The Exiled Read online

  The Exiled

  Dominion of Ash Book Two

  Frost Kay

  Contents

  Also By Frost Kay

  To My Fantastic Readers

  1. Noah

  2. Hazel

  3. Hazel

  4. Hazel

  5. Hazel

  6. Hazel

  7. Noah

  8. Hazel

  9. Hazel

  10. Hazel

  11. Hazel

  12. Noah

  13. Hazel

  14. Hazel

  15. Hazel

  16. Hazel

  17. Hazel

  18. Hazel

  19. Noah

  20. Noah

  21. Hazel

  22. Hazel

  23. Hazel

  24. Noah

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  The Exiled

  Copyright © 2019 Renegade Publishing, LLC

  First Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any format or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  For information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book go to www.frostkay.net

  Cover by Story Wrappers

  Copy Editing by Holmes Edits

  Proofreading by Kate Anderson

  Formatting by Renegade Publishing

  Created with Vellum

  Also By Frost Kay

  THE AERMIAN FEUDS

  Rebel’s Blade

  Crown’s Shield

  Siren’s Lure

  Enemy’s Queen

  King’s Warrior

  Warlord’s Shadow

  Spy’s Mask

  DOMINION OF ASH

  The Stain

  The Tainted

  The Exiled

  MIXOLOGISTS & PIRATES

  Amber Vial

  Emerald Bane

  Scarlet Venom

  Cyan Toxin

  Onyx Elixir

  Indigo Alloy

  THE TWISTED KINGDOMS

  The Hunt

  To My Fantastic Readers

  How the heck have y’all been? It’s been a while since The Tainted released. Can you believe it’s been almost a year? *mind blown* I’m glad you stuck with it! It’s about to get crazy in the Dominion of Ash world.

  So how about a little refresher?

  The Tainted – Man or beast mutated by the virus.

  The Untouched – Those immune or not infected by the virus.

  Harbor – Hazel’s compound

  Sanctum (sanctuary) – Noah’s village

  Diablos – a Tainted panther-like-creature

  Lobos – a Tainted wolf-like-creature

  The Classes – how the Tainted classify their strengths, mutations, and family lines – avians, serpents, dragons (lizards), mammalia, lochs (water based mutations).

  Now for our Spanish terms

  Abuela – grandmother (abuelita is the more intimate endearment)

  Mi hijo – my son

  Mi hija – my daughter

  Niño – boy

  Niña – girl

  Niños or niñas – children

  Señora – Ma’am

  I think that wraps everything up. I hope you love this new adventure!

  One

  Noah

  “I hate you.”

  The words from the Untouched echoed in his ears, and they shouldn’t have bothered him as much as they did. What cut deeper were the pained words she’d whispered after he promised not to hurt her.

  “You already have.”

  He gritted his teeth as he pulled her against his chest and wrapped one arm around her slim shoulders and swept the other behind her knees. Noah’s nostrils flared at the astringent scent of hate and bitterness, accompanied by the coppery odor of freshly spilled blood.

  Liquid ran down her legs and across his fingers in a torrent that was much too fast for his liking. The girl was losing too much blood. His pulse picked up, and an unfamiliar combination of urgency and terror washed over him when her head lolled against his shoulder, a heavy weight that was familiar and yet foreign at the same time. Would the fragile creature finally die from this wound?

  The thought almost brought him to his knees.

  Noah growled and straightened his spine, his fingers curling more tightly around her bloody thighs. She was nothing to him. One Untouched girl didn’t have to affect him in the least. His gaze wandered down to her pale face creased in pain. Hell, she was as ugly as they came. No scales, spots, feathers, or stripes to make her the least bit interesting. He eyed her silvery-white hair. At least she had one redeeming physical attribute that wasn’t completely unappealing.

  A cough pulled his attention to the left.

  His father tipped his head to the side and studied Noah. “I reckon she needs some help.”

  A subtle chastisement.

  Noah jostled the girl and stood, his nose aching when he inhaled. He’d be lucky if she hadn’t broken it; not to mention, she’d stabbed him. That wouldn’t go over well. The Untouched had been considered defenseless before her escape attempt, but now that she’d drawn the blood of a Blooded—one of the ruling line—there would be no mercy. She’d have to pay for her crimes. There wasn’t anything he could do about it.

  “Get moving,” Doc barked, stalking away from the group.

  He followed the angry kitsune and dismissed the girl in his arms. Each day had its own bloody anxieties. Might as well not dwell on tomorrow’s. The Untouched might not live to see another day anyway.

  Don’t lie to yourself. You might not like the girl, but she’s yours anyhow.

  His lip curled. He’d be damned if he ever took such a plain harpy to his bed.

  Two

  Hazel

  Hazel should have fought, but she didn’t have the strength. Everything hurt, as if the pain had pulled back like the tide of the sea just to slam back into her all at once.

  She groaned and gazed up at the monster carrying her in his arms. Her gaze followed along the line of his strong jaw and lingered on the black scales shining in the bright moonlight. It was disgusting. He was little more than an animal and… a black oily emotion rolled in her chest.

  Hate. She hated him so much in that moment. If Hazel could have killed him with her gaze alone, she would have.

  Deep brown eyes, almost black, darted down to her face and then back up to stare ahead, and the monster’s jaw clenched. “Are you going to keep staring all night?”

  His deep voice rumbled against her side. More hate and something warmer assaulted Hazel. It wasn’t right that he had such a pleasant voice. His soft Latin accent was almost enough to put her to sleep, which was bloody irrational and unfair. His voice should have matched his appearance and soul. Ugly.

  She struggled for one second to put more distance between their bodies, but it was futile. Exhaustion and blood loss were winning. Hazel’s head lolled to the side, and she gazed up at the stars, wishing she was anywhere but there. Her lips thinned when he readjusted her and his calloused fingers slid higher on her thigh, causing goosebumps to rise along her bare arms and legs, a dull awareness of the warm male holding her close slowly waking her own body.

  Traitorous flesh.

  The wound on her thigh pulsed with her heartbeat, and her eyelids lowered as lethargy settled over her like a heated blanket. She didn’t have enough bloody energy for hatred. All she wanted was some peace
and quiet, and a good night of sleep.

  “I’m too tired to hate you,” she whispered, her eyes finally closing. It would be so easy to fall asleep right in his arms.

  The monster jiggled her hard and pinched the outside of her exposed thigh. Hazel’s eyes snapped open and she hissed, glaring at his ugly mug. “Knock it off,” she barked. “Just let me rest.”

  He snorted. “Like hell am I going to allow you to sleep on me, Blondie. I have some standards.”

  Indignation burned away some of Hazel’s fatigue. “Put me down.”

  “Not a chance.”

  He pulled her close to his chest and picked up his pace, beginning to jog. Dizziness and pain rolled through her at the rough movement. The gentle voices murmuring around her blended and faded as they put distance between themselves and the farm.

  “Don’t fall asleep,” he warned.

  She didn’t intend to. Not with monster pain-inflictor in charge.

  To keep from falling asleep, Hazel craned her neck and watched as the farm and the fence finally disappeared, and along with it, any chance of escape. Her chest clenched, and she cursed herself for once again not being able to complete one simple task. All she had to do was make it over the fence.

  One more fence. She’d been so close. And she failed.

  Heat burned behind her eyes and her stomach flipped when the monster moved down a set of stairs and the starlight slowly disappeared, engulfing them in inky darkness. Her breaths deepened, and the earthy scent of clay caused her nose to twitch. They’d entered the caves once again.

  She turned her head toward the faint light illuminating a smooth, rounded tunnel ahead. Disappointment pierced her gut as red sandstone pressed in on all sides and the damp stone smell filled her nose. Panic seized her as they moved deeper into the cave and tunnel system, her nausea making it difficult to tell how many turns they’d taken. It was a veritable maze.

  Metal shrieked, echoing down the halls. Her teeth ground together at the terrible sound, and she pressed closer to the monster on accident, his leathery wing brushing her cheek. Oh, God. Horrified, Hazel jerked back.

  “Damn it,” the monster growled, fumbling to keep her in his arms. “Don’t be an idiot. I could have dropped you.”

  Her cheeks burned. As much as she didn’t want to agree with him, it had been pretty dumb to react that way. Falling on her butt would have hurt something fierce.

  “Hurry up,” Doc’s voice called from ahead.

  Her fingers clenched in the fabric of her stolen dress as the monster approached her cell and then turned sideways, moving into the room, his wings scraping against the wall. Hazel expected him to toss her onto the rickety bed like the barbarian he was, but instead, he carefully laid her down, conscious to pull her dress lower as if to preserve her modesty.

  Hazel squirmed away from his touch and immediately sat up. The world swirled, and she pressed a hand to the bed to try to get her bearings. Doc fussed next to the bed as she scooted back from the monster hovering to her left. She ignored the way he tracked the movement and inhaled through her mouth to keep from puking as her eyes settled on the saturated scarlet streak across the bed. Without thinking, she glanced at her jailer and zeroed in on his hands and his very bloody fingers.

  The room wavered once again, and said bloody hand wrapped around her bicep as she slumped and almost pitched off the side of the bed. Blood had never bothered her, but damn if it didn’t now. Her eyes didn’t move from the crimson-covered hand smearing her own lifeblood across her skin.

  “Look away. It will do no good to keep staring.”

  But she couldn’t look away.

  A finger slipped beneath her chin and pressed upward. Slowly, Hazel dragged her attention from the macabre scene on her arm and blankly peered into the alien face of the monster.

  “I need you to stop touching me,” she said woodenly.

  He bared his teeth at her. “And I need you to stop hurting yourself. Since you can’t seem to help yourself, you’ve put us in this situation.”

  Not if she had anything to say about it. His touch made her skin crawl. Or did it? Hazel banished the thought, then tore her arm from his grasp and hauled herself to the head of the bed. The monster glared and then schooled his expression when voices filtered into the room from the hallway. He moved around the end of the bed and pressed himself into one smooth round corner, crossing his arms and feet like an indolent, winged prince.

  The voices grew louder as Clint, Jameson—the man with the brown wings, and Matt filed into the room. Guilt pricked her when Matt caught her eye and stared her down, without expression. That never boded well. Her best friend had always been an open book, but when he got quiet, it meant she’d really screwed up and hurt him.

  She pried her gaze from him and darted to Doc. His back was to her, and when he turned to place his medicine bag on the foot of the bed, she winced. Disgust with herself caused her belly to roll. The kitsune had dried blood matted in his hair and along his neck. He’d shown her nothing but kindness, and she’d repaid him with violence. Her family would be ashamed.

  Hazel swallowed down her shame and silently watched as Doc dug out cleaning supplies, his rust-colored eyes flicking to hers once he was finished. He gave her a soft smile that Hazel didn’t deserve, and she tried to convey how sorry she was from the expression on her face. She’d almost come back to her cell when she’d seen it was Doc in the bath.

  Almost. But almost wasn’t good enough.

  “I need you to pull up your dress and spread your legs, Hazel. The wound is deep, and we need to stop the bleeding immediately,” Doc murmured.

  He wanted her to spread her legs? She clenched her thighs together, even as her wound gushed blood down her leg. Hazel flicked a glance over the silent men watching her like she was some sort of show.

  “No.”

  She pressed her back against the barred metal headboard. She wouldn’t be that vulnerable with the gawking monsters in the room. Hazel trusted Doc, but she’d also just hit him over the head with a rock. No one was that nice or forgiving.

  Doc huffed out a breath and squared his shoulders. “You don’t have time for modesty, Hazel. Everyone in this room has seen what’s underneath your dress.”

  Hazel peeked in Matt’s direction, but he wouldn’t look at her. Bastard.

  It would be stupid to die because of modesty. Clearly, the men in the room thought she was as unappealing as she thought them, so what really was the risk?

  Hazel gritted her teeth and hiked up her dress, flashing her panties and legs for all the world to see. An embarrassed blush heated her cheeks and neck, and she pinned her gaze to a small hollow in the stone wall just over Doc’s shoulder. She ignored the kitsune as he moved closer and leaned over her right leg. Her skin crawled at the attention of the men in the room. Hazel flinched as Doc’s cool fingers skated along her thigh, and humiliation churned in her gut as he slowly pulled her leg toward the side of the bed.

  Once again, tears heated her eyes, but anger soon followed the shame. Who were these men to look at her like this when they weren’t even helping with the doctoring? Hazel wouldn’t let them cow her.

  She turned her attention to the monster darkening the corner and glared at him with all the rage, shame, and hate in her heart. He lifted his eyes from a point far above her head and met her glare with one that was completely blank. Hazel bared her teeth and wished to the gods she could incinerate him on the spot with her loathing as Doc gently moved her other leg.

  The kitsune sucked in a sharp breath. “Only you,” he muttered.

  Hazel yelped and bit down on her lip, her attention dropping to Doc, who pressed a heavy piece of gauze to the inside of her thigh. A lone tear trickled down her left cheek. It hurt so freaking much.

  Doc lifted his head and met her gaze. He studied her, his expression completely solemn. “You’re damn lucky you’re alive. This whole mess is your own fault, and you’re a damn fool.” He held up two fingers, a tiny space between hi
s thumb and pointer finger. “You were this close to cutting your femoral artery. Only an inch difference and you would have died within ten minutes. You literally would have bled out.”

  “And that would have been a bad thing?” she asked woodenly.

  Doc’s face crinkled, true offense and anger shifting his expression to something scary. “Absolutely unbelievable. You’re so wrapped up in yourself that you can’t see those around you that want to help. Have I not cared for you?” he demanded.

  “You have,” Hazel said softly, feeling a tad ashamed. “I didn’t mean to cause offense. I was genuinely curious. I’m a prisoner, an enemy. Isn’t my life worthless?”

  “If you think that, then your people must really be animals,” Doc retorted, but even in anger, he didn’t stop treating her.

  Remorse filtered through her strong emotions, softening them. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, but the whole situation was backwards. She was a prisoner, but they wanted to keep her healthy? For what purpose? Stars, she didn’t even want to know. Her shoulders slumped like a weight settled on them. Hazel averted her gaze, fatigue and guilt riding her hard, adding to the confusion.

  “What I want to know,” a deep dark voice skittered across her skin, and the hair on the back of her neck rose, “is how she escaped?”

  Hazel didn’t dare look in the monster’s direction but kept her attention fixed on the blood-smeared sheet between her legs.