Free HeroUnleased by Anna Alexander Page B

shrugged. “She has experience. Besides, she’s
only going on the short trail. She’ll be back in a minute.”
    “Or she could be killed.”
    Without a second thought, Lucian was off, racing after the
trail of dust and exhaust that snaked around giant tree trunks, ferns and
blackberry bushes.
    “Amaryllis!” he shouted with all the force he could muster.
    His lungs ached and his thighs burned as he ran faster than
any human on the planet. She maintained just out of his reach, which only spoke
of the dangerous speed she used over the rough terrain.
    The turnabout came up and she blew past it, heading deeper
into the woods and following the lip of the gorge. Rocks shot out from under
the rear tire, skittering over the edge and into the rushing Cedar River a
hundred feet below.
    “Amaryllis! Halt! I command you!” he forced out from a
throat tight with fear.
    Her leather-booted foot hit the ground as she muscled the
bike into a controlled spin. Dust billowed around her as she whipped off her
helmet and shook out her hair in a cloud of silver.
    “What are you doing?” she asked. The innocence of her query
jabbed him like a hot poker to the belly.
    “What—what am—” He bent double, his hands braced on his
shaky knees as he fought for breath. “You. You are insane. Do you realize how
far you’ve traveled?”
    “Nobody asked you to chase after me.”
    “Apparently I’m the only one who cares for your safety.”
    “Why?”
    “What?”
    She brought her leg over the body of the bike and stood tall
before him. “Why do you care so much about my safety?”
    “It is my duty.”
    “Duty?” An invisible wall came up between them so fast it
slammed against his chest. “Is that all? Is that what I am, Lucian? A job? When
will you get it through that thick skull of yours that we are no longer in
court? You are not my guard. You never were. I don’t need you to take care of
me.”
    “But you do need me. You have no concept of the evil out to
kill you. You are defenseless, and if you continue to disregard my knowledge
and expertise, you might as well serve him your head on a platter.”
    “I pity you, General. You think too much with your head, and
not with your hearts.”
    The barrier around her emotions was strong, but even so, a
thread of hurt snaked out and tugged at the hearts she claimed he didn’t have.
“Amaryllis.”
    She stopped his speech with an imperious raise of her hand.
“I officially relieve you of your duty .”
    And with that, she took a step back, right off the edge of
the cliff.

Chapter Five
     
    Lucian stood rooted to the ground, his mind unable to
comprehend the unbelievable sight. It was absolutely inconceivable. One moment
the princess was looking at him with hurt and disappointment in her wide eyes
and the next, she was gone. The tips of her silver hair the last thing he saw
after she stepped off the cliff.
    By the Gods. She stepped off the cliff!
    The realization propelled him into action and he ran to the
edge and peered down to the rushing river. Confusion clouded his vision. There
was no sign of her, no body, no hint of her red coat, nothing. Was she already
swept away by the fast current?
    Without hesitation, he leapt off the edge and landed
gracefully on the rocky bank and began to run downstream. “Amaryllis!”
    “Yes?”
    He spun around at the sound of her voice and his knees
buckled. She sat on a large boulder, one leg crossed over the other, her little
foot bouncing in a rhythm that matched the drumming of her fingers.
    “I think, General, you’ve forgotten that I too went through
the same change you boys did, and I’m stronger and faster than any human on
Earth. I’m not the delicate flower you insist on treating me like.”
    Relief sapped his strength and he nearly collapsed at her
feet to bury his head in her lap. He wanted to feel her alive and warm in his
arms, but he clung to his anger instead of giving in to the compulsion.
    “Why do you insist on playing these