Free Pariah (The New Covenant Series) by Casey L. Bond Page A

excited. Come on! Get me off of this blasted balcony and away from this crazy stalking freak!
    As their footsteps fell closer to t he door in front of us, Altair, raised me up with him and dragged me into the shadows where I had tried to seek refuge from him earlier. It was the only cover the balcony offered. Wes and the other man began talking again, and
    I heard the voice of Miss Annette join in. She spoke frantically fast, and I couldn’t make out what she was saying because her voice was soft in comparison to the deep timbres of the males with which she conversed.
    Altair released my ribs an d was rifling in his pocket for something. Oh, God. He’s going to kill me! He’s getting a knife! My entire body trembled, and my breath escaped in short, shallow bursts. He had pulled out a white linen handkerchief and another piece of the coarse twine. “Stay quiet, or I will kill you. Do you understand?” He looked in my eyes, seeking affirmation that his threat had sunk in. I nodded in response, afraid to make a peep because he seemed like a man of his word in this instance at least.
    In my mind, I pretended to be brave and scream out to Wesley. Before I could even contemplate acting on such a thought, he stuffed the handkerchief in my mouth securing it with the twine, which he knotted behind my head along with a few hairs that were yanked out in the process. Now I realized why it was called a gag. I was choked by the fabric that smelled of Altair—dangerous and strange.
    The thin rope grated the tender skin along the corners of my mouth, jerking tears from my eyes, which flowed quickly to my jaw and plunged off to the stone below my feet, one splashing onto my second toe. Altair moved my hair back and brushed away my tear tracks with his icy thin fingers and whispered, “Stay still and quiet. Understand?” He paused to wait for my reaction. I nodded as more tears streaked down my face, carving new tracks to freedom. He stepped away and then turned and grabbed my elbow. “On second thought,” he said, “there’s no way to really hide you out here. We have to go with plan B, love.”
    He moved me into the moonlight and eased me down against the wall furthest from the door. More warm liquid flowed from my ankles and could taste the metal of the blood seeping into the moist handkerchief in my mouth. My wrists were also wet, but I wasn’t sure if it was from blood or tears as I sat in the darkness of the night. The key rattled in the door, and the door flew open.
    Faric made his way up the stair s. He hadn’t seen me yet. “Hey, have you seen—” his voice stopped short. “What is this, Altair? Why is she bound?” His gaze shifted from Altair to me and back again. His eyes flashed with anger.
    Altair moved to block him f rom reaching the top step. “She tried to escape or commit suicide. She won’t talk, but I found her trying to climb the balcony wall,” he lied. “I had no choice but to bind her. It was for her own safety.”
    Faric furrowed his brow and looked behind him as Wesley came outside followed by Miss Annette. Wesley’s dark green gaze locked on mine, and his eyes widened. The muscles of his jaw clenched at the sight of me. Miss Annette covered her mouth with one of her hands and ran to my side, pushing Altair out of her way. She was fearless. Wesley shoved his way around Altair as well and came to my other side. “Give me a knife!” he roared. “Now!”
    Faric removed one from his pocket and tossed it to Wesley, never removing his stabbing gaze from Altair. Altair’s feet were planted in defiance, his hands perched on his hips. Wesley looked at me and said, “This is going to hurt, Solara. I am so sorry.” He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them and got started on sawing the rope that held my gag in place. The back and forth motion further ripped my skin open, and I felt the blood drip down my chin. He removed the handkerchief from my mouth, tossing it onto the stone beside me and went