Fallen Hero (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 3)

/> Aaron shook his head. “Thomas would have said something,” he protested.

“Not if he was dead,” Oliver snorted. “If she has faced dire straits, and he has come along at the right time with the right promises, it is not inconceivable he is now her husband.”

Aaron nodded. “There is no time like the present to find out, is there?”

Without waiting for his colleagues, Aaron turned to the door.

“Wait!”

Aaron sighed when he heard Jasper’s hushed tones. He lifted his brows and looked out of the window but from his position, the garden looked empty.

“There is someone else out there,” Callum whispered with a frown.

“Not again,” Aaron grumbled.

“Under the trees,” Jasper warned.

When another streak of lightning lifted the gloom, everyone studied the trees. The brief flash Aaron had of the garden highlighted a small bundle of black hidden beneath the bottom of a huge oak tree. It was small, but it was there.

“God in Hell,” Aaron whispered. “What now?”

Without thinking about what he was doing, Aaron pelted out of the back door of the house, vaulted over the low stone wall at the edge of the patio and raced across the garden. The closer he got to the bundle, and the more he realised just how small it was, the more he knew, deep in his soul, that it was Elspeth.

All sorts of scenarios ran through his mind of what could have happened to her to leave her in such a place in the middle of a storm, but he swiftly closed them all out for fear that he might not be able to find the strength to see for himself if she was alive or not.

Once at the tree, Aaron was painfully aware of the heavy pounding of his already battered heart as he cautiously lifted the hood of the cloak off her head. His hand shook with the strength of emotion that surged through him. Everything within him remained frozen in time as he slowly and carefully lifted the hood upward to reveal her face.

“It’s her,” he said when he saw her pale features in the gloom.

She looked so peaceful and at ease with the world, despite the heavy growl of the thunder rolling overhead, that he dreaded having to check to see if she was breathing.

Elspeth jerked awake when she felt something cold touch the warmth of her skin beneath the shoulder of her sodden dress. She blinked wearily at the darkness only to then realise she was not alone. Throwing her arms out to ward off her assailant, she tried to scramble away only to be caught in the folds of Thomas’s old cloak.

“Wait! Elspeth.” Aaron caught her before she could disappear. “It’s me. Aaron.”

Elspeth whirled to face him. For a moment, all she could do was stare while she tried to understand the emotions that coursed through her. The anger she thought she felt was no longer there. In its place was relief, hope, and such utter misery all she could do was stare miserably at him as her chin wobbled.

“Aaron?” she trembled.

“Come here,” he whispered.

Before Elspeth could say anything else, Aaron hauled her against his chest and held her tightly while she wept quietly into his shoulder. Aaron was oblivious to the rain that fell quietly about the empty garden and even forgot about the man still tied-up in the house. All he could focus on was the woman in his arms, where he desperately needed her to be. For the life of him he couldn’t have forced himself to release her. Not when she needed him as she quite obviously did.

“How long have you been out here?” he asked when the sodden material of her clothing soaked him through to the skin.

“I don’t know,” Elspeth whispered. “I don’t care.”

“Yes, you do,” Aaron countered swiftly. “You have to.”

“I don’t,” Elspeth argued. “I can’t.”

“Come on,” Aaron bit out.

When she didn’t move, he hauled her high into his arms and hurried into the house.

Thankfully, Callum was already holding the door open and stood back while Aaron swept through the door with his precious burden. He hurried straight over to the cold and empty fireplace.

“Elspeth. Where is the wood around here?” Aaron shivered.