Page 6 of Gemini
He folded it into a tiny square and slipped it back in his pocket before moving out of my sight. I jumped again, like a scared little cat would as his hand started to fumble with the rope. Delicately at first, then with annoyed grunts when it wouldn’t give. I started to freak out when he stopped for a few heartbeats, only to yelp when I felt his finger sliding in between thescratchy material and my wrist. The string snapped instantly and I jumped to my tied feet, hopping away from the tree.
His hand snapped around my arm and pulled me back to him, crashing my front against his.
And from up-close? He looked even deadlier than he did before.
4
Stubborn human female.
Nitochi
My female was shaking like a leaf caught in the wind, her eyes bulging as she stared at my face. She was scared. I thought it was of the small man who had hit her, but she was not looking better now that he was dead. She fearedme.
I slid my hand along her arm to her wrist, careful not to press too hard on the red lines the rope had made, and brought her hand to my collarbone. Her eyes followed the motion and widened when I closed her fingers on the natural handle made by the bone there.
“What—”
“Hold,” I said, squeezing her fingers before doing the same with her other hand.
A sob wracked her body and I froze, my fingers resting around hers. Shit. Maybe killing them all had not been the right thing to do. Maybe Baelor would have been the better option to fetch her. He would have managed to get her out of there without causing a bloodbath.
But they had hurt her.Our female. She bore the mark of their abuse on her face. They deserved to die.
I frowned, ignoring her tears and closed both my arms around her small body before taking off, my wings pumping in the air to get us over the treeline as fast as possible. Wendy screamed, her grip tightening and legs lifting to circle my waist.
“I will not drop you,” I said slowly, hoping she would somehow understand.
If she even heard me, she did not answer. Her face was buried in my neck, tears wetting my skin. Her shaking only eased when we stopped at the river near my childhood hive.
She let go of me the second my feet touched the ground. Her trembling body made her stumble backward, falling on the ground with a gasp. Our eyes met again. Her, a dark brown circled with white, wide and scared. Mine, bottomless black pools probably terrifying her even more.
She turned abruptly and started running, only stepping on the piece of string hanging around one of her ankles and falling face first in the grass.
“Shit!” she cried, pushing on her weakened arms to try and stand up.
She tried running again but my hand closed around her arm, forcing her back.
“Stop running.” I tried to keep my voice as flat as possible. Maybe she could not understand, but I hoped my good intentions could be felt…
“I-I don’t understand…Please let me go…”
It was a good thing all of the species in our system had this damn translator inserted when we were born.
I lifted my free hand without letting go of her before taking her picture out of my pocket again. She followed the motion, still looking like a terrified prey expecting to be eaten. I dangled the piece of paper with her face on it in front of her.
“Y-yes, that’s me, we wentoverthis. What—what do youwantfrom me?”
I groaned, dropping her picture to the floor to rub at my face. Looking back at her frightened and confused expression, I pointed at me with my free thumb, and then at the paper at my feet.
“You areourfemale,” I said. “We have been looking for you.”
She tugged on her arm and let out a guttural scream that sent my blood rushing down. “I. Don’t. Understand!”
I pulled her back until she stumbled and collided with my chest, a loud gasp escaping her.
“Wha—what are you doing, yousavage!”
She was infuriating. Why was it so hard for her to understand what I meant?
