Their Wife: Book 2

One (Part 2)

"Did you hear that?"

Ares shut his eyes and tilted his head back, sighing as though I had inconvenienced him.

"Hear what?" Replied another man outside the cave. The conversation around them stopped.

"I heard something, a scream." Footsteps sounded. They grew louder, nearing. "Hold on, I'm going to check it out."

My fingers curled into the soft, warm fur under my hands. The large body of the creature I lay on lightly moved as it softly breathed. In the darkness, I could only make out faint outlines. I could see the outline of Ares's body near me, but I didn't need to, to know he was near, his presence alone was enough to set me on edge. It radiated danger.

Though the darkness was frightening, it was able to provide me with a gift, focus. Not having to look into the face responsible for the blood seeping into the tattered shreds of my dress allowed me to narrow my focus down to the situation at hand, blocking out the emotions that accompanied pain and the sense of betrayal for later.

Zev hadn't mentioned a brother, so hopefully, that meant they were acquainted with one another these days. Maybe Ares would let me be if we made it out of this.

Friend or foe?

The question echoed in my mind and I almost groaned. Yeah, I doubted he'd let me go willingly if that was the first question he asked when learning that I knew him. I crossed my fingers that he fell into the foe category. Foe, I could work with. Friend? I didn't even want to imagine what an assassin brother of Zev's would do if Zev's reaction to a lie was a slow and painful death sentence.

I bet he would get creative.

Light dotted my vision as I shook my head clear. The pain and exhaustion were messing with me.

I bet the blood I had lost had something to do with that too.

Ares's silhouette motioned for me to stay silent before moving away, out of my range of sight.

Panic unexpectedly gripped me for a moment. My head darted around, trying to lock onto his outline again. Although he was a threat, being left alone in the dark as a man approached seemed more frightening at the moment.

It was funny how my mind settled on the decision that the familiar face that I had reason to fear was the safer bet than the stranger that approached. And that was ignoring that tidbit of information that he was an assassin.

Now that I thought about it, maybe my instincts were smarter than I gave them credit. If they thought an assassin was more likely to come out victorious, it would only be smart to side with him to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Failing to find Ares, my breaths started to become harsher as my panic increased with the volume of the approaching footsteps of the man outside.

My back twinged in pain from the growing stress. Taking a deep breath, I clenched my eyes shut and sunk into the soft fur beneath me.

I had to focus on quietening my breathing. I didn't know where Ares had disappeared off and I wasn't going to risk finding out if the approaching man would help me or not if discovered.

I calmed my breathing until it was only a faint whisp only audible to my ears. As the footsteps grew closer, I curled in on myself, making myself smaller. I was hoping I would go unnoticed as the man would walk past me. If his vision was as limited as mine, I shouldn't have much of an issue going undetected as long as I remained silent.

I didn't get a chance to see if I would have succeeded or not. Before the man could near, his body dropped to the floor like a dead weight.  Before he could hit the ground with a thunk, Ares caught his body and lowered it quietly to stop from drawing any further attention from outside.