Page 4 of Stolen By The Beast
“Where are you going in such a hurry? No need to be rude, little lady,” the first man slurred, waving a hand at me.
“You look cold.” A third man in a thick camouflage-patterned jacket stood and strode toward me. “And I’ve got just the thing to warm you up.”
I always thought laughter was the most beautiful sound humans could make, but that changed when I heard his laugh. It was laced with malice and bad intentions.
Could I outrun them? Perhaps I could get far enough away and hide in the dark. They would get bored of searching for me at some point.
Even as I thought it, I knew any efforts to run or hide would be futile.
These men were hunters. They were used to tracking prey through the woods.
They’d find me.
Before I could free my tangled skirt from the thorns, the men were on me. Hauling me roughly from the foliage, they dragged me back to the fire.
My lungs filled with acrid smoke as I screamed and pleaded for them to stop. But my cries went unheeded.
Hands tore at my clothing, and my ears rang with their guttural grunts and the ripping of fabric. It was as though a pack of wolves had descended on me.
I’d have preferred it had been wolves, since they’d have been attacking me to eat and survive. These men only cared about the opportunity for a night of pleasure where nothing mattered except what they craved.
“Shut up!” The first man spat in my face, trying to pin my arms at my sides as I screamed.
Gathering my strength, I pushed my torso as far as I could off the ground.
“You aren’t going anywhere!” the man snarled again.
He delivered a hard slap to my face, my head snapping back. My skull cracked against one of the stones surrounding the fire they’d dragged me to. I choked on the coppery taste of blood as my vision blurred and my body turned numb.
I wasn’t sure how long I stayed conscious. A minute, or was it hours?
Just as I felt my eyelids drifting closed, the fireflies began to dance above me. Maybe I imagined it, but I could have sworn I heard a vicious growl and soft fur brushing against my bare skin.
Oh, goody.
I was going to get eaten tonight, too, but hopefully the wolf would take out the five human predators still holding me down.
Chapter Two
Karvik
Iownedthenight.
The darkness inside of me was almost as voracious as the hunger eating at my gut—how long has it been since I last ate?
Most days I skulked around the forest, a guardian of its secrets, but this evening, I was every inch the predator hunting for its prey.
Although I didn’t need daily sustenance like the creatures around me to survive, my body still required nutrients if I wanted to continue my lonely existence.
When I’d been young and ravenous, I’d feasted often, but with age, I isolated myself deep in the woods.
Over time, a dominant species had arisen. Bipedal like me, but their bodies bare of the fur that covered mine.
These animals—humans, as they called themselves—were like a pack of wolves, consuming everything around them.
The forest creatures, the trees, and the land they were rooted in.
More and more they took until my kind had all but disappeared, forced into the darkness that I’d become one with.
