Breaking Dawn

Chapter 9

Amber's POV

Amber was stunned anew at how viciously Harry fought the two men, pounding his forehead against Niall's and nearly taking off Liam's hand with his fangs.

In the end, his resisting gained him no ground. They injected him once again. Just before it took hold, Harry stared in her direction with his brows drawn and teeth gritted, and she found that so much harder to see now.

When did my curiosity turn to caring?

His brothers had treated him like an animal - because that was how he'd acted mere days ago. She understood the need to keep him contained because he was not in control of his mind fully and could be dangerous if freed.

But he'd been doing so much better. And they hadn't even given him a chance...

As Liam and Niall led him, docile and barefooted, into the oversized master bathroom, Harry's eyes were heavy-lidded, and he'd begun speaking in that low, unnerving voice. His wrists remained chained behind his back. They must be intent on washing him. Curious, she followed them in.

Amber's second dirty secret? As a ghost, she'd become quite the voyeur.

She'd watched men shower before, but she'd never been so intent to discover what a particular man's body would look like as she was now.

While Niall adjusted the water temperature and opened a bar of soap, Liam ripped away the remains of Harry's tattered shirt.

From her spot halfway up the far wall, Amber sighed, admiring Harry's powerful physique. She hadn't appreciated exactly how tall he was because he'd been lying down for so long. He would tower over her if she stood near him.

He had a narrow waist and h*ps and broad shoulders that looked tailor-made for a woman to hold on to during sex. With his hands behind his back, the corded muscles of those shoulders and his chest were stretched taut, displayed so attractively. She also discovered that his left arm, like she had expected, was also full of random tattoos.

He was all male hardness, with so many scars marring his flesh, like the narrow one slashing up his torso. But she'd begun to find the evidence of his formidable life attractive, had begun imagining a scenario for each battle wound.

She'd seen Harry fight with a ferocity that astonished her. She could all too easily see him brandishing a sword three hundred years ago, a massive general fearlessly storming a battlefield...

A ragged bandage on his neck caught her attention. This was the wound he was being controlled by.

"Christ, look at all the scars, Liam."

"I had no idea he'd sustained this many hits during the war," he answered, moving behind Harry to inspect his back.

"Maybe he had them before the war." Sebastian yanked free Harry's belt. "Think about it - he never worked without his shirt, and he continually went off by himself. He could have been a highwayman for all we know..." He trailed off at Liam's expression. "What?"

"Come look at this," Liam said, so Amber followed Niall around. All three of them frowned at an elaborate black tattoo covering his right arm just below the elbow. It appeared to be an eagle. "Isn't that the mark of the Kapsliga Uur?"

What's the Kapsliga Uur? Why did their faces pale at the very idea?

"That can't be right," Niall said, an edge to his voice. "We'd have known. They recruit young. He couldn't have hidden his involvement for two decades."

Seeming lost in his own world, Harry continued his rasping mutter, unaware of their discovery.

"He always did his own thing, always brushed off questions about where he'd been or with whom," Liam said. "My God. He'd been out hunting vampires with the Kapsliga. Do you think he had already been bitten when he did this?