Claiming Their Maiden (2 page)

or a fierce beast with an appetite for human flesh, but she didn’t see any of those things.

Blinking, she struggled to sit up and take in her strange surroundings more fully. She was tucked

into a massive bed, the mattress soft and feathery beneath her. The silky sheets covering the bed

caressed her as she stretched. A thick red blanket was draped over her body, pulled up to her

neck. The bedding smelled fresh, like lilac and roses.

The room was dim, and empty. She wondered if she’d imagined the deep male voices.

But someone had brought her here. She sat up, appreciating the softness of the luxurious pillows

behind her back. She didn’t know anyone who owned such exotic fabrics and décor. The room

actually had paintings. Her eyes bugged as she gazed around the spacious area, awestruck by the

ornate furniture, bizarre-patterned rugs, and rich velvet drapes that covered the entire length of

one wall. She wondered if a window was hidden behind them. Surely no window could be so

wide.

A lantern flickered on a small table beside the bed, and across the room, about a dozen

lanterns glowed along a wall, in between paintings of foreign landscapes. The urge to explore the

room became overwhelming, and Amelia threw back the covers to escape the confines of the

bed. Puzzled, she stared down at the white nightdress she wore. Someone had removed her

clothing, and that same someone had dressed her in a nightdress fit for a queen. Except there

weren’t any queens anymore. Or kings. Not for more than five hundred years, when the great

haunted forest swallowed up their castles, leaving the villages cut off from one another, and from

their kings, queens, and other nobility who once ruled. Or so the stories claimed.

Her feet hit the cool stone floor, and excitement skittered through her. Her arms and legs

ached, evidence of her trek through the forest and her fall through the trees. She wiggled her toes

and smiled, standing up to creep toward the drapes. She felt like an explorer on the ends of the

Earth, about to discover the secret to life, or the truth about the kings and queens of long ago.

She paused in the center of the room and spun in a slow circle. Relief washed through her as she

realized she hadn’t been captured by a bounty hunter, and she knew she wasn’t in the village

either. The room was larger than any structure in the village, and a bounty hunter wouldn’t keep

her so well-clothed, or put her to rest in a room full of wonders. Anyone who could afford such a

place didn’t need the few measly gold coins her capture promised.

She reached the drapes and searched for an opening, parting the heavy fabric. She

gasped. It was a window, and it was night, and the stars had never looked more magnificent.

Sparkling white diamonds marked a vast, black velvet sky that stretched on and on. She froze in

place and continued to stare, and for a moment, her troubles disappeared. Drifted up into the

beautiful night.

In the village, torches and lanterns lined the perimeter to scare away the forest beasts

each night, and the ensuing glow chased away the stars. Amelia had only glimpsed the night sky

at its full glory a handful of times, the times she’d been brave enough to slip out of town to a

meadow that led to the forest. She remembered how wild she felt each time, lying on her back in

the tall grass as she gazed at the sky. It was forbidden for anyone but the hunters to leave the

village limits. The fifth time she tried to sneak away, she was caught and locked up in the tiny

jail beside the courthouse for two days. One of many lessons the elders tried to teach her.

A thrill pulsed through her. She had the stars now, and she was far away from the village.

She was an outlaw. Wanted for murder. Though innocent, the idea left her feeling rebellious and

confident enough to face whoever had brought her to this room. She wouldn’t be a coward.

A sigh left her throat as she stood captivated by the night, and oddly, filled with hope,

despite her uncertain future.

“The lady awakes.”

Amelia gasped and started, spinning around to locate the source of the frighteningly deep

voice. A tall man with broad shoulders stood in the center of the room, his black eyes dancing

with humor. Her gaze swept over his huge form, and her heart skipped a beat as he drew nearer.

She backed against the window, her palms flat against the cool glass. She’d never seen a man so

large in all her life.

“Who are you?” she asked, steeling her voice. A chill had crept into the air, and she

shivered and wished he’d stop walking to her.

“My name is Gavin. And you are…?” Again, the deepness of his voice astonished her. It

didn’t sound human, and this thought chilled her to ice.

“A-Am-Amelia.” She flushed, embarrassed that she had stuttered. So much for being

brave. The urge to flee this room and escape Gavin became unbearable. She fought for each

breath as her panic rose higher and higher.

“What village are you from?” He towered over her and blocked out the light of the

nearby lanterns.

Amelia opened her mouth to answer, then smartly shut it. Outlaws didn’t give anything

away, and she certainly didn’t wish for Gavin to return her to her village. Impatience flashed in

his dark depths, and he grabbed her chin, pinching it between two large fingers.

“You will tell me where you are from. Now.”

She shook her head and tried to escape his grasp, but he held firm. “It doesn’t matter

where I’m from because I have no intention of returning.”

He released her, took a step back, and laughed. “Good. Because you’re not free to go. My

brother wants to keep you.” His grin filled her with foreboding.

“Your brother?” she asked, panic clutching her heart anew. One of them was bad enough.

“Yes. His name is Trent. He’s asleep right now. The man can’t keep his eyes open once

the sun sets.” He shrugged. “I’m the same way when the sun rises through the trees.”

Confusion whirled through Amelia as a memory struggled to resurface. The fact that his

brother couldn’t stay awake at night meant something. Likewise, it meant something that Gavin

couldn’t stay awake during the daytime. A song, a faint tune from her childhood, played on the

fringe of her mind, the memory taunting her.

Two brothers. One of the light. One of the night.

She closed her eyes and tried to recall the rest of the song, but it faded completely. She

remembered the title of the song though.

“The Banded Men,” she whispered. No. It couldn’t be. The Banded Men died out

centuries ago. Her heart thudded as she peered up at him, wondering if perhaps they hadn’t all

died out. She studied him. He was huge all over. A strip of leather held his long black hair in a

low pony tail. Dark stubble peppered the lower half of his face, and he was dressed in black. His

eyes glimmered, standing out against all his darkness, like the stars in the sky she’d just admired.

Gavin sighed. “Yes. I take it you’ve heard stories about our kind. You humans sure do

like your stories.”

Amelia repressed a shudder. She’d heard plenty of stories about Banded Men, most of

them bad. They were a savage race of men, not quite human. Sons were born in pairs, and

daughters came into the world alone. The pair of brothers shared a unique bond, though as

Amelia understood it, they barely had contact with one another. One brother was nocturnal, and

the other stayed awake during the daytime. They had one mate—a woman they shared, one of

the women who’d been born into the world alone.

My brother wants to keep you.

Gavin’s admission rang out in her head again, repeating over and over. If Trent wanted to

keep her, that meant these Banded Men didn’t have a mate. She swallowed hard and hoped Trent

changed his mind.

“Did Trent bring me here?” she asked, suddenly feeling faint. Gavin noticed her

unsteadiness, and he led her to the bed with an arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up.

She sank down on the mattress, her senses thrumming with fear. Goosebumps raised on her arms

at his unwelcome touch.

“Yes. Trent found you in the forest.” He chuckled, the rumble reverberating through her

insides. “He says you were caught between a spider and a cat.”

Annoyance surged over her and she glared up at him. “It was a big spider and a big cat.”

He didn’t need to know she hadn’t actually laid eyes on the creatures.

He leaned down, bracing a hand on each side of her, pinning her against the headboard.

“Everything is bigger in the forest. The beasts. The insects. The men. And the deeper you go into

the woods, the bigger and deadlier they all get.”

“Are you trying to scare me into wanting to stay here? Because that’s not going to work. I

want to leave. Now.” She ducked her head under his arms and rolled away, all the way off the

mattress. Gavin stood up, the bed separating them. Of course, the stupid door was on his side of

the bed, and she needed to move quickly and dart past him if she hoped to escape.

His eyes flickered with amusement, as if he knew what she was planning. The instant he

moved to step around the bed, she bolted for the door, dashing in a wide circle around the bed so

as to avoid her dark captor. Too soon something tripped her, and she didn’t realize it was

Gavin’s booted foot until she fell into his arms. The bastard.

“Let me go!” She twisted in his grasp, her fright escalating by the second.

“Let you go? I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m enjoying the view too much.”

She stilled in his strong arms and glanced down. Shame heated her face. Her cleavage

had popped out of the low-cut nightdress, and her nipples were on display to Gavin. Even worse,

she was winded, and her large bare breasts heaved in time with her quick breaths. Mortified, she

tried to cover herself, but Gavin pulled her arms behind her, preventing her from reclaiming her

modesty.

More and more heat rose to her cheeks as he turned her around, leading her to the bed. He

pushed her down on her back, still preventing her from covering herself. His gaze was hungry

and primal, and she feared what would happen next.

He pressed his body down on her and shifted to straddle her waist, stretching her arms

high above her head. “I already told you my brother wants to keep you.” His eyes roved over her,

lingering on her exposed, heaving chest. “And,” he said with obvious appreciation, “I think I

want to keep you, too.”

The door flung open, and a man stumbled inside, swaying and rubbing his eyes. Amelia

suspected he was drunk or exhausted, possibly both. She gawked at the new man as Gavin

crawled off the bed, and she was happy to finally breathe again without his unwelcome weight

pressing her down on the mattress. She scrambled to her feet and adjusted her nightdress with

her back turned to the two men, returning her cleavage to its proper place. She smoothed her

hands over her nightdress and spun around to glare daggers at the both of them.

The new man swayed again and put a steadying hand on one of the massive, artfully

carved bedposts. Amelia’s eyes widened. He had a few inches on Gavin. She felt dwarfed

standing near the two men, and her spirits sank at the knowledge that this new man was Gavin’s

brother. Trent.

The one of the light.

His coloring matched that of his kind, too. Untamed locks of light blond hair—no, silvery

white was more like it—hung loose, grazing his shoulders. Facial hair of the same color, past the

point of being called unshaven, covered the bottom of his face, making him appear even more

rugged and dangerous. And his eyes! Vivid and sparkling with intelligence, they were the

lightest blue she’d ever seen. The air in her lungs froze as she looked from Trent to Gavin,

comparing the two large Banded Men. She wasn’t sure who frightened her more—Gavin with

his dark, menacing looks, or Trent with his ruggedness and superior size.

They both sent shiver after shiver down her spine, and she found herself backing up

against the wall, as if to slip through a crack in the stones. She’d spent years avoiding men in the

village. Without a dowry, she was nothing. Nobody. Nobody but a poor beggar girl who all men

assumed would spread her legs for a crust of bread or the smallest coin. The village folk had felt

sorry for her when she was a child, and many of them had given her a roof over her head, until

their house became packed with their own biological children, and she was forced to move on

and hope for charity from another family. This went on until she began to grow into a woman,

her breasts swelling and her hips widening. It was at this point she learned it was expected of her

to become a whore. That’s what street girls did. They became whores. Except Amelia didn’t

want to become a whore, and sweet Mrs. Embers had saved her from that fate. Sweet Mrs.

Embers had also convinced her son to take Amelia as a wife, despite the fact that she was a