Chapter 9 Ahnna #2
A stone skittered down the slope above, and Ahnna froze, heart pounding. She held her breath, eyes scanning the darkness for the crouched shape of a white cat ready to pounce. The silence returned, oppressive and vast, pressing down on her shoulders like the weight of the mountain itself.
On and on they walked, and Ahnna did not stop until well after midnight when her eyes picked out the signs of a rough campsite set up in a clearing with a slope to one side that would hide the glow of a fire.
Loosely picketing Dippy so that he could break free if he needed to, Ahnna gathered deadfall and set to building three fires around the perimeter of her camp.
She ate the rest of her squirrel meat from a prior meal while water from a nearby stream warmed in a tiny cup next to one of the fires.
Dippy grazed the scrubby grass, and Ahnna measured out some of the grain she had in one of her saddlebags, knowing that he’d need it more when they got higher in the mountains. Already, the streams had ice along their edges, and the wind blowing in from the north smelled of snow.
Building up the fires so they’d burn for at least an hour, Ahnna wrapped up in her blanket and lay on the ground. It was rocky and uncomfortable, but with the relative sanctuary of flame and the weight of exhaustion heavy upon her, sleep came.
But so did the dreams.
Gravel and debris dug into her back, but Ahnna barely felt it as she tangled her fingers in James’s hair, every part of her consumed by the sensation of his mouth between her legs. “I want you in me,” she begged. “Please, James.”
The sun gleamed off the hard muscles of his shoulders as he lifted his face, amber eyes dark with lust. He was so beautiful, so harshly masculine, that part of her wanted to hold him in position so her mind might freeze the vision of him forever, but her body ached with the need for more.
The need for him to fill her, body and soul.
“You want this?” His voice was low, nearly a growl, and every muscle in Ahnna’s body tightened, her thighs slick as she reached for him. “Yes. I want this.”
He kissed her lips, and she tasted the salt of her own body on his tongue as he took hold of his cock and pressed the thick tip against her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deep into her body. “Ahnna,” he groaned into her mouth. “You feel so good.”
He pulled back and thrust again, deeper this time. She arched her back, needing to take as much of him as possible, climax rising in her body.
“Harder,” she gasped, desperate to have all of him. Every part of him, most especially his heart. “Make me yours.”
“You have always been mine.” He slammed into her, fingers locked with hers. “You will always be mine.”
Her climax began to crest, and Ahnna opened her lips to cry out his name.
Only to taste blood.
Hot sticky blood splashed, filling her mouth, and she choked, trying to scream. James stared down at her, throat sliced open from ear to ear, and through the bloody opening, his voice whispered, “I loved you.”
“James,” she screamed, trying to stop the blood, but a cruel laugh filled her ears.
As he collapsed onto her, Ahnna saw Alexandra standing in the darkness, a knife in one hand.
“Such a disappointment,” the queen of Harendell chuckled.
“Such a failure. But don’t worry, Ahnna.
At least I have the stomach for murder.”
The dream shattered with a sharp, panicked whinny. Ahnna’s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding as she tried to orient herself in the pitch-black night. Her fires were nothing more than glowing embers.
How long had she been asleep?
Dippy was snorting, his large shadow frozen in place, his terror palpable.
Ahnna had only a moment to snatch up her bow and nock an arrow before she heard a low, terrible growl that sent a chill straight through her. She leapt to her feet just as a white shape sprang from the shadows, all coiled muscle and glinting claws.
Ahnna threw herself sideways, barely rolling out of reach before the lion’s claws raked across the spot where she’d been lying.
Her hands fumbled to nock the arrow again, her fingers slick with sweat despite the cold, her breath fast and shallow as she aimed, body shaking as she drew the bowstring taut.
The lion circled her, its eyes glowing in the faint moonlight like twin mirrors, lips drawn back in a snarl that exposed long fangs.
It was injured but not badly; blood streaked from a shallow gash on its shoulder where Dippy must have kicked it before she woke.
Ahnna released the arrow, and it sank into the cat’s flank.
But rather than fleeing into the darkness, it lunged at her with a vicious snarl.
Dippy screamed and broke free of his tether.
He kicked out wildly and nearly hit the lion, but the creature sprang out of the way.
It circled the camp, a ghostly shadow in the red glow of the dying fires.
Ahnna scrambled to her feet, her heart a frantic drumbeat in her chest as she nocked another arrow.
Only for the ghostly shape to disappear into the darkness.
Dippy snorted, nostrils flaring with the scent of the predator that had almost certainly not given up.
Ahnna held her bow at the ready, hunting the darkness for a white shape. Listening for any sound that might give her a clue as to where the predator was.
Then in her periphery, a shadow moved.
She only barely threw herself to the side, the searing graze of its claws ripping through her coat, warm blood trickling down her shoulder.
The pain was sharp, but she forced herself to ignore it.
The beast stalked closer, a low, throaty growl rattling the cold night air, its eyes alight with hunger.
She let the arrow fly, striking it in the shoulder. The lion staggered, its snarl turning to a rasping, pained hiss, but still it advanced. It was gaunt, the desperation for food visible in each limping step. It needed this meal and was willing to die for it.
The lion was between her and her quiver, so Ahnna dropped her bow and pulled a knife. She swiped at the lion and it recoiled, but fast as lightning, it pounced.
Ahnna flung herself sideways, claws snagging in her clothes even as her knife sliced along the lion’s belly.
It screamed but though blood splattered the snow, the wound wasn’t deep enough to stop the attack. The creature was hungry, and if it didn’t kill her, it wouldn’t have the strength to take down something else.
This was a fight to the death.
The lion circled, muscles bunching, and Ahnna braced.
But then Dippy attacked. With a scream Ahnna had never heard him make, her horse reached out and clamped his teeth down on the lion’s back. He jerked the cat from side to side and then flung it across the camp.
Before the lion could rise, her horse was on it. Dippy slammed his hooves down, trampling until white fur turned red, bones were crushed, and gore soaked into the snow.
The lion let out one last wet gurgle, then went still.
Ahnna stood frozen, chest heaving. She had not known horses were capable of that sort of violence.
Dippy snorted at her, and Ahnna stumbled over to fling her arms around the gelding’s neck. “Thank you,” she breathed, pressing her face against his sweaty coat. “I will never let you go.”
Lighting the lantern, she examined Dippy to ensure he wasn’t injured, then swiftly rinsed the shallow cuts the lion’s claws had left on her arm.
Her coat would need mending, but she could do that while she rode.
The stink of blood would draw any number of predators, so they needed to get away from this place.
Ahnna loaded up her supplies and readied to set out. But as she mounted, a speck of light in the distance caught her eye.
It was so far off as to be little more than a pinprick, but it was undeniably a campfire.
“James,” she whispered, every instinct in her body telling her that it was him.
Reflexively, she reached up to wipe her face, expecting her hand to come away bloody.
It was clean, but from the darkness of her mind, Alexandra’s voice echoed: Such a disappointment.
Such a failure. But don’t worry, Ahnna. At least I have the stomach for murder.
“We have to hurry, Dippy.” Ahnna dug in her heels, knowing that for all her horse’s speed, there were some things he could not outrun.