Ronen didn’t speak as he led the remaining knights in the most logical direction—south to the Hanging Forest. The full moon shone bright over the prairie grasses, giving the knights enough to see by as they rode hard over the fields. So many people had passed that way over the years it was hard to distinguish fresh tracks in the night.
Sorin rode next to him, equally as quiet. He gripped his reins, forcing the animal faster as if he couldn’t run from the castle fast enough. Ronen knew his brother well and could easily gather he ran from Lady Lilith. As head of the family, Sorin would be duty bound to capture the wayward Jayne, but he didn’t have to look so inclined to do it.
The wind hit him hard, causing his hair to slap across his face. All the knights riding with them had trained at Battlewar as children. They knew the prairie and the forest. They would find her.
I will find her.
“She could not have gotten far on foot,” Sorin yelled over the noisy wind. The horses naturally slowed as they neared the tree line. If they rode too fast, the horses could lose their footing and break a leg. “No matter how much Divinity told them, these women cannot know what lies in our forests. With luck a bird will frighten her and we’ll find her soon enough.”
The words were hardly comforting. There was more to the forest than birds and innocuous insects. Wolves, wild boar, bucks, any number of creatures could attack her. He touched his sore eye. Though she threw a decent punch, he doubted she’d survive a pack of hungry wolves. What if he couldn’t get to her before something bad happened?
Sorin lifted his hand and pointed to the east then west, ordering the knights to spread out over the distance and begin their search. Each man would remain within whistling distance, should the lady be found. When he finished, Ronen finally answered, “She does not know what she faces, even with my knife to arm her.”
“The forest at night can be a daunting thing,” Sorin comforted. “Rest assured in that we are far away from the battlefront. The Caniba tribes will not have ventured this far. One look at a wild beast and she’ll scream for us to save her.”
“Let’s ride,” Ronen urged his horse left, away from his brother. Pulling his sword, he gripped it tight, feeling some comfort in the weapon’s weight.
By all the blood-soaked fields of my ancestors, when I find you, lady wife, I will follow Sorin’s advice to lock you away where you will be safe.
In less than a day his life had changed drastically. It hardly seemed real. Maybe she had bewitched him or used a poisoned fragrance brought from her alien world. Whatever the cause, duty demanded he find her and honor their joining—whether she wanted to or not.
* * * * *
Jayne refused to stop running. The burn in her thighs was nothing new and actually comforted her in its familiarity. Physical exertion she could handle, even if the path was rocky to nonexistent, littered with forest trash and blocked by dense trees. She tried to stay in the moonlight, avoiding the darkest part of the forest, using a stick to swipe spider webs out of her way. The more distance she put between herself and the castle, the less chance she’d have of being found. Of course, Lord Ronen might not even look for her. Why should he? They technically just met.
Maybe she could negotiate a portal jump with the Caniba “monsters”. In fights, there were always two sides and Jayne knew nothing about the Starian enemy. The Caniba might be a technologically advanced race whose use of electricity made the Starian people think of them as witches. Such superstitious nonsense wasn’t unheard of.
She hated having so many theories in her head, not knowing which were real. Brothel dimension? Otherworld filled with beasts? A role-playing plane?
Suddenly, she stopped, gasping for air as she came face-to-face with a sharp cliff of dirt. The forest had shifted long ago, leaving a precipice filled with random plant shoots and a strange pink-tinted moss. Feeling along the darkened wall, she dug her fingers into the dirt. It crumbled, tumbling down to her feet. Though unsteady, she grabbed the knife and began to scoop out small footholds in the cliff. It wasn’t so high she couldn’t manage to climb up.
She breathed hard, the harsh sound drowning out the quiet chirps of insects singing in the forest. Jayne tried not to think about the isolation, putting the uneasy fear from her mind. It was for the best. Lilith would have slowed her down.
Jayne was used to being alone, but alone with other people. In the orphanage she’d slept in a room filled with other children—probably the closest thing to a family she’d ever had and she never talked to any of them anymore. After she ran away, it was a city filled with other homeless. Then, when Coach Wagner caught her fighting one of his students for pocket change, she’d lived in the boxer dorms. From there, she entered Divinity’s entertainment circuit. Never really connected to the masses around her, but surrounded all the same.
“Don’t think of the past,” she whispered, trying to urge her tiring body on. She pulled the longer pieces of the stolen tunic shirt through her legs and fastened them into short pants with her belt and sheathed the knife at the back of her waist. “Concentrate on the now. Come on, Jayne, let’s do this. Climb the wall.”
Jayne took a deep breath and held it, thrusting her foot into a carved step before launching her body up the side. Silence surrounded her. The insects had quieted. She ignored the stab of hunger in her stomach. The castle’s kitchen had been too busy for her to sneak in. It didn’t matter, this wasn’t the first time she’d gone hungry and she knew she could push through it.
“Just a little more, Jayne,” she whispered, grunting as she slipped her hand over the top ledge. She pushed up and her foot slipped. A small noise escaped her, but she soon righted her hold. “Don’t quit.”
She pulled her torso over the top to firmer ground and gave a breathless smile of victory. After crawling over the ledge, she rolled onto her back and breathed heavily as she let her muscles rest. The large moon peeked through overhead tree limbs, the leaves crashing in a naturally musical rhythm.
So was this it? The next phase in her life? Were her days as a boxer over? What if the Caniba couldn’t help her? What if she could never leave? What would she do?
Ronen instantly came to mind—his strong body and willful charm. For a moment, when he’d touched her, she’d forgotten to think. Even now, in all her tiredness, she felt desire for him. If ever she were to spend a lifetime with a man, he would be a contender. Strength and sexual prowess alone made him a frontrunner. Dominant attitude, while amusing, knocked off a few points.
You are mine.
Had he actually said that? Like she was a piece of property to be owned? The orphanage had thought that way about their charges until one of the kids shoved a metal bar through the workhouse manager’s heart.
“Enough dwelling,” she scolded her mind. “No weakness. No fear.”
The shape of the knife pressed uncomfortably at the small of her back, and she rolled to her hands and knees. He’d never catch her. No one could. She was Jayne “The Sweet” Hart, inter-dimensional boxing champion. She was a fighter and she belonged to no man.
* * * * *
“You belong to me and I would take what’s mine.”
Jayne shivered, knowing something wasn’t right but not caring. Ronen’s soft words washed over her and a hand ran along her calf. The massaging motion felt good after her long run. How had he found her, hidden under thick undergrowth? She’d made sure to brush away her nearby tracks before burrowing into her makeshift bed as the early morning sun peeked through the trees.
“Come back to me.”
Jayne moaned. The hand slid up her thigh, firm and confident. She shivered, instantly entranced. Cream wet the folds of her sex and sensational vibrations tingled every inch of her flesh. She found herself wiggling and parting her legs.
Ronen jerked her legs, pulling her roughly from her hiding place. Jayne gasped, reaching to grab the brush to stop herself. Ronen let go. He was alone, kneeling beside her. Sunlight haloed his head, framing his face with light.
“I will have you.”
Jayne still didn’t speak. She automatically reached for the knife under the brush, but couldn’t quite grab it. Ronen’s hands were at his waist, fumbling in their eagerness to unlace his breeches. When she tried to move, he grabbed her foot and pulled, sliding her on the forest floor to be close to him.
Ronen managed to free the turgid length of his cock and swallowed it with a strong fist, pumping lightly. With the other hand, he tugged at her tunic to expose her hips. Cool morning air caressed her pussy.
Ronen crawled over her. He grabbed at her neckline, ripping the front of her tunic open. Rough and eager, he feasted on her breasts, licking and sucking the mounds as his hand tested the wetness between her thighs.
Jayne panted and squirmed, gripping his hair. Small twigs and leaves ground into her back, dirtying her hair. His mouth slid from a taut nipple, leaving it wet and suddenly cold. He bit his way to her neck, nipping at her flesh, making her feel his hard kiss.
Urgently, he brought his cock to her sex, finding quick aim before ramming the full length deep into her core. She moaned in pleasure at the almost painful stretching of her muscles. Ronen growled, lifting up so he could pull out only to slam into her like a wild animal. His hips crashed into her, forcing her ass to slide in the dirt.
Jayne liked his vigorous claiming, the swiftness of his thrusts, the confident drive of his passion. She thrust her hand between them, letting his hips bump her fingers against her clit. The stroke sent shivers over her stomach.
Ronen’s hair bounced around his tense face with each movement. His neck stretched long and he closed his eyes. Jayne made a weak noise as her orgasm hit. Her body jerked beneath him. He only became more impassioned, pounding her with his cock as she seized and shuddered. Then, suddenly, he made a loud grunt and sheathed himself to the hilt. Release hit and he practically convulsed as he ejaculated inside her.
“You can’t hide, my lady, I’m coming for you.”
Jayne gasped and blinked, still panting from their joining. She looked around, trying to get a sense of what happened. Ronen was gone, but her body lay soaked in sweat on the forest floor. Though untorn, her tunic was bunched at her waist, revealing the wet evidence of her recent orgasm. Whatever happened, it had been too real to be a dream. Yet here she was, alone.
* * * * *
Ronen gasped for breath, not getting up from where he’d fallen against a tree. Pumping both fists over his exposed cock, he met his climax with a violent jerk. Cum slid over his hands, wetting him as he milked every ounce of pleasure from his body.
He knew the sensations racking him were not a dream. He’d been fully awake when they’d started. But somehow it was more than a fantasy, taking control of his mind, grabbing onto what would have been a fleeting thought about finding Jayne and taking her wildly on the forest floor.
The smell of her surrounded him. He felt the soft globes of her breasts in his mouth when he enveloped them with kisses. He saw her face, felt her body, tasted her flesh.
Witchcraft. Spells. It was the only explanation that made sense. Somehow, Jayne enchanted him. But why? To delay him? Confuse him? Tempt him or drive him mad?
“Ronen, come!” Sorin’s voice called. “Kar found her trail going up Boar Ledge.”
Springing into action, he fastened his breeches before the others saw what he’d done and went to grab his fallen sword. He’d been searching the ground for her lost trail when the passion struck him. Now, having once again picked up her trail, he leapt onto his horse.
“Stupid woman,” he cursed. Why in the name of the gods would she climb up there? The natural jutting of dirt kept the sounder of wild boars that lived on the high plain away from the rest of the forest. Young knights would go there to hunt and practice their survival skills, but it was no place for a woman with only a knife to protect her. The animals grew thick and fat without other natural predators to dwindle their numbers and to kill one would only mean you had a whole pack of them left to go. Even the wolves seemed to avoid it unless desperate during a harsh winter.
When he arrived, Kar already stood on the ledge with Sorin. Ronen reined his horse next to the cliff and climbed onto the animal’s back to give him the leverage he needed to reach up. He took his brother’s offered hand and jumped off the horse onto the higher ledge. They never brought the horses with them onto the ledge. There was no practical way to get the animals up.
“It leads that way.” Kar pointed a scarred finger toward an opened path. He was one of the best trackers in Staria.
“Divide and ride around the ledge,” Ronen ordered the knights below them. With luck, she’d have jumped off and continued along a safer route. “We’ll meet on the other side.”
The men instantly obeyed, splitting into two groups. Three of them grabbed the unused horses’ reins to lead them away. Ronen placed his hand on his sheathed weapon and hurried to find Jayne’s trail.
* * * * *
Son of a whoring cat!
Jayne leapt over a fallen log, running full tilt through the open forest. The thunder of many small hooves echoed behind her, punctuated by grunts. She’d sprinted into an open clearing of red bristled boars as they routed around in the earth during the morning hours. At least, she was pretty sure that was what they were. She’d slept near an animal collective for a few months when she lived on the streets, and there was a version of the creature kept there in a cage. Only that creature had been much, much smaller than the thirty six-hundred-plus pound hunters behind her.
At first, she hoped to back away slowly from the compact beasts, but her rapid appearance had gotten notice and beady eyes turned toward her in interest. If she weren’t mistaken, they actually started salivating. Next, she hoped to startle them by screaming and waving her arms. It had been a mistake. They answered her flailing attempts with loud grunts as they worked their large tusks up and down.
Cursed piglets from the underworld!
The demonic creatures ran pretty fast for their short legs. Jayne leapt, trying to grab a branch to pull herself into a tree. The limb gave under her weight, cracking and refusing to support her. A boar crashed through the brush next to her, trying to ram her thigh. Jayne dodged the attack, but the animal managed to hook her tunic with his tusk. The material ripped. The boar grunted in short, noisy bursts and the sound of hooves shifted in the distance, growing instantly louder.
Jayne reached behind her back to grab the knife, tugging at the hilt. She’d bound it tight so it wouldn’t fall or cut her, but now she struggled to free it as she inched away from the boar. Not wanting to face down all of them at once, she again took her chances in fleeing. She gave up on the knife, pumping her arms to propel her body forward. Seeing a formation in the ground, she ran for it and found it led to a steep drop in the forest floor. Looking down over the side, she saw the steep edge looked much like the cliff she had climbed up. The sound of hooves again grew closer.
“Here’s hoping you can’t fly.” Jayne jumped, aiming for a flat spot of earth. But then, a tingling erupted inside her temple and her vision blanked out, replaced the ground with the image of a knight kneeling as he pointed into the distance. She stopped moving, feeling as if she stood perfectly still in the forest even though somewhere in her brain she knew she still fell. Inexplicably, she felt Ronen was close, so close he was almost inside her body, or maybe she was in his.
Suddenly, a hard thud jarred her from her thoughts, bringing her mind back to the present. A sharp pain radiated from where the knife’s hilt slammed into her spine. Whatever vision had overtaken her during the fall was now gone.
Jayne moaned, rolling on the ground in agony. Through the corner of her eye she saw the boar, its feet digging into the earth to stop its progress. It was too late. The animal slid right off the side, soaring though the air with a squeal. Forgetting the pain, she jumped to her feet. The animal slammed into the ground, slid several feet before hitting a tree, jerked violently and then held perfectly still.
&
nbsp; Reaching for the blade, she tore at the back of her tunic, gasping from her exertions as she finally managed to free the knife. She held it in her trembling hand. Her body throbbed from the fall. Jayne stumbled away from the creature, scanning along the top of the cliff for more. A few boars appeared, grunting in anger, but none followed their friend over the side.
Jayne grabbed the side of her head and pressed down hard. The tingling sensation had lessened, but left her dizzy. Something was very wrong. This was the second time she’d connected to Ronen when he wasn’t around.
Then realization hit her. Jayne looked at her fingertip, where she’d poked it with the sword from his bedchamber wall. That’s how it must have happened. She’d jabbed her finger, sucked it between her lips and then kissed him. She’d been warned something like this might happen when the Divinity scientists fitted her with the corporation’s standard boxer’s biogenetics package. But they also said it was a one in a billion chance.
Son of a whoring cat!
Ronen was her one in a billion and she didn’t like it one bit.
Chapter Five
Wild boar tasted about as good as it looked running around trying to kill her. Jayne had sliced off the chunk of meat, carried it into the forest and started a small fire in a hand-dug hole. It took a while to get the fire to light, because it had been a long time since she’d used the skill.
“These Caniba better be technological geniuses,” she muttered, biting into the overdone meal, trying not to taste it. “I can’t live in this forest.”
Maybe Lilith had the right idea in staying at the castle. Then again, every ounce of Jayne rebelled at the idea of captivity. She had no choice but to run. Her head began to tingle and she dropped her meat, quickly turning to stare at the ground away from the fire. If Ronen switched sight with her, she’d not let him see anything that would help him track her.
Fighting Lady Jayne (Divinity Warriors 2) Page 6