Page 6 of In Love With the Leshy

“Give me the fucking jewels!” Nikolai orders, getting down and turning me over so that I’m lying on my back. He straddles me, unbuttoning his pants. I don’t know what he’s planning to do, nor do I want to find out.

I shake my head and pound my fists against his chest as I try to buck him off me.

His hand rears back and crashes against my cheek.

Oh. My. God. The world spins. Red-hot pain shoots in all directions from where his fist made contact with my face. I don’t know if he cracked my jaw or broke my cheekbone, but I can’t open my mouth, and the pain is shooting up and down from my chin to the top of my head.

I’m so focused on my agony, I don’t notice the loud growling sound coming closer. Neither does Nikolai. He pulls his fisted hand back again, and I know another strike is on the way. I hold my forearms in front of my face in the hopes of blocking or lessening his attack and turn my head.

I swallow hard, waiting. The strike doesn’t come, which frightens me more. A deafening roar comes from above me. A large black bear stands tall on its hind legs before swiping a paw at Nikolai and knocking him off me. Stunned and unable to get to his feet, Nikolai gives up and crab-walks backward. I scramble to stand, watching the bear continue to swipe at my assaulter.

“Good!” I yell. “I hope it kills you!”

The bear stills and turns his head. Uh oh.

It zeros in on a new victim. Me. Shit! Now what?

Chapter 4

“Roaaar!”

I run, looking over my shoulder. The bear hesitates a moment, maybe for dramatic effect, then drops to all fours and chases after me. Not only do I hear him treading behind me, but the volume of his growls grows, and within seconds, I smell a rancid odor growing stronger.

I scream at the top of my lungs. It’s useless. No one will hear and come to my rescue. The only people crazy enough to be this deep into the woods are Nikolai, his crew, and me. They certainly aren’t about to step in and help me against anything, let alone a bear. Logic doesn’t matter at the moment. The only thing that does is my reaction to the fear and the adrenaline surging through my veins, making my heart pump so hard I feel it in my ears.

I once read that if you’re threatened by a bear, you should make yourself big and loud to convince it that you’re ready and willing to fight back. That’s the best option I have at the moment, and in the absence of anything better, I stand on my tip toes and reach my arms up over my head as high as I can.

“Roar.”

I match him in ferocity. At least I try to, but what leaves my mouth is little more than a pathetic whine. I’m not sure if I’m expecting the animal to be intimidated because I’m stupid enough to stand up to it or to fall on the ground, hold its belly, and laugh at me.

My feeble attempt at bravery pisses off the brute. He comes at me fast and angry, all claws and teeth. Not about to be out-aggressed by a feeble human, my fur-clad adversary pushes up to his full height and growls loudly, showing off his large, yellowed, plaque-stained teeth. He’s so close I can smell his rancid breath as drool drips from his salivating mouth.

Saying a not-so-silent prayer, I drop to my haunches and cover my head with my arms. So much for making myself big and tough. A jellybean has more composition than I do. I hold my breath, waiting for the attack. Waiting for death to take me.

I hear a series of loud groans a few feet to my right, along with a growl so loud it reverberates and ripples inside me. Even the trees surrounding us shudder and shake as a second, much larger bear makes its presence known. Communicating in grunts and clicks, the first bear quiets down and shrinks in stature as the largest bear I’ve ever seen lumbers between us, its head held high and ears pointed forward.

A second bear. Great! Just what I need.

The animal that previously approached me with a napkin tied around his neck, while scraping his fork and knife against each other, takes a few steps back. He lowers his head and moves further away as the second bear positions himself closer to me. At least they aren’t having a pissing match over who gets to eat me for dinner. Maybe the plan is to share my carcass, and they’re deciding who gets the top half.

“Settle down,” my father’s voice whispers into my brain.

I guess my body must be quivering so hard, it’s sending vibrations up to Heaven. The thought that my father can see me and feel my fear from the afterlife soothes me for about half a second. Calming down is easier said than done when you are surrounded by wild animals you know you have no shot of defending against.

The second bear, who’s close enough I could climb on and ride if I wanted to—if he were tame, and I wasn’t terrified he’d eat me if I tried—looks majestic in comparison to the first. His thick, ebony fur shines and glistens, even with the dimming light. I wonder if he feels as soft and silky as he looks?

Thank goodness he isn’t putting out the same nasty odor his friend is. I want to vomit from the wafts of must mixed with dried blood coming my way when the breeze blows. This impressive bear looks and smells cleaner. He smells of the outdoors and gives off a pleasant fragrance, like the pine scent of a freshly cut Christmas tree mixed with cloves.

Why the hell am I wasting precious time I could use to escape thinking about how this wild animal smells? I am crazy. I need to hightail it out of here, not ooh and aww over a beast that can and probably will kill me with one swipe of his paw.

I vow that if I make it out of this forest, I will check myself into one of those mental health clinics. Not a vacation type place that celebrities go to; I need a tough-love-work-you-to-the-bone type of place that uses the threat of frontal lobotomies to keep their patients in line. Not that I have insurance to pay for something so posh and extravagant. I’ll have to work for the rest of my life to satisfy the bill only someone not in their right mind can agree to.

Speaking of making it out of here, where is Nikolai? Did the ground suck him up whole? If only. If that’s a possibility, I hope it does the same to me. At least if it brings me face-to-face with him, I have a chance of survival.

The way my luck is going today, he probably found an invisibility cloak that he’ll throw off once the bear stuns me stupid so I can’t move and takes a huge chunk out of my middle. I wish he’d say or do something to lure the bears away. Something that might make them suspect he’d make a better meal. If he would do that solid for me, I’d agree to help him search for his precious treasure. I would even give him the pincushion his grandmother left for Masha.

I don’t have much time to focus on Nikolai because the bear-y dynamic around me changes. The original aggressor drops his head and trudges into the trees, back in the direction of Igor and Max. Maybe dining on their lifeless bodies will satisfy his hunger, assuming he doesn’t get off on the thrill of the chase.

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