Just run.
And she did. Audrey took off down the long, cavernous corridor, a few torches placed on the stone wall beside her. She breathed fast and heavily, pumping her arms and pushing herself harder. But with each passing second, that slight pull in her side gave way to something more uncomfortable, something painful. She didn’t know how long she ran, but her side throbbed. Audrey gritted her teeth and placed her hand on her wound. She felt wetness but didn’t look down to verify she’d bled through the bandage.
Don’t stop. You can’t stop.
But the corridor seemed to go on forever, and she could barely see ten feet in front of her despite the torch sconces placed intermittently on either side. Audrey’s lungs burned, her legs and feet ached, and her side was hurting even more with every second that passed. And then she saw light up ahead, not bright sunlight, but the muted glow of the moon. It gave her strength, and she pumped her arms and legs harder, wanting to feel the cool, fresh air moving over her face. Freedom was so close, and she didn’t dare look behind her to see if Styx was following.
The opening to the cave came closer and closer, but all she could see was the vast expanse of sky. Audrey didn’t think on that too long, because the taste of freedom controlled too much of her. And then just as she was about to reach the opening she felt her eyes widen as she caught the first glimpse of the canopy.
Canopy?
Massive treetops greeted her view, and she stopped, but not before she realized the cave was high above everything else.
Oh. God.
She’d had too much momentum, and the threat of falling right over played through her mind. But she slid onto her ass, sliding on the unforgiving hard ground, dust flying up around her and blocking her vision. Reaching out on instinct, Audrey gripped the side of the cave, her palm being sliced open from the jagged rock.
A gasp of pain left her, but it was the shock of nearly falling right over the damn edge that filled her. Once her breathing was semi-normal, she crawled forward on her knees and looked over the edge.
So far up.
Pushing herself up until she stood, her knees threatened to buckle. The wind whipped by, blowing her hair around her face. She still held on to the side of the wall, her nails digging into the rock. Something high-pitched sounded, and she lifted her head and looked into the sky. At first she didn’t see anything, but then a massive shadow moved over her.
That was when she saw the creature flying above her. No, not flying above her … flying toward her. A startled cry left Audrey, and she turned, but tripped over her feet in her haste to run back to the man that was holding her captive. It was either jump to her death, let the creature barreling toward her devour every inch of her, or run toward Styx.
She went to stand, not wanting to die and realizing that going back into the cave was her only option. Her feet were torn up from the rough, rocky ground and running away, but she pushed past the pain. But before she could take one step, huge arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her back against a hard chest.
An ear-piercing cry left the creature, now so close she could feel the intense wind whipping around her from the monster’s massive wings.
Would she even survive this? Had leaving Styx been smart?
Am I even meant to survive any of this?
Styx wrapped his arm tightly around his female’s waist and moved through the corridor. He’d sensed her gone not more than a few moments after she’d left. Her scent had still saturated the air around him, so he knew she couldn’t have gotten far. And when he’d seen her standing at the cavern edge, everything in Styx had frozen. In that moment he hadn’t wanted to picture her taken from him. She might just have been put in his life a short time ago, but he’d already deemed her as his mate, and that meant for life.
The Kasha bird was the largest flying predator in the forest, and it had picked up on his woman’s scent. He chanced a look behind him and saw the bird making its way through the opening of the cave. Its wings had claws at the end to allow it to move swiftly on the ground. But Styx had advanced speed, and he picked up his pace. He heard his mate’s breathing increase, smelled her fear surround them, and the purely mated male side of him moved faster. He would not let anyone or anything hurt her or take her away from him.
The creature screeched out loudly, the cavern becoming even narrower the farther he moved. That was what made this home protected from the outside elements and predators. If one did come through, the cave was too small for them to pass into because of their large sizes. And if a smaller creature made it into the main part of his cave, he could hold his own against it.
“The more frightened you are, the faster the creature will come.” Although telling her that wouldn’t stop her from being afraid, he wanted her to know how this worked. She might be from the same world as he was, but the forest, where he lived, was far different than she was probably used to.
He finally made it into the main cavern, set her on the ground, and grabbed his sword that hung on the stone wall with a hook. He moved toward the opening of the cavern, ready to face off with the creature, even if it couldn’t reach them in this part of the mountain.
He cast a glance over his shoulder at his female, saw she was wide-eyed, and smelled her panic. It was clear she was an innocent in this world. Wherever she’d come from, she either had been sheltered or hadn’t been thrust into dangerous territory. But Styx was glad things had played out this way, because if not she wouldn’t have fully understood the dangers of this land, or the fact he would, and could, protect her above all else.
With one more look right in her eyes, he turned and went to face off a beast that had meant to take his mate from him.
Chapter
Five
Audrey was shaking, every part of her tense, the fight or flight mode raging war inside of her. Styx had disappeared down the corridor only seconds ago, and the creature’s ear-piercing wail echoed throughout the cavern. There was a second of silence, and she held her breath, not sure what was going on. Styx had taken a massive-looking sword before he left, and all she could think of was him fighting that beast. How could he even possibly survive something like that? The beast looked like something out of a nightmare, and it had been intent on having her as dinner.
But then there was more screeching, followed by what sounded like metal on the stone. That fight seemed to go on forever, and as much as she wanted to leave, she was frozen in place, staring at the opening and expecting the beast to emerge.
Styx saved me even though I ran from him.
She shouldn’t have cared either way, but even telling herself that he’d taken her, claimed she was his, didn’t dim the fact he’d saved her life for the second time.
She rose up, her hands in tight fists at her side, her focus trained on the entrance of the corridor. Her heart was beating so fast and hard it almost drowned out the sound of fighting … almost. She heard grunts from Styx echoing off the walls, heard that terrifying creature screech out, and then there was nothing, silence, stillness.
Her pulse beat wildly at the base of her throat, and she started to move backward, away from the opening, not sure if Styx or that creature would be the one that emerged.
She turned and saw another very short corridor, this one lit brightly. There were two semi-large caverns that split off from the short corridor, but she could see there were no exits in either one of them.