His warmth seeps into me, making me realize how cold I am. My body shivers.
Kai pulls back from me, pulling his shirt over his head before placing it over me, settling it around my white nightgown. The shirt doesn’t cover me completely, my gown still flowing past my knees, but it’s warm and smells like him.
“We should move. Are you okay?” His voice is whispered as his eyes take in my body.
“I’m okay. My feet hurt.”
He looks down at my bare feet. He doesn’t hesitate. He toes off his sneakers before leaning down to help my feet slide into them.
They are much too big for me, but they are better than nothing.
“What about you?” I whisper when he straightens back up.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. We have to go.”
He tucks me into his side as he escorts me farther away from my home. It’s not until several minutes go by in silence that I hear it.
“Cleo,”the voice yells.
Kai presses his lips to my ear. “Who is that?”
“My uncle Romeo. He’s my father’s second in command.”
“We need to move faster.”
When a noise in front of us echoes into the silence, Kai presses me against the nearest tree, his eyes wild.
“They have us surrounded. Do you trust me?”
My heart picks up its pace, reminding me of the danger around us.
“With my entire heart and soul,” I tell him.
He presses a hard kiss to my lips. “I’m going to draw them away from you. Run that way until you reach the river. Then cross it. About one hundred yards past it, Kenji will be waiting. Go with him. He will protect you until I find you.”
“What about you? I don’t want you to leave me.” I cling to his chest.
“I will always do everything within my power to protect you, baby. I need you to go now. As soon as you see him follow me, you run and don’t look back.”
I lean up, kissing him again, needing the connection. He holds me to him, pressing his lips hard before pulling away, running away from me.
I watch as he starts making noise as soon as he’s far enough away.
“Come on, you fuckers. You want to kill me? I’m right here. Come get me.”
I swallow hard as I watch men file out of the woods toward him.
I wait until the one we heard before runs past me straight toward him. Then I turn and take off running.
I can hear footsteps behind me, but I keep running until I see the river. I’m almost to it, when I trip. Or at least I thought I tripped.
When a body lands on top of me, I realize I was tackled.
“Stop running, Cleo. Where are you going? Our enemies are out here. Are you crazy?”
I stop fighting, realizing that he isn’t trying to hurt me, even if I don’t trust him.
“What’s going on, Robby?” He’s one of my father’s guards.
