Free LustingtheEnemy by Mel Teshco Page A

forward,
clasping behind her head to raise her slightly before lifting a cup to her
mouth. Cool water slid down her parched throat and trickled down her chin. She
wanted more.
    “Easy,” Judas said. “Just a little at a time.”
    She was too weak to argue. Too weak to even stay awake. Her
eyes fluttered closed again and she drifted in and out of consciousness, her
body attempting to revitalize after the forced shift and subsequent agony of
regeneration.
    Even so, intermittent, brief snatches of conversation
filtered into her mind.
    “They’re closing in on us, Sire.”
    “She’s too weak to move yet.”
    “No choice.”
    “We wait. For just a little longer. We wait.”
    Was she was awake or dreaming?
    Sometime later, her eyelids flickered apart as Judas
elevated her a little and dressed her in a cotesh robe with all too
practiced hands. When his arms locked under her before lifting her high, she
focused on his face. Defined cheekbones taut with concern, sensual lips pressed
tight. Then, as if aware of her stare, he met her gaze and his face relaxed.
    “Sorry to disturb you angel, but we have to move.”
    So what she’d heard hadn’t been a dream. She wriggled in his
arms, wanting only to stand on her own two feet. She needed to lighten his load
so there was better chance at escape.
    “In a few hours your body will be strong enough to walk;
even fight,” he said. “But not yet.”
    She frowned. Did Judas perceive her every thought? And how
did he know how long exactly it would take for her body to fully recuperate?
    “Until then,” he added, “let me help you. Trust me, okay?”
    She relented with a nod, forcing her stare from his hawkish,
beautiful face and to the dirty, rock walls closing in either side. The natural
corridor danced with shadow and light from the naked flames of torches of at
least a dozen people escorting them front and back.
    But pressed against Judas’ hard strength, his iron will, she
managed to keep her fear at bay, managed to be distracted by the many
unanswered questions filling her mind.
    Judas had risked life and limb following her into the
desert, where navigation was a guessing game at best and the ever-shifting sand
dunes could bury a human alive. Hell, he’d risked his kingdom for her and she
hadn’t even found the courage to tell him who she really was.
    “Thank you for saving me,” she said. “Though I know you must
hate me for deceiving you.”
    Something…curious flashed in his eyes, followed as quickly
by regret.
    She drew in a sharp breath. Could he not forgive her?
    Hooves clattered on the hard packed cave floor far behind
them. His nostrils flared, eyes narrowing. “Move!” he commanded to the people
around him, “To the gathering room. You know what you must do.”
    Akeisha wrapped her arms around him, clinging tight as he
bounded into an effortless run to the back of the caves.
    Soldiers shouted from behind, gaining ground, their horses
snorting fearfully at the ever-narrowing passageway.
    She resisted a whimper as claustrophobia again threatened.
But…perhaps this once the confined space was her friend, not her enemy?
    Judas and his servants burst into a huge room, the torches
they pushed into man-made brackets on the cave walls not even making a dent in
the blackness above.
    Judas grabbed a spare torch from one of his men and strode
to the far end of the huge cavern. He leaned the torch against a boulder of
around shoulder-height, before he lifted her high so that she could scramble
onto the smooth, elevated platform.
    “Stay here,” he ordered, his eyes holding hers. Intent.
Steely. “Keep hidden. The soldiers won’t search for you—they believe you died
in the dunes.”
    He grabbed the torch and raised it overhead so that the
flame radiated around her. And that was when she saw the hole behind her—a
tunnel—in the cave wall.
    Shock kept her silent, though inside a choked scream built
and built.
    “If we don’t win this fight,” he said