There was a young woman wandering through the woods, heading straight in the direction of a cluster of bear traps I had set dead ahead. She looked young, probably somewhere in her late teens or early twenties and incredibly scared. She was alone too. I wondered how she’d survived on her own for so long on her own. Blonde, blue-eyed, and slender, she rushed ahead, not knowing that she was taking such a dangerous path.
Fuck.
She was going to get caught in my trap. It would take too long for me to power it down. She didn’t have that much time. She was moving too fast.
I had to get her out of there. She wasn’t that far off. I had to make it to her before she got hurt. Maybe she had escaped from one of the Vakarran camps? I didn’t recognize her, that much I was sure of.
With a flurry, I hurried outside my cave in a rush. Once I got onto the dirt path, I took off at a dead run in the direction of the woman in the woods. It took me less than three minutes to reach her and when we locked eyes, she stilled. Her eyes widened with fear and almost looked a little sad to see me. What the hell?
I slowed and moved forward much more deliberately, seeing that she reacted much like a frightened feral dog. There was something in her gaze that made me suspicious, but I ignored that feeling in hopes I could bring her back to our group.
Stepping forward, I reached for her and I heard something click underneath my foot.
I froze.
The woman shook her head, her eyes sad, and she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry” then.
Shit.
In the ensuing seconds, my entire world fell apart. A loud crack sounded as a branch flung forward and up and a giant rope spider web sprang up from the ground beneath me. The rope lifted upward and threw my balance off so that I fell forward on my hands and knees with a startled cry. The woman sobbed openly in front of me as her hands flew to her face.
The rope web lifted me off the forest floor and into the air, closing around me and trapping me in less than the span of a second. I was left hanging in the rope, swinging back and forth in the air like a trapped pig.
Fucking fuck. What the hell was this?
A cold chill passed over me. This wasn’t one of my traps, I knew that for a fact. The rope was webbed too tightly, although not tight enough where I couldn’t see through it. The holes were only wide enough to stick a few fingers through, rather than a whole hand or my foot. Looking up and down, I saw no weakness in the design of the contraption and nowhere I could try to work my way out.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I reached down into my pants pocket for my switch blade and moaned out loud at finding it empty. Dumbass.
So stupid. I’d loaned my knife to Alaina the other day and never gotten it back. I didn’t even think to grab the laser gun from the spot I had it hidden by the cave door when I had left.
Beginning to quietly panic, I tried to move around and survey the surrounding area.
Someone chuckled in the not too far off distance.
I stilled, the sound decidedly male. I opened my eyes wide, searching the shrubbery surrounding us for the source of the sound.
The woman, still standing motionless in the clearing, dove to her knees and dropped her eyes to the ground. It seemed like an automatic reaction to me, as she trembled and waited for whoever had laughed nearby to arrive.
The only words that came to mind were broken and obedient. Like a trained Vakarran slave.
Fuck.
&nbs
p; At once, four massive bodies appeared out of nowhere, almost like a chameleon appearing once it dropped its camouflaged nature. Their skin glimmered, changing from the mottled greens of the surrounding plants to the purple color I knew all so well. Huh, I hadn’t known they could do that. I grew increasingly nervous at the realization. What more didn’t I know?
For the first time, I began to feel afraid.
The moment I saw that distinctive violet skin, the color of a freshly plucked plum and those coppery eyes, fierce and cruel staring up at me, I cringed with both a healthy fear and growing fury. One had emerged first, followed by three others, all of them with their gaze fixed on me. Just great. Just fucking great.
The smug grins on their faces as they stared back at me sickened my stomach, like they’d captured some great and terrible prize with me. I ground my teeth together, trying to figure out my next move. Think, Kira. Think.
They were tall, definitely over seven feet and entirely muscle. The distinctive ram-shaped horns spiraled out from the sides of their heads, like a thick pair of bike handles. Their copper irises, rimmed with black, darkened as they gazed at me. Their skin almost seemed to morph from purple to a darker merlot-colored shade then. I shivered.
The tops of their heads had various shades of dark purple to black hair, all slightly different between each of them. They wore black military gear, which hugged the muscles of their chest tightly enough that I had no trouble envisioning what they would look like naked. Their thighs and biceps seemed thick like tree trunks, incredibly strong and powerful. Perfect for holding me down while they fucked me.