Hunted

Let's keep the PDA to a minimum

Duke didn't man-hug me. He full-on wrapped his arms around me and hugged me for a full minute. "Dude, I missed you." I heard him mutter at one point.
I laughed and patted his back. "Missed you too, Duke." I informed him. "But we should probably keep the PDA to a minimum. We don't need attention." We were about a half mile away from the castle gates, and no one was around, but better safe than sorry.
Duke pulled away and I could have sworn his eyes were wet, but when I blinked they were back to normal. He grinned and me and gestured to Jessie. "This must be Jessie." He held a hand out to her. "I've been learning English for awhile." He told her in english. "I might be even better than our friend Hunter. Nice to meet you."
Jessie smiled happily. "Likewise." She looked relieved that I wouldn't have to translate the entire time. Duke looked her up and down and winked at me. Jessie and I both blushed.
"Didn't try for a disguise?" Duke asked me.
I shrugged, running a hand through my natural dark hair. "I don't see much point. Dad will know I'm here soon anyway."
Duke nodded. "That's true." He spoke in English now so Jessie could understand. "So you ready for this?"
My hands grew kinda clammy. "Yeah, I'm ready."
Duke grinned. "Great." He took his backpack off his back and began handing me weapons. "I snatched some of your smaller things before the king had your place cleared out." He handed me four of my old knives and two of my handguns. He looked at Jessie and hesitated. "Do you know how to pull a trigger, Shorty?" He asked her slowly.
I chuckled and Jessie's eyes blazed. "I'm a dead-shot." She told him bluntly. "And you're not allowed to call me Shorty."
Duke raised an eyebrow and looked at me. I smiled and put an arm around her proudly. "She's speaking the truth. She might be better than one of us with the hand guns."
Duke stared at her for a second before handing her a gun. "Okay, but remember no one is better than The Duke, got it?"
Jessie shrugged, a twinkle in her eye. "If we make it out of this alive, we'll just find out, okay?"
Duke held out a hand and Jessie shook it. "Deal."
I rolled my eyes. "Can we get going?" I asked him.
Duke smiled at me again, but it wasn't his signature smile. He was nervous. "Yeah, let's go."
***
Duke and I came up with the simplest and probably stupidest plan. We were going to just work our way to the royal bedroom. Anyone who got in our way was dead meat. It wasn't pleasant business and I kept wishing Jessie wasn't with me to see my dangerous and gruesome side. I saw her wince every time I broke a neck. These people were on the wrong side though. They weren't loyal to me. Duke knew who was loyal to me and who wasn't. So far he hadn't tried to stop me. After I was king I was sending most these guys to prison. I really was just saving them pain.
Duke and I worked as a good team. We had always trained together. Sometimes the men would yell, but the sounds didn't last long. A crack would normally be the last sound with a thump to the ground. We tried not to use our knives and we didn't use our guns. We didn't want anything messy or loud. That was saved for the King.
Duke and I took down the last couple of guards before we stood at the door of the royal bedroom. I stared at the door. He probably knew I was here. There was no doubt about it. What was in that room? My death? Or a victory? Would I come out alive?
I felt a small hand slip into mine and looked down at Jessie, smiling slightly. Her dark hair was only half in a pony tail now. She hasn't completely stayed out of the fighting. She knocked out quiet a few of the men, and I probably owed her my life for that.
"This is it." She whispered.
I nodded and swallowed. I squeezed her hand before releasing it and stepping forward, about to turn the nob on the door. Duke put a hand on my chest. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked me. "You can't just walk in there."
I frowned at him. "I wasn't planning on it."
Duke narrowed his eyes. "I'm going first." He told me. "Cover for me."
I scoffed. "Now way."
"I'm being serious." Duke argued. "You cover better than I do. Just cover for me in the doorway while I take a look around, okay?"
I paused, actually seeing sense in his argument. I grabbed my guns and held them ready. "Okay, go."
Duke patted my shoulder and held his own gun. Jessie and I stood on either side of the doorway, ready to jump in. Duke opened the door quietly and stood to the side for a moment. Nothing happened. He gestured for me to stay and be quiet, and crouched, going in slowly.
I took a deep breath. My heart was pounding. I turned so I could peer into the room. Duke was the only one in there, as far as I could tell. Duke moved around the room. It was a huge room, almost completely empty except for the huge bed in the center. There was a closet that Duke was opening and a few rugs on the floor. That was it. It was empty.
I frowned. I was expecting my father to be in here, even if he knew I was here. He was always in this room, wether it was abusing women or doing actual work. A cold pit of dread filled my stomach. "Duke, let's go somewhere else." I told him quietly, my voice carrying across the empty room.
Duke nodded, his face looking confused. "He was supposed to be here." I heard him say as he walked across the room quickly. By chance my eyes fell to the ground. There was a slight bump under a rug he was to step on.
I surged forward. "Duke!" I tried to stop him.
He looked at me with wide eyes and tried to stop. His foot still came down and my world fell apart. I heard a large explosion. Duke was staring at me one moment and then I watched him explode. Literally.
My world fell apart.
I felt the explosion push me away and I flew back out the door. Jessie was suddenly next to me and pulling me up. I stared at the room in front of me. It was smoking and I could feel the heat on my face. I wanted to jump up and run back in. I wanted to find Duke and pull him out, tell him it would be okay.
But I knew I couldn't. I knew he was dead. I had seen his chest explode in front of my own eyes. He was gone.
Jessie was talking urgently to me and pulling me up. My brain un-fogged and I stood up quickly and wrapped my arms around her protectively. I could hear feet slapping on the ground and Jessie pushed away from me quickly, holding her gun out. I held my own guns out and we both opened fire at the squad of guards coming our way.
Unfortunately for us, there were only eighteen bullets between the two of us and there were more than eighteen men coming at us. A dozen or so of them fell before they reached us, but almost instantly we were forced into physical combat.
I dropped my guns quickly and grabbed my knives out of my pockets, unsheathing them quickly. I stuck one of them in an approaching man's chest and quickly removed it. He fell.
They were surrounding us. I heard Jessie grunting behind me and I knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer either.
Another guard ran at me and I punched him hard in the nose. Almost instantly I felt someone kick my back. I heard a crack but I kept moving. I spun around and tried desperately to keep the men at bay, but it was useless.
I heard myself scream. They had killed my best friend and I was going to go down like this. I was angry. I grabbed the closest man and snapped his neck without a second thought. The outlines of my vision was red. Men jumped on me and I stumbled under the weight.
I knew it was over, but I kept fighting. They wrestled my hands to behind my back and I heard a click and metal pinching my wrists. Cold metal was pressed against my temple and I froze completely.
"Stop fighting, or he dies!" One of the guards screamed at Jessie.
Jessie may not have understood what he was saying, but she heard the urgency in his voice and turned to us. Her eyes widened and instantly her hands flew up in the hair and locked behind her head. She dropped to her knees, completely surrendering herself.
I almost flew back into fighting mode as I watched them yank Jessie's arms behind her back and begin hand cuffing her. She winced slightly at the yanking. "Be careful with her." I growled.
The men glanced at me and shook their heads, but they were a bit more careful. After they had finished handcuffing her they pulled her up to her feet. The men around me pulled me a lot more roughly to my feet. I grunted in denial but they ignored me.
I felt broken as they led me through the halls of the castle. Once again, one of the most important people in my life was taken from me. Duke and I had grown up together like brothers. We fought together, learned together, trained together. I never imagined either of us dying before the other. It was like losing half of myself.
I knew Jessie was being forced to walk behind me. I heard her grumbling insults and profanities to the men every time they touched her or got too close. The Razien men couldn't understand her, but they did figure out the meanings pretty fast and realized she was pretty angry at them. A lot of them didn't try to get closer to her than holding her elbows.
We walked into the throne room. My stomach felt sick when I saw the man who was responsible for my hell of a life. I growled and pulled against the handcuffs, wishing I could wring his neck.
My father raised an eyebrow at me. Someone could say he just looked like an older version of me. He had a dark beard with some gray streaks and dark blue eyes. He was well built, like a warrior. It made me sick to see even a small resemblance to him.
"Welcome home, Son." He stood and opened his arms welcomingly.
I glared at him. "I don't feel very welcome." I growled at him.
My father nodded smirked at me. "Of course." He gestured to the men. "Un-cuff him. He's a prince. He doesn't deserve this treatment."
I felt the pressure on my wrists subside and I rubbed my wrists with my hands. "Un-cuff the girl." I commanded one of the men.
He looked at my father who nodded to him. A few feet away from me, out of the corner of my eye, Jessie was released. Two men held onto her arms though.
I glared at my father. "What are you playing at?" I asked him. "You know you're not going to reign on that throne much longer."
My father smirked. "Please don't get too hasty, Son. I was just hoping we could make amends and rule the country together."
I snorted. "Over my dead body."
My father's eyes darkened. "Careful." He warned me. "That could be arranged."
I sneered. "Original."
My father scoffed at me. "You think you're so high and mighty." He sneered. "You're just like your mother. That women went on and on and was so arrogant. She always thought I was wrong."
"You are wrong." I stepped forward, but I was stopped by one of the guards. "You're unfit for the throne. You murder your citizens. You treat them unfairly. You have no respect for human life. You killed your wife, had me tracked for over a year, and you just killed my best friend!"
The king shrugged and I wanted to sock him in the face. "It's all part of being on the throne." He told me simply.
I strained against the hold of the guards. "One day." I seethed. "I will be on that throne. And I will be the better ruler by far. You're insane."
My father frowned and I knew I had crossed a line, and probably messed up.
"Get him out of here, until he learns respect." He growled to the men surrounding me. Then he looked at Jessie up and down and smirked. "Take her to my new bed chambers." He told them coyly.
I sense of dread filled my stomach as I watched them literally drag her away from her. Her eyes widened. She didn't understand the words that were being said, but she knew she was in danger. She began struggling. "Get off of me, you bastards!" She screamed, elbowing one of the men in his face.
No. I promised nothing would happen to her. "Jessie!" I screamed as I pulled away from the guards forcefully. Jessie was already running across the room towards me and when she reached me she jumped into my arms, clinging to me tightly. Her face was wet. She had an idea about what was about to happen.
I didn't put much thought into what I did next. I grabbed her face in one of my hands, my other hand kept her from falling on the ground. Her hands intertwined themselves behind my neck. And then I crashed my lips into hers.
There was absolutely nothing gentle about that kiss. We were both desperate for the other one to know our thoughts. We both fought for dominance. We held each other tightly, scared it was going to be the last time with each other.
I felt her being pulled away from me and suddenly she went limp in my arms. I felt a sting in my neck and my vision began going dark. I saw one of the men with a syringe in his hands before I fell to the ground unconscious.
***
Okay, so some of you are probably wondering why I brought rape into this book. The answer. Because it's an awful event. And I'm sorry if it offends you, but it's needed in this story. It fits with the characters and the events leading up to. I really wish I didn't need it also. It makes me cringe just to think about it. So, I just thought I would let you know my thoughts about that.
Anyway, don't be silent. Please let me know what you think. Vote and comment!!!
Kara