Dusti got to her feet, prepared to use that time to her advantage. She’d make a run for it if he did start climbing. She put weight on her leg and cried out in pain, almost falling over. She looked down and twisted her leg a little, finally spotting the source of the blood she’d seen. Her calf was torn up, with blood all down the back of her leg and covering her heel. She stared at the wounds. It took her a second to understand.
He’d nailed her with his claws before she’d totally been out of his reach. He’d probably tried to grab her leg to haul her back but gravity and momentum had torn her out of his grasp. She glared at him.
“You asshole. You ripped open my leg.”
He snarled back and tried a new place to try to squeeze through. The trunks creaked a little, making soft popping sounds. It scared her enough to limp backward, putting more space between them. She pressed against the rock wall and glanced around, not seeing anywhere that he could fit through without a lot of effort and muscle.
The space wasn’t large, where she was enclosed by rock and trees, and her new predicament sank in. Shit! I trapped myself.
Craig disappeared from her sight and that made things worse. Where is he? It was possible he was circling the boulder to find a way to climb it. She jerked her head up, frantically searching for any sign that he might drop down on top of her.
A loud roar tore through the woods. The sound sent her heart into a frenzied beat. She didn’t need a translator. The sound of Craig’s rage told her plenty. She doubted he’d kill her since her grandfather needed “Bat”, but she wasn’t sure how sane or in control his men were in shifted form. For all she knew, the shift could totally turn them animalistic inside, incapable of having human thoughts. And she couldn’t even make a run for it with her leg so injured.
A sob tore through her chest when she saw movement through the trees to her left. The man in hell-beast form was back, pacing now. He still hadn’t found a way to reach her through the little alcove nature had made, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before he breached the space.
He couldn’t fit between the trees with his immense body unless he used his claws to hack at the tree trunks. That would take time. He might even have to shift into a man again to catch her. It would make his body slightly less bulky. Her gaze lowered to search for a weapon. It would be easier to hurt his bare skin than fur.
She bent, pretending to examine her leg. It was bleeding pretty badly and she couldn’t do anything about it. She scooped up a handful of tiny rocks and dirt, fisting them in her hand. Craig screamed his rage, still pacing the trees in front of her. He glared at her every few seconds.
“What’s wrong?” She tried to hold back the tears the pain in her leg caused. “Too hairy to squeeze in here to get me? So lose the hair, asshole.”
He stopped pacing and watched her. She had a sinking feeling he planned to pass time until the sun disappeared. She’d be in the dark, blind, and wouldn’t see him coming after her then. Would she pass out from blood loss? She couldn’t afford for either of those things to happen.
“Are you scared of a puny human chick? What’s your name? Ball-less?” she goaded. “No wonder my grandfather chose you to be his pack mule. You probably don’t even know how to fight.”#p#分页标题#e#
He lay down, watching her with those evil eyes. It became obvious that he did plan to wait until she couldn’t see or had passed out. She looked away from him, not able to keep staring into that horrific black gaze. She glanced around at the ground, saw a sharp-looking rock the size of her palm, and knew she’d found an effective weapon if she could just use it on the jerk. She needed to draw him to her first, surprise him with it, and hope she could take him out.
What would Bat do? Her sister had a serious talent for driving men into rages when she opened her mouth. It made her a very effective attorney. She could send prosecutors or witnesses against her clients into full-blown rants inside a courtroom that discredited them in front of both judges and juries. Bat had made so many enemies with that winning stunt it was yet another reason why she needed the around-the-clock security her law firm provided.
Dusti took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to the asshole still staring at her. A plan formed. Bat always said the best tactic to anger a man would be to accuse him of something he wouldn’t do. They had the urge to defend themselves every time. The more outrageous the accusation, the stronger the response.
A forced smile curved her lips while she watched his eyes carefully to gauge for any kind of response. “Wow, are you going to be in seriously deep shit.” She twisted her injured leg to show him the damaged he’d caused. “Do you know why my grandfather wants you to bring me to him? He’s going to give me to Aveoth. Take a good look at what you did to me. That’s going to leave a scar—and make the GarLycan leader very unhappy. I mean, what guy wants to see that on his woman?”