Page 29 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

~ YILAN (Moments Earlier) ~

I was shaking—brimming with want, my body alight in a way I’d never experienced before. As if every touch, every kiss, every brush of his body lit a new flame that burned away any thought or drive in me beyond more.

But when he shoved me into those bushes and tore away leaving me cold and shaking, I was forced back to reality—and the fact that we were about to be discovered by a group of young males just like those who’d almost raped me.

Then I shook for an entirely different reason.

He was back in seconds, his wings high and wide, hissing at me that he’d hide me, but that just left me crouching there, helpless, as the bushes in front of him parted and young, drunk Nephilim faces appeared like the faces of baby coons popping out of a hollow tree.

Then Melek roared.

They fell backwards, scrambling over each other to get away as he stood, his wings spread and so thick I couldn’t see anything except the beautiful, scarred back of his massive body—which meant they couldn’t see me either.

“Leave us!” he snarled, the words puttering off into a growl as he took a prowling step towards those young idiots.

Those strong, drunk, and numerous young idiots. Even Melek couldn’t beat a dozen of them if they combined efforts.

Could he?

“Oh shit!”

“Sorry sir!”

“Is there a woman in there?”

“You question me when you’re supposed to stay within the circle of fires?” he snapped.

“We were just going to swim—”

“Shut up!”

And then Melek growled. The sound was so menacing, my blood ran cold. It was a harsh reminder that he was, at his core, a creature .

“Go. All of you. Back to your tents and your drink. I will forget I saw stupidity, but not rebellion.”

For a moment, no one moved and my heart froze. The young Neph obviously emboldened by drink and the thrill of celebration, sized up their General.

But then the one at the front dropped his eyes and his posture shrank.

“Yes, Sir,” he said, though there was an edge of tension in his voice. “We’ll go.”

He slapped his friend on the chest and they both turned, the others behind them following suit. I started to take a breath, but then the one at the front looked over his shoulder and grinned wickedly at Melek.

“Enjoy the Fetch, Sir.”

Then he took off after his friends, all of them laughing and whooping as they crashed back through the forest.

Melek stood before me for the length of several short breaths, unmoving. Then suddenly came alive, whipping around, sweeping me up into his chest and running into the forest at a different angle than the young ones had taken, his jaw clenched and eyes on fire.

I squeaked in shock, but clung to his neck, though the reality of… well, everything was starting to set in and an uneasiness churned in my guts.

“We have to get back to my tent, now.”

“Melek, what’s going on? They left. Do you think it was a ploy? That they’ll try to ambush you?”

“No. I think they’ll run back to camp and tell anyone who will listen that I have you out here. And there are many, many older, stronger warriors in this camp that have been lonely too long. Under the influence of drink, they might see challenging for my female as a fun start to their Covenant Days.”

I clung to him harder. “Surely they wouldn’t… I mean you could beat any of them—”

“Your faith in me is gratifying, Yilan. But even I couldn’t take four or five of our strongest fighters if they came at me together.”

I blinked. “They’d challenge you for a female together?”

He nodded once, his lips peeling back from his teeth as he spat, “And after they won, they’d take her together, as well.”

I stiffened and his hands tightened on my hip and back.

“If we are not under their eyes, they will be distracted. And they would never have the courage to challenge me sober. Do not fear, Yilan. I will not allow it. My female will never face—”

“I am not your female!” I hissed.

His head jerked back like I’d slapped him. His eyes dropped to meet mine for a split second, but he ran on.

“Regardless,” he murmured a few steps later. “I’m going to get you back to the tent. If any of them come out there to hunt us, they won’t find us. Problem solved.”

We had to sneak past the guards again, though Melek came at the camp from a different angle this time and the guards in this spot were even less attentive than those we had ducked earlier.

When we were almost back to the tent, as we passed the campfire twenty feet from its door, Melek slowed to a walk, panting lightly from the run, while I panted more from fear.

Fear of these creatures who would take women as if they were little more than possessions? Or fear of Melek? Fear of being raped? Or fear of… what had been happening before we were interrupted?

I wasn’t sure which was more terrifying.

No. That wasn’t true.

Melek… Melek was by far the more frightening prospect.

The General of our enemy. Arguably, the most powerful man on the continent. A Nephilim—a rebel against God and humanity.

Intelligent. Cunning. And honorable? With a soul?

It had to be true. The soulless King’s response to his own son only demonstrated that.

The sheer power of Melek, the way he owned a room. The way my heart would stop when his eyes locked on mine. The way my heart pounded when his mouth was on mine.

The way the world disappeared with his body on mine.

My blood on fire—

Flinching inwardly, I sucked in a breath and shook my head.

His grip tightened on me.

“They haven’t followed, Yilan. You’re safe.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and gripped harder against the urge to take his face in my hands and kiss him—and that was the final straw.

Melek was the most dangerous of creatures: A compelling, powerful, leader of a man. A man who called me in darkness and in light. And if I allowed it, he would draw me away from everything that had ever mattered to me.

And everything that was supposed to matter, as well.

“…Very little in this life is worth dying for.”

He arched one brow. “I notice you do not say nothing is worth dying for.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I did not know why God had put me here. I did not know why this man called to me like no other had before. But I knew the purpose I had been given. The responsibility I had to my people. And loyalty to an enemy could not fulfill that.

My heart flinched within my chest.

It hurt.

Unaware of my thoughts, Melek turned me sideways as he ducked into the tent, letting the canvas flap pull over his shoulder as he marched into the dark interior and once again did not light a lantern, gave no indication to anyone outside that we were here.

He reached the center of the tent and stopped suddenly, still panting. Then dropped his chin to look at me, his eyes piercing, even in the dark.

Neither of us spoke.

Melek gripped me at the knees, and behind my back. My entire body trembled. My heart swelled and pushed towards him and I fought.

I gritted my teeth and battled.

And when Melek set me back on my feet, I shrank from him.

He froze, his eyes locked on mine.

“Yilan—” he reached for me and I took another step back, dropping my eyes to my feet, grief blooming in my chest when he stopped himself coming for me. “Yilan, I know it’s been frightening, but I would never let them hurt y—”

“You are my enemy.”

I felt him flinch.

When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “God tells us to love our enemies.”

“Not like this.” But still I didn’t move. I had said the words, and they were true. But still I didn’t move.

I needed to move.

He was not going to move away. It had to be me.

As if he’d heard the thought, he inched closer, eyes on me, his body hesitant, but firm. Taking space to be close to me and that fright, that alarm, the part that feared him for what he could be, not what he was, pulled away.

I took one step back, and his breath caught.

Another, just beyond the reach of his long arms, and he opened his mouth.

I took the last three steps in a rush, turning to slip into the open cage door, then grabbing and pulling it closed in front of me.

He took two long strides to cover the same space, and gripped the bars of the cage over my fingers, his jaw tight. “Yilan—”

I resisted when he started to pull it open, and shook my head. “Lock it, Melek,” I whispered. “You have to lock it.”

He stared down at me, his brows pressing together, his forehead lined. “I am a man of my word, and I meant the words: I will not let them take you. You are safe—”

“I know. But that changes nothing.”

I had to draw the line. Had to make myself hard, because he was not and I couldn’t fight that.

“Lock the cage, Melek.”

“Yilan, do you… have you looked within yourself? Do you sense—”

“I sense that we are enemies, our peoples are enemies, yours are the enemy to the God I serve and you refuse to lead them into change so… I cannot choose you and your people over me and mine, Melek. I cannot. Lock. The fucking. Cage.”

He leaned back, his expression suddenly very heavy. His cheeks pulled down, shoulders slumped, and his eyes flickered with shadows—but he never broke eye contact as he reached for the lock and slammed it home, returning me to prison.

I thought he would give in to his anger and storm off, but instead he leaned in again, his nose only inches from mine.

“I will never let them have you,” he whispered and the intensity in him, the power wafting from him made me shiver.

“You are far more frightening to me than them,” I croaked.

His eyes narrowed. “Truly, Yilan?”

“Truly.”

He huffed. “I do not deserve that. I have proven that I will protect you.”

I didn’t reply, because he was right. But that was exactly what made him so dangerous. Couldn’t he see?

I held his gaze, and he held mine and then he shook his head, drawing slowly back, his upper lip beginning to curl back from his teeth.

“Do not judge me for defending myself against an enemy!”

“Oh, I don’t,” he muttered as he stepped back. “I just hadn’t picked you for a coward.”

Then, after landing that blow, he turned on his heel and marched to his bed, leaving me shaken and weary, begging God to remove the weight of grief that suddenly appeared on my chest.

But my prayers were not answered.