Chapter Two
My heart thudded inmy still tightening chest and the skin on the back of my neck prickled. I wasn’t alone. Someone found me. I slipped my hand into my pocket and slid out my dagger. I wasn’t the most skilled fighter, but it only took one lucky stab.
My chest worsened, making it hard to breathe. I didn’t understand what was going on why my body was reacting this way. How I knew someone was out here.
Was I having a panic attack? Had my subconscious heard the snap of a twig and warned me? I’d felt nothing like it before. The sanctity of my camps had never been invaded. I always chose places far from traveler’s paths and roads.
I kept my eyes slit, pretending I’m asleep and unaware of my uninvited and unwelcome company. Shadows grew around me even though there wasn’t the slightest breeze in the air. I tightened my grip on the knife hidden beneath my blanket, my entire body trembling with tension.
Hands gripped from behind without me even realizing they were there, a palm slapping over my mouth, an arm winding around my middle, trapping my arms to my body. I thrashed against him, fighting to free myself, but his hold was strong. Two more people melt from the trees, stepping into moonlight and the waning glow of my fire. They were huge, tall and muscular and deadly.
This was not going to go well for me.
The one holding me turned me onto my back, plucking the knife from my fingers. My pulse pounded, but the tension in my chest disappeared. The pain faded away and calm swept over my body.
My brain screamed at me to fight, to move, to do something, but I was caught, lost in his eyes, eyes the color of starlight.
“What are you waiting for, Whist? Finish it.” One of the other men spoke, his voice smooth and husky like the brandy I drank before bed.
The one holding me, Whist, shook his head in confusion. “I can’t.” It was the man from the tavern.
“Impotence at your age? You’re a little young for that, aren’t you?” The other man laughed and drew closer, his movements fluid until he met my eyes and stumbled, falling to his knees beside me, the humor vanishing from his face.
Whist growled at the funny man’s closeness, yanking me tighter to him. “Back off, Sky. You’re not touching her.”
Sky’s wide eyes didn’t leave mine. “I’m afraid you will have to share, my friend.”
Whist relaxed his hold on me the slightest bit. “You too?”
The third man, the one with the voice that echoed deep in my bones approached. “What the hell is going on?”
My brain finally forced the rest of me into action and I bucked against Whist’s grip. “Let me go. What do you want from me? How did you even find me? Who are you?”
“We’re here to kill you.”