Entanglements

Chapter 15

"Where in the hell do you think you are going?" Eric asked, his face a mask of fury.

Sami immediately stopped in her tracks even though EJ held onto her hand tightly. He gave her a look as if trying to convey everything would be all right without him saying a word to her. He just hoped she could sense it from him.

She nodded at EJ and returned his grip refusing to let go of his hand. Just looking at EJ had helped calm her sudden fear somewhat even if she was still afraid of what her brother might do now that he had found them in the process of leaving, not to mention they were holding each other's hand.

"Sami, answer me!" Eric demanded as he pulled the handle of the whip he had bolstered on his hip out.

"Eric, ye best put that back up," Samantha warned, her eyes flashing with anger at her twin for even thinking of taking a whip to her and she'd be damned if she ever let her brother harm EJ again. She'd had to have been blind not to notice the tell-tale whelps on EJ's back even if she hadn't of touched his back earlier the second time they made love. While she wasn't sure Eric had been the culprit to strike EJ before she had met him she was determined he'd not do it again.

"I'll be taking a strap to you like Da will do when he finds out what kind of foolishment you've gotten into this time. Have ye gone daft consorting with the likes of a slave?" Eric started to pull up the whip as if to strike his sister when EJ released Sami's hand.

His voice was low, but there was no mistaking his meaning when EJ spoke, "You'll not dare strike your sister with that whip nor anything else either. She doesn't deserve to be debilitated because you are angry with me."

Eric quickly turned to face EJ head on, "Oh your damn right I'm angry with you for soiling my sister, you filthy slave."

"EJ didn't soil me Eric," Sami began only to have Eric interrupt her before she could say anything else in EJ's defense.

"Bah, what kind of name is EJ?" Eric kept his hand tight upon the handle of the whip as he looked at both of them in disgust. "And ye have no need to lie to me dear sister. If Billie hadn't already came and tattled on the scandalous things you were doing by lying with that cretin, I would have known it as soon as I saw your face."

"What lies would Billie be spouting about me especially when I haven't seen the girl in over a fortnight?"

"You may not have seen her, but she certainly saw you rutting like a communal whore with that low life slave as if ye were a mangy dog in heat…"

Whatever else Eric was about to say to her was instantly cut off by EJ swinging his fist and connecting it squarely with Eric's jaw, causing Sami's twin to stumble back a few feet although he didn't fall down to the ground. He corrected his balance bouncing on the balls of his feet and managed to hit EJ with a left hook action of his arm all the while still holding onto the whip with his right hand.

"Your sister is not a whore," EJ spat as he reared back to hit Eric again, the strike Eric had given him moments earlier barely making EJ move an inch, "and I'm not a common slave you impudent fool. Did you not even know the people you were waging war against or do you just fight blindly and carry out whatever your Da tells you to do like some kind of mindless puppet?"

Eric's eyes flashed with anger over EJ hitting him, "If I were you I'd step down and back away from Sami before I flog you within an inch of your life. You should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of me sister, she was pure and she's betrothed to another man."

Sami stepped in between the two of them before they could strike one another again, "A man I despise Eric and you do too."

"It doesn't matter if I despise Austin Da said you were to marry him upon his return from this last battle we fought, the clan has been preparing for the upcoming wedding feast for weeks now."

"I'm not marrying Austin. I won't ever be his wife. I'll not let him bed me," Sami stated heatedly. "I never wanted to be with him."

"So you'd give yourself to a stranger instead? A man who only used you for what you must have plainly offered up to him or did he force himself upon you?"

EJ moved Sami to the side of him getting back in Eric's face, "I didn't force myself on her."

"So what Billie was saying was true? Did you lay with my sister? Did ya make her have sexual relations with you?"

"I asked him to Eric, I chose him," Sami boldly declared even though her face was now splotched with the beginnings of a blush that had crept up from her neck. "I'm bound to him for eternity, not Austin."

"Surely ye can't be saying you have feelings for this vermin? Especially not for just a roll in the hay with someone ye don't know. I'll not stand for it." Eric raised his right hand above his head, ready to use the whip on both of them it seemed.

"I love her, she is mine, we are bound to one another," EJ refuted as he moved Sami behind him, not wanting her to get caught in the cross fire between him and her brother.

"Nay, you won't have her ever again," Eric vowed as he started to flip the switch of the whip, but before he could hit EJ with it EJ caught it midair the leather strap wrapping around his hand instead of slashing his skin. EJ winced as it cut into his hand, but he stopped the progression and promptly wrenched it from Eric's grip.

"You don't have a say in the matter, this is something between me and your sister," EJ flicked the offending weapon upon Eric instead causing the man to stumble and fall this time when the strap struck his back and before he could get his bearings EJ had hit him again .

EJ raised his hand after pulling back the whip and was readying himself to strike him another time when he felt Sami's hand upon his arm and heard her plea, "Please don't harm my brother. I love him even if he is wrong about us. He just doesn't understand that I love you and want to be with you."

"Don't you dare beg for me," Eric roared at Sami as he tried his best to get up from where he had fallen to the ground. No way was the man who had been his prisoner only days before now striking him down into the dirt.

"EJ, please," Sami ignored Eric even though he was acting like an idiot about her and EJ, then again maybe she could see how baffling this turn of events could be for her brother. Before she had met EJ she wouldn't have thought it possible to fall in love so quickly, but moment she had lit her eyes upon EJ she had felt the strong pull he had upon her. They had formed a binding connection and for her there was no going back to living her life the way she had before she met him.

EJ paused when he heard her voice, "Samantha it didn't bother your brother one iota to beat me and the other so called slaves all within an inch of our lives before we made it back to your homestead."

"It still doesn't make it right," Sami said as she tightened her grip on EJ's forearm. "Eric's my twin brother. I've never known a day on this earth without him."

EJ couldn't bear to hear the anguish in her voice and he didn't strike him again, although he kept the whip, no way was he going to allow this weapon to go back into her brother's hands, twin or not, the man was mad and he had no doubt he would use it on him and possibly Sami if he surrendered it.

"I won't raise my hand against him again, unless he tries to strike you, if he does I cannot guarantee I won't flog him until he can't move."

"Fair enough," Sami replied as she held out her hand to her twin brother to help him up even though he rebuffed her offer of help.

Eric did his best to knock the dust off of his torn tunic, his eyes full of fury, "I don't need your help."

"Well we need yours," Sami stated matter of fact. "Eric I'm leaving with EJ and I'm going to take two of our horses along with some supplies to help us on our journey."

Eric shook his head in negation, "You'll not be getting a thing if you're crazy enough to leave with him. Ya know Da will hunt him down like he was a wild animal if ye leave with him."

"He is my soul-mate; I cannot stay behind and watch him go without me. I'd rather die than my hand be given in marriage to Austin when I've already wed EJ in my heart and I've given him my body as well even though it isn't a terrible thing like you are making it out to be. We love each other."

"How can you love him? You don't know him," Eric tried once more to get Sami to see the error of her ways. If she left with this man she was signing her own death warrant along with the man standing beside her.

"One day when you meet the right woman you will know what I'm feeling, it's like lightening striking deep within your core and you've never felt more alive."

EJ looked at Sami in amazement; she was putting to words what he also felt within his being for her. He reached for her hand and she readily accepted it.

"Eric please, if you love me like you always said you have, then help us. The journey will be arduous enough even if we have the horses and supplies."

Eric was quiet for a few minutes, looking at the pair before him. He knew Sami was determined to go whether he helped her or not, although he feared for her life because their father would see this as a betrayal from her and also from him. "I'll turn a blind eye for the span of an hour if ye head to the stables and to the house for a few things while I make me way to the slave quarters. After that I cannot promise to prevent you from leaving."

Sami flung her arms around her twin brother's neck, kissing him on one dirty cheek, "Thank ye Eric. I love you."

"Off with ya now," Eric was gruff as he moved out from his sister's embrace.

EJ held out his hand for Eric to shake although he wasn't surprised when he wouldn't take his hand. "Thank you."

"I doubt either one of you will be thanking me when our Da catches up with ya," Eric turned his back on them, refusing to say anything more.

"Goodbye Eric," Sami said softly even though Eric acted like he didn't hear her. EJ tugged on her hand, if he was giving them an hour to get what they needed for their journey they needed to hurry before he told anyone of their departure.

Sami reluctantly left her brother standing there, knowing their time was limited and each second they delayed could mean someone could capture them before they made it to the safety of EJ's homeland. Eric bowed his head, not looking up until they were far enough so they couldn't see him cry, the tears flowing down his cheeks.

He prayed for his sister's sake that was the last time he would ever see her.