AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Can you hear me?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘You are going to do what I tell you, when I tell you and not before...do you understand?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Good girl. There is a track behind you and to the left—it goes uphill. I want you to run, but not until I say. Run and don’t look back, don’t stop until you reach the observatory.’
‘The what?’
‘You will know when you’re there.’
‘What about you?’
‘I will be fine if you do what I ask you to.’ The rustle as he tightened his hand over the branch turned the boar’s mean red eyes his way, and she began to move away from Maya. ‘That’s it, come over here, Mama Boar. Now get ready, Maya.’ He lifted the branch and banged the ground, yelling like a banshee, the infuriated animal charged and he shouted, ‘Now, Maya! Run,cara, run!’ He waited just long enough to see that she had taken off before he hit the ground running, still yelling as he did so.
There was no way he could outrun an enraged boar who, despite her bulk, could really move, and he knew that his only chance was getting high enough up...once he was sure that Maya was far enough away from those teeth.
Maya ran, her heart pumping, self-preservation giving her feet wings as she ran, instinct rather than a recollection of his instructions putting her on the right path. Panting tears sliding down her cheeks, she ran on uphill, stumbling over roots but knowing that she could not fall... She barely noticed when a stray overhanging branch delivered a glancing blow to her cheek. More tears blurred her vision as she refused to look back—don’t look back, and don’t fall.
Her lungs felt as though they would burst when the trees cleared quite abruptly and she saw her goal. The small, square stone building with the domed roof of glass was an incongruous sight, but she wasn’t asking why it was there. She was only focused on the sanctuary offered by the metal-banded doors, thinking...Not locked, please, not locked!
It wasn’t.
One side of the double doors opened without any effort on her part as she slipped inside the sanctuary and closed it fast behind her. She leaned against it, eyes closed and shaking with reaction, her laboured breathing gradually slowing.
Oh, God...Samuele!
Her eyes flew wide and she turned and pushed the doors she had just closed open again. She was sobbing again, loudly, but she didn’t hear as she was seeing him banging the ground with his stick, deliberately drawing the vicious animal to him... She had left him, deserted him,abandonedhim; she wasthatperson, the person she despised.
If he was harmed she would never forgive herself.
Self-disgust settled over her like a black cloud as she waited, her eyes trained on the woods, alert to any sign of sound or movement. If he was hurt or worse it was on her.
He could be lying out there slashed and bleeding, needing help. She became so convinced by the lurid images in her head that she had just made the decision to go out and find him when he appeared.
She didn’t immediately see him, just a movement in the periphery of her vision. She had been willing him to appear, but he came from a totally different direction.
The relief was so intense she thought she was going to faint, then she realised the faintness was probably associated with the fact she was hyperventilating.
Consciously slowing her breathing, she took a step towards him.
‘You’re not dead!’ Even as she spoke it crossed her mind that she had never seen anyone look more alive. His eyes were burning bright, the glitter in them almost incandescent, though one leg of his trousers was ripped from the ankle almost to the thigh, revealing olive-tanned hair-roughened skin and long slabs of muscle.
There were scratches on his face, some oozing blood, but he looked totally relaxed as he drew level with her and he wasn’t even breathing hard. It struck her that he looked more dangerous than the boar.
A danger that anyone with a pinch of sense would run away from, but his hands lay heavy on her shoulders and she couldn’t have run even if she had wanted to, which she didn’t.
‘Dead?’He laughed and shook his head. ‘Thecinghialerarely kill but they can cause some serious damage and ugly scars. Some hunters say boars are more dangerous than bears, though we don’t have any of those here.’ His white grin appeared. ‘Just wolves.’
He was giving her a natural history lesson! She had been half out of her mind and he was telling her it wasn’t so very bad...cinghiale...why was that Italian word ringing bells?
Sam’s eyes moved swiftly across her face, noting the bruise developing on her cheek, his jaw quivering as he felt a twisting sensation in his chest, a tenderness that he was reluctant to name.
‘You did good,’ he said roughly, releasing her.
‘I did,’ she agreed breathlessly.
