Page 29 of Last Light

I try to kick back at his legs, but I can’t do more than stomp on his toe.

He grunts but doesn’t let me go.

I try to swing my elbow back but can’t get it to connect with enough leverage to do damage.

I’m trapped.

He’s got me.

He’s so much bigger than me.

I’m so frustrated I whimper and slump. “Help me. Please.”

“What part of your body can you move?”

I think about it for a minute. “My feet.”

“What else?”

I wiggle my fingers, but with my arms trapped they aren’t in reach of his body.

“What else?” His voice is still at my ear, his breath wafting against my hair.

I turn instinctively toward it. “Oh. My head. I can move my head.” I bend it forward and swing it back hard against his shoulder. “Ow! I think that hurt me more than it hurt you.”

He gives a soft snort. “Yeah. Wouldn’t recommend that sort of headbutt. But how else can you move your head?”

I arch my neck and turn my head until my mouth brushes his shirt. I freeze as an idea occurs to me.

“That’s it,” he murmurs. “Do it.”

“The angle isn’t right.”

“Then make it right.”

I wriggle and squirm until I can turn my head far enough. Then I open my mouth and clamp my teeth down into the flesh of his upper arm, which is the only part of him I can reach.

I don’t bite down, but I hold the position.

“Do it,” he rasps.

I hesitate. This is Travis, and I don’t want to hurt him.

“Do it.” His body is hard and hot behind me, and I’m liking how it feels more than I should. “Do it, girl. And stomp on my foot at the same time. Not on my toe. Up toward the ankle. Hard as you can. I’m not gonna let you go till I have to.Do it.”

I do. I stomp on his foot and bite his upper arm at the same time.

He huffs loudly, so it must hurt. He doesn’t drop his arms, but they loosen. I yank myself out of his grip and whirl around, bringing my knife out of its sheath at the same time.

I point it right at his stomach.

“Good.” He’s flushed and crouching forward slightly, an almost feral look in his eyes. “Real good.”

I’m filled with a rush of excitement, power. I’m watching when he comes at me again. I manage to evade his reach several times, but then he feints to the left and tricks me, grabbing my wrist so hard and so suddenly that the knife falls to the grass.

I scramble down for it again, but he’s got me before I reach it, yanking me back against his chest like I’m a rag doll. I immediately start to squirm and turn my head to bite him again, but he’s got me in a choke hold this time, his arm up around my neck. My teeth are in better reach of his arm than they were, but he’s not letting me move my head enough sink them into his flesh.

I gasp and whine at the pressure on my neck, although it’s not hard enough to hurt me. Not even hard enough to bruise.

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