CHAPTER FIVE
BETH
I couldn’t make out their faces, but their silhouettes were crowding me. The man nearest to me tilted his head and chuckled. “It seems we caught one of the tavern’s butain red-handed. What are you looking for, hŵr?”
He’d called me a whore, even though he pronounced it weirdly. I should have been insulted, but I never got the chance. The Fae bent down, grabbed my arms, and pulled me out of the cellar so quickly, my breath caught. He lifted me until my face was at his level, then held me tightly against his chest with one arm.
His breath stank of alcohol, and I remembered where I’d seen him before. He was one of the leather-clad men that had stared at me in the tavern. I struggled, trying to get free, but all it earned me was a stinging slap on the rear. I yelped, and he held a huge hand across my mouth.
Bringing his lips close to my ear, he whispered, “We can do this two ways. Either I take what I want by force, and then my men will do the same. Then, I will slit your throat. Nobody will miss a miserable human wench like you.”
I froze, my eyes wide with shock. My stomach turned to ice, and my whole body shook as I hung in his grip like a rag doll.
If only I’d stayed with Bleddyn, this wouldn’t be happening.
The thought kept circling in my mind, but what good did it do? The bastard Fae would rape me, then his friends would do the same, and then I’d die in this stinking alley.
A wet sensation brought me back to the presence. The man’s tongue ran along the outside of my ear, followed by a satisfied groan. I shuddered harder, grimacing at the intrusion. Squeezing my eyes shut, I went limp in his grip. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I imagined the pain he’d inflict on me before I died.
“Or…,” he whispered again, trailing off while I waited for him to continue. “Or we take pleasure from your comely body, and you shall live another day. You might be walking strangely for a while, but you will be alive. The choice is yours.”
He was letting me live. My head was spinning with the conflicting emotions. For a split second, I felt something like gratitude for my abuser, before common sense took over. I wouldn’t have to go through this if the Fae in front of me weren’t such sadistic bastards. But if he kept his words, I’d be alive at the end of it.
More tears wet my face, running down the back of my throat. I swallowed them down and asked, “You promise?”
His grip tightened, and I winced. “My word is my bond, hŵr. If you submit, we will let you live.”
He moved his hand away from my mouth and shoved it under my shirt as I dangled against his chest. The motion pushed my chest away and my lower body tightly against his.
His erection was huge, poking me in the belly. It made it more real. This was happening.
His finger brushed against my bra, pulling the cup down. Then he pinched my nipple hard. I hissed, surprised by the sharp pain. One of his friends had stepped around us, and slipped his hand into the back of my pants, grabbing my ass.
He yanked on my pants until they slipped off my hips. Another hard pull, and my panties tore. Something solid and smooth slipped between my exposed cheeks, and I grit my teeth, waiting for the tearing pain.
Then it all stopped. The pressure against my ass disappeared. The hands torturing me stopped moving. Something gleamed in the moonlight against the Fae’s throat.
“Let her go.”
I knew that voice, sounding like brass bells in the sudden silence. Sagging in the drunken Fae’s grip, I didn’t expect him to drop me so suddenly. With an audible “oomph,” I hit the ground, barely missing the entrance to the cellar. The impact broke my daze, and I scooted back while pulling my pants back up, until I was clear of the men.
Bleddyn stood behind the Fae, holding a short sword against his neck. He didn’t even glance at me as he focused on controlling the would-be rapists. He whispered something in the leader’s ear I couldn’t hear. Whatever he’d said must have been quite a threat, because the man dropped his hands and fell to his knees. His friends did the same.
My travel companion stepped back and waited. The Fae on his knees said, “I am sorry, milord. I did not know she was under your protection.”
Sheathing his weapon, Bleddyn finally took his eyes off them and rushed to my side. “Are you injured?”
His hands flew over my arms and legs as if searching for wounds. I fixed my top and fastened my jeans before getting to my feet. “No, I’m fine. I never heard them coming. Oh, my God, you saved me. I’m so sorry. Bleddyn, I’m so so—”
Bleddyn didn’t let me finish. He pulled me into his arms, and I buried my face against his chest, forgetting that the drunken Fae were still on their knees.
The memory of the booze stench on the other man’s breath was replaced by the scent of cool water and fir trees in spring. It calmed me, and the shaking of my body slowly subsided while Bleddyn murmured soothing affirmations into my hair.
We stayed like this for another minute. At some stage, the ruffians got up and fled, but I ignored the heated whisperings and the footsteps moving away from us.
Then Bleddyn gently pushed me away and said, “You seem to have a death wish, human. I told you again and again that there are dangers in this world that, without cunning and knowledge, would destroy you. You were lucky tonight. Those men would have left your body for the dogs after defiling you.”
“He promised he wouldn’t,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes lowered.
That earned me an incredulous look. “Would you defend that scum?”
His voice had turned icy, and I flinched. I didn’t even know why I’d said that. Maybe to prove I wasn’t the helpless damsel in distress he clearly thought I was? What was it about Bleddyn that made me want to push him away and return to his embrace at the same time?
My head was swimming as the adrenaline drained from my body, and I swayed. He was immediately by my side and steadied me.
“Easy. I would not let you fall, Beth.”
As we walked back to the tavern, I knew he spoke the truth.