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Her insides squeezed in the best way. He had come back. For her?
He strode to her, meeting her in the middle of the hall. His outstretched arms wrapped around her, lifting her with ease.
She held onto him, tucking her head in the crook of his neck. “You came back.”
Whispers filled the room; everyone was watching them. But she didn’t care because his strong arms were around her. She breathed in his masculine scent and memorized the curve of his neck as he trailed his hand down her back.
“Eva!” Her father’s voice boomed in the hall.
She pulled away from Krieger, and he cupped her face. “Something has happened, I need to tell you about it, now. Can we go somewhere to talk?”
She nodded and let him lead her out of the hall, the murmurs following them out the door.
He tucked them between two huts so they wouldn’t be easily found and checked to make sure they hadn’t been followed, then turned back to her.
Wasting no time, she pressed her lips to his. She hated that she wanted him this much, but she couldn’t help it.
He deepened the kiss, his lips demanding, as if he were a drowning man and she was the air he so desperately needed. She met his desire as he eased her against the wall of the hut.
“Angel.” He was breathless as he said, “They’re coming.”
“Who’s coming?”
“General Rush and some men. Eva, Derek is planning on getting them to the front gate.”
Eva’s breath caught in her throat. “Derek? No, he’s a lot of things. But he would never do that!”
“He made a deal with them—the settlement for you.”
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. She raked her hands through her hair as she moved around him. “How do you know this?”
She searched his face. His eyes, they looked different. She couldn’t place why, but there was an edge to his appearance now. “Krieger, what happened to you?”
He cupped her face once more, pain etched across his brow. He took a deep breath and said, “Eva, my real name is—”
Before he could tell her, an explosion rocked the settlement, and fire lit the ground floor as screams erupted from the hall. His face paled before her as gunfire sounded below.
Adrenaline surged in her veins as she broke their embrace and ran down the bridge.
Chapter 16
Eva reached for her knife, cursing herself for not bringing her gun. When was she without it?She hadn’t expected to need weapons at the Harvest Celebration. She felt stupid for letting her guard down.
Her people’s fear-filled screams radiated off the huts, echoing through the forest. Smoke filled the air as she reached the ground level. Her head spinning, she realized Krieger wasn’t with her. Hadn’t he been right behind her?
Before her, chaos unfolded. People ran by her, some yelling for help, some of them fighting back. It was dark, but the fire lit the area.
These men who had invaded the settlement didn’t wear the Stone Haven red sash. They looked disheveled, thin—like the Others from the villages. The feral men who lived in the destroyed buildings. What were they doing here? Krieger had said that General Rush was coming. Had he brought these men?
She watched as the residents of Everwood brought buckets of water and dumped them on the fires that lit the buildings and foliage.
A woman screaming drew her attention, and she ran in the direction of the victim, her knife bared. She ducked into a hut where a woman with light hair held a small child tight against her chest as she pressed herself into the corner. The feral men who were raiding her home turned toward Eva.
But she was on them before they could move. She slammed her fist into the closest man’s jugular, then spun and kicked the other in the gut.
While they were both down, she turned to the woman and yelled, “Run.”
They were out the door in a flash, and Eva kicked the second man once more.
