Across the way, Timber shifted and sat with his back against the wall. Sleep tugged at Max’s eyelids, but he wouldn’t give into it, not until she woke again. He had to guard over her.
The girl never moved, but he sensed her eyes on him. He turned his head to find her watching him as one would watch a wolf circling them. She kept her back pinned against the wall when she pushed herself into a sitting position. Anger filled her eyes, but he had a feeling she was angrier at herself for falling asleep than she was with him.
She slipped the knife into her ankle holster and tugged her pants back into place over the weapon. “Have you heard anything from them?” she whispered.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“We can’t move until we know they’re gone.”
“We may not have a choice.”
She scowled at him. The expression pulled on her scar, causing it to become whiter against her flesh. She looked to be about his age. Though the knowledge in her eyes gave her an air of someone far beyond her early twenties.
“I don’t like it either,” he said to her.
They had to get to Jack soon, hiding in the shadows of a cave had never been part of the plan. Every passing day was one day closer to when they would have to call all those they’d been gathering to move against Sabine. They couldn’t delay their plan for more than a day, maybe two. The people and vampires they’d recruited would get nervous if they did, and the fear within the palace would grow. Aria would have to move without Jack; she would have no choice but to go on without him.
No, they had to get out of here, preferably today. Max’s head tipped back as he examined the roots above his head snaking through the earth to create a spotty dome above. Lowering his head, he found her gaze still on him.
“I’m Max,” he said and extended his hand to her. “The tall guy over there is Timber and the one sleeping is Daniel.”
“The queen’s brother is named Daniel, and from what I’ve heard, he has a friend named Max.”
Max kept his hand extended to her. “Hmm,” he replied.
Her gaze went to Daniel, and her head tilted as she studied him before she looked to Max again. “He does look a little familiar, but then it’s been a while since I saw the queen’s brother, and it was only briefly.”
Another minute ticked by before she extended her hand toward him. The sleeve of her shirt pulled slightly back to reveal the scars marring her wrist, scars he knew well. She jerked her hand back before he could take hold of it. Tugging at the sleeves of her shirt, she pulled it back into place while she glowered at him.
Max sat back on his heels as she lifted her chin. He didn’t know what to make of this woman, but beneath her obstinate stare, he sensed her vulnerability. Her eyes followed his movements when he grasped the edge of his shirtsleeve. For the first time since he’d been freed of the palace, he willingly pulled his shirt back to reveal the bite marks and burns marring his flesh.
A muscle twitched in the corner of her eye as she gazed at his scars before looking back to where Timber and Daniel were now watching them both. “My name is Maeve,” she said without glancing at him again.
Max settled his sleeve back into place and leaned against the dirt wall. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maeve.”
When those entrancing blue eyes again met his, he realized he’d actually meant it. Since his time as a blood slave, there were few people in this world he wanted to meet. He never knew who to trust, but he was glad this girl had stumbled across them.
His attention was pulled away from her when shadows danced across the holes in the roots once more, blocking the flow of light into their small cavern as someone passed above. Max held his breath when one of the figures walking above stopped directly over their small cavern.
***
Melinda
“I don’t like how quiet it’s been,” Melinda said as she surveyed the empty town sprawled out before them from the top of the wall. “When will she make her move?”
“Soon, but she may still be looking for Braith,” Ashby said from beside her.
Gideon grunted in response as a cat ran out from between two of the homes and into the woods. A scrap of garbage, caught up in the wind, danced down the street before going still.
They’d managed to evacuate some of the surrounding towns; unfortunately, they’d also uncovered a few towns like William had discovered when he’d been hunting for Kane. The vampires in the town, who weren’t killed outright, had been locked into cells where they’d been starved until they’d become nothing but mindless monsters who were incapable of being saved and had to be put down.
There were no signs of any humans in the towns. The bodies of the vampire children the king’s guard discovered had left them with a thirst for revenge against those who had killed the children.