Broken Warrior

Prologue

Eight Months Ago

As Axel's head slammed against the carpet, a shrill ringing set up shop in his ears, and for a few seconds, it seemed his brain bounced from one side of his skull to the other. As he gazed up at his attacker, the urge to gut the son of a bitch railed through him, the need to draw blood itching at his fingertips.

However, he would do no such thing, nor could he do it, no matter how badly the fucker deserved it.

Hudson raised the pool cue, his face red with rage, his teeth bared like a rabid dog about to attack. It could never be considered a good thing to have an assassin stare at him like that, and it only fueled his own desire to put down the threat. In this fight, they would be considered equal—assassin versus assassin. But, in the hierarchy of males in the Six Saviors’ silo, he knew his place, and it fell somewhere right below the crap in the cat Neptune’s kitty litter.

However, that didn't mean he would allow Hudson to beat him senseless with the pool cue. The bastard would have to do better than that.

Lifting his foot, he kicked Hudson in the stomach, Eden's screams now registering in his ears. The boot sole to the gut wouldn't be enough to hurt him, but it did send him staggering backward. That gave Noah a chance to jump in between them and get Hudson on a proverbial leash. As much as he wanted to harm Hudson further, he wouldn't, simply because Eden had become so damn upset.

Noah glared at Hudson as he spoke. Axel, now would be a really good time to vacate. Eden, stay right where you are.

He despised being told what to do, and hated it even more that he would follow Noah’s orders.

As he walked down the hall toward his quarters, he took some deep breaths and clenched and unclenched his fists while trying to calm down. Although there wasn't an emotion he could pinpoint to go with his actions or his thrumming heart, he knew there should be. However, he'd lost the ability to feel any type of emotion long ago.

Hudson obviously didn't want him anywhere near his little girl—probably a smart thing, considering the type of male he had become.

At some point, Noah would talk to Axel, reinforcing the fact that he needed to stay away from Eden. He'd nod, maybe argue a little bit that he hadn't done anything wrong, but in the end, he'd acquiesce because pure females like Eden shouldn’t be tainted with shit like him.

From the first time he’d lain eyes on her, her beauty had overwhelmed him. Her hair fell around her shoulders, the darkest black he’d ever seen. Her unmarred, pale skin seemed to gleam in the low lights, and her smile caused his chest to ache, especially when it had been directed at him.

Hudson had just laid down the law. Eden was off-limits to Axel, and the farther away he stayed, the better off he’d be.

1

Present Day

As Axel took his place at the dinner table, he unfolded the blue, cloth napkin and laid it across his lap. He nodded at Hudson, who sat to his right, and to Abby, who took the chair to his left. Not meeting anyone else's gaze, he wondered what they'd be eating tonight.

When three roast beefs had been served, his mouth began to water. This definitely seemed to be one of the best meals of the house, although he did enjoy the turkey, as well. He waited patiently as others helped themselves and passed along the platter, then he took three slices of meat when Abby handed him the tray. As he gave it to Hudson, he didn't look at the male. He didn't want any trouble.

It had been eight months since Hudson had tried to beat him with a pool cue, and he'd taken the advice from Noah and Blake and stayed away from Hudson's daughter, Eden. He made it a point to never be alone with her, and only spoke to her when necessary. An overprotective father of an unruly daughter could be a dangerous beast, one he had no desire to poke or taunt.

As he ate, he glanced around the table and noted Eden's absence. While everyone else laughed and talked, he sat stone-silent, very aware of how others felt about him. Most of the females became very uncomfortable in his presence, some even scurrying away like mice when left alone with him. The males didn't necessary like him. Everyone thought he was nothing but an angry son of a bitch, which simply wasn't true. For sure, his brain didn't fire on all cylinders; there was something fundamentally wrong with him. His ability to feel and identify emotion had been deadened centuries ago.

He'd heard the rumors that he remained furious that their planet had been blown to shit; that his father, mother, and brother had been killed; that he simply couldn't put that hurt and anger behind him. He never corrected them, and he certainly never told anyone that if he could have pressed a button and set off the detonator himself, he wouldn't have thought twice about it. The universe was better off without SR44 and his family. He hoped his father rotted in eternal pain and agony. The humans’ version of Hell sounded too good for him.

Abby's feline, Neptune, walked into the room and headed straight for him. The cat howled as he jumped on Axel's lap, and Axel couldn't help but smile. Neptune seemed to be the only one in the house who didn't care about his disposition and actually enjoyed his company.

I don't know why that cat likes you so much, Hudson grumbled from beside him.

He didn't bother to glance at Hudson as he stroked the cat. It's my warm personality.

Hudson scoffed, but let the conversation go.

Slipping a bit of roast beef to Neptune, he sensed Eden’s presence as she entered the room, and his body tensed. The air became sweeter to breathe, and almost crackled with electricity. She stared at him, and out of the corner of his eye, he watched her sit down almost directly across from him. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on Neptune, and not the way he seemed to shrink in her presence, feeling about two feet tall—a direct contradiction to his six-foot-six, two-hundred-and-fifty pounds reality.

Where have you been? Hudson asked, annoyance in his tone. You were supposed to help me with dinner.

Despite his best efforts, Axel couldn’t hold his gaze from her for long. They met up often in the silo, and it seemed no matter how hard he tried to avoid her, the more she simply appeared before him. Short of locking himself in his quarters, there didn’t seem to be any way to dodge her. If he believed in any deity, he would have sworn Eden and he were being shoved together by unseen hands.

He glanced over at her as she looked around the table and got settled in. She pushed her curtain of coal-black hair over her shoulder, her eyes glowing a light yellow that reminded him of the inside of a lemon. Her fair skin held just a tinge of pink in the cheeks, and her plump lips pursed together before she answered her father. She was the most beautiful female he’d ever seen.

I didn't feel like it.

Hudson sighed. We all have responsibilities around here, Eden, and to make life work in the silo, we all must chip in.

She rolled her eyes, a completely childish move that Axel knew bothered Hudson, simply because he’d witnessed exchanges like this many times. He glanced over at the male’s hand fisting his napkin. Yup, once again, Hudson was definitely not happy with his daughter.

I see that you're angry with me, Father, Eden said with a sigh, her voice dripping with sarcasm. I'm sorry.

He stared back down at his plate and concentrated on cutting his meat while everyone at the table went quiet, waiting to see what Hudson’s reaction would be.

Hudson didn’t deserve the blatant disrespect Eden showed him; yet, the male smothered her, treating her as if she were a child instead of a full-grown adult. Axel supposed he understood it to some extent. She did have the tendency to act much younger than her years. Sometimes, her tantrums rivaled the young children’s, and she had been ensconced away most of her life living off the land with her twin brother, Benedict.

But for Axel, the dynamic between Eden and Hudson came down to the old analogy of the chicken and the egg. What came first? Eden’s behavior, or Hudson’s suffocation?

Hudson leaned forward. "Eden, don’t use that snotty tone with me, and do not roll your eyes. It’s rude and inconsiderate."

Her lips formed a perfect pout, but she said nothing further.

Next to Axel, Abby cleared her throat and struck up a conversation with Faith. The din of dialogue quickly returned, and everyone seemed to have moved past the slight against Hudson.

However, when Axel glanced over at him, he saw the male still fisted his napkin, and his cheeks had turned the color of apples. The constant bickering didn’t make for a pleasant household, but everyone did their best to ignore it. He, on the other hand, preferred to watch and wonder what Eden would be like if things had been different for her.

Over the last eight months, he’d observed Eden evolve from a childlike female to an obstinate and moody one. As he’d noticed the subtle changes in her, he’d also noted that it drove Hudson absolutely crazy. He had his other daughter, Abby, who always seemed to be good-natured, helpful, and loving. Then, he had his two sons, Benedict, Eden’s twin, and Killian, his little boy with Beverly. Benedict had turned out to be a hard worker, quiet and stoic. As a young kid, Killian had his moments of terrorizing everyone around him, but in the end, Axel didn’t have a problem with him. It seemed as if he had a perfectly wonderful family, except Eden had become a large thorn in Hudson’s side.

Keeping his head bent, as if he concentrated on Neptune, he stared across the table at her while Hudson swore under his breath and stabbed at a green bean.

Pretty beyond words, she literally took his breath away anytime he looked at her for more than a few seconds.

As if she sensed his eyes on her, she glanced up from her plate. Narrowing her gaze, she glowered at him. She happened to be one of the few females in the silo who didn’t show fear around him. In fact, he’d found her looking at him more than once, her scrutiny of him intense.

Her stare didn’t waver as his heart thundered in his chest. After a moment, he couldn’t take it any longer and gazed back down at Neptune. Taking the feline in one hand, he grabbed his dish with the other and excused himself from the table.

Apparently, Eden had the ability to see colors, or auras, around others. The way he'd heard it explained was that emotions gave off hues, and she could see a person's state of mind by studying the area around them. He didn’t know what each color meant, and he’d never bothered to ask.

The thing that intrigued him the most was wondering what Eden saw around him. He tried to imagine what colors his aura could be, and always came up with only one—black. The blackest black that could be found; the most empty, desolate, horrible, bleak hole of ugly, awful, putrid shit.

It was the only color he could think of that matched his heart and soul.

2

Eden sat in the Great Room, the television playing a movie, but she stared into her glass of Fireball and ice. She didn’t particularly like the harsh, cinnamon liquid, but only consumed it because she knew Hudson didn’t like her drinking alcohol, and it especially annoyed him when she drank Fireball as he knew Axel also drank it.

Everyone had gone their separate ways, either to bed or to do whatever came before sleep, and relief washed through her.

When she’d first been brought to the silo eight months ago, she’d been scared, nervous, and completely freaked out at the sheer number of beings whose eyes glowed just as hers and Benedict’s did at night. Although Hudson explained it all—that he came from another universe, that he never would have abandoned her and Benedict if he’d known of their existence—she couldn’t help but feel anger toward him. That had only intensified when she’d found out that he had two other children by two other women. She’d tried to remember that he had no idea about them before they’d come out of that awful government facility, but jealousy still raged within her when she thought of her time alone in the woods while Hudson enjoyed his perfect little family.

She also felt contempt toward just about every person in the silo.

The looks of love, the soft kisses, the moans of pleasure when people thought they were alone … she’d witnessed it all, and she wanted it all. The desire to have someone love her the way she saw the men in this house love their women tore through her everyday, and that was another reasons she hated Hudson … because he wouldn’t let her have it. He wouldn’t even let her explore the possibility. Hell, he wouldn’t even let her walk outside of the silo for a jog until she told someone where she was going and what time she’d be back. She had become a prisoner under Hudson just as much as she had been one in the government facility.

When she and Benedict had lived off the land, she had been a captive of fear. She’d grown up believing that everyone wanted to hurt her because she was different and Benedict would be the only one who could save her. She’d tested these beliefs a few times without her brother’s knowledge, but always came running back into the folds of safety.

Now, she fully understood that she’d been a prisoner her whole life, and she longed for the freedom she’d been denied first by her fears, and now, by her father.

To make matters worse, Benedict stood by Hudson’s side, father and son trying to rule the little girl who’d been disallowed a life for a hundred and fifty years. They didn’t seem to realize she wasn’t that helpless female they both thought they needed to protect, but a full-grown woman who wanted to live.

She wanted to experience new things, see new places, fall in love, have sex, be wild and carefree. Desperate in her need to make up for lost time, she found herself pushing back at both Benedict and Hudson, especially when she’d been forbidden something.

Like yesterday—she’d asked for her own quarters.

It had seemed like a simple request, but Benedict had said no, and she still didn’t understand why.

In the past, they’d always slept together because he’d told her it would be safer for them. Now, there wasn’t any danger of a bear breaking into their home, or of a person wanting to do them harm. There’d never been anything sexual between them … it had always been a matter of survival.

That’s why she had skipped her kitchen duties. Benedict would pick up her slack, and it had been her way of punishing him for denying her. Tomorrow, she’d bypass Hudson and bring it up with Beverly, who she’d found to be one of her greatest allies, besides Olivia, Roman’s mate.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over her, and she looked up from her drink.

Her heart skipped a beat as Axel came into view.

He obviously hadn’t seen her sitting in the semi-darkness, as he usually avoided her like she was an ugly monster who haunted his dreams.

As he maneuvered over to the bar, she watched his big frame that seemed to roll and glide with each step. Broad shoulders tapered down into a slim waist, and thick thighs carried him throughout his day. As he ran his hand through his unruly dark hair, she noticed his biceps bulge, and the sinewy muscle beneath his tattoo sleeve almost gave the dark, swirly designs life, as if it lived and breathed on its own.

He took the Fireball and poured a good amount into a glass, slammed it down, and poured again. She wondered how long he’d go without noticing her.

It’s not polite to stare.

She jumped at his growl, and as his dark eyes met hers, her stomach clenched. Out of everyone in the silo, Axel intrigued her the most. Although he possessed a thick dark beard, she could still see the strong, sharp jawline, and high cheekbones. She started at the full lips that never smiled and the black-as-night gaze that she’d heard described as ‘evil’ and ‘troubling’ by some of the women in the house. To her, it was mysterious, and reminded her of a clear, midnight sky. When she had been younger, she’d often looked at the dark heavens above and wondered what secrets lay within the twinkling stars. Now, when she caught Axel’s ebony gaze, she couldn’t help but contemplate the same thing.

Not only did he have the most handsome face she’d ever seen, but she just couldn’t figure him out. She knew the moods of everyone else with a simple glance, but with him, there wasn’t an aura.

I didn’t realize you knew I was here. Usually, you avoid me.

He slammed back the drink. And I plan on continuing to do so.

His answer stung, even though she knew the reasoning behind it. She remembered that night back before Christmas when Hudson had tried to beat him with a pool cue. Axel had defended himself, but hadn’t hurt her father, which she appreciated. Even though she spent much of her time at odds with Hudson, she never would want to see him injured.

Why?

She wanted to hear the answer from his own beautiful mouth.

Because your daddy wants me to stay away from you.

Anger brewed in her gut. It drove her crazy her father interfered with every aspect of her life.

She lifted her chin in defiance. Well, you shouldn’t listen to him. If you want to talk to me, then you should. If I want to talk to you, then it shouldn’t be a big deal.

You want to talk to me?

He chuckled a bit, but not a full-on laugh. She found herself surprised at his smile, and realized it was the first time she’d seen it. Little butterflies tickled her stomach as she stared at the pearly white teeth beneath his lush lips and dense facial hair.

Okay, Eden.

After downing another drink and refilling his glass, he leaned against the bar and eyed her intently, sending a chill of pleasure up her spine. She didn’t understand how he incited fear in others. When he stared at her, she felt no anxiety, but excitement and longing.

His deep voice rumbled just below the sound of the television.

What do you want to talk about?

Surprised, she found herself at a loss for words. Here Axel stood before her, but she had nothing to say to him. I … I don’t know.

Taking a sip of his drink, he gazed at her. She supposed she understood why some in