Hope Awakened by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 27

Blast these bastards to hell!

If they thought he was going quietly, they had another thing coming. Before they could cover his head, Reece elbowed the closest male. If he could escape, then he could alert the Royals and raise the alarm. The male went down, blood gushing from his nose. The second male flanking him, now alerted, saw the blow coming. Ducking, he managed to avoid the worst of it, kicking out as Reece began to make a break for it. He stumbled and the other two were on him in an instant. The ringleader punched him in the face. Reece felt his lip pulverize. He felt hot blood gush. The other male kicked him in the chest. Reece heard a rib crack. He landed a solid punch, before being taken down by the original male he’d elbowed in the face. They got a few violent kicks in while Reece was on the ground. He curled into a fetal position to protect his vital organs, working hard at staying relaxed. There was less chance of bones breaking if he kept calm and loose through his body. He had learned that the hard way.

This was all his fault. He had sent the patrols away so that he could mount Hope in peace. There was only one guard at the nest because he was here instead of there, where he belonged. The Royals wouldn’t be paying much attention to anything other than each other. Leukos had ordered an elaborate candlelit dinner and champagne. They weren’t going to see it coming. No one had expected this attack or this many males. They had underestimated the Fallen. He had underestimated them. Shame flooded him. He’d been so busy sniffing around Hope’s snatch that he’d neglected his duties.

It didn’t matter that he constantly warned his team to be on their guard. The fact of the matter was that he had let his own guard down, too. He hadn’t expected this attack. Not yet. Not while the queen was still with clutch. There were plans afoot to ramp up security after the chicks came. Only after.

He was a fool.

An idiot.

Reece didn’t deserve the head guard position.

He deserved to be put to death.

The kicks stopped. “What was that?” one of the males said.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“I heard it too,” the leader said, eyes narrowed on the closet.

No!

Blast it all to hell!

“You’d better hurry before—” he tried to divert their attention.

“Open that door!” the leader said, pointing at the room Hope was in.

“Wait, I—” They ignored him, opening the door.

There was a squeal. “What have we here?” One of the pricks walked out with Hope. He was grinning from ear to ear.

“Unhand me!” Hope yelled. “Don’t you know who I am? How dare you!” She put a hand to her belly.

“It’s the queen.” Since the queen was the only female this far along with clutch, they bought it immediately. That was the thing – Hope looked like she was with clutch. Why did she look that way? This wasn’t right. There was a large, rounded bulge under her tight dress. Her eyes widened as she saw him. She sucked in a breath. With all the blood on his face, he must look frightful. Reece wanted to tell her that it was superficial, but he held back. What the hell was she doing pretending to be the queen? Her act was going to get her killed. When Ekon found out, he was going to have a fit. Hope was in grave danger.

“Our intel was mostly accurate,” one of the males said. “The queen is here. I’m not sure where Magnar or the healers are.” He looked around them like they would suddenly appear.

“It doesn’t matter,” the leader said. “We’ve got her.” He looked pointedly at her belly. “Ekon will be pleased. Take her.”

By feather and tar, he couldn’t allow them to take Hope. He couldn’t. They would end up hurting her when they found out she was lying. Hope narrowed her eyes at him. She was telling him to keep quiet. He could see it written all over her face.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she begged. “Don’t hurt my chicks.” She cradled her belly.

“We won’t hurt you, my queen.” The ringleader bowed. “Ekon wants you alive and well. Let’s go,” he told the males. “Cradock, you stay. I want you to bind and gag the male.”

They were leaving one. Just the one? The male was a big, burly warrior. Reece knew his face looked bad. He had a couple of broken ribs…his collarbone felt like it might be broken too, but he wasn’t bad enough to only be left with one male. It would be easy to overpower the male. Then what? If he raised the alarm, Hope could be injured and killed when the guards attacked the fleeing Fallen. There was no way he could follow them all the way to Ekon’s castle without raising the alarm.

Reece needed to be with Hope to save her. He needed to travel with them. Then bide his time and rescue her. Meanwhile, they would redouble their efforts to keep the queen safe. He needed to talk this male into taking him with them. “I’m a healer,” he blurted as Cradock tied his arms together.

The male ignored him.

“Surely Ekon will want the chicks laid and hatched without problems. Humans are soft and weak,” he continued.

Cradock began tying his legs. He should kick out and break his jaw…his skull. Reece refrained.

“If the queen were to die during the laying, Ekon would be angry.”

Cradock balled up a piece of cloth to use as a gag. “Wait! If you brought me with you and I ended up saving the human if she ran into trouble, you would be the hero. Think about it.” He moved his head left and right so that Cradock couldn’t get the gag in place. “Ekon wants the queen alive and well. That’s what your leader said.” He was shouting now, trying hard to get the point across.

Cradock leaned back and smashed his forehead against Reece’s skull. It hurt so badly he saw stars for a few moments. His vision cleared just in time to see Cradock standing over him with a table. The table came down hard on him. Not once, but twice…possibly even three times. Everything went black.