Finding Amber (Book 5) Jacobs Broken Mercenaries

chapter 9

Estevan 


I feel her push up against me, and any chance of sleep quickly evades me. How she can affect me at such a high level so quickly is a mystery. If I don’t get out of here soon, I fear I may do something I regret. She shivers, and I get up to throw more wood on the fire. When I lay back down, her tiny body curls into mine.
I take in her beauty. How could I have ever confused her with Devlin? Sure, she could pass as a double from a distance, but up close, the difference is stark.
Amber is? Driving me crazy! She sided with the beast… with me. I know exactly why that angered me. She was supposed to confirm my guilt by pushing me further into my self-hate, not give me hope. Not make me feel like I could get a second chance. It makes this all the much harder.
Add in her curious nature and seductive looks, and boom! Walking time bomb. I’m sure Celeste wouldn’t appreciate me sullying her sister at the first opportunity. 
Her cold little hands slide out from between us to settle on my chest. I groan at the torture. The situation is testing me. Those feelings have been dead inside me for centuries. Within two days, she has them stoked to an inferno without even trying. I can only imagine the result if she did. Try that is. The thought of those images project gets me painfully hard. 
Voices sound from a distance. It’s such an oddity I think I’m hallucinating. My body tenses on high alert. They’re talking about intruders... us!
“You’ve got to be kidding me?”
I bury the fire all the while. Amber is still sound asleep and unaware of the danger unraveling around us. Clasping my hand on her mouth, I whisper the words “be quiet.” Amber’s eyes shoot open, and her first instinct is a yell. Thankfully, I predicted as much.
“Slowly and quietly, we have to move. Now!”
She nods, clasping onto my arm. I remove my hand from her mouth and lead her further into the cave. She can see in the dark, but obviously not as well as me. As she stumbles, clutching the cave’s wall, I take a glance back at the fire to make sure the embers are all buried. The moment we round the cave’s corner, a pair of chenoos appear at the entrance. Their giant-size forms shrink before my eyes as they duck into the cave. 
I pull amber backward, frantically searching for an exit.  I’d rather risk burning than face a chenoo in my state. Hunger is weakening me, and my healing will no longer be rapid.
The cave goes much deeper than I anticipated.  Each tunnel leads to another. When I finally find an exit, I burst out into… it’s light, but the cloud is so thick I’m not burning.  I momentarily pause, losing precious time. Amber looks just as dumbfounded as she squints up at the sky. I pull her forward, telling her to hurry. All the while, my mind is preoccupied trying to figure out the logistics. Even during a storm in thick cloud cover, I suffer some form of burn. I feel nothing, not even a sweat. 
“In here!”
I push Amber forward, quickly distorting our tracks. It takes a few risky minutes making multiple paths, but it’s worth every second.  Hopefully, by the time they figure it out, the heavy snowfall will cover most of it, or they give up is the most positive outcome.
When I enter the cave, Amber is sitting against the wall, gripping her knees and steadily rocking. I couldn’t imagine being human and then suddenly thrust into this life; constantly fighting for your survival. I try to calm her.
“Relax, chenoos are dangerous but not very bright. They wouldn’t guess we picked such a small cave the farthest away.” I hope. Amber looks at me with a vacant stare.
“What are chenoos?”
I sum it up for her, not wanting to scare her with the details.
“Giant cannibals.”
“Oh, God!” 
Amber presses her hand to her mouth like she’s going to be sick.
“Don’t! The worst thing you could do right now is lose the last bit of strength you have.”
She breathes through clenched teeth, holding back the urge to empty her stomach. If Mica knows where I am, he won’t consider us a problem anymore. I should warn Jacob. 
“I need you to stay calm, okay? Can you do that, Amber?” she nods in agreement. 
“I’m going to try to communicate with my friend so he can keep your sister safe… I need you to watch the entrance. If you see or hear anything, say my name. Got it?”
She nods, still in a daze.
“If you see anything, what are you going to do?”
It takes her a moment. 
“Say your name.” She repeats. I nod, sitting next to her.
Putting myself somewhere else mentally zaps me out, but I manage the connection. I assure Jacob he’s got some time and let him know Amber is safe. After describing a few hiccups, he wishes me luck and disconnects in a hurry. My guess is he’s got a few hiccups of his own and either doesn’t want to worry me or he can’t be distracted.  With Jacob, it could very well be both. 
“Is that a vampire thing?”
I turn my attention to Amber, getting lost in her eyes. There’s depth there I wouldn’t expect from someone her age. There’s also loneliness I recognize, and I don’t know how I missed it beforehand.  The starkness of it makes me soften toward her.
“No, it’s more like a gift. There are records of humans carrying a similar type of telepathy.” She breathes out a small “oh.” shivering with the exhale. She shouldn’t be that cold. She should have regulated by now. Amber must still be vulnerable to new. Which means she’ll need to feed twice as often.
“Come here.” I say, a bit rougher than intended. My lack of control over the situation has me on edge. I pull her into my lap, rubbing my hands over her arms. When her shivering begins to dissipate, her close proximity stirs my arousal, and I adjust her to hide my reaction. Even if she would have me, and I find it unlikely; now is not the time. Back at the river, when I kissed her. I swore she kissed me back; that she liked my attentions, but I was so caught up I doubt the reality of it. I may have fabricated the memory from sheer need of her. Amber presses her cold nose into my neck, and I bite back a groan. The feel of her body pressed against mine is almost too much to bear.
“Are you comfortable, Amber?” My tone comes out all wrong. The overwhelming desire I feel ingrained in every word. She stiffens at my question, pulling her head off my shoulder to look into my eyes. It’s probably the worst thing she could have done. Amber might as well be straddling me. Her soft pink lips are inches from mine.
“Yes...” 
Her light spoken agreement sounds more like permission than it does an answer to my earlier question, or maybe that’s what I want to hear. I look down at her lips longingly. Her freckled skin is visible just past her collarbone, disappearing under my jacket. The dusting of freckles hidden are begging to be discovered, and the mixture of her scent coupled with mine is intoxicating. This feels too right. A deep, shaky inhale from Amber draws my attention back to her face. She licks her lips while looking at mine. I don’t wait for the written invitation. That’s permission enough for me. I slowly bring her lips to mine, giving her ample time to object while cupping the back of her head firmly. I’m not sure I would stop, anyway. The moment her lips touch mine, a different hunger consumes me until I feel nothing else but her.