Macy sucked in a breath, about to say something when she looked behind him. Something glinted in her eyes.
Fear.
Cold. Hard. Raw. Her eyes widened. Her face turned white in an instant. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. Fear. He began to move, trying to turn. Before he could get around, Sand felt a sharp pain. His skull cracked. He both heard it and felt it happen. His spine seemed to compress from the severity of the impact, just before his knees buckled. It seemed like Macy actually screamed then. Sand couldn’t be completely sure though, since everything went black.
Chapter 3
Sand groaned. The sound hurt his head. He put a hand to his skull, which made the throbbing worse. He grit his teeth which…arghhh…hurt like fuck. Making him want to grit them harder. He tried to shift his weight and…it hurt like a bitch on steroids.
Worse than that even!
Throb. Throb. Throb. He couldn’t think coherently. Not beyond the pain. He couldn’t. It didn’t matter how hard he tried. It only made his head throb harder. He needed to though. There was something important he needed to remember. Something he needed to do. Something—
Sand cracked open his eyes and groaned. Fuck! Light. Blinding. Throb! Throb! Throb! He closed them again, pressing his fingers to his temples. It didn’t help. He realized he was lying on his belly. On something soft. Throb. Throb. Throb.
Pain.
Screaming pain. Blinding fucking pain. All-consuming! He’d never felt anything like it. Not when he’d crash-landed and had broken three…could have been four bones…somewhere in his body. Not when he’d sliced his hand open preparing dinner…or was it breakfast? Not even when Stone ‒ or it could have been Rock ‒ had accidentally nearly taken his leg clean off in a sparring match.
Never this bad!
He was still struggling to think. Trying to form half intelligible thoughts. How had he been injured? His brain felt bruised. It felt like it might be bleeding. He couldn’t remember how he had been hurt, but he could remember the sound his skull had made when…it had cracked. Who…what…how…?
He frowned. Then groaned when the pain redoubled. Thankfully he felt himself passing out. A warmth was wrapping itself around him. No! He couldn’t allow himself to be taken back under. He needed to stay awake. He needed to…Sand couldn’t remember why, however. Instead of fighting it, he let himself sink deeper and deeper into oblivion.
Some time later ‒ he had no idea how much time had passed ‒ Sand tried to sit up but slumped back down instead. His head pounded. This time when he groaned, the pounding didn’t worsen. He opened his eyes, feeling dizzy and nauseous.
His mouth filled with saliva, which he swallowed down. He realized he’d closed his eyes and tried to open them again. With difficulty, he cracked the one open and then the other. The light was blinding, making him feel dizzy all over again. Thankfully the bout of nausea that had rolled through him before, didn’t make another appearance.
It took a good half a minute for his eyes to focus. A wooden coffee table was directly in front of him. There was a rug under that. He didn’t recognize either. Sand’s feet were on the ground but the rest of him was…on a sofa. He turned onto his side, feeling another bout of nausea hit. He grit his teeth for a moment until it passed. The pounding in his head was almost bearable. Still hurt like hell. Still throbbed, but not nearly as badly as before. Thank fuck for superhuman strength and advanced healing or he would most certainly be dead. Whoever had hit him, had hit him damn hard. Harder than he’d ever been hit before.
Wait a minute.
Hit him.
Hit.
The human. Fuck! The female. Where was she? Was she okay? He sat up, groaning hard as he did. Sand had to squeeze his eyes shut for a few seconds as bile rose in his throat. The pounding worsened but he ignored the pain, opening his eyes instead. It only took a few seconds for his eyes to focus this time. A few long-ass seconds, since worry flooded every part of him.
His eyes finally focused, landing on a bed. Thank fuck! She was sprawled out on top of the covers. Her blond hair fanned the pillow. She wasn’t moving though, and his head pounded too hard to be able determine if she was breathing. If her heart was still beating.
Shit! He lurched to his feet, groaning against the pain. Sand took a few staggering steps before bending over and dry-heaving. Thankfully nothing actually came up, but the retching made his head pound harder. He needed to get to the female. He pulled himself upright, taking deep breaths. Sand forced himself to walk the last few strides to the bed. “Macy,” he croaked. His throat was dry. His tongue felt thick. “Macy.” He sat down heavily next to her. Sand swiped some hair off her face, pushing out a sigh of relief when he felt how warm her skin was. Her chest was rising and falling. Slow and steady. His head still pounded too much to be able to hear anything. Even his sense of smell had been affected by the blow. His mouth had this terrible metallic taste.
“Macy,” he tried again, cupping her cheek.
She made a small noise that told him she was waking up.
“Are you okay? Macy! What happened?” He forced himself to shut the hell up. She was still mostly out of it, so throwing questions at her wasn’t going to help anything.
He watched as her eyelids fluttered. “That’s it,” he urged. “Wake up, Macy.” He gave her a small shake when it seemed like she might go back to sleep. “Wake up, Mace, come on!” he urged her some more.
She moaned.
“That’s it!” he growled.
Her eyes fluttered again and then opened. The moment they did, she sucked in a deep breath and sat up, pulling backward, her face a mask of terror. “Noooooo!” she yelled, her eyes darting across the room. “Keep it away from me. Keep it—” She was panting, clutching her hands to her chest. Looking wildly about the room. The female was having a full-blown panic attack.
“Hey,” he used a soothing voice. “It’s me, Sand. You remember me, don’t you? We’re alone. You’re okay. I won’t hurt you.”
She swallowed thickly, her blue gaze moving to his. He watched as most of the fear bled from her. Her breathing eased and her shoulders relaxed. “It’s n-not h-here.” She looked around them again. “Where are we?” Her eyes moving to the ceiling before meeting his once more.
“I was hoping you could answer…” he grimaced as the pounding in his head flared back up, “that particular question. What happened?” he half growled the words, gritting his teeth and putting a finger to his right temple to try to ease the pain.
“Are you okay? That thing hit you so hard.” Her eyes welled with tears. “I thought you were dead for sure.” Her lip quivered. Her eyes were even more blue against the unnatural pallor of her skin. They looked huge.
“I have a headache from hell.” He underplayed his agony.
She frowned. “I was sure I heard a cracking sound.” Macy went on, “You went down like two tons of bricks. Out before you hit the ground and…” she made a face, focusing on his right eye, “the white of this,” she touched a thumb to his right cheek, peering at him more closely, “eye is completely blood red. The pupil looks dilated as well. You need a CT scan and a hospital, and it doesn’t take a medical degree to know that much.”
“I’m a shifter. I heal quickly. Give me another hour and I’ll be as good as new. What happened? Are you okay?” Her top was half untucked from her jeans. She seemed alright otherwise. Her hair was a bit tousled. She was pale but he couldn’t see any actual damage. “Are you hurt?” he added.
She shook her head. “I’m fine. I…at least,” she smoothed her hands over her shirt and jean-clad thighs, “I think so.” She nodded.
“What happened? Someone…came up behind me and hit me over the head. Hard enough to crack my skull like a ripe coconut. That takes some strength. Also, some stealth…I didn’t hear a thing. Didn’t scent anything either.” It was puzzling.
He watched as her eyes darted across the room all over again. Macy swallowed hard. “It wasn’t a someone. It was a something.”
That might explain it. “What kind of something? What did it look like? Did it say anything?” About a half a dozen more questions entered his head but he grit his teeth to stop himself from bombarding her more than he already had.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was a demon.” She shook her head. “It was big, at least as tall as you. It had the scariest eyes I’ve ever seen. Terrifying.” She lifted her eyes in thought. Macy hugged her arms around herself. Her hands shook. “There was death in its eyes. They reminded me of a lion or a…definitely a predator. It was muscular too. Big arms. Massive pecks. A six-pack…” She frowned. “The weirdest part…the reason I think it’s a demon…I mean,” she licked her lips, locking eyes with him, “demons are fallen angels, aren’t they?”
“I have no idea.” He shook his head.
“It had wings, like an angel, only not.” She frowned.
“Whatever this thing is, it’s not human. Wings? What did they look like?” He frowned. This didn’t sound like anything he had ever seen before. The human had been terrified, so maybe her recollection was bad.
She shrugged. “They looked like wings. Wide with feathers. They were dark, though. I always imagined angels’ wings would be white. Then again, this thing was no angel.” She hugged herself tighter.
“What did it do after knocking me out? Did it say something to you?”
“No, he didn’t. The demon advanced and…” Her eyes welled. She chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. “It hugged me.”
“Hugged you?” That didn’t sound right.
“Tightly. Tighter and tighter and tighter until I couldn’t breathe.” She lifted the side of her shirt and true enough, there was the start of a bruise blossoming on her side. She winced as she ran her hand up the other side. “Not hard enough to break anything but so hard that…” her lip trembled. Her whole body seemed to give a shudder as her eyes lifted in thought. “Hard enough to leave bruises. Hard enough…” She swallowed.
“That you couldn’t breathe.”
She nodded her head. Her mind still far away. “I couldn’t. I’ve never been so afraid. My last thought before I blacked out, was that I was going to die. I was never going to see my mom and dad again. Or my brother. He can be an ass sometimes, but I love him. I’m sure you know how it is with siblings?”
Sand nodded while she seemed to ramble unconsciously.
“My biggest regret was not meeting the man of my dreams or having the family I’ve always wanted. That there would be no kids. No picket fence…you know?”
He nodded again, even though he didn’t know. Not at all. “You’re not hurt, though? Aside from the bruising?” His eyes ran up and down the length of her body.
Chapter 4
“No, I’m fine. Well, as fine as can be expected after being kidnapped. What’s going on?” Her voice hitched as she recalled the creature’s freaky eyes. “What does it want with us? The demon.” She whispered the last, almost afraid that if she said it too loud, the thing would come back.
“I don’t know, and I don’t plan on sticking around to find out.” He winced as he stood up. He had blood all down the back of his shirt. It was caked in his hair as well.
She must have made some kind of a noise because he turned back to her. “What is it?”
“Your head.” She pointed. “You bled quite profusely. Are you sure you’re okay?”
He nodded once. Sand pulled the shirt over his head, examining the blood on the garment. “It’s a head wound.” He shrugged. “They bleed.” His muscles rippled under his skin. Her eyes were drawn to the golden marking on his chest for a moment before moving back up to his face. She was shocked at how calm he was being about the whole thing. It helped keep her calm as well.
“No doors,” he muttered, almost to himself. Sand walked around the room, taking it all in.
The area they found themselves in was big and round. The walls were made from chunks of rock. There was a section that was walled off. It had a door. She assumed that was the bathroom. Otherwise, the space was mostly a large bedroom and lounge area with a small kitchen. There were no electronics other than a fridge. It was very rustic and sparsely furnished. There were candleholders attached to the walls. And two freestanding candelabras as well. They were made from ‒ couldn’t be…gold? They glinted like they were gold, but they had to be copper or brass. There was another freestanding candelabra next to the bed and one on the table.
Sand was right, there were no doors. “That is weird,” she replied. There were drapes over sections of the wall. Maybe there was a door behind one of those, she thought.
She slipped off the bed.
Sand dropped the bloody shirt on the floor at his feet. The blood had long since congealed. It was a rusty color, which was a silly thing to notice at a time like that.
Focus, Macy!
He walked over to the first curtained section. All the drapes were closed. He pulled the fabric open. Sun streamed in. It was a wide, windowless space. There were bars though. Plenty of silver bars. They glinted in the sun.
“What the fuck!” Sand muttered, walking to the next drape. He pulled it open as well. Sand did the same thing to the other drapes. They were high up and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Open land and hills stretched for miles and miles all around them. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. Not a single building, or road, or man-made structure, for that matter, either.
“What is this place?” she asked.
“Fucked if I know,” Sand growled.
All in all, there were four large exits. All of them had bars across the openings. He walked over to the last exit. It was the size of four or five doors and maybe one and a half times the height. Sand gripped two of the bars in his hands and attempted to pry them apart. He groaned, his face turning red. His muscles bulged. Biceps, triceps…muscles she didn’t know the names of, all roped and swelled. He was a huge guy. Super strong, certainly not human, but still, there was no give. Not even half an inch. He stepped away, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Must be silver-infused,” he muttered, walking to the next exit.
Macy trailed behind Sand. There was a ten- or twelve-foot ledge on the outside of all the exits. Enough space for something big to land on and enter.
Something not human.
The thing.
A shiver ran through her. She suddenly recalled that its mouth had also been weird. Those eyes though. The way it had looked at her was cold and calculating. “This doesn’t make sense,” she whispered. “Why are we here?”
Something flashed in his eyes as he looked at her. “I…I’m not sure.” She could see he had been about to say something. That he had changed his mind at the last second. Sand had an idea why they were there, he just didn’t want to share it with her.
“What?” she asked. “You know something. I can tell.”
Sand continued to walk around the room. “I would rather not say anything until I know more. No use scaring you unnecessarily.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I would rather know what you are thinking. I’m a big girl, I can take it.” It had to be bad. Had to be if he thought it would scare her.
“I have an idea as to why you’re here, but I’m puzzled about why I was brought here as well. Which leads me to think that I might be on the wrong track, but...” he rubbed his jaw, “I can’t think of any other reason.” He spoke more to himself.
“Spit it out already,” she urged. “It’s a theory. I get that. I would like to know, please.”
His jaw tightened. She could see he was thinking it through.
“You just said that you’re probably wrong. I won’t freak out. I’m over the initial shock.”
“Whatever took us isn’t human. I’ve never encountered a creature such as you describe, although I have an idea of what it could be.” He narrowed his eyes in thought. “There is only one other non-human species I know of that can fly. They call themselves the Feral.”
“I
don’t think I like the sound of that. Feral as in uncontrolled and savage?”
“Yep. The Feral, and from what I understand, they mostly live up to their name. They’re griffin shifters. We didn’t even know of their existence until recently. They’re the strongest of the non-humans but,” he shook his head, “we can’t be sure it was one of them.”
“What is a griffin? I have heard the term before, but I can’t remember.” She shook her head, trying hard to recall and failing.
“They’re half bird and half lion. They’re strong, powerful and completely uncivilized.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. That thing did have a weird mouth. I don’t know…he was…” She shook her head. “I don’t recall seeing paws, or claws or…then again, I couldn’t look away from its eyes. I was too afraid. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“It might not have been a Feral. We didn’t know the griffins existed until recently. What if there are more non-humans out there? It’s distinctly possible.”
She nodded. “Yeah, well, I certainly didn’t imagine that thing.” Macy looked around them. “We’re trapped in here. We’re not imagining that. Something has us.” Then she had a thought. Macy sucked in a breath. “You still haven’t told me your theory as to why we’re here.”
He pushed out a breath. “It’s just a theory.” He shrugged. “The only thing I can think of is…because you’re a female, and females across all the species are in short supply. I think he wants…you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “It wants me to…to…” Panic did well up in her, despite her statement earlier of being able to handle whatever it was he threw at her.
Sand took a step towards her. “Hold up! That doesn’t explain why I’m here, though. If it wanted to take you as a mate, why bring me along? This creature rendered us both unconscious and took us both. He had the opportunity to leave with you and you alone, but it didn’t happen.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Macy forced herself to take in a couple of deep breaths and to calm down. “It can’t be for that reason then. I hope it’s not for that.” She shook her head. It could be, though. It could very well have taken her for just that.
Slave Dragon: Earth Dragons Series: Book4 Page 2