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Vaguely, he heard the general shout commands. “Tie his hands behind his back, we will take him with us to the outpost cabin.”
Krieger was forced to the dirt with his hand yanked to his back. He felt the rope tighten around his wrist, but his head was splitting from the pain. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, as agony swept through him.
Krieger moaned as the general’s voice filled the air again. “I don’t want anyone letting this get out. You both understand?”
The two men said in unison, “Yes, General.”
Krieger inhaled deeply. Stay conscious. But as the excruciating pain took over, his vision went black.
Flashes bored into his frontal lobe—faces, places... an explosion. The memories were so vivid he could feel the heat on his skin from the blast and the jarring force of landing on his back; pain had seared his abdomen.
He pressed his head into the earth as electric shocks rolled through him. The visions kept coming, burning through his mind, embedding his brain with... his lost memories.
He knew the faces—his father, his younger brother Liam, his dog Axel, General Albert Rush. Stone Haven...
His small cabin that rested on the rocky precipice, his stack of books, his hearth—
And Eva.
Oh, Mother Earth, Eva.
Cillian’s eyes flew open, and he scanned his surroundings. He had been brought to the outpost cabin in Stone Haven. He struggled against his bindings as voices met his ears. Men were just outside the door, so he stilled as he listened.
Recognition hit him hard, and his pulse quickened. Was that Derek? But why?
“So, we have a deal? I get you to the front gate, and I get to keep Samuel’s daughter?”
Eva—no!
The general’s voice was gruff as he said, “Take her and do with her what you want, son. I really don’t care. I just want control of the settlement.”
“It won’t be so easy to take it over, even with Eva gone and her father captured, you know? The people of the settlement won’t follow you,” Derek said.
“They will. Don’t you worry about that.”
“But how?”
“That’s not the deal. You don’t get to be privy to that information, son. You get the girl and that’s it. Now let’s get going, we have to pick up more men first.”
He heard another voice—maybe one of the men from last night. “What about Cillian?”
The general grunted. “What about him? We will pick him up after we’ve taken Everwood. Leave him on the dirt floor. Move out, people!”
Eva, Everwood—he had to warn them.
Cillian’s hands were bound behind his back, and his gear was nowhere in sight. But had they taken his knife in his boot?
He arched his back and reached for his ankle, then curled his legs to meet his fingertips, patting along the sheath just inside his boot.Relief washed over him as he gripped the handle and removed the weapon. Spinning it in his hand, he began to saw the ropes. If he could just get the binds to weaken, he would be able to snap free of them.
Cillian’s wrist burned with the strain of the odd angle, but he increased his speed, hearing the ripping of the fibers. Just a few more cuts...
With force, he wrenched his wrists apart, feeling the bonds cut into his skin. Ignoring the pain, he finally ripped free of the rope. He rubbed his aching wrists and put his knife back into his boot. Without wasting time, he pushed against the floor and stood. His head was splitting, but it was better than last night. It didn’t matter—he had to get to her.
He had to help her stop them from destroying everything. But would she want his help when she found out who he truly was? That didn’t matter now—all that mattered was saving her and Everwood.
He searched the room as he swiped at his moist brow. Sweat trickled down his temple, and his heartbeat accelerated. The room had a door and two windows and smelled heavy of mildew and rotten wood. The windows were boarded up from the outside. Fuck.
He tried the door, slamming his weight into it over and over again. It wouldn’t budge. Had they stabilized it from the outside?
