Page 5 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

“Thank you, kind sir,” I told him. “Please stand back while I deal with this.”

Stormy growled as if I’d called his mother a goat.

The monster in the dark blue pants rounded on me with inhumanly dark eyes that seemed to suck my soul into them. Nothing but emptiness lay beyond his shadowed gaze. Greed for power and control exuded off him and it made my stomach roil.

“Get the fuck outta my business, bitch!” He came at me with clawed fingers, nails sharp and dark, flesh gray and pulsing with black veins.

Stormy eyes moved faster than any human. Stealthy, swift, and light. Had the dead beast pinned to the wall in the space of me blinking. “I suggest you get the fuck out of here before I do something I regret. Leave this woman and don’t ever go near her again. You hear me, fuckwit?”

My body responded to his gruff, dominant command, my knees weakening, eager to fall at his feet and beg to be controlled by him. Men didn’t come to my rescue. An orphaned child left to fight for her survival and every scrap of food to feed my skinny bones. Men were just like the beasts I hunted. Exploitative, predacious vultures after whatever scraps they could sneak. Yet the protective streak in this man hit me harder than the strike of any beast.

The monster in Stormy’s grasp tried to get free, but was slammed even harder than I could manage, breaking rock and making an indent of his body. Skull crunched as it smashed and the monster slumped, limp in his grasp. Wolfish growls ripped from his mouth and his fangs sharpened. This was no mortal man. Strength beyond a human’s suggested he was some sort of beast or magical being. Possibly one that threatened my sisters. I’d deal with him in a moment. He had defended the witch and me, and that made him the lesser of threats to restrain.

“What did you want with the woman?” I aimed my gaze at the groaning dead thing curled into the crushed wall.

The woman spoke for me. “Idiots paid me for a spell that I told them wouldn’t work. When it didn’t, they came to rough me up. Assholes.” She kicked the monster between the legs, and he went down.

I caught her by the shoulder and drew her away from the commotion, letting the dead beasts whisk away down the street in a faint blur. I’d never seen anything move like that. Fast like a god.

“I will escort you to your home,” I told her. “Make sure you are safe.”

The witch nodded at me, her mind shocked and elsewhere as I led her away. To where, I didn’t know, but hoped she’d tell me.

“Hey!” Stormy leapt in our path, blocking us, his eyes widening when they landed on my dagger. “You should probably throw that thing in the bushes.”

I clutched the hilt of my dagger harder, wishing I had a sheath to store it in. “I’m not disposing my weapon.” That overwhelming warmth took over my body again and I wanted his hands back on me. All. Over. Me.

No, Orion. You remember what happened the last time you let a man touch you.

Stormy chuckled nervously. “Lady, you go around these streets with a weapon like that and you’ll get arrested and locked up.”

“Weapons are the right of every hunter,” I assured him coolly.

Stormy’s eyes narrowed, telling me I’d said too much and needed to clam up. “Where did you say you were from?”

“I didn’t.” He wasn’t getting anything else out of me. Men stole from me. Took my glory and winnings. Sharing with another man had left my heart crushed like grapes used to make wine.

“All right, Lorena Bobbitt.” I tilted my head at the unfamiliar name he used. “Do you both wanna get a drink? Calm the nerves before you take the witch home?” He looked at me and only me, as if the witch had disappeared. Piercing, ashen eyes that penetrated to my soul. Like a wolf that wanted to eat me.

Thirst gnawed at me from trekking through the forest. No way in Hades. The last man I shared a drink with laced mine with sleeping herbs, causing me to wake late and fall behind and lose the hunting games. Never again.

“No, thank you.” The witch needed my attention more than my stomach begged for food. I gave him a single, sharp nod. “Thank you for coming to our aid. We’ll be on our way.”

“What about a meal?” he prodded, gesturing to the building behind us, where strange new scents toyed with my senses, tempting me to go with him. “My treat. Your stomach grumbles louder than an earthquake.”

Hunger clawed at my stomach. All that travel had made me ravenous after thousands of years of swirling in space. Once I delivered the witch safely to her abode, I’d return to the market and grab a meal. But first I needed directions. He could keep his money and his dick in his pants. Not interested.

“I will buy figs, dried meats and fruits from the market,” I told him. “Can you point me in the direction of it?”

Stormy’s eyebrows shot up. “The supermarket?”

I frowned, not familiar with that term. “What is so super about the market?”

He laughed at me and pinned me with his gaze. “It’s where we buy food.”

“That won’t do.” I scratched at my head. This man kept digging more information from me and I gave it freely. I didn’t know what was wrong with me or why I acted like a teenager with a crush. “I also need good quality wood and twine for my bow and arrows. Ash, preferably. And rawhide for my bow string. Where can I buy those materials?”

He coughed and stared at me like I’d grown a horn from the center of my forehead. “Bow and arrows?”

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