Read Online Bound by Elisabeth Naughton - Free Book Online Page A

following her. Damn her for being so enticed by him. If she hadn’t flirted with him on that stupid castle wall—if she hadn’t saved his life then—they wouldn’t be in this mess right now. Marching toward something that could end very badly for both of them if she didn’t keep her wits about her.
    Son of a bitch, she should be going after Epimetheus, not screwing around with an Argonaut.
    “You’re being cryptically quiet, ligos Vesuvius .”
    Ligos Vesuvius … Did she look like a little volcano? Her irritation jumped another notch. “And you would be wise to take a cue from my silence.”
    That irritating, alluring smile spread across his lips again. “You want me. I know you do.”
    It was all she could do to keep from stopping, whipping around and telling him just what kind of trouble wanting him had gotten her into. What it was getting him into. But knowing eyes were watching, and if she had any chance of getting out of this mess, she couldn’t draw any more attention. She settled for jerking hard on the rope and smiling at the sound of him grunting at her back.
    A whistle echoed through the trees. Ahead, Ilithyia held up her forearm again, bringing the group to a halt. The Amazons lifted their weapons, their gazes scanning the forest. Titus’s gaze darted up, and hers followed. Nothing but tree trunks and canopy as far as the eye could see.
    She hated this damn forest. She always got turned around in here. If it weren’t for the sentries who guarded the compound and sent scouts into the old-growth trees, she’d never find her way back.
    Ilithyia whistled an answering tune. Silence descended; then an echoing song came from the branches ahead.
    “Come,” Ilithyia announced.
    “Let me guess,” Titus muttered. “‘It’s A Small World.’”
    Natasa had no idea what he was rambling about, but her irritation kicked up again. She jerked on the rope and whispered, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
    “That depends,” he said close to her ear. Closer than she liked. His breath, like a whisper of fresh air, ran over her nape, under the collar of her shirt, sending a shiver down her spine. “On what you’ll do to save me next time.”
    She swallowed hard. Fought back the arousal just being close to him fired off deep inside. “Don’t be so confident I can. Knowing my luck, I’ll probably be strung up with you.”
    The humor fled from his features. He shot a look at the Amazons ahead, then chanced a glance at those behind. “Where are they taking us?”
    “Someplace hostile. Whatever you do, try to stay close to me. Go along with what I say. And for gods’ sake, don’t be funny. They don’t do funny. Especially not from men.”
    “You think I’m funny?”
    Good gods, he was…frustrating and arousing and sexy as hell, all at the same time.
    She was in big trouble.
    Two ropes dropped from the canopy with a thud that echoed through the forest. Their group came to a halt. Ilithyia grasped the ropes and turned, holding them out to Natasa with a smug expression. “Guests first.”
    The two-by-four tied to the end of each rope formed a plank wide enough for both her and Titus to stand side by side. But it wasn’t the wood that concerned her. It was what waited above.
    She tugged Titus up next to her. “Here. And hold on.”
    His gloved fingers closed around the rope to his left. Natasa did the same to the one on the right. The ropes tightened against her palm, and then the plank lifted, drawing them toward the canopy like birds in flight.
    Her stomach lurched. She clenched her teeth and tried not to look at the ground disappearing below, the foliage rushing by way too fast. She hated heights. Hated that her life had been reduced to this. To relying on others. To making deals with people she should leave well enough alone. To siding with Amazons, of all people.
    The foliage separated, and the hidden tree city of Antiope came into view. At her side, Titus muttered, “Holy Hades.”
    “Not