Page 18 of Lost and Stolen Gods
The shaking stopped, but it took a moment for my eyes to focus on its horrific face, too close to mine. Its putrid, hot breath filled my nostrils.
It inhaled me, then reared back and screeched in my face. The shock of rancid breath threw my hair back and made my face ripple, and oh god I could see down its throat, past its rows of piranha teeth to the vibrating uvula between the flaps of pulsating flesh on either side of it.
It was going to eat me.
I was about to die.
Every iota of my being revolted at that idea. I could not, would not die here like this. Nani had given herlife to protect me. I wouldn’t let it be in vain. The certainty was a flood of heat shooting through my body and rushing down my arms. A red haze of wrath dug claws into my mind.
“NO!” my voice boomed—a shockwave of its own that shook me free of the beast and sent me flying off the road and into the treeline.
I hit the ground on my ass, jarring my tailbone hard enough to knock me out of my sudden rage and replace the heat in my limbs with ice.
The creature advanced on me with purpose.
“Leave her alone!” Dharma, out of the carriage now, rushed at the beast, hitting it with a cane.
I couldn’t move because my muscles were locked in pain. Oh shit. Oh, fucking shit.
The creature backhanded Dharma and continued toward me.
She hit the ground by the carriage and didn’t get back up.
“Dharma!” I tried to drag myself to my feet, but pain shot down my leg and up my back, pulling me to the ground. “Help her!”
Remi and Priti dropped out of the carriage to help Dharma, but there would be no assistance for me. We were overrun, and everyone was battling to survive.
I was on my own.
I faced the beast, an eerie calm settling over me as it leaned in and wrapped its hand around my neck.
Its throat vibrated in a clicking sound that my primal instincts recognized as the precursor to attack.
My bowels grew liquid, but I lifted my chin and forced out my final words. “I hope I give you chronic diarrhea, you bastard.”
Its mouth yawned wide, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the bite of agony.
Thunder filled my head, and the sharp scent of ozone stung my nose.
Whoosh. Thunk.
The grip on my throat fell away, and my eyes snapped open to a blood-oozing stump where the creature’s head had been a moment ago. Beyond that stood a male with eyes like fire and a face that was so beautiful it sent my stuttering heart into a gallop, even though he was looking at me like he wanted to kill me.
The beast’s body disintegrated into ash, leaving me to stare up at the monolith who’d just saved me from getting my head bitten off.
He was huge, almost the same height as the creature, his body a mass of muscle and power, encased in black and silver fabric that molded to his frame. And he was glaring at me as if I was shit on his shoe.
“Get to the carriage,aadha rakht.” He growled out the words, deep and resonant like thunder, rising over the cacophony of chaos around us. “Now!” The command was like the strike of lightning, forcing me to my feet.
Electric pain shot up my thigh and clamped itselfon my hip. My leg buckled, but I was saved from hitting the ground by his arm around my waist.
“Laanat hai.” He bit out the words that sounded like a curse, carrying me like I weighed nothing, his sword arm free, his grip steel and security. I clung to him as the ground rushed by beneath my boots.
Fuck, he was as hard as stone. A beast in human skin.
The world grew darker, not just the setting sun, but frothy angry storm clouds hanging low.
Another rumble of thunder, this time right over our heads, and more large males like this one, dressed in black and silver, danced around us, fighting the beasts with swords that gleamed with ethereal fire.
