Page 31 of Mated to the Enemy
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I’m dead.
The heavy, oppressive darkness weighed down on her. Was she going to hell? Jessica didn’t recall doing anything deserving of that punishment, but she certainly couldn’t see any light.
Then the weight on top of her moved. It wasn’t much, but she felt it rise and then fall slowly. It was warm. And furry.
Klaue!
Jessica came racing back to her senses, remembering seeing him coming out of the corner of her vision as the tree came down on top of her. Klaue had put himself between her and imminent death.
Now she was in danger of being smothered, but despite the heavy weight, she managed to push it to the side just enough to see light, pulling herself to safety with each breath of the massive bear.
Gasping for air, she finally crawled free, leaning her back against his bulk while she recovered.
“Klaue?” she asked once she had enough breath to speak. “Come on Klaue, get up. Move. Please.”
She poked at his side, giving him a shove with both hands, but he didn’t respond. The tree itself lay on top of him, a massive crack splitting the trunk in two a foot or so below his head. Jessica feared he may have taken a hard blow to the skull. Shifters healed quicker and better than humans, but she didn’t know how they handled head wounds.
“Come on, Klaue, get up. I can’t do this on my own,” she whispered, rubbing his side, hoping against hope that he would come around.
The bear lay still, the only sign it was still alive the rise and fall of its flanks.
Movement through the crack in the tree caught her attention. Jessica went still as she saw the mage emerge from the woods. He was staring at the damage he’d caused, and though the slit was small, Jessica swore that his face lit up in delight. She watched as more energy swirled around his fists, this time red.
The mage moved with blinding speed and flung one fist straight at her. The magic dart screamed through the split in the wood and nearly burned her face off as she yanked herself out of the field of fire. Apparently, the mage could see her too.
“What the fuck!” she yelped, trying to figure out what to do.
Another blast of red energy came through, this one more of a blob. Parts of it stuck to the tree as it came, bursting into fire. The mage wasn’t giving up, that much was obvious. That meant Jessica needed to hold him off until help arrived. They were deep in the heart of Ursa property. She’d heard the roars that answered Klaue’s call for help. There were others coming, she just had to survive until they got there.
Looking around in desperation, she tried to come up with a plan.Think, woman. Think! What would Klaue do?He had no magic. How had he held off the mage? Her eyes lit up when they saw the piece of asphalt he’d been working at. It had fallen at some point during the fight and broken into a dozen or more pieces.
“This had better work,” she hissed to herself, running over to the pile and scooping it up just as the mage vaulted up onto the trunk and then over it, landing in a low crouch.
He raised a fist toward her and fired another blob of red mage-fire. Jessica had been in mid-throw and now had to evade. The missile went high in the air, and she lost track of it as she kept spinning out of the way, losing her balance and spilling onto her rear.
The mage chuckled and stepped forward, raising his fists again to attack her for what would be the final time. Just as he did that, something came sailing down from up high and clunked the mage on the top of his head.
Jessica blinked in surprise. Her errant missile had somehow landed right on his head after all. The mage flailed in surprise, launching his energy right up. The bolt hit a branch right at the base, burning it off instantly. She watched as it plummeted right at the attacking mage, forcing him to throw himself backward out of the path of destruction.
“Get up, Klaue!” she shouted, picking up her makeshift missiles and advancing on the mage.
“Hey!” he yelped as the first one slammed into his hand as it started to glow red. “Ow!”
More chunks zipped his way as she walked forward, taking a step with each throw. Her arm whirled backward, coming down and under as she whipped the fruit-sized chunks at him.
“Fifteen years of softball. Two-time state pitcher of the year, motherfucker,” she snarled, launching one at his head, then another at his groin. Her arm would hate her the next day, but it didn’t matter. Behind her, she could see Klaue starting to stir, getting out from under the tree. She just needed to keep this asshole busy until then.
“Fuck you!” the mage shouted, dodging another one of her missiles. She clipped him in the shoulder, but the next two missed.
Jessica started to panic as her supply began to run low. She only had three left. Then two, though that one opened a gash on his cheek as she connected with his head.
The next one bounced off his stomach. Then she was down to her last chunk of asphalt. The mage grinned and energy started to build up again. Jessica stood from her crouch abruptly, arm whirling, and the mage’s eyes went wide. He rolled to the side, the red glow disappearing.
But she held onto her missile. It was a bluff, and he’d fallen for it. When he stood up and saw her casually toss the chunk up in the air and catch it, his face went red.
“Uh-oh,” she muttered as he unleashed a barrage of tiny red darts at her. She rolled to the side, one of them catching her in the leg. It singed her pants and she could feel a sting on her leg, but it wasn’t bad at all. He hadn’t had time to summon more energy. It was a bluff of his own, and now he was looming above her, his clothing glowing red as the energy swirled brightly around his fist. She’d lost.
