by Leann Ryans
Pushing on as fast as she could run, her tired legs pumped until Lyric came to a sudden halt at the water’s edge. The crust of ice along the bank did not inspire her to run into it as she had planned to break her trail. Forced to think fast, she decided to follow along the edge of the bank and pray that no one was tracking her, but it didn’t take long for her to lose that last bit of hope as she heard rough male voices calling out to each other in the distance. They weren’t in view yet, but they were close enough that she didn’t need to strain to catch their words though she couldn’t understand them.
Gathering the last of her courage, Lyric waded into the water, gasping as the chill stole her breath. Instantly beginning to shiver, she forced herself to slog in deeper so that the water would carry her scent away. Knee deep in frigid water, she wasn’t able to move as fast as she had on dry land, with the rocky bottom and the numbness quickly seeping into her legs and feet.
Tears running silently down her chapped cheeks, she kept moving upriver until a rock turned beneath her heavy boot and Lyric was pitched into the deeper water running swiftly through the center. Attempting to force air into lungs trapped beneath muscles seizing from the cold, she couldn’t get her feet beneath her again and was swiftly being pulled back towards her village. The river passed just outside the village edge, and her only hope now was that no one was watching the water when she passed by.
Giving in to the river’s pull, Lyric began to try moving with it, instead of fighting it. Propelling herself as fast as she could in the frigid water, she tried to make as little noise as possible as she moved past the edge of her home seconds later.
She thought she was doing well until something bumped into her shoulder. Looking into the blank open eyes of a boy she had known in school, Lyric couldn’t stop the scream that escaped her throat as she struggled to distance herself from him. Shoving against the body to propel it away from her, she realized he wasn’t the only one floating limp and unseeing in the river. Thrashing to get away from the corpses lining the water along her town’s edge, pain bloomed in her left shoulder and caused her to swallow a mouthful of dirty river water.
Sputtering, she felt herself being pulled towards the riverbank as she choked on another scream. When she looked behind her towards the bank, she saw a large figure was holding the line that attached to the arrow now sticking out of the front of her shoulder. Lyric tried to fight against the pull, but between the cold, and now the injury preventing the use of her left arm, her body was giving up. There was just no strength left to fight as she was reeled in like a fish caught on a line.
Feeling one massive hand wrap around her upper arm, Lyric was lifted from water, screaming again from the pain of her weight pulling on the injury. As the man reached out his other hand, she saw the glint of light along the edge of the long knife he held, and she accepted her fate. She hadn’t expected to live through the night anyway.
Going limp in his hand so he could get it done faster and hopefully not cause her anymore pain, Lyric barely had the energy to be surprised when he paused, pulling her closer to sniff at her hair. Unable to do anything more than shiver, she didn’t resist as he held her against his body and nuzzled her throat, licking over the pulse in her neck.
At the point where she was oblivious to anything but the warmth of his body, she snuggled closer to him as he lifted her into his arms and strode back towards the village, his musky scent wrapping around her and telling her muddled brain that she was safe.
Lyric
The first thing Lyric noticed when she came to was warmth. It wrapped gentle fingers around her body and whispered that everything was okay. That it was all a bad dream. But as her other senses kicked in, she noticed that nothing smelled right, and she could hear male voices nearby. If she was at home in her bed, the blankets would smell like her instead of the seductive earthy scent of an alpha, and she shouldn’t have been able to hear voices from her second-floor room in the back of her house.
Sitting up with a pained cry, the blankets fell to Lyric’s lap, revealing that she was bare beneath them except for a bandage around her shoulder and upper chest. With a gasp, she quickly yanked the blanket back up to cover her breasts, eyes darting around to be sure she was alone. She had never slept bare, and had no memory explaining why she was now. That was scarier than finding herself in a strange room.
Her movements caused her injury to throb, and when Lyric reached over, her fingers encountered a thick pad on both the front and the back. Remembering the alpha with the arrow that had pulled her from the river, she scrambled out of the bed and looked around frantically for her clothes.
Finding the tattered remains tossed in a corner, a keening cry escaped her throat. He had obviously been one of the raiders, and Lyric had no idea what he planned to do with her but waking up naked in a bed that smelled of him didn’t bode well. This was every omega’s fear.
Eyes frantically searching, she spotted a clothes chest in a corner of the room and darted over to it, clasping the blanket around her with her good arm. Dropping to her knees before it, Lyric couldn’t stop the tears of frustration when she found it locked. Letting out a little growl, she yanked on the lid, hoping her small amount of strength would be enough to force the chest to open.
Noise at the door had her scrambling back into the farthest corner, abandoning the chest and clutching the blanket tighter around her as if it was some form of protection. Holding her breath and hoping to somehow not be noticed, Lyric waited as the door swung open and an alpha stepped into the room. She couldn’t tell if he was the same one that had captured her since she had been so groggy from the cold and pain, but she doubted he would have given her up once he scented that she was an omega.
His shoulders were so broad he could barely fit through the doorway, and if he were any taller, he would have had to duck so as not to hit his head. Dark hair braided to the scalp framed a rugged face that under other circumstances she would have found handsome, but as he turned his scowling expression to search the room after not finding her in the bed, simply inspired fear.
Even holding completely still, it only took him seconds to find her, her heart thundering so loud in her ears that Lyric couldn’t hear his steps as he moved closer. The way he stared at her reminded her of a cougar she had seen hunting a deer once, but she wasn’t lucky enough to be oblivious to the predator stalking closer. She was well aware of being the prey that he looked like he would enjoy devouring.
Whimpers spilled, unbidden, from her throat as he approached, never breaking eye contact with her. The closer he came, the more details she could make out about him. The eyes penetrating her were a rich chocolate brown that seemed to glow in the low light, and black stubble graced his square jaw except for a thin scar running from the center of his right cheek, over his jaw to end below his ear.
The intensity of his gaze became too much for her, and Lyric ducked her chin to the side, showing submission as she pressed back further against the wall until her wound bumped against it, causing her to let out a hiss of pain. Cringing as he closed the last few steps between them, she didn’t dare look up when his booted feet stopped before her.
A few tense heartbeats passed before she saw him crouch down out of the corner of her eye. Flinching away from the hand that reached for her, he let out a low growl, causing a shudder to pass through her body.
“Please, don’t,” Lyric whispered in a broken voice, choking on the tears threatening to break free.
A string of words that she didn’t understand left him, and she raised her watery eyes to meet his. Giving her head a small shake, she said, “I… I don’t understand.”
Letting out a huff, his eyes narrowed, and she tried to sink further into herself.
“You’re injured. I need to check it,” he responded gruffly. His accent was a little strange, but at least she understood the words this time. His voice reminded her of thunder rumbling in the distance, and another shudder passed through her.
Narrowing her ey
es back at him, she stiffened her spine as she responded. “I’m injured because you shot me!”
Her voice came out with more force this time, but he simply gave her a shrug with a bland look on his face. Like shooting someone floating down a river and pulling them in after attacking their village was an everyday occurrence. For him, maybe it was.
When he reached for her again, Lyric bared her teeth and swatted his hand away. A fierce growl ripped from him, freezing her in primal fear as he rose to his feet and yanked her up by her good arm. With a wail, she was thrown over his shoulder, barely holding the sheet around her with her injured arm. Turning, he stalked to the bed and tossed her down on it, the impact forcing a groan of pain from her. The look in his eyes when she glared up at him had ice flowing through her veins, and she attempted to roll off the bed away from him.
A large hand wrapped around the back of her knee stopped her motion before his weight settled over the back of her legs. Lyric screamed and attempted to wiggle away, but he caught her wrists, pulling them behind her back and wrenching a pained cry from her at the abuse to her shoulder.
Taking both of her wrists in one of his massive paws, he buried the other in her tangled hair and jerked her head to the side. Growl still rumbling from his chest, he leaned over her back until she could feel his warm breath gusting over the side of her neck.
Evidence of his arousal at subduing her prodded her backside and Lyric froze, breaths coming in short, quick gasps that did little to meet her need for oxygen. When his tongue slid over the top of her shoulder up to her ear, a whine escaped her throat and she was embarrassed to notice herself growing wet.
“Do not move,” the alpha commanded in a husky whisper.
Whimpering, she did as he ordered, not attempting to fight or get away as he slowly released her hair, and then repositioned her arms so that they were stretched out to each side of her. When Lyric remained still, he sat up, still kneeling over her thighs.
Feeling his weight shift to the side, she could see him reaching for bandages on the table beside the bed. She was surprised at how gentle his fingers were as he removed the one stuck to her back. The slight chill of air flowing over wet skin once he removed it let her know that there was fresh blood.
Obviously trying to be careful, Lyric still hissed in pain when he blotted at the wound to clean it before dressing it again. He continued what he was doing as she tried to force herself not to flinch away from him.