A Violation Exquisite

[Sasha Girl]

FUGITIVES - DAY 1

So it came to pass that Gabriel and Natasha escaped the safe house after all, except they did not escape alone.

“I still say this was a dumb idea,” Gabriel whispered furiously, as they passed by the cameras that Wolfgang had disabled earlier. They were outside the house by now so it was really a moot point.

“It’ll only be dumb if we get caught,” Wolfgang said grinning at him. His mood had improved dramatically during the last half hour and Natasha did not have to wonder why. Funny how much of a difference a kiss can make, she thought.

And then her breath caught in her throat.

Gabriel had kissed her. He had kissed her while she was his prisoner and not once, but twice. It was soon after the second kiss that his behaviour changed. Could it be? No…

“Er… honey?” Wolfgang whispered in her ear. His breath hot, his lips brushing her skin. “You’re not going to stand there all day are you? Because we really don’t have all day to do this.”

Thus prodded into action, Natasha moved along. But as they walked the thought kept recurring that maybe the men were telling the truth when they said Gabriel was in love. If only there was a way to test their claim, she thought, not even pausing to wonder why she cared.

*******

Once they were a fair distance away from the house, Gabriel turned to them. His face was black and blue with bruises and one of his eyes half closed, but he spoke with his usual calm authority, demanding their attention as was his way.

“Right, that’s the easy part over,” he informed them. “Now comes the tricky stuff. Because the Wolf Squad is not allowed to ever give up the chase… which means we must not only run far and fast, we must throw them off the scent.”

“I don’t like our chances,” Wolfgang said in total honesty. “Come to think of it, we may as well go back now…”

There was an undeniable note of pride in the statement. Like he still thought of himself as part of the gang. Shaking his head, Gabriel corrected him gently but firmly:

“If that’s how you truly feel, be my guest… meanwhile, if you don’t mind, I’d like to propose a plan.”

Minutes later as they jogged through the forest, Natasha thought to herself that there was a reason Gabriel was the leader of the Squad. A damn good reason, she thought, feeling they might have a chance after all.

*******

FUGITIVES - DAY 2

Day two on the run did not begin at dawn. It began several hours before it and it began at a jump.

Natasha knew where the bomb was buried and when the explosion was due to take place, but she still leapt several feet in the air when it happened. It made the men laugh.

“First time in a forest with the big bad wolf, ha?” Wolfgang asked, squeezing her buttocks to distract her. She felt his warm hands through the oversized clothes she wore and that he had given her. It felt strange not to feel him against her bare skin and she said so.

“Do you mind?” Gabriel growled, reminding them of who was in charge.

They moved off with Natasha shaking her head. If someone had told her six months ago that she would be running from a secret and deadly squad of men with a handsome sadist and his bisexual lover, she would have told them they were insane. She still had trouble believing it herself and she was very much there in the moment with them. She tripped, almost falling flat on her face, but Gabriel caught her just in time, picking her up by the scruff of her neck.

“When running through a forest in the dark, make sure to pick up your feet,” he instructed and she blushed, feeling clumsy compared to them.

On and on they ran, Natasha making an effort to keep up. At length however, Gabriel turned to her and said:

“We don’t have time for this. Here, climb onto my back.”

Seriously? She thought, but they gave her no chance to hesitate. With Gabriel standing at the ready, Wolfgang came up behind her and lifted her up. Dumbfounded she wrapped her arms around his neck and they took off again, the forest rushing past. How on Earth can they be so fast? She wondered and she felt herself grow excited right in the middle of the chase. Between her legs Gabriel’s back was warm, his strong arms hooked under her knees. She had never been so close to him before without feeling pain and she closed her eyes as she buried her face against his neck, breathing in his masculine scent.

*******

The explosions went on periodically throughout the day, at the times and locations that Gabriel and Wolfgang set them to during the night. At every stop that they made Natasha kept straining to hear the voices of their pursuers, but the men told her not to waste her time.

“The Wolf Squad hunts silently,” Gabriel told her. “Like the wolves we sniff out our prey first before flushing it out…”

“Ha!” she smiled at him. “That reminds me of something my father said.”

At which point Gabriel looked away, something that he never did. In the excitement of the day she did not get to dwell on it and she forgot about it quickly as they ran. Later much later, her mind would pluck it out of the back of her brain and serve it up to her on a platter, and she would kick herself for being so slow to pick up on the obvious clue. But that would come later much later and on a different day altogether. After they had finished playing fugitive to the wolves… both real and imaginary ones.

*******