Page 36 of Camriel
“I’m sure they’ll both be thrilled when they find out we stole their offspring from them,” Camriel said without a trace of amusement.
“Fate was wise to send the two most powerful soldiers’ cambions to us first,” Amaros said.“The last thing we need is for Rahab or Phul to have access to our mates’ skills.”
Camriel handed Amaros the drill and picked up the next section of the closet he was putting together.They’d get the job done a lot faster with two of them working on it.“I want our bedroom to be finished so my cambion will be able to move straight in when she’s ready,” he said.The furniture could be moved when they were ready to install new flooring.
“Count on it, brother,” Amaros agreed.Soon, every bedroom would be outfitted appropriately.They’d already stocked up on clothing for his knights.Zoe and Grace intended to take all of the clothing from the sporting goods store and other stores in the nearby town.They had no idea what sizes the other cambions would be.It would be smart to have a wide variety of outfits ready for their growing family.
Chapter Twenty
––––––––
VICTORIA WOKE UP FEELINGtired and sore.Her wounds had healed, but she was constantly exhausted from pushing herself too hard.“Food time,” she said, trying to dredge up some enthusiasm.Eating canned food was getting old.She longed for fresh, juicy meat.
“I’d fudging kill for some fries,” she said wistfully.Apparently, she was craving salt as well.
She devoured a few cans of fruit and chowed down on a few energy bars, then filled her duffle bag with provisions.Houses were few and far between this close to the wilderness.It was a long hike just to get back to the freeway.
Victoria settled into her usual steady jog, scowling when it began to rain a couple of hours later.She ignored the weather and stopped at a gas station for lunch.Straight away, she knew something was horribly wrong.A fresh body was sprawled on the ground near the building.He looked like he’d only been dead for a day.He was lying face down, so she couldn’t see what had killed him.A pool of blood had spread around his head and torso.
“What fresh fudging hell is going on here?”she murmured uneasily.
Turning in a circle, she couldn’t sense anyone nearby.The glass door had been shattered and the place had been looted.Some items had been left behind, so she crunched her way over the glass to enter the place.
“There’s slim pickings,” she complained softly as she perused the shelves.Unpopular bottles of soda were in the fridge.All of the water was gone.So was most of the food.She grabbed a bag of chips that had fallen behind a shelf and opened it.“Still fresh,” she said in approval and stuffed a handful into her mouth.
A low growl had the hair on the back of her neck rising when she finished her snack.Turning around slowly, Victoria saw a mangy tan colored dog standing in the doorway.Its eyes were horribly bloodshot and drool dripped from its mouth.Its lips were wrinkled back to show its teeth and it was making a weird face.
“Uh, oh,” she said beneath her breath.“That furry shizbag is rabid.”
The dog barked savagely, then raced towards her.Victoria had no idea if she could heal from rabies and she had no intention of finding out.She didn’t have time to shoot an arrow at it.Taking off, she pulled an empty metal rack to the floor behind her, hoping to slow the animal down as she headed for the back exit.
Snarling and barking, the mongrel cut its paws as it ran over the glass, but it didn’t seem to feel the pain.Victoria burst through the back door and looked around wildly.She saw a shed over to the right and ran over to it.Stumbling over something, she picked it up and spun around.The dog leaped towards her and she hurled the object at it.She only realized it was a pitchfork after it speared into the animal.
The tines lodged into the dog’s side, sending it flying backwards.Mortally wounded, the animal snapped and snarled, flinging foam and saliva everywhere.Victoria took pity on it and used her sickle to chop its head off.
“Poor pooch,” she said regretfully.Going rabid was a horrible way to die.
