Skye's Sanctuary (The Sanctuary Series Book 5) Read online

  Skye’s Sanctuary

  Book 5 of The Sanctuary Series

  Nikita Slater

  Copyright © 2021 Nikita Slater Writing Services Ltd.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Dear reader

  Sanctuary Series

  Have you read Nikita’s bestselling dark mafia romance novels?

  Excerpt: Scarred Queen

  Excerpt: Sinner’s Empire

  Also by Nikita Slater

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  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Dear readers,

  Thank you for purchasing Skye’s Sanctuary, the 5th book in my Sanctuary Series, and the second and final book in Wolfe and Skye’s story. For the best reader experience, this book should be read after The Road to Wolfe.

  Please be aware that this book explores themes of flu, vaccination, and civil unrest. In consideration of the coronavirus pandemic, some readers may find these themes difficult to read. Please read with caution. This book is a work of fiction and shouldn’t be taken as a realistic representation of a pandemic.

  I hope you enjoy the conclusion to Skye and Wolfe’s love story.

  Thank you,

  Nikita Slater

  “I've begun to look at the world through apocalypse eyes. Our society, which seems so sturdily built out of concrete and custom, is just a temporary resting place, a hotel our civilization checked into a couple hundred years ago and must one day check out of.”

  Neil Strauss

  One

  Skye

  Time slows as the body of the Outsider leader hits the dirt at my feet. I hold a smoking gun in one hand and a bloody knife in the other. The eyes of his followers move from his body to me, their disbelief palpable. I’m not sure if it’s because I murdered the hell out of their leader or if it’s because I’m a woman.

  “Come and get me, motherfuckers!” I scream the challenge.

  If I don’t survive this confrontation, then I’ll go down with the same die-trying attitude I’ve lived my entire life.

  Someone shouts and the other Outsiders wake up to what has happened. I hit the ground, dig my fingers into the dead man’s coat and roll with the body against the side of the vehicle.

  Bullets thump into his carcass as I use him for cover. I twist my head around to look under the vehicle. I’m on the edge of the clearing with the Outsiders to my front. There’s no one to the back of the car. Maybe if I can get to the other side, I can disappear into the trees.

  I can almost guarantee I’m faster than any man here. They won’t get a chance to touch me if I can put some distance between me and them.

  I check the chamber of my gun. Ten bullets.

  I pull myself under the vehicle, keeping my eyes on the booted feet approaching the car. The fit under the car is tight, but I’m able to maneuver my gun around to shoot the foot off someone who gets too close.

  He screams as he goes down; a warning to the others that I’m not fucking kidding around.

  I drag myself out from the other side of the car and calculate the distance to the tree line where Scarlett disappeared a few minutes ago. I twist around to peek over the top of the car. The Outsiders are converging; I won’t have time to make it to the trees. Even a bad shot could get me in the back at that distance.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I mumble.

  I reach over my head and try the door handle. It’s unlocked.

  I drag the car door open and dive inside. The car will provide minimal cover, but it’s better than staying out in the open.

  They quickly realize where I’ve gone and shout at each other to shoot inside the car. I use the few bullets I have left in the gun to take them out one at a time.

  Wolfe taught me how to shoot. He’d been relentless, forcing me to do it over and over until he was satisfied that I was a better shot than he was.

  Every bullet out of my borrowed gun finds a home. One after the other, the Outsiders go down. I’m confident they won’t be getting up again.

  I can’t be sure how many are left, but my original count was eighteen and I know for sure I’ve maimed and killed seven of them, including their leader. Eleven is plenty enough left to finish me if they come at me all at once.

  “Fuck!” I snarl.

  I’ve slowed them down though. They know I’m taking my shots carefully, waiting until I see heads before picking them off.

  I open the chamber of the gun. Two bullets left.

  Slamming it shut, I dive between the car seats, into the back. Bullets whiz in and around the car as they see me move. I curl into the smallest ball I can manage and wait until a head pops up in the window.

  I take the shot, satisfied that the spray of blood indicates a solid hit.

  I reach over my head, feeling around the dirty cloth-covered seat. I’d noticed earlier that the back seat of this vehicle pulls down.

  I hook my fingers around a loop and pull as hard as I can. The seat creaks with disuse on its way down, but it moves. The second I have clearance, I dive into the trunk.

  The men don’t seem to know what’s happened to me. Through the gap in the seats, I can see them cautiously approach the front of the car. I see five of them, which leaves another five unaccounted for. They could be at the back of the car and I only have one bullet and a knife left.

  I kiss the edge of my blade, smearing the blood of the Outsider leader across my lips. If I go down, I’ll go down soaked in the blood of my enemy.

  I hit the trunk release, holding my breath in anticipation. These old cars are unpredictable. Either the release will open the trunk, or I’ll become a sardine in a can, waiting for my turn to die.

  The trunk pops open and I leap up, my gun hand out, my knife held at the ready. There are two startled men standing directly behind the car. One recovers faster than the other, bringing his hand up, rifle at the ready. I put a bul
let between his eyes.

  I don’t give the other guy a chance to defend himself; I hurl my knife at his face, getting him directly in the eye. He goes down screaming.

  I’m out of weapons.

  I dive out of the trunk, rolling between their bodies before coming to my feet. I don’t look back; I don’t waste a single second. I hurtle into the trees, zigzagging as shots ring out all around me. A bullet hits a tree trunk several inches from my head as I use the tree for leverage.

  I run for all I’m worth. I run until my insides scream for mercy. I run until the sound of gunfire dims, and I know I’ve left my pursuers behind. Even then, I continue to run.

  I don’t stop until I hit a mountain stream that’ll take actual effort to cross. I drop to my knees, take a couple of deep gasps of air, then scoop water into my mouth, desperately drinking until my thirst is quenched.

  Breathing hard, I sit in the dirt, shaking off the residual adrenaline rush that urges me to continue running. I don’t need to run anymore; I need to think.

  How am I going to get back to Sanctuary? Back to Wolfe? Once I tell him what’s happened, he’ll find the stragglers and make examples of them. He’ll display their bodies on the wall of our Sanctuary, warning others of the perils of fucking with the Warlord.

  Of fucking with me.

  I’m about to push myself to myself to my feet and scout the area when the audible sound of a click has me freezing.

  I turn my head slowly, so slowly, and find myself staring down the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun.

  Motherfucker, this day is going from bad to worse.

  Two

  “Up.” He waves his gun, indicating I should climb to my feet.

  I remain on my knees as he looks me up and down, his eyes narrowed.

  “Who are you?” I demand.

  He doesn’t look like the men who shot at me in the clearing. He’s cleaner, less rugged. His face is clean shaven, and his clothes have been meticulously patched. He looks more like a citizen of Sanctuary than an Outsider.

  “I would ask you the same question, but I already know who you are.”

  What the hell is with all of this recognition? First the guys who kidnapped me, now this stranger. Had I turned into a celebrity while delivering the vaccines?

  The idea of celebrity has changed since the Great Fall. Before, celebrity belonged to men and women who entertained. Either through sports, music, movies, books or politics. Now, celebrity belongs to the toughest of the tough. The true survivors. Warlords and soldiers. Even Outsiders can gain status if enough people know about them.

  I would be the first woman in fifty years who’s gained that kind of recognition.

  “Who am I?” I ask coolly.

  “I’m the one holding the gun. You answer my questions.”

  Moving slowly, I stand up, reaching my full height, which is around the same as his. He’s not a big man, but he looks like he knows how to handle a weapon.

  Even if he doesn’t, we’re standing a few feet apart. He’ll be hard-pressed to miss me.

  “Then ask your questions.”

  He doesn’t speak.

  He tips his head to the side, listening. Faint shouts sound through the forest. The Outsiders are searching for me. Persistent fuckers.

  They’ve either regrouped and gone back to the original plan of taking me captive or they’re out to kill me for killing so many of them, including their leader. I’m good with them coming at me again. I don’t mind another chance to take them down.

  “Don’t suppose you’d give me that gun and be on your way?” It never hurts to ask.

  He gives me an ‘are you really that stupid’ look, to which I shrug and give him my best ‘now what’ look in return.

  “We go back to my camp,” he says, answering my unspoken question.

  “I’m not fucking you, if that’s what this is about, Outsider.” I say the word in a way that makes my disdain clear.

  “I have no interest in your body, Warlord’s woman,” he addresses me with just as much snark.

  So, he does know who I am. I’m relieved that rape is off the table, though he’d lose body parts if he tried. I’m not exactly helpless. His comment does sting… a little. I’d been hand selected for a harem and made a first wife. Wolfe rebuilt a Sanctuary for me. I’m pretty awesome and this fucker needs to know it.

  “Hands on the back of your head, move when I tell you.” He keeps his gun steady on me.

  I sigh, think about my options, roll my eyes and comply. I’ll take the man out first chance I get, borrow his gun, and hunt down the rest of the Outsiders who dared to take me from my Sanctuary.

  Then he messes with my plan by letting out a long, low whistle. Not loud enough to reverberate through the forest, but enough to get some attention. Several people step out from the trees; two men and three women. All holding weapons and looking like they know how to use them.

  “Who are you people?” I ask.

  My chances of knocking the guy with the gun down are becoming slimmer.

  “We need to move, now,” a woman says, not taking her eyes off the tree line around the creek. “Those guys are widening their net. Determined to get their prize back.”

  The guy holding the gun, the man who appears to be their leader, nods and waves his gun at me, showing I should cross the stream.

  I was afraid of that. It sucks getting your shoes wet when you have no idea how far you have to walk or when you’ll get to dry your feet again. As I pick my way across the stream, doing a terrible job of staying dry, I decide my best bet is to play along with these people. If they’d meant to kill me, they’d have done it by now.

  They don’t look short on women, and the women don’t appear to be slaves, so it’s doubtful they’re kidnapping me for a harem.

  The woman who’d spoken to me comes alongside me. “You can drop your hands. We’re not going to shoot you.”

  I lower my hands.

  “Juniper,” the man behind us growls.

  ‘Juniper’ turns around to glare at him, walking backwards. It would be easy for me to snatch her gun and use her as a shield. In fact, none of the people surrounding us look like warriors except the guy behind me. He knows how to hold his gun, how to watch, how to react. I would bet he’s the leader, and she’s his lover.

  “She won’t attack us. We saved her from those other Outsiders.” Juniper flashes me a grin.

  I nod and smile. She’s completely wrong if she thinks I won’t take the first opportunity to grab a weapon and run.

  She turns back around to walk with me. There are two in front of us and three behind. They seem agile, easily able to pick their way through the forest. As though they belong here.

  “So, you live out here?” I ask, trying to sound casual.

  “Yeah,” Juniper says. “Deeper in the forest.”

  “Outsiders?”

  “Not like them,” she says scathingly, wrinkling her nose. “Those assholes decline Sanctuary because they think lone wolf is the way to get ahead. They use people, killing them when they’re no longer of use. We’re a proper settlement.”

  “But you decline Sanctuary,” I point out.

  She nods. “Yeah, it’s not for us. We’d rather live off the land. Create our own micro society and live in peace.”

  “And do you?” I ask curiously. “Live in peace, I mean? What about the Zom… Primitives?”

  “They mostly leave us alone. We hunt in groups. We’re fast and we use the trees for shelter. As you know, Primitives don’t climb well. That’s why you guys build your walls. We climb trees and hang out in the canopy until they’re gone. I’ve actually heard stories of villages in South America surviving by lifting entire settlements into the trees.”

  “Juniper!” the guy behind us snaps. “That’s enough talking.”

  “Alfie!” she mocks his exasperated tone. “I can talk if I want to. We haven’t seen anyone new in ages, except for those assholes trying to kill the Warlord’s woman. Now we have two
guests in one day.”

  I could argue with Juniper’s definition of ‘guest’, but I’ll withhold judgment until I see their facilities.

  I look over my shoulder at Alfie. His gun is still trained on my back. I suspect he doesn’t know the definition of guest either.

  “You said there were two of us?” I turn back to Juniper to ask her the question. “You found someone else wandering around out here?”

  “Yeah, another woman. Beautiful, like you. She was wearing a torn up dress and terrible shoes for running.”

  “Scarlett.” I’d hoped my former harem-mate had made it far enough away from the Outsiders to keep herself from getting killed. “Is she safe?”

  Juniper nods. “A few of the other hunters took her back to our camp. You’ll see her shortly.”

  We walk in silence for a few more minutes before Juniper talks again, as if she can’t hold the words in. “Are you really the Warlord’s woman? You look like her, but it’s hard to believe he’d allow his woman to get captured.”

  My hackles go up and I nearly stop walking, but the gun at my back encourages me to keep moving. “I am not the Warlord’s woman, I am the Warlord.”

  Okay, so I haven’t formally accepted the title, but it’s as good as done. When Wolfe decides a thing, then that thing happens. He’s decided that Sanctuary will belong to me, and so it does.