Page 104 of Bride of Choice

“Jojoknee!”

“Jojo!”

“Joadknee!”

My gaze darted from the sound of Rek, Gopher, Boog, and even Doogie, from the sounds of it, calling out for me.

A sharp whistle of a noise whipping past sent me gasping sharply. A meaty thunk sounded off from a tree nearby. For one long moment, those haunting eyes stared directly at me and our eyes met. Fear coursed through me, thick and suffocating. There was nothing kismet about it.

My stalker growled as a projectile, an arrow, I realized, skimmed the side of his head, taking a hunk of fur with it as it broke its skin. Another and another followed, several meaty thunks, an angry snarl from Stalker, his body jerking back, disappeared in the brush, and an accompanying screech in the distance gave me that shot of courage to move towards the sound of the rescue crew.

They got them both!

Slipping from my hiding spot, I shot up and took off.

A roar joined the thrashing bushes Stalker had fallen into but I didn’t dare look back.

Hightailing it the hello outta there, I called out for help, wondering where my voice had run off to as nothing more than a high pitched squeak for help left me.

A soft swish of something grazing my back tore a scream from my throat. Like fuck was I going down quietly.

Something slammed into the side of my head, sending me tripping, careening towards the ground. Like hell was I going to stop moving, even as the world temporarily spun. Immediately lifting myself up, I stumble-ran, at times using my hands to catch me and propel myself forward, my legs moving too fast for my panicked mind to keep up.

Another swipe at me, then another. The tang of iron was rich in the air. I was too numb with the horror of it all to tell if any of it was mine or all Stalker’s.

Claws caught on my hair and jerked back, taking my knotted locks tangled in them, and my head, along with.

A sharp, pained cry left me as I was yanked backwards.

The beast snarled at the loud sound.

Using his distraction to my advantage, I lashed out, throwing an elbow and kicking out as thin fingers with insanely long claws scrambled for me.

A hank of my hair, lost in the tussle, remained tangled in bony fingers.

My jacket was grabbed, torn in the process. I found myself jerked this way and that, feeling like a critter caught in a gator’s death roll.

He wasn’t hurting me at this point so much as forcing me into position on all fours, facing away from him. Cold, clammy fingers gripped my neck and forced my head down.

It was a dangerous game, feigning submission, but I did, waiting for an in. I just need one moment, just one, one shot. Much as my brain was scrambled, I’d lived long enough in fight mode and, panicked as I was, I wanted to live. I needed to get the hell out of here.

Fingers jerked at my clothes, loud grunts issuing over my head as he huddled closer, and closer. He didn’t understand how they worked and was trying not to outright murder me to find out.

He meant to keep me alive and I wasn’t naive enough to not know what the hell he meant to keep me alive for. I wasn’t on all fours to ride like a pony back to his place.

It was oddly like being felt up by a reanimated corpse or a wraith. Something like that. Tucking my chin, I felt turtley-enough for the turtle club as I lifted my shoulders, hoping to protect my throat. He was still gripping the back of my throat, thinking I was complying.

When something long and hard pressed against the back of my thigh, I glanced down and spied something thick, red and white striped like a barber’s pole, spiraled like one of those unicorn, spiral-looking lollipop horns poking around the outside of my pants, everything inside of me tensed.

Sensing the change, my stalker leaned over me, freakishly gingerbread-like breath wafting over me as he leaned in to snuffle at my cheek, long fangs bared and all. With a sharp cry, I bucked like a bull at the rodeo, jabbed my fingers at his face, then mule kicked and tossed him away from me as hard as our size differences and these puny arms of mine would allow.

He’d been growling so loud before, I’d mistaken the growls surrounding us for his growing louder.

The roar my stalker let out was worthy of an evil villain.

Still disoriented from all the death rolls and the bitch slap to my head, I continued with the awkward stumble-running, catching my trips and falls with my hands to shove myself back to my feet and keep going.

I saw them then, just up the way.

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