Beyond the Shadows Read Online Free PDF

the pitcher from her assistant and set it on the table in the corner. “I don’t know, honestly.” Her brow knit, and she tilted her head. “He’s never kept the women confined to their rooms before.”
    Sarah gaped, then snapped her mouth closed with a painful quickness when she realized she was showing her surprise. “He hasn’t?”
    “No, ma’am.” Teddy shrugged and stood back, her hands folded over her dress. “But I don’t question. I just do what I’m told.”
    After Teddy closed the door behind her, Sarah dug into her lunch. She’d never had a problem with her appetite, no matter what was going on. She’d always felt she needed to eat what was given to her, because one never knew what was right around the corner. She was no stranger to the pain of hunger.
    One thing was obvious; Kai was treating her differently than he’d treated the other women. And so soon. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a scary thing.
    How tempting it was to lie back and enjoy this new life. To revel in the crisp, clean linens, the solar-powered lights, the rich food. How tempting to forget the bleak world outside these gates. Tempting to ignore for a little while the knowledge that every moment of her freedom had cost Con his.
    Before she’d escaped Sampson, she had felt fear every second of every day. Here, she was safe, secure inside the compound. Kai would protect her with his life. That was what protectors did. At least the good ones. He would give her everything she needed.
    But she wasn’t here to enjoy Kai’s worth and wealth. As tempting as this privileged life was, she couldn’t put herself ahead of the man she’d come to free. Not again. And she couldn’t let Kai stand in her way.
    She took a bite of bread slathered with fresh butter and frowned at a strange, anxious feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t the food. Could it be…guilt?
    Carefully, she put the bread back on the tray. Hell no. No, not her. She’d protect those she loved with her last breath. And she would feel no guilt for betraying Kai to do it.
    Would she?
    She let out a sharp, harsh bark of laughter. Of course she would.
    But that couldn’t stop her.

Chapter Six
     
    Kai sat in the armored truck and stared out at the streets of New Haven. He was fucking tired. At times he wished for nothing more than to be a man whose only responsibilities were to care for a wife and a few kids, to hunt and fish and provide for them. Sometimes he wanted to forget that he had to help take care of an entire settlement.
    And the fights with Springland were wearing on him. If Sampson hadn’t been such a greedy bastard, he could have been content with the resources he had. But not a chance. He wanted what every other settlement had. Especially the large, thriving settlement of New Haven. But New Haven was Kai’s, and he was not about to lose it to a bastard like Sampson. Sometime in the future, long after he was dead, to be sure, he had the hope his New Haven might compare favorably to the one that had come before.
    He allowed himself a small smile. As much as he tired of the fighting, the unending pleas for his attention from the district sheriffs, the greediness…as much as he hated all that, this was his place in the world. At least here he had some control over what went on.
    “You don’t have to be here, Commander.”
    Kai glanced at his second in command and friend, who was sitting in the cab beside him. The rain beat a steady, loud beat on the roof of the truck and curtained the windows in a thin fall of water, insulating them from the outside world. “Obviously I’m aware of that, Erik.”
    “Then why are you? Why aren’t you behind the walls of your castle, taking care of your harem?” He laughed, his green eyes surrounded by lines born of too much sun.
    “Watch where you’re driving. You almost hit that tree.” He was silent for a beat, then decided to confide in his second. “I get sick of women.”
    “Oho! Tell old Erik, friend.