.
“Remember what I told you,” Markos halted my steps by the entrance flaps, this time grabbing my shoulder to keep me in place. His voice was a whisper, but a lingering threat sliced through his words. “Keep your fucking mouth shut, or you will have to deal with me. And I will make sure you understand what real pain is.” He pushed his calloused fingers into my shoulder blade and reached deep within the tissue, up to my tendons, which he made a point to play with and twist as though they were mere strings.
It took everything in me not to shout in pain.
“This is the best it will get for you; do you understand? You will not go free, and you will not leave this camp.” The pain he was forcing me into along with the reality of my situation sunk in deep, my body and mind fighting not to crumble under the weight of my future.
“Is that understood?” he asked softly while releasing his fingers from my skin. I barely had enough strength left to nod, but he must have taken it as a confirmation, because he lowered his hand onto my back and pushed me in.
The relief I experienced when I got rid of Markos’ presence quickly vanished at the sight of Dahr, still lying in bed, his lower body covered with a thin satin sheet. Impulse pushed me to rush to his side, if only to make sure that he wasn’t burning up any longer.
“Dahr?” I said his name slowly when I reached the side of the bed. I didn’t want to approach too fast and did not really know how to react, the tribe lord’s threat still buzzing in my eardrums. “Are you well?”
The warrior moved his head to the side at the sound of my voice and opened his eyes to me, blinking darkness in my direction.
“Why aren’t you scared of me, March?” he asked, voice heavier than usual. “Why didn’t you try to escape or fight your way out of here?”
The thought that pain might be causing him to sound so harsh jolted my spirit and gave me the courage I needed to take a seat at the edge of the bed, closer to him than I ever dared before. While he was conscious, anyway…
“I’ve been scared all my life,” I confessed. “Guess I got tired of waiting to die…”
