Kaiden stood before the crowd consisting of over a hundred rescued men and women, children and elderly.
He took a slow breath before speaking.
"I want to say something before we move forward. You all swore your allegiance to me, but I know that oath wasn't made under the best of circumstances. You'd just been freed from your chains and taken revenge on your oppressors. Emotions were running high, and I won't pretend I don't understand what that does to a person."
He looked over them, the starved, the scarred, the survivors. "So if anyone here wants to step back from that promise, now is the time. I won't hold it against you. I'll understand completely."
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Some lowered their heads, whispering to one another. But before it could spread, two figures stepped forward.
Taigi, the young woman who had been ordered to seduce Kaiden by Varek, knelt first. Beside her, the quiet male hunter who had taken charge of the men did the same.
