Page 43 of Darkness I Become
He arrived a minute later, his rifle locked and loaded.
“Help,” was all she could manage, crushed beneath Garett’s corpse. Cade rushed to her side and threw the body off of her like it weighed nothing.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded. “Garett…”
His eyes trailed over to the body, seeming to register for the first time that it was indeed Garett’s. He swore loudly.
“He attacked me,” Asha said, hugging herself in an attempt to stop the shaking. “I got up to pee, and he…saw an opportunity, I guess. I got lost, and he followed me, and he was on top of me, and I wasn’t going to let him do that to me, Cade, not again, I couldn’t—”
“Okay, okay,” Cade said soothingly, slinging the strap of his rifle over his shoulder. He crouched in front of her and took her hands in his. “It’s alright, darling.”
“Captain?” Leo’s voice called, and several sets of footsteps approached. Thankfully, the fog was finally beginning to lift. “We heard shots. What’s going on?”
Cade shot Asha a meaningful look. “Let me handle this.”
Still shaking like a leaf, she nodded. She didn’t know how to tell the men that she’d just murdered one of their own, even in self-defence.
What if they don’t believe me?she thought, horrified. What if they turned on her for killing their comrade?
“I’ll tell you what happened,” Cade growled, sounding entirely different to just a second earlier. No longer soft and soothing, he sounded murderous—terrifying. “This piece of shit attacked Asha. Got up to take a piss and saw it happen, so I shot him.”
More relief surged through her, and she wanted to burst into tears. He was taking the fall for her. Protecting her from his own men. She was immensely grateful; she didn’t know what she’d have done if they’d all started in on her.
Leo and Dom came into view, along with a couple other men. Their eyes widened as they took in the scene, and the blood rapidly pooling underneath Garrett’s body.
“Leo and Dom, you’re on disposal,” Cade ordered. “String him up. The rest of you, go back to camp and tell the others we’re not under attack. We’ll be having a meeting at dawn.”
“Cade—” Asha began, but he shook his head at her.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, clipped.
He offered Asha his hand, but she couldn’t take it. Not after what’d happened. Cade clucked his tongue and lifted her onto her feet, and despite his manhandling, Asha was grateful. She wasn’t sure she could’ve stood on her own.
He linked arms with her, holding her up since her knees kept wobbling, and walked her back to camp. The other men were peering out of their own tents, obviously curious, but they stayed where they were when told they weren’t under attack. Cade led her to the far end of the camp, out of earshot of the other soldiers.
“Are you injured?” he asked sharply. “Does anything hurt?”
Asha shook her head. She was still trembling, though not as hard.
Cade examined her critically with his flashlight, focusing on her throat where Garrett had briefly choked her.
“Just a little bruising,” he said, clicking off the light. “Not serious. Now, let’s get you out of that nightgown.”
Asha started, unsure of his meaning, but when she looked down, a dark, round stain soaked through the fabric. Garrett’s blood.
Bile scorched her throat, and she scrambled several steps away. As she doubled over and puked her guts out, she felt Cade’s hands gently holding back her hair. When she finished, he offered her his water flask, and she took a long drink.
She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and looked back to Cade. He was silent, arms folded over his chest, and there was tension in his entire body. His face was marble, unmoving and unreadable.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
His voice was a low growl, and it took Asha a moment to recognize that he was angry. Furious, even. She’d never heard him sound quite like that. He was usually so carefully contained, with his soldier’s discipline.
“I don’t know.” Her voice was almost a whisper, and her shoulders shook.
“You do know,” he shot back, pacing back and forth. “Tell me. Right fucking now.”
He had a frantic energy about him that frightened her. She was ashamed to admit that her usually sharp tongue failed her. All she felt was a deep fear that he blamed her for what had happened.
