Stolen Desire (Outlawed Realm) Read Online Free Page B

to see anything at all.
     
    Zekin wondered if Paige had closed her eyes and figured she had, given how she ran into him, her shoulder bumping his back.
    “Sorry,” she cried.
    Zekin nodded in acknowledgment, not certain she noticed or could even comprehend his response given her panic. She huffed as she tried to keep up with him, and stumbled again, her body ramming against his. He staggered briefly before regaining his balance. To keep both of them steady, Zekin wrapped his arm around Paige’s waist to help her across the foreboding terrain.
    In the distance, he heard the faint rumbling of an ice tsunami, the spitting and crackling sounds warning this dimension’s creatures to flee or risk its mammoth weight pulverizing them. The mountain of ice was faintly visible now and moving quickly past the enormous drifts. Zekin figured they had just enough time to reach the route to the colony before the tsunami arrived.
    Paige swallowed loudly, then gulped air at his quickened pace, the sounds transmitted from her facemask to his. She rested her free hand on his chest. “Thanks for holding on to me. I’m having trouble walking… Thanks.”
    The heat of her fingers quickened Zekin’s already rapid pulse. Her gratitude soothed and humbled him. She still had no idea what they faced but trusted him far more than when he’d entered her room, a cage decorated with rich velvet, silk and candlelight, built by the guards. Thankfully, none of them followed now. If they had, Zekin wouldn’t have been able to fight all of them off. He’d used most of his darts at their outpost. With only a few shots left, he had only his fists for added defense.
    Tightening his arm around Paige, Zekin held her close, keeping her as safe as he could. He’d promised her that. Although he was a criminal on E2, sentenced to imprisonment and death in this harsh realm, he wasn’t a man who went back on his word, even if it meant murdering others.
    There’d been a time in Zekin’s life when he would have experienced horror and remorse at what he’d done to the guards. No more. Paige’s anguish when he’d first seen her told him all he needed to know. No matter what it took, even if it meant his life, he had to help her.
    He recalled how she’d looked when he promised to bring her home. Something had shifted within her, the emotion sparking briefly in her eyes, a hazel shade that complemented her pale skin and light blonde hair. She wore it parted on the side and chin length, the ends turned up slightly.
    Hardly the kind of female the rulers craved. Zekin sensed the guards had abducted her because she’d been available, unprotected. Unlike the female pleasure slaves who were designed to be perfect women, Paige wasn’t beautiful. Her features were ordinary…until she smiled. A radiant smile, the most dazzling he’d ever seen.
    It had reached her eyes, and, strangely enough, had touched his soul.
    Zekin wasn’t certain what to make of it. He’d been raised in a culture where emotions weren’t allowed. Duty to the realm mattered above all for the populace. Only Vakar, their highest ruler, and his inner circle were exempt. At least when they visited E4’s Pleasure Palace, created for their basest desires. Few of Vakar’s subjects knew the place existed. For the majority of the citizens, there was no indulgence in raw lust, no displays of love, anger, joy. Their conditioning precluded that. Order ruled.
    Zekin’s world was nothing like what he knew of Paige’s.
    As a privileged boy, he’d studied the major languages on Earth and the life on each of its dimensions. Hers had alarmed and fascinated him. There was so much chaos, wars and tragedies interrupted by brief moments of indescribable joy. A man adoring a woman who felt the same about him. The ecstasy of creating new life. Loyalty to one’s children and family that made even the worst situation bearable and all things possible.
    Values that his teachers and parents had denigrated, warning