How would she fight them all?
A cold rage of her own infused her. Thankfully no one else appeared, and when Nicolai and company were no longer in sight, leaves and branches shielding them, she erupted. Fight. She angled her arms, lifted both of her elbows this time, and then slammed them home. He gave another grunt, finally loosening his hold.
Another angle shift, and she thrust her arms down, using the makeshift daggers. The tips sliced deep into his thighs.
With a howl of pain, he shoved her away from his body. One of the daggers remained lodged, but the other glided free as she stumbled forward. Jane righted herself and whirled around, facing him. This giant was scowling, his fangs dripping with saliva. His red eyes glowed with menace.
“I punish you,” he snarled as he ripped the other dagger free. A flick of his wrist. The sharpened wood clanked on the ground, now useless.
Fight. “Wrong. I’ll punish you.”
That confused him for a moment. He blinked, brows knitting together. Then he shook his head. “No. I punish you.”
Okay. Back to her original assessment. Calling these things dumb as rocks was an insult to the rocks. “Bring it, big boy.” Six months of self-defense lessons were about to pay off.
Or not. She’d never had to use her “skills” in a genuine life-and-death situation.
He stomped toward her, booted feet kicking up dirt with every step, the ground shaking. Blood poured down his pant-covered legs, yet he didn’t limp or even seem to notice his injuries.
When he was within reach, he tried to grab her. She ducked, and when his claws encountered only air, she twisted and stabbed. This time, her dagger sank into his middle. Another howl rent the air. Before she could dart out of the way this time, his fingers were fisting her hair and pushing her face-first into the dirt.
Seriously? Over that quickly? Oh, hell, no! She rolled into a ball before he could pin her with his massive weight, maneuvered to her back and worked her legs between their bodies. She pushed. He didn’t budge an inch. Damn it!
Think, Parker. She still had one of the daggers. She stabbed again, going for his neck. He reared back. Too late. Contact, just not where she’d hoped. His cheek split open, and blood poured.
He flashed his saber-fangs as he snarled.
“Punish.” Then he was leaning down, those fangs sinking into her neck. This bite lacked the pleasure and heat of Nicolai’s. This one provided only pain. So much pain.
He thought to drain and weaken her. A mistake on his part, she thought darkly, steeling herself against every ache and throb. He’d left himself wide-open. Before her mind could fog from blood loss, she wilted into the ground. Either he assumed that she had been properly subdued or that she’d passed out. His fingers left her hair to move to her breasts and squeeze.
She struck, finally slamming the dagger into his jugular, all the way to the other end. His entire body spasmed, his fangs locking down tight.
Okay, reassessment time. This was pain. She nearly screamed from the intensity of it.
There was no dislodging him, even when he sagged against her. His weight shoved the air from her lungs. She lay there, trying to catch her breath, his blood pouring over her.
For a moment, she was transported back to her car. Her mother dying, her blood dripping onto Jane. Both of them crying, because they knew the others were already gone. Unsavable.
I love you, Janie.
I love you, Mom.
Something sharp dug into her scalp, ripping strands of her hair. Her body was pulled out from under the giant. His teeth had still been buried deep, and the movement caused his fangs to tear through skin and vein, leaving teeth tracks down her neck, chest and stomach.
Another scream fought its way from her throat. Still can’t risk distracting Nicolai. His battle royale hadn’t ended. Otherwise, he would have been here. And she knew it wasn’t Nicolai who had grabbed her, even before bright, crimson eyes were glowing down at her. Nicolai would have been gentle, would have tried to soothe her.
“Woman. Ugly. I will bed, anyway.”
Peachy. Her eyesight fogged. Had this guy escaped Nicolai, or was he new? Even if she’d had twenty-twenty vision just then, she doubted she would have been able to tell. One hideous monster was the same as any other, she supposed.
“I’m a…princess,” she said, trying anything to scare him. “Princess…Odette. Of Delfina. You have to…let me go.”
Like the caveman he was, he continued to drag her through the dirt. Twigs and rocks scratched at her scabbed back, and she winced. Soon her robe was in tatters and tears burned her eyes.
She tried again, even as the fog migrated to her mind. “My mother…queen…will kill—”
“Witch queen not my queen. No queen. Only king.” He rounded a corner and the new angle hurt worse. “He have you.”
Extra peachy. “You’re taking me…to your king?”
“After.”
After. The same word she’d once thrown at Nicolai, while he’d been chained and helpless. Never again. After was now stricken from her vernacular. “You keep this up…and I’ll be dead…before we get there.”
A confused silence. Then a triumphant, “You not dead. You alive.”
Box. Of. Rocks. “Pick me up…stupid shit. Carry me.”
The simple order worked. He stopped, swooped down and hefted her up—over his shoulder, fireman style, squashing her stomach into her kidneys, but hey, anything was better than leaving a trail of scabs and blood on the ground. A trail Nicolai didn’t need. Wherever this brute took her, Nicolai would find her. He’d marked her, he’d said. And thank God he had.
She and her abductor ran into another giant along the way, and stopped. An angry conversation ensued. She caught words like king and now, and curses so dark her ears were probably bleeding. Just like the rest of her.
Didn’t take a genius to figure out the problem. Word of a female’s capture had already spread to the king. Ugh-O here was not to sample her goods. He was to bring her in and allow the king to decide her fate, as well as become the first to rape her.
Come on, Nicolai. Where are you?
Ugh-O leaped back into motion, the messenger remaining close to his side, not trusting him to obey. Or maybe not. Maybe she was the glue that held them together. A few times, the bastard reached out and patted her ass. This always angered the hell out of Ugh-O, and he would swat at the offending appendage, jarring her.
In fact, his footfalls were so heavy, she slammed up and down, losing her breath over and over again. By the time they reached a twisted maze of caverns, she was convinced her lungs were flat as pancakes, and her intestines were wrapped around her spine.
Even with her still-dimming eyesight, she watched for Nicolai, hoping to catch a glimpse of him shadowing the beast, ready to strike. While she did spy other beings following her captor—little things with wings, darting through the air, and wolflike creatures skulking around the trees—none of them were the vampire.
And when she heard a roar, pain-filled and broken, echoing in every direction, she wanted to vomit. That had been Nicolai’s voice. What the hell were the giants doing to him?
Then the sound cut off abruptly, and she found the silence was even more disturbing than the roar. Had the giants just…killed— No! No, no, no. But what if…?
Oh, God. A sob caught in her throat. If he lived, he would have come for her.
She was his, he’d said so. Many times. And somehow, he was hers. She barely knew the man but she felt something deep and inexorable for him.
Only minutes before, she’d thought her heart and soul safe from his appeal, her mind too concerned with the danger to him. Now, as she was dragged to the unknown, death a possibility, when she thought him dead, the truth hit her.
Her heart and soul had never been safe.
Nicolai fascinated her. He was bossy and arrogant, yet protective when it mattered. He was a killer with a lover’s hands. In his arms, she’d come alive, had been utterly undone. He was already a part of her. In her blood, her head, her everything. So, no. No, no, no. He couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t be.
Whatever had been done to him, he would heal. He had to heal. His roar had probably cut off because he’d passed out or something. Yes, that was it. And since he healed when he slept, that was a good thing.
Right?
The beast had to duck to enter one of the caverns, and she forced herself to concentrate. The hallways were narrow, suffocating. Footsteps echoed as he marched, creating a symphony of terror in her mind. She attempted to memorize the path he took, but it was difficult. So many turns, so dizzying. Alice’s rabbit hole, she thought with a humorless laugh.
Finally they reached a spacious chamber bursting with more of those winged giants. Murmurs of approval abounded the moment she was spotted, and those approvals swiftly mutated into lusty catcalls. Growling, stiff with anger, Ugh-O tossed her atop a pallet in the center.
Jane scrambled to her feet. More waves of dizziness accompanied the action, and she swayed. When her vision cleared, she spun in a circle, studying her new surroundings. A throne of glittering crystal grew directly from the wall. That throne would have made a majestic sight, if not for the bare-chested maniac seated on top of it.
His nose was so far out of place, the left side rested against his cheek. One of his eyes was missing, and there was a hole in his bottom lip, as if one of his saber teeth had punched right through. His chest was a mass of scars, like slices of roast beef that had been glued together—but the glue hadn’t held.
At least twenty others stood beside him, guarding him. All eyes were on her, bright red lasers she couldn’t escape. Sweat dripped between her breasts, even as her blood chilled. Not one of these creatures would aid her. They all wanted, and expected, a turn.
In fact, only two people in the room were uninterested in her presence. The only other females. Both were naked, old and wrinkled, unwashed, with straggly hair and dead eyes. They’d been well used, multiple times, and were covered in bite marks and bruises. No wonder these guys were so hot for the repulsive “Odette.”
Footsteps behind her caused her to spin. More dizziness, intent on lingering. Only when it passed did she realize these were the men who had attacked Nicolai. They were bloody, limping, missing a few body parts and barely breathing, but they were here.
