She somehow managed to get a knee onto the trunk. For a moment it felt like she was going to be sucked back. Her arms shook. Her whole damned body shook. With a mighty pull, she got her belly onto the rough tree trunk. Candy cried out as she pulled herself further out of the water. Unfortunately, that’s where her energy reserves dried up. Then again, she could count herself lucky. She was out of the water. Mostly out of the water. Her feet still dangled in the cold on either side.
Then she blacked out.
The sound of her own moaning brought her back to her senses. Her legs hurt. Everything hurt. She needed to get out of the water and needed to get dry. If only she could get her body to work.
She moaned again, this time in frustration. Shit! Hands closed on her waist and pulled her up. It was one of them. She tried to scream but a whimper escaped. She was in worse shape than she had thought. Her legs felt like useless pieces of dangling meat. How long had she been in that water?
The huge shifter pulled her against his body.
You’ll be torn to pieces. The words of the woman dragon shifter returned to her. These guys planned on using them in the worst of ways. She might have been a high-priced call girl. One with a list of terms as long as one arm, but she wasn’t ever going to allow herself to be degraded in that way. Candy began to squirm, she tried to get away from the big son of a bitch even though she knew that it would probably mean falling back into the river and to certain death.
Such small frail beings. Our males will hunt you and fight for you. The successors will get to keep you. To rut with you. The tall, dragon shifter woman with the red hair had been clear about what their fates would be. She seemed to enjoy telling them in detail what was waiting for them if they were captured by the much stronger shifters. You are to be mated and impregnated. I doubt you will survive the mating let alone the pregnancy.
Her lip quivered, this time more from fear than cold. Candy struggled harder. Her legs prickled with pins and needles as the blood flow returned to her limbs. Had to escape. She had to get away.
Run.
Run.
Run.
“Stay still,” the monster growled, he tightened his grip on her.
His voice was rough and commanding. He said it with such an air of authority. Like he expected her to just give up. Bastard! Candy squirmed harder.
“Stop that or I will throw you back.” There was something in his tone that told her that he meant it.
Yes! No! She would die if he threw her back in and she didn’t want to die. She was too young. Candy sighed. All of the tension left her battered, exhausted body and she slumped against him. “Don’t hurt me,” a mere whisper. She hated begging but what choice did she have?
A soft gasp of shock escaped as he deposited her on the bank. For a moment it looked like he was going to leave her there. Candy couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe she was going to survive this after all.
The dark eyed monster with the gruff voice leaned in next to her and swept the hair from her face. Shit! He wasn’t leaving. She moaned, terrified and sickened just thinking about what was going to happen to her next.
His eyes moved to hers as the ground vibrated with heavy footfalls. They weren’t alone. Oh god! There were more of them. Maybe she would get lucky and they would kill each other. She forced her gaze away from the terrifying man at her side and her heart stuttered in her chest.
The beast that approached was bigger than the dark one. Way meaner looking. He moved quicker than she thought possible. His eyes were a pale blue, the color of a glacier on a winter’s day and just as hard and cold. His features were set in a hard grimace. A shiver ran up her spine.
He didn’t even glance in their direction. Those hard orbs were fixed on the path ahead. He frowned, there was a look of determination edged onto his features. His ridiculously large hands were fisted at his sides. His arms were like massive tree trunks. They were corded and knotted with muscle. Her mouth fell open with the sheer shock of seeing a specimen like him. Thank god he didn’t seem interested.
Wait a minute!
That didn’t bode well for her. She needed them to hurt each other. To focus on one another and forget about her. Feeling was slowly coming back to her limbs. If given a few precious minutes, she might be able to crawl out of harms way. Her energy reserves were almost on empty, but she needed to try.
Another soft roar sounded from somewhere behind the pale eyed monster. Oh hell! There were more of them coming. Though the sound was coming from a distance, it was still unmistakable. There were a lot more of them out there. Her body shook with fatigue. Her teeth clattered. She ached all over. Candy was foolish to think that she could escape. She was fucked. Well and truly fucked.
Torrent wanted the dark haired beauty. It had nothing to do with her coloring. Such things were of little importance to him. He wanted a strong female. One capable of carrying his heir. He was the water king after all. A royal. The strongest of his kind. Nothing less than the best would do.
It needed to be that one. The dark haired one. A voluptuous female with a bit of meat on her bones. She was one such female. Even though they wore shapeless dresses, as was customary during the hunt, he could tell that she was the strongest of the humans.
Not that humans could be termed strong. They were small and fragile. He knew that this would change once they were mated. They would draw strength from their much stronger mate. They would grow even stronger as their bellies swelled with child.
An heir.
Adrenaline rushed through him and he had to suppress a growl. He could not wait to fully claim his future mate. The dark-haired one. The sturdy one. It was important to have a good foundation. The other two remaining humans were scrawny, little things. Especially the one with hair like the sun. Her arms were mere sticks. She lay sprawled on the ground like a drowned rat. He was shocked to see the fire prince tend to her. Torrent was convinced that they had been after the same female. He had seen how the male’s eyes had locked with the dark-haired one. He hadn’t looked in the least bit interested in this one until now.
Maybe the male had changed his mind. The sun-haired one did have an enticing scent. Maybe that was what had drawn Coal to her. It was fruity and exotic. She moaned, reminding him of her weakness. Coal pushed hair from her face. The male was going to claim her now if he hadn’t done so already.
Torrent suppressed a smile. He chose to focus on his prize instead. One second, he was on his way to claim the female and the next, he was biting the dirt… hard. It was an error in judgement that could end up costing him dearly. A lesser warrior roared in the distance. The female moaned again.
Torrent shook his head to try and clear it. His ears were ringing. His prize… he had to stay focused on his prize.
“The dark-haired one is mine,” Coal barked as Torrent leapt to his feet.
Like hell. “I want her,” he growled. His ears still rang from the fall. His shoulder felt stiff and his jaw ached. Torrent was so irritated and frustrated with himself that he could roar. Anger coursed through him. Who did this little prick think he was? Unfortunately, they were evenly matched. The male was a fire dragon. That gave him the advantage. More heat energy coursed through a fire dragon’s veins, making it a simple fact. Fire versus water.
Torrent’s mind was reeling. He felt dizzy. The fall had been hard, as he was moving quickly. Coal had used his momentum against him. Fuck! Coal’s closed fist came at him from out of nowhere. There was nothing Torrent could do to avoid the blow completely. He took a step back to circumvent the worst of the force.
Torrent could hear footfalls behind them. It was of no concern to him. The approaching male would take the sun-haired female. It would buy him time to defeat the fire prince.
Perfect.
Torrent decided to give Coal one chance at surrender. “That female is mine,” he snarled, his eyes locked with the prince’s. “You may as well give up now. Take this one.” He said in the most commanding tone he could muster, his eyes stayed on C
oal’s. A non royal would cower and drop to their knees. Coal flinched.
Good!
The little prick huffed out a breath. His shoulders slumped and any sign of fight fled from him. “Fine.” His gaze dropped to the downed female.
Good. At least he knew his place. Insolent little fucker. Torrent began to move towards his human. He had to stop himself from shaking his head. Coal might be fire but he was merely a prince and Torrent—a king. How easy the prick had allowed himself to…?
Torrent heard his trachea crunch beneath the male’s fist in a move he didn’t even see coming. Next, the male gripped his neck in what felt like a vice. There was only one prick in this situation. Torrent himself! What the fuck had he been thinking? He hadn’t. Not one bit. He had been too damned eager to win a human. Suddenly all those weeks he had abstained from sex seemed stupid. He’d convinced himself that it was in preparation for the hunt. His thinking had been that it would make him hone his skills and make him hungrier for a female, a mate. In the end, it had made him think with his little head instead of his big one. Make that, he hadn’t been thinking at all.
Zero air passed through his damaged throat and Coal maintained his hold. His lungs burned and pain consumed his trachea like a wildfire. Torrent could feel his eyes bug out from his skull.
Thank fuck, the male finally released him. Not that it helped much. Air still would not find it’s way down his throat. The pain went from grossly unbearable to plain unbearable. A slight improvement. He’d take it!
Torrent could hear the sounds of battle over the roar of his heartbeat in his ears. Coal was fighting the approaching male. What? Why? Why didn’t he just go and claim his prize? It would take a few minutes for his throat to heal enough to get air to move through it. The extra time would have put Coal well ahead.
Instead, he was choosing to waste his time by taking out the lesser. There was a crunching noise as the fire prince punched the other male’s face. Over and over. He pulverized the poor male. Torrent couldn’t help but feel a begrudging respect for the bastard. Fast, strong and clever. The male was also a prick, and if there were even an ounce of strength left in him, he would fight him.
The poor bastard finally fell into a heap and Coal walked back to Torrent. It was only when he had to look up to maintain eye contact with Coal that he realized that he had fallen onto one knee. He managed to draw the tiniest wheezing breath. Thank claw. The dark patches in his vision cleared, but only marginally.
“The others are a few minutes behind.” Coal glanced to the horizon and Torrent could barely make out the grunts and growls that gave credence to his words. There was a large group approaching at a speed. “You still have time to claim her.” The male glanced at the human who was just a few feet away from him.
Her eyes were wide and filled with fear. Something in him clenched. A need to protect rose up in him. She was so small and fragile. Not the female that he wanted but she would do. What did it matter anyway? The female was fertile. Their kind had watched a group of females for months before making final decisions about who they were going to take. The females needed to meet various criteria. Amongst other things, they needed to be destitute, not easily missed by loved ones and fertile. That meant that she would have gone into heat at least once while they observed her.
Coal was going to get the dark-haired one, whether he liked it or not. It was take this one or wait for the next hunt.
The fire prince narrowed his eyes on Torrent. “Take her,” he said. It might be another trap, though to what end? Torrent was still pretty much fucked. At least he could get some air through his broken windpipe. It wouldn’t be long and he would be back on his feet. Right now, he was no threat.
The human whimpered. “Don’t come near me,” her voice shook. It was filled with fear and panic, but there was also a hint of anger there. Good! At least she had some fire in her human veins.
“Do it.” Coal urged as he turned and ran.
The sounds of approaching males were growing louder. Boisterous grunts and groans. He only had two or three minutes at best. Torrent needed to claim her right now. He forced air through his throat. Fuck! It hurt like a ball bag to an open flame. He rose to shaky legs and took a staggering step towards her.
The female’s lips trembled and even though she looked as if she was weak as a new born lamb, she began to crawl away from him anyway. Her fingers dug into the earth and her legs didn’t work very well, leaving deep grooves. The small grunts she was making spoke of determination. Maybe she would do after all.
Chapter 3
Oh God!
Oh God!
He was coming for her. She could hear him wheezing behind her. Could hear his uneven footfalls as he staggered closer. The guy was an animal. A straight up animal. He should be dead. Why wasn’t he dead?
She’d watched what the other one had done to him. How he’d pulverized his windpipe. Pulverized! She’d heard the revolting crunching sound. Just thinking about it turned her stomach.
Her legs still prickled but at least they were moving. There was no way she could stand or even crawl very well but she would damn well drag herself along. There was no way in hell she was making this easy on the asshole.
Her only small consolation was that he was hurt. She’d seen the look of pain in his eyes. Maybe he couldn’t force himself on her if he was hurt.
The footfalls grew more even and faster. He was right behind her. She moaned in both anger and frustration, her hand closed on a rock. On impulse, Candy turned and hurled the thing at him, surprised when it hit him in the chest. He was closer than she realized.
His eyes widened and he made somewhere between a huffing and a groaning noise as the air was forced from his lungs. He fell to his knees. The wheezing noise grew louder as he struggled to get air into his lungs.
Within a second or two, he was back on his feet and towering over her with a menacing look on his face.
One hand went to his throat and he grimaced. Candy wasn’t waiting around, she rolled back onto her belly and clawed the ground. She forced her legs to obey and managed to half pull, half crawl forwards. It felt like she was hardly moving. Tears of frustration coursed down her face. Wet hair clung to her cheeks.
Big hands closed around her waist and pulled her over onto her back. It happened with zero effort. His legs were on either side of her. Veritable tree trunks. Did his mother put steroids in his milk as a baby?
If only she had strength. If only her body would listen to her because she’d kick his balls so hard they’d fly right out of his asshole mouth. She’d flatten them to the point where he’d never think about sex again. She bit down on her lip to keep from moaning or whimpering, mostly though to keep herself from begging for mercy.
His pale eyes were devoid of any so why bother? He slumped over her, putting his whole weight on her. His breathing was choppy. He still wheezed, but it wasn’t as bad as before.
Lucky asshole. At least he could breathe. She couldn’t move. Definitely couldn’t breathe. The only thing that would end up flat at this rate, was her.
Then he pulled most of his weight off of her as he leaned onto his elbows. Relieved, Candy sucked in a deep breath. She tried to move the lower half of her body to kick him. To do something, anything, but he was pinning her down with his big-ass body.
She was making noises. Little grunts and moans that showed how hard she was trying. “Off. Me.” She managed to grunt. “Now,” she ground out.
His breath was hot against her ear. “No.”
She got an arm free and hit his back with her closed fist. The action hurt. Her. Certainly not him. She may as well be hitting a brick wall.
“I need to kiss you now.” He rasped directly into her ear. It caused her to shiver… from the revulsion.
“No!” she half shouted.
“Yes,” a rough rasp.
Candy hit him some more. She tried to squirm out from under him.
He was still panting. “Stop,” a low vibration.
&
nbsp; For a second she was tempted to obey his commanding tone. What the? She even stopped fighting but soon managed to shake it off and picked up where she had left off. This time, with even more vigor. Asshole!
“Stop,” he repeated. “Listen.” He pulled back a smidgen and cocked his head.
Again, she did as he commanded. Why the hell was she even listening to him let alone…
Wait just a minute.
Growls. Roars and snarls. The sounds were still soft but growing louder by the second.
“Let me kiss you and you will be mine.” His voice sounded fractured and pained. Good!
“You can go to hell. I’m nobody’s. Do you hear me? I want to go home.” Her voice shook.
“I am a king. I have much to offer you.”
Another rich bastard that thought he could buy her. Fuck that! She heard many feet thumping against the hard ground. Her heart rate went into overdrive and she whimpered. “Please,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be raped.” She said it more to herself than to him.
“I will protect you. I will ensure that no harm comes to you.” He pulled his head back, staring her deep in the eyes.
“Please don’t force yourself on me.” She was appalled at how her voice trembled. “Please don’t let them…” A sobbing noise was torn from her at the thought of being passed around… torn to pieces.
The large group of shifters was right there now. Seconds away.
The beast of a man cupped her cheek. His touch was soft and careful. What? It shocked her to her core. “Trust me and do as I say, do everything I tell you and you will be safe. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes.” She blurted as one of the shifters roared. It sounded like a battle cry.
“Kiss me now,” he growled.
His lips were a only a few millimeters away. What choice did she have but to kiss him? To trust him?
None.
Zip.
Zero.
She was out of options. Candy reached up and touched her lips to his. They were warm and soft. So soft. Surprisingly soft. Her eyes were open, so she watched as his drifted shut. His lashes fanned his cheeks.
Water Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 2) Page 2