A gasp of pain left her, but it was the shock of nearly falling right over the damn edge that filled her. Once her breathing was semi-normal, she crawled forward on her knees and looked over the edge.
So far up.
Pushing herself up until she stood, her knees threatened to buckle. The wind whipped by, blowing her hair around her face. She still held onto the side of the wall, her nails digging into the rock. Something high pitched sounded, and she lifted her head and looked into the sky. At first she didn’t see anything, but then a massive shadow moved over her.
That was when she saw the creature flying above her. No, not flying above her … flying toward her. A startled cry left Audrey, and she turned, but tripped over her feet in her haste to run back to the man that was holding her captive. It was either jump to her death, let the creature barreling toward her devour her, or run toward Styx.
She went to stand, not wanting to die, and realizing going back into the cave was her only option. Her feet were torn up from the rough, rocky ground, and running away, but she pushed past the pain. But before she could take one step huge arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her back against a hard chest.
An ear-piercing cry left the creature, now so close she could feel the intense wind whipping around her from the monster’s massive wings.
Would she even survive this? Had leaving Styx been smart?
Am I even meant to survive any of this?
****
Styx wrapped his arm tightly around his female’s waist and moved through the corridor. He’d sensed her gone not more than a few moments after she’d left. Her scent had still saturated the air around him, so he knew she couldn’t have gotten far. And when he’d seen her standing at the cavern edge, everything in Styx had frozen. In that moment he hadn’t wanted to picture her taken from him. She might just have been put in his life a short time ago, but he’d already deemed her as his mate, and that meant for life.
The Kasha bird was the largest flying predator in the forest, and it had picked up on his woman’s scent. He chanced a look behind him and saw the bird making its way through the opening of the cave. Its wings had claws at the end to allow it to move swiftly on the ground. But Styx had advanced speed, and he picked up his pace. He heard his mate’s breathing increase, smelled her fear surround them, and the purely mated, male side of him moved faster. He would not let anyone or anything hurt her, or take her away from him.
The creature screeched out loudly, the cavern becoming even narrower the further he moved. That was what made this home protected from the outside elements and predators. If one did come through, the cave was too small for them to pass into because of their large sizes. And if a smaller creature made it into the main part of his cave, he could hold his own against it.
“The more frightened you are, the faster the creature will come.” Although telling her that wouldn’t stop her from being afraid, he wanted her to know how this worked. She might be from the same world as he was, but the forest, where he lived, was far different than she was probably used to.
He finally made it into the main cavern, set her on the ground and grabbed his sword that hung on the stone wall with a hook. He moved toward the opening of the cavern, ready to face off with the creature, even if it couldn’t reach them in this part of the mountain.
He cast a glance over his shoulder at his female, saw she was wide eyed, and smelled her panic. It was clear she was an innocent in this world. Wherever she’d come from she either had been sheltered, or hadn’t been thrust into dangerous territory. But Styx was glad things had played out this way, because if not she wouldn’t have fully understood the dangers of this land, or the fact he would, and could, protect her above all else.
With one more look right in her eyes, he turned and went to face off a beast that had meant to take his mate from him.
Chapter Five
Audrey was shaking, every part of her tense, the fight or flight mode waging war inside of her. Styx had disappeared down the corridor only seconds ago, and the creature’s ear-piercing wail echoed throughout the cavern. There was a second of silence, and she held her breath, not sure what was going on. Styx had taken a massive looking sword before he left, and all she could think of was him fighting that beast. How could he even possibly survive something like that? The beast looked like something out of a nightmare, and it had been intent on having her as dinner.
But then there was more screeching, followed by what sounded like metal on the stone. That fight seemed to go on forever, and as much as she wanted to leave, she was frozen in place, staring at the opening and expecting the beast to emerge.