Page 35

A hand fisted in my hair and I was jerked viciously backward. I screamed in pain as part of my hair was ripped out of my scalp as I was dragged farther away. I reached back for the hand in my hair, attempting to pry it off of me as my free hand went around to the back pocket of the skirt that was riding up the tops of my thighs, threatening to expose my panties.

I finally pulled the dagger free as my skirt rode up around my hips.

"You're going to pay for that punch to the balls, bitch," he growled darkly and there was zero doubt in my mind that given the chance, he'd make good on that promise.

I wasn't going to sit here while he dragged me off into the woods to get a chance.

I twisted at the waist while dragging my heels into the slippery grass. I sunk the dagger deep into his thigh, pulled it out quickly, and stuck him again, this time higher up.

I pulled the blade out again after the second time, but didn't get the chance to immediately stick him again because he let go of his hold on my hair, seemingly forgetting about me entirely as he focused on his injured leg.

His leg buckled under his weight, entirely useless now, and he fell back heavily on his butt on the grass.

A grunt had me whipping my head to the side in time to see Damien narrowly avoid missing the swipe of one of those sharp, curved blades.

We were so screwed with it being just the two of us against at least five attackers, each one with blades and the only weapon we had between the two of us was the dagger he'd given me. A dagger that had looked a whole lot bigger earlier before I'd seen those swords being waved around.

None of the other attackers even looked at me as they held their blades high and edged toward Damien. Figured they'd find the male to be a bigger threat than the only female. Dicks. If I thought I had enough energy in me to waste, I would throw some of my magic their way in the form of a fireball to the face or two. Given that it hadn't done jack last time except given Dash a haircut, I figured it wasn't worth it to waste the effort. If I blew out that kind of magic, the chances of passing out and falling flat on my face were high, and who knew what the hell these creeps would do to me if I fell unconscious. I sure didn't want to find out.

Even though my head screamed in agony from being punched in the face and then having chunks of my hair ripped out, I still had it in me to jump to my feet and run toward Damien in order to help him fight off his attackers.

I took two steps toward him before a cold hand wrapped around my ankle. Fingers dug into my flesh, nails breaking the skin. I cried out in pain as I bent over at the waist to peel his hand off my leg. I latched onto his arm just as his free hand grabbed on and squeezed my forearm painfully. With a yank and a startled cry from me, he jerked me forward. I landed ungracefully in the grass at his side, my elbow and chin smacking harshly against the ground.

I groaned, momentarily curling into myself as I clutched my arm to my chest, holding it at the elbow.

He wrapped both hands around my ankle and yanked me back, dragging me along the grass. I'd probably have grass stains in some very unfortunate places after this.

If this creep was smart, he would have grabbed both ankles instead of just the one because it left me free to kick him in the face. Which is exactly what I did. The crunching sound his nose made when my heel connected with it gave me a sick sense of satisfaction.

He grunted in pain as he released my ankle and cupped his nose. I drew back my leg and kicked him again. This time nailing him in the throat.

Two blurs of silver flashed beside me, coming to a dead stop.

"Go," I urged Trenton and Simon. "Help Damien. He needs you more."

Trenton's silver eyes hurriedly trailed over my features before he nodded his head. The tattoos on his arms flared brightly as a black sword appeared in his hands. He ran off toward Damien and I hoped like hell he actually knew how to use that sword of his, and really had been training and fighting his whole life because we needed a skilled fighter right now.

Two of them would be even better though.

"You too," I barked at Simon. "Go with your brother and help Damien."

"No," he protested, disobeying me with a shake of his head. "I stay with you. Besides, the others have it covered."

I finally allowed myself to look in Damien's direction again, not having been able to do so earlier because of the creep who'd attacked me.

Rain was there with him, holding a black sword and fighting off one of the hooded creeps. He wielded his sword like he knew exactly what he was doing with it and I wasn't surprised when he sidestepped a curved sword that was aimed for his head, and thrust his own sword forward into the chest of his opponent.

I looked away when he jerked it out of the creep’s chest and he collapsed to the grass.

The twins were there with them, wrestling around on the grass with one of the black clad attackers. I couldn't watch anymore. I didn't want to see them murder someone, even when they probably deserved it. I feared it might change the way I looked at them. It didn't matter with Rain, I knew what kind of man he was and I respected him for it. The twins were different though, they were my safe space and I didn't want anything to tarnish that for me, or for them. They needed that from me just as much as I needed them to give it to me.

Simon pulled the dagger out of my hand and I quickly turned on him, then immediately wished I hadn't when I watched in horror as he lunged forward and dragged the blade across the throat of the creep who'd attacked me, slitting it open.

An unintelligible sound escaped me, sounding far too close to a whimper for my tastes. I had no business being upset about this man's death. He had it coming. I just didn't want to have to see it firsthand.

I rubbed my poor, abused cheek, looking for something, anything, to take my mind off of what was going on around me. Now that I was relatively safe and didn't need to fight for my life anymore, the aches in my head were returning with a vengeance. I felt the back of my head and when it came away wet and sticky, I held it up in front of my face for inspection.

"Shit," I groaned. My fingertips were covered in blood. When had that happened? When that prick had ripped chunks of my hair out? I hadn't noticed it hurting so bad at the time. Even now, that part of my scalp felt numb. I didn't think that was good.