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I take a slow step back, my heart racing, and it opens its mouth in what seems to be a threat, but could be a smile. Either way, I know I’m in trouble. Taking another step back, my legs suddenly crumble from under me, and I reach my fingers back until they connect with a branch. I draw the branch in front of me, clenching it like a bat, and decide if I’m going to go down, I’ll go down swinging.
A soft growl escapes its lips.
And then, the shadow beasts are on it. A scream tears from my lips as they knock it to the ground. The world is filled with growls from the men and screams of pain from the thing, and then it grows silent.
I don’t release my branch as the shadow beasts climb off of the thing. They’re covered in blood. Their nails are long, and their expressions enraged. The thing that had terrified me so terribly a moment ago has been sliced to pieces, and its head is tilted at an angle no head should be able to tilt.
They shuffle around it, but I can’t quite figure out what they’re doing, when suddenly the thing is on fire. A gasp slips from my lips, and I scoot back a little further, holding the branch more tightly. The fire releases a horrible scent like rotting flesh, and then the body collapses into ash.
Shit.
If that’s what the shadow beasts can do to that huge creature, I was wrong to be scared of the hulking creature. I should’ve been running like hell from the shadow beasts the second they were distracted.
But as they close in on me, I know it’s already too late.
TWO
Ann
The shadow beasts light a fire.I watch them beneath my lashes, sitting near enough to the flames that I hope they think I’m behaving, but I’m secretly trying to figure them out. As they move around, gathering wood and talking in their strange language while gesturing and glancing at me, I try hard not to look like a threat, or like prey. They definitely look wild, like men raised by wolves rather than humans, but they’re not quite as mysterious as I thought they were in the beginning.
I’ve also decided to name them. The one who seems to be in charge is Daddy. He has the longest, darkest hair of the three and green eyes. Not a pale green either. It’s a green so deep that it’s eerie as the gems peer out beneath the strands of his hair like a painting, or a wild animal, rather than a human. Fluffy is the smallest of the three, both in height and width. His hair is long, and perhaps just a touch paler than Daddy’s, but his eyes are an ice blue rather than green. Tiny is the one with long, blond hair. He is the largest of the three, both in height and general size. While Daddy is built like a warrior, Tiny is built like a warrior’s protector. He’s so thickly corded that it actually seems impossible that he’s real.
But even though Fluffy is the smallest, they’re all big. I feel like a fairy near giants. It’s no wonder Daddy wasn’t affected by my fist against his back. I probably couldn’t have bothered him with a hammer.
Yeah, I’m in trouble.
“So, can you guys speak English?”
They look toward me, then focus back on their tasks. Okay, no English. But also no anger directed at me. Not the worst-case scenario.
“And are you guys going to tell me what you want from me?”
This time they just seem to completely ignore me.
“Okay, that’s fine. I don’t need to be understood. I don’t need to be talked to. But I do want you to know that I think you’re a bunch of assholes to steal a woman. No matter what you plan to do with me, that’s a dick move, right from the start. I don’t know how you’ll come back from that without just being forever the dick trio.”
None of them react. For some reason, a little of the tension I’ve been carrying eases. If they don’t react to being called assholes and dicks, they probably won’t react to much. And if they don’t care about me talking to myself, then hopefully that means they aren’t just looking for a reason to hurt me.
All good signs.
“Also, I named all of you. What do you think of that? You, Mr. Green Eyes, are now officially Daddy, since you seem to be in charge of this bunch. The smallest of you giant weirdos is now officially Fluffy. And you, the biggest dude of them all, are Tiny.” I laugh to myself, and Daddy looks over at me through his hair, his expression unreadable.
Oh boy, maybe it’s time to shut up. If I find my own voice annoying, chances are I shouldn’t push it with these three.
I sigh, then lean back a little, even though it doesn’t make the ground any more comfortable. I’d been given no indication of how long this abduction of mine would last, so my best bet is probably to just learn as much as I can about these guys and where I am, so if the opportunity to run comes, I might actually have a chance at getting back home.
So, I narrow my eyes and focus.
At first, I’m staring at them because I want information from them, even nonverbal information. But eventually, things change, and then I’m watching them because Ican’tseem to stop watching, because even in their bulkiness, there’s a finesse that mesmerizes me, a grace that’s equally spine-chilling and elegant. Whatever they are, I could watch them move all day if not for the strange fear watching them brings. It’s like one part of my brain admires them, and the other part can’t stop thinking about what men this large and this graceful could do to me if I piss them off. I can’t even tell myself that I’m smaller and faster, because I’m pretty sure they’re as agile as they are powerful.
At last, the one I’ve named Daddy kneels down in front of me. He gestures to the river and then to me.
“Uh. No, thanks. Hard pass.” There’s no way I’m going into that river. Not a chance.
His brows draw together, and again he gestures between me and the water.
I shake my head, then mouth the word, “No!”
