Free Foretold (Daughters of Saraqael Book Three) by Raine Thomas Page A

Malukali’s chin. “I couldn’t fight her. I’ve been trained to, but I couldn’t. It was like I was bound head to toe.”
    Her voice wavered. “He said he found it interesting that I called for Caleb and not someone else. He wondered what it signified. That was when I became afraid that he would be able to read my thoughts, find out things he isn’t supposed to know about us…about Estilorians. So I focused as much as I could on fighting Layla off so I could try to escape.”
    Caleb chanced to see movement out of the corner of his eye and realized that Olivia and Amber were both crying silently. The movement he had seen was them wiping their tears. And he knew what was coming.
    “He touched me,” she continued, and the heartrending words pierced him. Even with Malukali’s influence, her eyes filled. Tears spilled. “I told him not to,” she said wrenchingly, a sob escaping, “but he did. He laughed, and he—he touched me under my clothes.”
    Her confession pushed him right over the edge he had been teetering against for the past hour. But he was far from alone in his emotion. Embarrassment would have been absurd.
    “I closed my eyes,” she whispered. “I told myself it was just a dream. But it felt so real. I could feel him…” She took another shuddering breath. Her voice grew stronger. “But then I was able to focus enough to get free of Layla again. I used Knorbis’ techniques, did a dance routine in my head. It felt like coils of rope falling away from me when I pulled free.”
    “Very good,” Malukali encouraged when Skye paused again. “You took him off-guard?”
    “Yes. I shoved him away. He did look surprised. He said I was stronger than he thought, that I was making it more interesting for him. I had trouble getting away from him and repelling Layla at the same time. My head felt like it was being squeezed like an orange. And then he said…” she swallowed, “he said that he had decided I would make an acceptable mate for him.”
    Caleb closed his eyes against the blinding outrage that seared through him. Gabriel’s curses earlier were mild compared to what roared through his head at her words. And he knew that regardless of the consequences, he would take Grolkinei’s head with his sword if it was the last thing he ever did.
    When he opened his eyes again, he expected his leader to censure him. After all, he was sure the thought had been more than loud enough for the perceptive Gloresti elder to pick up.
    Just make sure he suffers , Gabriel returned, his emotion-filled eyes shining dark blue. A lot.
    “When he said that,” Skye said, turning Caleb’s attention from his amazement over Gabriel’s reaction, “I think it really ticked Layla off. She did something…my head felt like she had driven an ice pick through it. I think I screamed.”
    “You did,” Amber confirmed. “That’s right when we got there. Scared the hell out of me, truth be told.”
    Scared her? Caleb thought to himself. He was certain he had never been as scared in his life as materializing in that meadow only to hear Skye’s tortured scream. And when they had looked downhill from the place they materialized and saw her standing beside Grolkinei, who then pulled her to the ground, his terror had shifted instantly to murderous fury.
    “We couldn’t extend our wings,” he remembered aloud. His level tone pleased him in light of the ache that still sat in his chest.
    Skye turned her gaze to him. She seemed to shake off Malukali’s influence so she could focus more fully on him. Then she raised her eyebrows. He imagined she saw the wetness on his cheeks. She didn’t comment on it, however.
    Instead, she said, “You saved me. You pulled him off me.”
    Not soon enough , he thought. He didn’t save her soon enough to spare her this awful pain.
    “Grolkinei knows we can join our powers now,” Gabriel explained, looking at Knorbis and Malukali. “He knows that’s how we got to Olivia. He made a comment