Free Worth Dying For (A Slaughter Creek Novel) by Rita Herron Page B

melody that the wind and nature created on its own.
    Now she knew her infatuation with them had come from the experiment.
    But she refused to give them up. They were both a good and a bad reminder of the past, and she chose to focus on the positive.
    Still, her mind raced with dos and don’ts. Sadie had urged her to pack so they could leave for the safe house in the morning.
    The thought of being confined reminded her of her days at the sanitarium. Sadie assured her they’d take canvases and paints. Painting was the one time she felt safe.
    Sane.
    But would she ever be?
    Jake insisted she and Sadie both needed protection from Arthur Blackwood. And so did Ayla. Jake’s five-year-old was the Commander’s only grandchild. What if he tried to kidnap her?
    Amelia would die herself to protect that precious child.
    She wove through the garden, missing the summer flowers but enjoying the hardy ones that, thanks to several of the residents’ gardening skills, bloomed year-round.
    The moon painted a path through the foliage as the sound of frogs and crickets echoed in the air.
    A breeze made goose bumps scatter on her arms, and she considered turning around and running back to her place. If she hid from Six, she’d never have to know if he’d been bad.
    Never have to ask him if the experiment had turned him into a killer.
    The sound of leaves rustling made her pause, and she clenched her teeth, battling the voice in her head. Rachel whispered that she was a whore, that she should repent and run from this man.
    That sex was dirty and wrong.
    She shut out the voice.
    Amelia reached the creek, where the air was filled with the sound of the water rippling over the jagged rocks. But suddenly she sensed someone else there.
    A shadow moved from an oak tree. Then his hands were on her. “I’ve missed you.”
    His breath bathed her neck, and then his lips trailed kisses down her throat. Amelia’s knees buckled. In spite of her fears, she had missed him, too.
    But if he’d murdered that woman, she had to break it off. She had to tell Sadie and Jake . . .
    “Did you miss me, Amelia?”
    In spite of her common sense, erotic sensations heated her blood, and she turned in his arms. They had known each other since they were children. Had suffered together under the Commander’s thumb.
    He couldn’t be the man who’d cut off that woman’s hands.
    His fingers skated down her arms, and then he peeled away her blouse. Cool air brushed her nipples as he stripped her lacy bra and placed his lips on her tender skin.
    Amelia moaned. She’d been alone so long, had struggled with the voices in her head.
    Had nearly died at the hands of Blackwood.
    She refused to let him take everything away.
    Six knew the truth about her, and he still wanted her. Still found her desirable.
    What other man would?
    She was broken. Damaged.
    She clung to him now, desperately needing that love.
    He closed his lips around one nipple and tugged it into his mouth. She gripped his arms, holding on to him as he pushed her down to the ground.
    Their clothes flew off, and he entered her with a deep, hard thrust. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of his thickness inside her as he built a frantic rhythm, naked skin gliding against skin, sweat mingling, their breaths rasping out as her orgasm claimed her, and he tipped over the edge with her.
    They lay curled on the ground together for several minutes, but reality broke through the euphoric haze surrounding Amelia. “Did you know that the Commander escaped?”
    Six stilled in her arms and looked at her with a coldness that she’d never seen before. “We are what we are because of him,” he said finally.
    Fear seized Amelia, as she recalled the image of Ester Banning’s dead face, and she pushed away. “I have to go.”
    He grabbed her arm. “Why are you running from me, Amelia?”
    “I’m not running,” Amelia said, her voice cracking. “But Sadie and her husband, Jake—he’s the sheriff, you