Page 50 of Dance With the Devil (Dark-Hunter 3)
And getting the bear home was just the beginning of it. He'd have to skin and butcher it before the other animals smelled his kill or their blood.
Then cook it.
No one to help him and no choice except to do that or starve.
She wondered how many days he'd spent with no food at all...
"What about food in the summertime when you have twenty-two hours or more of daylight? I mean, you couldn't preserve the meat for long and it wouldn't give you enough time to plant or harvest anything. What did you do then?"
"I starved, princess, and prayed for winter."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Zarek."
His jaw flexed. He refused to look at her. "Don't be, it's not your fault. Besides, the hunger wasn't as bad as the thirst. Thank the gods for bottled water. Before that there always were a few days when I couldn't make it to the well even though it's just a short walk outside my door."
He reached for another ball.
Astrid placed her hand on his to stop him.
He turned to face her, his lips slightly parted. She pulled him into her arms and kissed him, wanting to give him some comfort, some degree of solace.
Zarek crushed her to him. She opened her mouth to taste him fully and to let his strength wash over her.
He pulled back with a groan. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here for you, Prince Charming."
"I don't believe you. Why are you really here? What do you want from me?"
She sighed. "You are amazingly suspicious."
"No, I'm realistic and dreams like this don't happen to me."
She arched a brow at him. "Never?"
"Not in the last two thousand years, anyway."
She smoothed the line on his brow with her fingertip and smiled up at him. "Well, things they are a-changing."
Zarek cocked his head at that, not believing it for a minute.
Some things never changed.
Never.
"Zarek!"
He felt an odd tugging at his chest.
But it wasn't Astrid doing it.
"Is something wrong?" Astrid asked.
"Zarek!"
It was a man's voice calling to him. One that seemed to come from miles away.
"I feel suddenly strange."
"Strange how?" she asked.
"Zarek!"
The clear boardwalk turned dark. His sight began to dim, his head to spin.
Zarek felt himself drifting away from Astrid. He fought with all his strength to remain with her.
To remain with his dream.
He didn't want it to end. Didn't want to wake up in a world where no one wanted him.
He had to get back to her.
Please, just one more minute...
"Zarek! Damn it, boy, don't make me have to slap you. The last thing I need right now is a concussion. Now get up!"
Zarek came awake to find Jess leaning over him, shaking him hard.
Cursing, he kicked the cowboy back, into the wall.
Jess's foul oath matched his own as Jess rebounded off the wood. Zarek's back and arm throbbed in response to Jess's injuries.
But he didn't care. He intended to add so many more injuries to the cowboy that neither one of them would be able to walk without limping.
He owed the bastard for the shot in his back.
And he always paid his debts in full, with interest.
Zarek came out of the bed snarling, ready for battle.
"Whoa, Z!" Jess said, ducking the punch Zarek swung at him. "Calm down."
Zarek stalked him like a lion eyeing an injured gazelle. One that intended to make the gazelle its dinner...
"Calm down? You shot me in the back, you son of a bitch."
Jess's face turned to stone and he gave him a cold, chilling stare. "Boy, don't you dare insult my mama, and you better stop and think about that one for a minute. I was a paid killer since I was old enough to hold a gun. Had I shot your dumb ass, you wouldn't have a head right now. Having been shot in the back by a friend, I sure wouldn't want to return that favor to anyone. Not even an ornery cuss like you. And why the hell would I hurt myself just to get to you anyway? Lord, boy, use your head."
Zarek still wasn't ready to believe him. Though mostly healed, his back was a sore reminder that someone had tried their damnedest to kill him. "Then who shot me?"
"One of them idiot Squires. Hell if I know which one. They all kind of look alike when they're not yours."
Zarek hesitated as he tried to sort out everything that had happened over the last few days.
Everything was a bit fuzzy in his mind. The last thing he really remembered was trying to leave Astrid's cabin...
He frowned as he looked around, realizing he was still here.
Jess had awakened him while he was lying fully dressed in a bed he didn't remember climbing into.
He frowned as he saw Astrid lying in that bed, too.
The dreams he'd had...
What the hell?
Jess reloaded his shotgun. "Look, I don't have time for this. Do you know who Thanatos is?"
"Yeah, we met."
"Good, 'cause he's already killed one Dark-Hunter tonight and he's right behind me. I need you up and running. Fast."
Zarek's stomach went south at his words. "What?"
Jess's face was grim and lethal. "He took out a Dark-Hunter without breaking a sweat. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Now Thanatos is coming for you, Z. It's time to make like a fox and get the hell out of Dallas."
What did that mean? If Zarek's head hurt before, it was nothing compared to the ache he felt trying to decipher that last bit of cowboy colloquialism.
