Page 34 of Fake Fae-Ancée

Somewhere in the safety zone

The bottom of a pit

I had really madesome enemies at base camp, hadn't I? How else could I have ended down here?

My head was resting on stone. Icy cold crept through the fabric of my clothes and into my skin. Pebbles and pointed rocks cut into my stomach and face. I must have taken a hit during the fall, because my head was throbbing like a motherfucker…

I remembered falling. That brief moment of thinking, this can't be happening. The sharp bite of pain in my lower back from the kick. It had probably been that asshole Steve from unit three. He’d been giving me the stink eye for two weeks. My own fault, I should’ve seen it coming…

Okay, falling. Then nothing for a long while. And now I lay here like a piece of trash someone had brought out.

Groaning, I moved my arms, trying to push myself up. A sensation like burning razors sliced through my lower right leg. I twisted, looking down at myself. My foot and calf were pinned under a heap of stones and gravel that had most likely come down along with me when I crashed here. I tried to pull my leg out on a trial basis. The pain almost made me faint. My scream echoed through the pit before I could hold it back.

Great. What a mess.

We had been on a standard patrol. Seven men — and me. It was our job to monitor the safety zone regularly for Breacher activities. The EDF had been making sure for years that the mega-breach remained contained and no more land was lost to the Otherland outbreak.

I myself had been stationed at Lublin 5 base camp for just eleven months. The only woman — only Fae — among a bunch of belching, farting men, normals and paranormals alike, who hated my guts. I had always expected that something like this would happen. But not that they would attack me from behind, throw me into a pit and leave me for dead, or whatever they thought would wait for me here.

Claudio had warned me to not go out alone, not even on patrol. He tried to stay by my side whenever possible, keep me out of trouble, and so did our new friend, Gabe the Vampire guy. But they couldn’t be with me all the time, could they?

And I for one was fed up. I just wanted to do my job here. It wasn’t my fault that some fragile mama’s boys felt offended by my mere existence.

The pain subsided a little, mellowing down into a burning hum at the edges of my conscience. Panting, I lay back down, trying to get my breath under control. Okay, okay. You’re alone, hurt and immobilized, trapped in the most dangerous place on the continent. No one knows that you’re here.

Safe bet that my so-called comrades would have returned to base already without reporting my absence. Claudio was home on furlough, Gabe was on some special assignment. No one would come for me. I was on my own. For most people that would sound like a disaster. For me it was just another Thursday, I guess.

Although I admitted, this was a new low. Pun intended.

A sniffling sound make me perk up. The little hair at the back of my neck stood on end. The pit went dark. A guttural growl trickling down from above froze me on the spot. I didn’t even need to see the Breacher to know that I was so, so fucked.

I glanced over my shoulder.

Above me yawned the circular rim of the pit. A pair of red, lidless slits in a reptilian head stared at me. The Breacher was mustard-yellow, snakelike. Category 2, maybe 3. Big enough to flatten an 8-man unit with one whip of its tail, no problem. A forked, purple tongue shot out of the monster's mouth, fluttering through the air and several feet into the pit.

I dared not move.

The beast growled, picking my scent, and slithered down into the pit, stretching long, claw-armored limbs against the rock as it heaved itself down. My pulse thundered in my ears. Think, Kayleen. What are your options?

Exactly one option. That thing would eat me. And no one would ever know.

The monster touched ground. The growling sound was now a continuous rumble making my skin crawl. Like from a tiger about to attack. I clawed my fingers into the icy pebbles and stared, eyes wide. At least it would be quick. The beast was big enough to swallow me in one bite.

The thing crept closer, its elongated body filling the pit, scales shimmering in the half-light. I flattened myself into the stone. The massive head hovered inches above my back now. The growl turned into a guttural clicking noise. The monster sniffed at me, flared its nostrils with a snort. Enveloped me in a beastly stench.

Then it flinched. Squealed. Jerked back. Red eyes wide open, it stared at me. As if someone would drag it away from me. With a venomous snarl, the monster spun, turned, rushed up and out of the pit like a giant caterpillar.

I stared, my heart racing, clinging to the rocky floor. Above me, beyond the edge, a deafening roar tore through the darkness, so loud that the ground vibrated. I winced as a thud shook the earth. Dust and small stones trickled down to me. Another blow. And another. A squeal as if a pig was being slaughtered. And a growling roar, deep and throaty and primal.

Then… silence. I swallowed, spat out dust. Panted. Twisted around to be able to look up.

I froze as a shaggy, massive shape appeared over the edge, and a large, heavy figure lowered itself into the pit. Icy panic gripped me. Great. Instead of being eaten by a Dragon, I was now being eaten by a damn grizzly bear....

"McKenn?"

My name was half a growl. The Bear spoke. And I felt like throwing up with relief.

A Shifter. And probably one from the base, an EDF-Soldier from the East, judging by the accent.

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