But he was as stupid as he was big. Like a brain damaged hog. If the bite bothered him, he gave no signal. Just the opposite.
“I like my women with a little fight in them,” he said, drunk and sloppy and mealy mouthed. “But not too much fight.”
With a horny grin on his face, he reached into his pocket, produced a thin blade, and placed it to her throat.
Anika froze. So did I. For a long second, it was as if everything in the forest held perfectly still. Even Falroy stopped dead in his tracks. The only thing that moved was Anika’s trembling fingers as she slowly raised her hands in surrender.
The smaller of the two grabbed her wrists and bound them behind her back once again. From the way the two of them worked, I could tell they’d done this before. Motherfuckers.
“Please! Please don’t hurt me. Please… I’m… I can…. I’m actually…”
Don’t you fucking dare tell them who you really are, I told her, willing the words into her mind from my own.
I could see her swallow hard and I tensed. I needed to be sure they wouldn’t hurt her in the process of what came next.
“There are people waiting for me up ahead. They’ll be looking for me any moment. Please. Just let me go. I won’t say a word about you to anybody.”
Good girl. I breathed out a long exhalation of relief. But their not knowing she was the Princess of Estana didn’t change a goddamned thing. She was still alone, she was still vulnerable, and she still had a sweet, tight little pussy. She was still in big fucking trouble.
“Let me see those titties,” said the big one, drooling into Anika’s hair from behind.
Maybe I’d string that one up by the tongue and by the balls.
The other one made short work of her shirt, ripping it off of her to reveal her beautiful breasts. A soiled, dirty hand cupped her perfectly white flesh.
I was too rage-blind to care which one of them was doing it. Everything in the universe narrowed down to that single thing. Her pure flesh and those foul fingers. They were touching her in the place that only I was meant to touch her. And there was not a fucking chance I was going to let them touch her anywhere else.
In that moment, my rage disappeared, and was replaced with a total, fucking surreal level of otherworldly calm. Nobody, fucking nobody, was going to harm my sister. Nobody was going to damage the one good thing in the world. These motherfuckers were going to feel my wrath. Right fucking now.
My heartbeat slowed; my focus returned. I filled my lungs with the first full breath I’d had since my horse reared up. I rose from my crouch. Silent and stealthy, I removed my bow from my shoulder. I pulled my dagger from its sheath, palmed the hilt, and aimed at the knife-holder’s bulging, greasy jugular.
And waited for my chance to get the perfect shot.
But then again, I wasn’t sure anything about this was perfect. If I hit him, she’d find out I’d been following her. If I missed, I’d kill her.
Fuck almighty, what a mess she’d gotten me into now.
Chapter 2
Anika
When I saw the thin blade, I was terrified. But now I was angry. So angry. Who did these oily, foul-smelling perverts think they were, attacking me in the forest? Ripping my shirt off? Touching me? Looking at me?
Jerks. As the one in front of me groped my breast, I gathered a mouthful of spit. When he leaned in toward me, I launched it right in his face, a direct hit into his open eyes. He drew back instantly, wiping his face.
“You little whore,” he snarled, his face and cheeks all splattered with my saliva.
“Got a lot more where that came from, you disgusting piece of…”
“Shut the fuck up,” said the big one behind me, pressing the blade harder against my neck.
Again, I felt my fear well up inside me. It frustrated me that I was so afraid. I was annoyed with myself for not being bigger, stronger, and more able to defend myself. I’d spotted them waiting for me before they attacked, and the first one had fallen to a crossbow bolt before they had me surrounded. As they pulled me from Rosie’s saddle, I’d managed to get my knife into the second, and hoped his scream might send them running, but alas no such luck. Against four men, with me on my own, it was only a matter of time before they overpowered me.
As a hunter, I knew a lot about the behavior of prey. But I had never thought of myself as anybody’s prey. Until that moment. As the little one in front of me resumed his groping, I knew I had two options. Like a cornered animal, I could use my desperation to my advantage; fight tooth and claw and make things as difficult for everyone as possible. Or I could give in. I could stop fighting.