He reached out and pushed away a strand of her hair that blocked his view of her face. She was littered with cuts and bruises, and dried blood was matted in her hair. But she didn’t move, and he knew he couldn’t keep her out here any longer. He didn’t know how long the poisons had been in her system, and the sooner he started treating her, the sooner she’d heal.
He set his spear against the trunk of a tree and picked her up. She weighed barely anything, and compared to him, she was tiny.
Who is this female?
Once she was safely in his arms, Styx looked down at her face. She was very beautiful, not appearing like the females from his tribe. His kind had dark hair and dark eyes, but this female’s hair was unlike anything he’d ever seen. The strands were red and long, with the waves curling around her slender shoulders. She was also so much smaller than the females of his tribe. He looked at the arch of her eyebrows, the way her eyelashes were a darker shade of red, and the light sprinkling of spots across the bridge of her tiny nose.
What color would her eyes be? What would her voice sound like?
She was too thin for his comfort or liking. Wherever she was from either didn’t feed her well, or she didn’t have access to fat-enriched food. Either way, Styx would fatten her up, make her nice and healthy. If she was to get well and heal from her injuries, she needed to eat more. She also needed to put on some weight before winter came. Styx had no intentions of letting her go, not when he’d found her. She’d be his mate and would have his baby inside of her soon enough.
Chapter
Two
It was the sound of a fire crackling close by that roused Audrey. Once everything became clearer, the pain settled deep in her body. It felt as though she’d been beaten up and down, and trying to remember why she felt like this just had a fuzziness filling her head.
Shifting, she sucked in a breath at the soreness of her muscles and at the pulling sensation and pain on her side. Audrey forced her eyes open, blinking several times in order to clear her blurry vision. She was on her back, and the first thing that came into focus was the rock ceiling above her.
I’m in a cave.
Light from the fire that was close by flickered along the stone walls. She’d been in plenty of caves while growing up, her village close to the Heckena Mountains. She turned her head slightly and saw the fire burning just a few feet from her, the heat coming off of it feeling calming.
After that, she was aware of a heavy pressure on her, not uncomfortable, but what covered her had some weight to it. Pulling her arms out from under the coverings, she smoothed her hands over what she now knew were furs. They were coarse, but the heat they provided felt really nice, even if she was in pain.
Audrey inhaled. There was a tugging and an ache in her side, nothing too painful, but enough to have her stop moving. The sound of footsteps had her entire body stilling. She closed her eyes, feigning sleep.
Pierces of woods being dropped on the stone ground echoed off the cavern walls. Her heart was thundering fast, her body started to sweat, and she was trying not to show a facial expression of how much pain she was in. It didn’t help when her body was tense, and she was scared to death.
If it was slavers, you wouldn’t be in this cave with hides over you. They’d have you chained and sent to the man that bought you.
She sensed the person in the cave come closer, the shadow of his body covering her and blocking out the fire. He didn’t move for long seconds, and with each passing moment, she grew more and more tense, her body and mind screaming for her to escape.
“I know you’re awake, female.”
The male’s voice was so deep that it didn’t sound fully human. Although she knew there were creatures in their world that weren’t fully human, even if they appeared as such, Audrey had never seen any of these human-like beings—and didn’t want to either. In the woods by her village they didn’t have beings that were like them … but not. But Audrey had no idea where the slavers had taken her, so she had no idea what she was up against.
Maybe you shouldn’t have run off into foreign woods, then.
But not doing that would have meant she was a slave, and that was not what she was going to be. Audrey would rather face this than being a sex slave.
But Audrey still kept her eyes closed, too afraid to face exactly what was standing beside her.
“Open your eyes and look at me, female.”
He had a deep voice, feral in quality, and there was this slight scent. Audrey did as he said, not because he’d ordered her to, but because she knew she couldn’t pretend forever. She had to face this sooner or later. If he wanted her dead, he could have done it already. He could have left her out in the woods after she fell. He didn’t have to bring her to this place.
She opened her eyes, her hands in tight fists at her side, her heart feeling like it would burst right through her chest. And then she turned her head and looked at him, feeling her eyes widen at the beast of a man standing beside her. He appeared human … but not.
Swallowing the lump that instantly formed in her throat, all Audrey could do was take in the massive size of him. She was average height for a female at five foot six, not overly thin, but also not overweight seeing as her lifestyle didn’t afford copious amounts of food. But this man, this beast, had to be at least seven feet tall. His muscles looked stacked upon each other, and his eyes seemed to have this almost iridescent hue to them.
Like how a predator’s eyes glow when light flashes over them.
This man was not human, or at least not like any human male she’d ever seen.
He stared at her for long seconds, and then turned and headed to the fire. She looked at the back of him, how he was shirtless, the muscles pronounced, unrestrained. The pants he wore were dark leather and molded to his tree trunk-sized thighs snugly. When he turned around, she was looking right at his chest, at the dips, hollows, and the rolling hills of definition. Audrey was frightened, but she couldn’t help but appreciate how masculine he was.
When she lifted her gaze to his face, it was to see that same stoic, hard expression covering it. He looked dirty, like he’d been out in the woods foraging, hunting. Was he one of the “savages” the slavers had been shouting about?
“You must eat and drink,” he said and moved toward her.
She shifted backward as much as she could, given the pain she still felt. She winced when her side pulled again, but he was shoving a cup toward her. Looking between him and the mug, she didn’t want to accept it but didn’t want to upset him. He shoved it toward her again, his brows going down with annoyance clearly written on his face.
“Drink.” His voice had gone harder, and she found herself reaching out and taking the cup, her fingers brushing along his. A shiver moved up her spine at that small contact, and she quickly looked at the cup’s contents. The mug was made out of a horn of some animal she couldn’t identify, and the contents smelled sweet, but also having bitter afternotes.
“What is it?” she asked, looking at his face. His focus was on her mouth, and when he looked her in the eyes, she watched as his pupils dilated to take up nearly all of the iris.
“It’s herbs. It’ll help flush the toxins out and ease the pain.”
Toxins?
She thought back to running from the slavers and remembered when she’d gotten hit with something on her side. It must have been tipped with poison.