Bride of Glass (Brides of the Hunt Book 2)

by Jeanette Lynn

  It didn’t happen, that death blow, so I waited a second more. Hopefully, this would be short and quick. All the things I kept telling myself I was going to do with my life but just hadn’t gotten around to doing any of it yet, immediately floated to the surface, a long list of hadn’t done’s and coulda shoulda’s in my head.

  A soft growl rent the air and I could feel the heat radiating off of him before anything else, like a walking radiator, a furnace, just heat, followed by the sound of his heavy breathing, as the bed crashed off by the wall and he approached.

  He didn’t do anything at first as he towered over me, just stood there, hovering ominously, terrifying as he kept me waiting, worrying. Peeking up at him, I gasped as huge hands reached for me, jerking me up roughly to slam me into his massive chest. My breath escaped me in a whoosh and I was left gaping up at him, speechless. Crushing me to him tight, he snarled, crouching, head cocked, and stormed to the window.

  I didn’t hear anything, frowning as I strained to listen. “What’s-” A hand cupped my face, covering everything but my eyes, and the menacing snow beast creature leaned in close, hissing in my face.

  My lips moving wordlessly as I choked on a scream, his hand tightened and he hissed again.

  “Noooo www-rrr-sss,” he growled out, long and low, the tip of his nose brushing his hand on my mouth. Pushing his hand into my face until I couldn’t breathe, he held it there a second too long before letting up.

  Grunting in my face, warm breath wafting across my cheeks, he jerked his chin, waiting for me to show I understood.

  Tears in my eyes, heart in my stomach, I nodded.

  Chuffing with a curt nod, the beast removed his hand, tucking me back to his chest tight, crushingly tight, climbed out the window, and off into the woods we took off.

  ˜˙˜*˜˙˜

  The woods grew cold, the deeper and longer my captor took us into the forest. He moved with a predatory grace and stealth at odds with his bulky size and odd coloring. How has no one noticed the snow giant carting my fat ass around? How?! And yet, where he should stick out like a sore thumb, he managed to blend in seamlessly.

  It had grown dark hours ago, various animals hooting or howling into the night. I didn’t know what scared me more, the unknown lurking just beyond, or the creature squashing me to his chest, right before me.

  Snuffling noises interrupted my thoughts every now and then, and I’d glance up into the dark, wondering if it—he—could see, and if so, how well. Of course, I’d immediately retreat back into myself the second I thought I felt his gaze fall on me, stifling my sniffles so he didn’t try to suffocate them out of me. I wasn’t sure if that had even been his intention, his hands were just so big, but didn’t want to find out.

  A deep growl rumbled my side and we stopped. Jumpy and slightly drowsy, I jerked as the beast creature leaned forward, cradling me in one arm, the sound of shuffling reaching my ears, and then he suddenly dumped me on my butt.

  “Ah- Eeep!” Plopping onto my side, my head slapped wet snow. Gasping from the shock of it as the rest of me landed on something furry and thick, I gripped my soggy hair. “Oh! Cold! Cold!” Realizing a second too late how loud I was, I whimpered and slapped my hands over my mouth. Curling into a ball, I mumbled apologies around my hand, forcing myself not to cry.

  A hand reached out to me in the dark and I cringed instinctively, scuttling away. The beast growled, gripping my shirt, and yanked me back to him with a hard tug. Crying out, I flew back. He caught me mid-flight, tucking me to his chest to flap the thick mat that had seconds ago been beneath me out.

  Between his massive thighs I felt tiny, huddled into a tight little ball. I tried to make myself as small and as invisible as possible as he started grunting and growling what I could only assume were words to him.

  A thick mitt of a hand came down roughly, a heavy weight on my back that sent me crashing forward. Mouth suddenly full of thick, white monster chest hair, I had to squelch back a yelp as he petted at me. After a few minutes of smothering beast appreciation for good behavior, or whatever he was doing, I gleaned a small inkling of how a tiny dog must feel.

  Poor Cujo—I had a whole new respect for the perpetually pissy pooch. Is that what I’m to be? A monster’s pet?

  All things considered, it was better than being eaten or murdered. Or... I gulped, thinking of his massive package.

  Compared to the comically overdone one I’d given my snowman—pre-snow beast rage castration—it made poor snow Hector’s shmeckle look tiny in comparison. And what was that all about? Does the sight of a competing penis make other snow beasts angry? Do they battle it out and hack off each other’s ding-a-lings? Inquiring minds wanted to know.

  The hand petting my head and back came down harder, hard enough to make me wince, followed by a deep, disgruntled growl from my unwanted companion when I tensed. Pulling back, I peered up into the dark, fearful as I squinted where I supposed his face was. He growled again and I realized he must be addressing me.

  “I... uh, yes?” I mumbled, my voice barely above a whisper.

  The beast growled again, this one more insistent than the last, setting me down to move around me, and then something thick and wet splashed my face.

  Gasping and spluttering, I reeled back, swiping at my mouth desperately with my sleeves. A thick, heavy, kidney shaped object was thrust into my hands, a rounded lip pressed to my lips.

  “Ddddrrrrr-nnnn,” he growled out gutturally, pressing a sharp-clawed thumb to my throat.

  Eyes round as saucers, I did as he bid, taking huge, gulping swallows, spilling water everywhere as I choked on the awful tasting bitter liquid. By the time I was done I was soaked to the bone and the water pouch was empty.

  Snarling under his breath, he snatched the water pouch up, leaving me sitting there unattended, and I could hear him moving about, stomping around me as leaves crunched underfoot.

  A small sliver of hope blossomed in my chest, praying he’d just leave me there, the sound of his steps growing distant briefly, but just as fast they returned.

  Something dumped in my lap, much like my heart had just dropped, and I recognized the water pouch. Hugging it to my chest instinctively, I curled around it, squelching a screech as my beast kidnapper tugged the thick rug blanket he’d set me on earlier around me and scooped me up.

  Grumbling noisily under his breath, clutching me too tightly to him, like before, as if he thought I might somehow find a way to escape him, he hitched me up. Adjusting his grip, he stood, and then we were off, trekking farther into the woods and the unknown.

  I was too paranoid to sleep, too many late night slasher horror flicks and science fiction classics under my belt to name to rest easy. Sunrise had already come and gone, pretty with the forest as a background, but I was too numb to enjoy the full effect.

  None of this would end well. I won’t end well. Some kick ass heroine would make it, not me, and she’d end up with a ridiculously hot but emotionally distant hero guy that somehow miraculously gets over all of his hang-ups and helps her save the day. Oh, and they’d live happily ever after. I’m a fly, not even a tiger-fly. That was not my destiny. Only in my fantasies. In real life I was no better than an unnamed crewman in a red shirt.

  I’m a walking human target, bear bait, snow beast fodder. I’m expendable. Stomach dropping, my eyes squeezed shut tight at the thought. Mumbling under my breath, I clenched my fists so tight the water pouch made a squelching, farting noise. The sound vibrated my chest, the lip of the pouch knocking my face.

  The snow beast holding me let out a shocked grunt, pausing suddenly. Shifting, he stopped and sniffed, head tilting questioningly, blinking down at me with his large, obsidian eyes, barely visible in the dark.

  If I wasn’t so terrified of him I might have laughed or been embarrassed. He thinks I blew ass.

  Stunned mortification washed over me and, though my cheeks flushed, I merely whimpered, hugging the water pouch to my chest in a squeeze so it squelched again. The sound
was loud but it didn’t vibrate like the last time.

  Heavy brow pulling down as he stared at me curiously, he watched as I did it again and again, leaving me wondering why he didn’t recognize it for what it was.

  I’m not farting, hairy man dude thing, I swear, I wanted to reassure.

  My mouth remained firmly shut, though I kept my water bottle symphony going strong.

  Growing frustrated when I kept it up and he still didn’t catch on, I pressed the pouch to his chest without thought, pressing in until it shook his thickly muscled shoulder. Growling, the sound stilted and short, the beast jerked back, even more shocked than before. Yeah, man, I just made your homemade water bottle fart on ya, not me.

  With something akin to disappointment in his eyes, he adjusted me in one arm, reaching up with the other to shove the pouch back into my stomach. Snarling something like a warning into my face to knock my shit off, he tucked the thick fur/rug pelt back over me, covering my still soggy clothes, and continued on.

  Swallowing down another damned pathetic sob, what I really wanted to do was rip his arms off and beat him with them, then fart that water bottle all over his fur-lined freaking face, see how he likes being semi suffocated and snarled at.

  Joanie would have tried to, I thought morosely, folding my trembling arms tighter around that stupid fucking water bottle. Alas, Joanie, I most certainly was not.

  Eyeing the beast, I had to amend that. He was pretty freaking huge. Even for feisty Joanie.

  Meh. Joanie would have screamed at him until he went deaf, maybe tried to beat him with her purse, poke an eye out with her eyelash curler, cursed him up and down a wall, and then he would have clubbed her ass, taking off with her cave-man style.

  Would I ever see Joanie again? That thought got the tears flowing, and this short but sweet, quite well-rounded unnamed crewman cried her ever-loving little heart out.

  Mentally, I pointed to myself, a gentle reminder: fly, not tiger. This little chick-a-dee right here was nothing more than a puny chicken-gnat.

  Chuffing words I didn’t understand, the beast creature carrying me made odd crooning noises in his throat, rotating between those and impatient growls, his hands roaming over me restlessly as we journeyed on to who-the-hell-knows-where.

  CHAPTER 6

  My eyes were red and swollen as we came to a break in the trees. We’d been traveling for what felt like forever and ever, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my own bed in my own home and sleep for a week. The sound of other grunting growls had me cautiously glancing up. Hands trembling, they slid to my lips, where my lips were quivering just as hard.

  There had to be a hundred of them, snow colored beasts everywhere. Each one in varying shades of white, some with small highlights of color, slips of gray, black, or tiny patches of orange and brown, some with women or bags of goods in their arms, a few scowling and emptyhanded. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.

  The thickly covered mossy area surrounding us was equally as strange as these odd creatures, these Abominable snow beasts. Bright, exotically colored plants in varying shapes and sizes, shades of vibrant green with electric blue and honeyed yellow shot throughout mixed together, surrounded us. Purple hued water steamed from a humid waterfall, bodies of water of all depths and sizes, twinkling, glittering water pooling in a small pond just beyond—it all seemed so magical and surreal.

  Considering my precarious situation in this scenario, I’d have been more than happy to simply wake up and realize this was all a dream. Yes, a nice, scary but magical dream. One I didn’t die or end up permanently maimed in.

  I watched, one by many, as beasts gathered around, bumped shoulders as they huddled by a giant grouping of thick rocks.

  There was a beast with a thick mane of white blonde hair ahead of all the others, head held high as he strutted before the rest. He was confident and strong, clutching a curvy, horrified looking brunette woman to his chest as she tried to claw his chest off, babbling incoherently at her captor as he crouched.

  I watched, captivated, struck in morbid fascination as the beast snarled something, a smug grin slicking across his thick face, and then he crouched. Securing the woman easily, despite her jumbled protests, the creature growled and took off, running for the rocks.

  Sucking in a shocked breath, I gasped, thinking them all insane as the other beasts watched on with mild interest. But then the beast and his conquest disappeared, and I was left with my hand in the air, shouting after them frantically right before I thought they would have hit, heart in my throat as my tummy dipped to my toes.

  Several sets of eyes shifted to me and I squeaked, unnerved by the sudden attention. Folding in on myself, I curled up tight, pulling the fold of the fur rug enveloping me over my head, hiding my trembling features from any and all curious onlookers.

  My captor snarled, a ferociously deep sound, the rattle it produced enough to make my teeth clack noisily, and then we were moving. Guess he doesn’t like being stared at much, either.

  It was then that I realized he hadn’t actually been mad at me before, not pissed, anyway—those were just his version of words. And I resolved myself, right then and there, if I ever made it out of all of this alive, not to make him angry enough to sound like that. Ever.

  ˜˙˜*˜˙˜

  Time passed and I wondered if we would ever do anything or go anywhere. We were—or more accurately he was—more or less, just standing around. Not that I was ready to hurry up my own demise or anything, but sitting around squashed to a walking, growling, angry vibrator wasn’t all it was made out to be.

  Creating a slit to peer through in my fur cover, I spied us moving up in the crowd. The beast holding me grunted, his arm tightening shoving my face into his thick pecs, his other arm mashing my legs. Then he crouched, ducked, and we were off. Jostling, bouncing around like a sack of flour, I thumped against his thick chest, wincing with every jarring step.

  Much the same fate as the woman I’d witnessed, we shot through, a stone wall meeting flesh but not really, a flash of sparks and brilliant light poking through my makeshift fur hood, darkness, and then nothing. We landed with a hefty thump, coming to a jogging stop.

  Hitching me up higher as my beast-napper, as I’ve decided to call him, pulled my makeshift hood off, I squinted into a stunning, bluish black sky.

  “Where am I?” Lips parting, I murmured to myself wonderingly, gazing at smoke stack after smoke stack attached to strangely shaped huts.

  It’s a village. I’m in a strange, alien village. My gaze slid to my beast, then a large spit other beasts were preparing. A big fat something was already roasting on another heavy spit. Oh… good gravy.

  “Are you- Are you going to-to-” Feeling faint, I couldn’t say it.

  No, please don’t be true. Anything but that. My fingers gripped the knuckles of my other hand, clenching tight. Throat going dry, I thought I might pass out.

  “Look,” I haggled, my desperation reaching its limit, “I’ve seen these movies, read the books.” My gaze darted about in a daze. “I’m gonna level with you,” I whispered, leaning in to grip the fur on his chest, “I’m a simple creature, really. I like breathing and living and shit.” Big brown eyes looking to him imploringly, I bit my thick bottom lip. “I’ll do whatever you want, alright?! Cook, clean, let you split me in two on a regular basis with your mutant monster penis, raise your ugly monkey babies? You got it.” My head nodded vigorously. “Hell, I’ll rub your putrid Big Foot feet with a smile. Just, please, for the love of all that is holy, I’m begging you, please, please, please, don’t eat me! I’m too self-aware to be eaten alive! I’m a weenie for pain! I cry at a stubbed toe, okay! We’re talking massive baby, here. Stripping my flesh from my body and sucking the marrow from my bones just isn’t going to work for me!!”

  Grimacing disgustedly, I shuddered visibly.

  My throat felt thick, but I forced myself to finish. “And, you know, at my last checkup, I think my blood calcium was low. That can’t
taste good!” As my voice broke on a wail my beast captor blinked down at me, grunting at me in consternation as if I’d lost all my frickin’ marbles. Maybe I had. Does it even matter anymore?

  Face pulling into a disconcerted grimace, he plucked my mumbling hide off of him easily, despite my sniveling protests when I saw he was herding me towards a small hut the other beasts were taking all the other women to. Is it like a food storage unit?

  “Oh god! Why? NO!” My cries grew louder, until other beasts started poking my beast on his shoulders, pointing at me angrily, and then the other women around us, grimacing and grunting as I shrieked to my heart’s content. I was upsetting the other captives and they didn’t like it. Tough titties says this wannabe tiger kitty!

  Picking me up by my wet shirt collar, leaving my feet dangling in the air, my beast snarled right in my face, giving my rounded yet delicate compared to him frame a tiny shake. Sucking in a huge breath, I shut up immediately, stunned, tears slowly leaking from my eyes as I zipped my lips shut tight. Chin wobbling, I cupped my hands over my beast’s fingers, tapping them as I kicked my legs out when it grew slightly suffocating.

  A green-eyed beast watching the interplay reached out and tapped him again, shaking him hard until he dropped me. Slamming to my butt, I scrambled away, cowering by my beast when the other one tried to approach. My beast snarled at him, shoving him back, circling me protectively.

  “Don’t let him get me! Don’t let him get me!” I found myself crying out, panicked, crawling around on all fours in the wet muck. Saying a little prayer under my breath, I scrambled back behind my beast’s legs to grip them, pleading desperately. I was tripping him up something awful, but I wasn’t paying much attention to that right this moment.

  The green-eyed beast froze, frowning down at me, then glanced up at my beast, clearly surprised. Shaking his head as his gaze slid back to me, realizing I was entreating my beast to keep the green-eyed one away from me, not the other way around, he grunted, grumbling something, and backed up.