The Prince's Intimate Abduction (The Samara Royal Family Series Book 2) (5 page)

“Turk!” Raven whispered into the darkness.

Turk was immediately awake.  “What’s wrong?” he demanded, sitting up despite the pain in his side.  It wasn’t nearly as intense as it had been the previous few days.

Raven covered his mouth with her hand.  “They’re here,” she told him.  “I have to get you out of here.”

Turk grunted but he was already swinging his legs over the side of the cot before she’d even finished her statement.  “Let’s go,” he told her, standing up completely on his own. 

“You don’t have any shoes!” she complained.  But she was moving with him, trying to support his weight even though he seemed to be moving on his own steam anyway, and without any problems this time. Right now, her only priority was to get him out of here so that the men with the big guns, horrendous body odor and bad teeth wouldn’t hurt him. 

“This way,” she told him and led him out the side door instead of the front or back.

She led him through the ragged trees and the low-growing brush to a rough pathway that was barely even visible any longer.  “I have a car back here.  I’ll get you out of the village.”

Turk pulled her hand, heading in the opposite direction.  “No.  Can’t start a car engine.  They’ll be after us and I’m guessing their vehicles will be more powerful than yours.  Follow me,” he told her. 

Raven couldn’t believe what he was telling her.  “I’m not leaving the clinic,” she argued, starting to pull back. 

Turk shook his head, then stopped for a moment to look down into her eyes.  He couldn’t see the color with only the moonlight, but he could sense her fear.  “Raven, those guys are not fooling around.  When they discover that I’m not there, they will hurt you in order to find out where I’ve gone.”

He was right, she suddenly realized and it scared her even more.  She pulled back, startled by his words.  “Who are you?”

He shook his head.  “No time for that right now.  Just come with me.  I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Raven instinctively knew that he was right, that he would protect her with his life, but that didn’t make this situation any better.  “I can’t leave my patients!  I’m supposed to open the doors to the clinic in a few hours.”

“Raven!” Turk snapped.  “We have to move and we have to be fast!”

Even as he said those words, they heard the voices.  His absence had been discovered.  “Come on,” she told him, accepting that her clinic would have to be closed for one day at least. 

She led him through the streets and over to another area. 

“Horses,” he whispered, tugging at her hand when he spotted the group of silent horses grazing in the tiny pasture. 

“I can’t ride!” she said and pulled back. 

“I can.  Come on,” and he tugged her over to the closest horse.  In a flash, he was up on the back of the horse, pulling the rope up.  “Give me your hand.”

She jerked her hand out of his range quickly, worried about his health even though people were after him and probably wanted to kill him now that he’d escaped.  “No!  You can’t lift me up.  You’ll pull your stitches!”

His only response was to bend down over the neck of the horse and lift her up, plunking her down right in front of him, then wrapping his arms around her.  With a nudge of his feet against the horse’s flanks, they were walking quietly down the streets at a much faster pace. 

“Where are we going?” she asked after several minutes. 

“Give me your cell phone,” he commanded.

Raven pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him. 

“I’m out,” he said after dialing a number.  “Track this number and get the coordinates.  Stand by for possible extraction but don’t move unless you hear from me.”

“Right,” she mumbled.  “Like a helicopter is going to fly down and rescue you?” She laughed but he only tightened his arms around her waist and spurred the horse to walk faster. 

After about a half hour of traveling by horse, the sounds of the village faded.  They could no longer hear the shouts from the rebels who were probably searching the nearby buildings for them by this point.  He slowed the horse to a stop, patting the mare’s neck with a firm hand.  They had reached the outskirts of the village and there were barely any sounds now, only the normal nighttime birds and crickets chirping in the distance.  Well, and her heart beating wildly because his strong arms were around her and she could feel all of those rippling muscles, making her mouth water and her mind drift to images of…well, bad images.  Naughty images!  Deliciously wicked images! 

“Okay, let’s get that motorcycle and we can move faster and hopefully get through the mountains more easily,” he told her, grabbing her around her waist and dropping her to the ground. 

Raven was horrified when she realized his intentions.  Standing next to him with her hands on her hips, she glared up at him.  “We’re not stealing anything else,” she whispered with absolute finality. 

Unfortunately, he wasn’t really listening to her since he was too busy pulling wires out of the motorcycle engine as he crouched down low.  With a few wires tapped together, just like in the movies, the roar of the motorcycle engine came to life, breaking the silence of the night with a powerful growl.

“Come on, Raven,” he urged, waving her to the back of his seat. 

Get onto a stolen motorcycle?  Was he crazy?  “I can’t go!”

Turk turned around at that point, staring at her with a look that told her no excuse was really going to work.  “Why not?”

Raven searched her brain frantically.  “Because of Sam!”

Turk’s hands rested furiously on the handlebars as he glared at her.  He saw a light flick on inside the closest building behind her, most likely the legal owner of the motorcycle.  A phone call to the local police would be next.  They had to leave this area as fast as possible.  “You’re not getting out of danger because of a goat?!” he demanded.

Raven knew she sounded crazy, but she was terrified on so many levels.  “First of all, she’s not just a goat.  She’s my friend and she needs me to feed her and take care of her.  But also because Lucretia is due to give birth any day now and she needs my help, plus there are several kids who were coming in for vaccinations today and…” She screeched when the breath was knocked out of her lungs and the world spun around. 

Pressing her hands against his back, she lifted herself up, trying to figure out what was going on.  “You did not just do this to me!” she screamed.  But he had!  He’d once again grabbed her around her waist and plunked her down onto the motorcycle in front of him.  They were now speeding through the dark streets.  She could feel the cold, night air on her exposed arms and prayed that they wouldn’t crash.  They had no helmets and no other protection other than his ability to control this contraption. 

“Slow down!” she yelled at him as they rounded a corner with a speed that was far too fast for her comfort.  “You are not invincible, you know!”

Turk didn’t even bother to roll his eyes.  “Shut up, Raven,” he told her and tightened his arms around her as he increased the speed.

She gasped at his words.  “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up!  Ever since you were hauled into my clinic, everything in my life has been turned upside down!  I can’t even see my patients effectively because I’m always sneaking out and trying to check on you, make sure you’re okay.  And don’t even get me started on all of those disgusting men who have been coming into my clinic every day to find out if you’ve woken up.”

She gasped again, and punched his arm even while she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold onto him.  “Oh, and that’s another thing!  You’ve made me lie!  I don’t lie, you big jerk!  And every day, I’ve had to lie to those men!  I’m not a good liar and I don’t like it!  And you’re going to save Sam, do you hear me?”

Turk was listening to her.  Hell, the whole countryside was listening to her since she was screaming at the top of her lungs which carried over the sounds of the motorcycle.  He was having a hard time not laughing at her threats and her horror stories about lying.  Meanwhile, he was using all of his normally absolute self-control to keep himself from kissing the silly woman.  A goat!  He almost laughed out loud at the insanity of going back to save a stupid goat! 

And the more ridiculous aspect of this situation?  He was probably going to do it!  If it would make Raven feel better, he’d send a battalion of men back to that stupid village in order to retrieve her goat.  He suspected that she’d realize how outrageous her demands were as soon as they stopped flying down the road, but she was adorable in the meantime. 

“Raven?” he called her name, stopping her in mid-sentence.

“What?” she demanded.  “Are you going to apologize?”

He did laugh then.  “Shut up,” he told her and leaned in to kiss her.  It was supposed to be just a light kiss but when her lips trembled underneath his, he realized how truly terrified she was and wrapped one arm more firmly around her.  When he lifted his head and looked back at the street, he thought back to that first night when he’d gone out and seen that light flash. 

It was all making sense to him now.  Raven was his destiny.  He was meant to find this woman.  It was their fate to be together. 

For the past several days, he’d been either charmed by her bright smiles or in lust for her luscious body.  He’d thought he’d either been put in hell or heaven, depending on how he looked at the situation.  Having a woman like Raven so close and not able to touch her, but having her close and being able to talk to her, get to know her and experience her smiles…yep, hell and heaven. 

Raven had no idea how long the ride was, but she buried her face in his warm neck, trusting him to get them to their destination safely.  When the motorcycle finally came to a stop, there was a yawning silence that startled her after the continuous noise. 

The sun was just coming up over the horizon causing the air to warm quickly.  She breathed in fresh air but wasn’t sure if she should feel relief or…something else. 

“Where are we?” she asked, looking up at a small house at the end of an interesting looking street. 

She looked around, trying to figure out where they were.  It looked like some sort of compound but a tall man, who looked strikingly similar to Turk was walking towards them.  She shivered as she saw yet another behemoth right behind the first one.  “Uh oh,” she whispered. 

Turk looked behind him and almost laughed.  “Definitely an uh oh,” he told her and picked her up from the seat, setting her down on the ground but not letting her move away from his side. 

He’d meant to get Raven into the safe house and explain to her who he was before she discovered the truth herself.  Instinctively, he knew she wouldn’t be happy about his role in the world, but he couldn’t change that fact.  And yet, another part of him liked that aspect of her.  The women in his past had gone to ridiculous lengths to trick him into marriage but he suspected that convincing this woman to be in his life would be a huge challenge. 

Watching the two men approach with irritating smirks on their almost identical faces, he almost groaned with frustration.  There was no way he’d be able to get Raven into the safe house now.  Not until introductions had been made.  Unfortunately, he hadn’t expected both of his brothers to be walking out to greet him but he should have expected it, knowing how protective his brothers could be.  Hell, he was surprised his little sisters weren’t also rushing out, throwing themselves into his arms to make sure he was okay, mothering him and demanding answers.  Furthermore, he’d forgotten to tell the soldiers guarding the house, as well his brothers, not to salute him until he’d explained…everything to Raven.  It was going to be hard enough for her to accept her future with him already.  Having it thrust upon her like this wasn’t going to be easy for her. 

“I’m starting to wonder who was actually captured,” Ramzi said as he stepped closer. 

Rais chuckled.  “Looks to me like someone was definitely captured.”

Turk turned around, putting his arm around Raven protectively.  “Shut up,” he grumbled.  “And let me just say that your timing couldn’t be worse.  I would think both of you have more important things to do with your time that to hang out here, waiting for me.”

Both of his brothers just chuckled with understanding but they didn’t back away and give him some privacy either.   Oh no, his brothers were too curious about the events of the past few days, not to mention the woman in his arms, to give him some time alone with Raven.  With an irritated sigh, he turned to look down at his soon-to-be-lover.  “Raven, these are my two brothers, Ramzi and Rais.  They’re both obnoxious idiots so ignore everything they say.”

Raven looked around, noticed that the other soldiers were saluting the small group of men and she had no idea what was going on.  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Rais.  Ramzi,” she said, shaking both of their hands.  The two men seemed somewhat familiar to her but she couldn’t really place where she’d seen them prior to this moment.  Surely men of their size would have made more of an impression on her memory.  “Have we met before?” she asked, tilting her head as if trying to examine their faces from a different angle. 

And then it hit her.  This wasn’t just some other man!  This was the Sheik of Kilar!  She gasped and pulled her hand out of Ramzi’s grip.  “No!” and she swung around, pulling herself out of Turk’s embrace.  “No, no, no!”