Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

***THEO***

S am began shaking his head, then said something in their language to Peter, clearly trying to defend himself. "My son says that you interrupted them, that they were just walking along the beach when you attacked him for no reason," Peter said. "This insult cannot be ignored. Sam demands satisfaction, a fight for the woman, to prove who should have her."

"That's ridiculous, he tried to rape me," Eden said. "He tried to force himself on me. I don't want him, I never will, and you can't make me."

"You are just a woman, have no say," Peter scoffed. "Men are in charge on this island, you do as we say. Sam not that kind of man, you are confused."

"I am not confused," Eden said. "I know exactly what happened, he tried to rape me."

He could hear whispers in the crowd behind them, and turned to see a few unhappy faces among the villagers, especially the women. "If Sam is so innocent, why is he standing there naked?" he asked. "A walk on the beach doesn't require taking your clothes off. "

His question elicited more whispers, but no one said anything and the silence was so heavy it could have been cut with a knife. "Enough……you lie," Peter finally said. "Sam is good man, lead the village someday. I won't listen to your lies anymore. Fight or die, your choice."

"This is not the road you want to go down, Peter," he said, trying to control the anger pumping through him. "You may not be able to admit that Sam is a terrible human being, but I think everyone knows the truth."

"You fight Sam, he must defend his honor," Peter said. "The woman is his, you will see. The island will give him what he wants. Eden marries winner of fight."

Eden grabbed him by the arm. "Theo, this is crazy; can't we just walk away?" she said. "I don't want you fighting over me. There's no reason, I don't want him, I want you. They can't make me marry him."

"Eden, I don't think we can walk away from this. I'm going to have to fight Sam, there's no choice," he said. "I can't protect us from all of them, but I can take him on and show them that they can't mess with us."

"And how do we know Peter will stand by his word? He's done nothing but try to break us up since we got here," she said. "I don't trust him, and you shouldn't either."

"Oh, I don't trust him, not at all," he said. "But it's time Sam got what he deserves, and I'm the one to give it to him. When this fight is over, Sam will be humiliated, and you and I are getting out of here."

"I just want to go home, Theo," she said. "I don't care about my mother. I don't care about all the things that made it impossible for us to be together. None of that matters anymore."

"No, I guess it doesn't," he said. "All that matters is us. I want us to be together, Eden, for as long as you can handle an old man like me."

"You mean forever?" she asked, smiling up at him.

"That might have been what I had in mind," he said. "But first we have to deal with Sam."

"Just promise me that you'll be careful," she said. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"When this is over, there's something we have to talk about, but for now, just let me assure you that Sam has never met anyone like me," he said, reaching up to stroke her cheek. "I'll be fine, Eden, I promise, and as soon as this is over, we're going to start working on a way to get home. It's time to get started on our life together in the real world."

Eden leaned into his palm for a second, closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, then picked up her head and looked into his eyes. "Go kick his butt," she said, a grin on her face. "I'm ready to go home."

"Yes, mam," he said, giving her another kiss. "Wait right here, this shouldn't take long."

He turned away from Eden and took a couple of steps toward Sam. "I accept your challenge," he called. "Let's get this over with."

Sam puffed up his chest, and strutted toward him. "Now Eden see real man," he called. "Not little boy like you."

"Are you going to talk, or are you going to fight?" he called back. "Or maybe you're scared. Maybe you've changed your mind about being humiliated in front of your entire village."

Sam growled at him, then charged, his fists in the air, but Theo easily stepped out of the way and watched as he went sprawling to the ground, his face in the sand. "That was very graceful," he taunted. "Be careful you don't get sand in your eyes. "

After climbing to his feet, Sam stood staring at him, his eyes filled with rage, but he didn't even blink. "Not done yet?" he asked, then shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, bring it on. You're just going to end up on the ground again."

When Sam charged at him again, he realized that he was just prolonging things, and this time when he stepped to the side, he brought his fist up at the same time, connecting with Sam's face. The other man howled with pain but managed to stay on his feet this time and stood staring at Theo, blood dripping down his cheek.

"Sam not playing around anymore," he panted. "Going to kill you now."

He laughed, "Oh, so now you're going to fight," he said. "Tell you what, I'll give you one shot. If you can knock me down, I'll let you have a second."

This time when Sam charged at him, he let him get one punch in before he brought his left fist up into the other man's stomach. Sam crumpled to the ground and lay rolling around, his arms clutched around his middle, whimpering like a baby for several minutes. When he finally surfaced from the pain, he climbed back to his feet, and staggered a couple of times before he regained his balance.

It was no surprise to him when Sam pulled a knife from the sheath tied to his leg. He hadn't expected him to fight fair. "Well, what a surprise," he said, grinning at Sam. "I guess we're playing for keeps now."

"You die," Sam panted. "I kill you."

"Go ahead and try, but don't be surprised if that knife ends up stuck in you instead of me," he said. "Maybe you should have brought a bigger one."

***Eden** *

Eden gasped when she saw the sun glinting off the metal of the knife in Sam's hand and letting out a little cry of alarm. Then, she took a couple of steps toward Theo, suddenly terrified she was going to lose him. But then she noticed that Theo hadn't moved, hadn't tensed up or stepped back, and realized that he didn't see the weapon as much of a threat, and she began to relax. Sam clearly had no chance against Theo, a weapon wasn't going to change that, and she hoped that it would be over soon, without bloodshed if possible.

Before Sam could strike out with the knife, a group of women walked up to her. "Come with us," one of the women said. "You get ready for the wedding."

"What?" she asked, then shook her head. "I'm not leaving Theo; I don't trust any of you."

"Rose sent us," one of the women said. "You come with us, she is waiting for you in village, make you beautiful for wedding. Come now, much to do."

Before she could tell them to leave her alone, they surrounded her, grabbed her by the arms, and hustled her down the beach away from the fight and the rest of the villagers. "Hey, let me go," she said, starting to struggle. "I'm not going with you."

One of the women grabbed her by the hair and gave it a hard yank, then twisted until she was forced to bend over. "You not get Sam," she hissed at her. "He is mine. You die, leave him alone."

"I don't want him," she screamed. "You can have him."

The woman yanked her hair again, making stars appear in her vision as pain sliced through her, but she didn't cry out, wouldn't give the women the satisfaction. Her fist still wrapped in Eden's hair, the woman marched her down the beach, the other women surrounding them, cutting off any possibility of escape. When they came to a tiny raft pulled up on the shore, the woman stopped, then gave her a big shove.

She managed to stay on her feet, but she crashed into another woman. There was a sharp pain in the back of her head, and her vision started to go dark. Her legs were no longer able to hold her, and she went down first to her knees, then her entire body crumpled to the sandy shore. The back of her head throbbing, she lay there half-conscious, unable to move, but aware of frenzied activity around her as the women pulled the raft into the water.

A few seconds later, her hands were pulled roughly behind her back and she felt the scratch of the crude rope used in the village on her wrists. She tried to fight, tried to kick her feet but they were pulled together, then tied as well, and she felt herself being lifted from the ground. Still trying to struggle free, she bucked her body, fear overriding the pain and fog in her brain, but when they got to the raft, the woman tossed her onto it, and with no way to brace herself, her head crashed into the rough logs.

This time darkness came quickly and she was only briefly aware of the feeling of water under her as the women pushed her into the waves, then all the way past the breakers to the open ocean. It took only seconds for the current to take her out into open water, and when she finally surfaced from the blackness, she opened her eyes to find herself completely surrounded by water.

Trying not to panic, the pounding of her heart only making her head hurt worse, she struggled up into a sitting position, tears streaming down her face. Squinting against the sun, she looked around, taking deep breaths, holding back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm her. It had all happened so fast; she'd never really had a chance to fight back. Anger flared to life, and she squared her shoulders as she banished the fear to the back of her mind.

She wasn't about to let those women win. Her first priority was to get free, then she just had to keep herself alive until Theo came after her. Stomach lurching when she thought about him, she closed her eyes for a second, praying to whoever was listening that he wasn't hurt. When she opened them again, she let out a little cry of excitement when she saw the island in the distance and realized that the current was taking her back toward the island instead of out to sea.

"Thank you, thank you," she said out loud, starting to work on the rope that was binding her wrists. "You'll come for me, Theo, I know you will. I just have to keep myself alive until you find me."

Her nails were broken jaggedly, the tips of her fingers bleeding by the time she got the rope off her wrists, but she started on her ankles without even pausing. When she finally flung the other piece of rope to the side and looked up, the sun had gone behind a big bank of black clouds and she swore out loud, wondering what else could go wrong. Looking out at the blue water, she waited for a shark fin or a sea monster to surface, then laughed out loud at herself.

When she realized that she was shaking, she took a deep breath, pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, willing Theo to come for her soon. She didn't know how much time had passed when she felt the first raindrop and looked up to find the sky full of ominous black clouds. The water had become choppy, and in only the few seconds she'd been watching the waves had gotten bigger, making the raft bob and dip dangerously.

Scooting into the very center of the tiny boat, she fought to keep her balance, her stomach lurching every time a wave swept her up and then dumped her onto the other side. Hope that she'd be rescued beginning to fade, she braced herself to ride out the storm, cursing fate for giving her what she wanted and then taking it all away.