Red Moon Rising
Authors: Elizabeth Kelly
RED MOON RISING
By Elizabeth Kelly
Copyright 2013 Elizabeth Kelly
This book is the copyrighted property of
the author, and may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed for commercial or
non-commercial purposes. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No
alteration of content is allowed.
Your support and respect for the property
of this author is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any
resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely
coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and
used fictitiously.
Adult Reading Material
Cover art by: LFD Designs for Authors
* * * *
She stumbled through the forest, her body trembling
violently and her vision blurred. The sun was setting slowly and she could see
her breath in the cold air. She had used her shirt as a bandage, but the blood
from the wounds on her side had already soaked through it and dark rivers of
blood were streaming down her leg.
She was dying. She had managed to kill one of the beasts,
more from luck than any kind of skill, but not before it had wounded her
mortally. She staggered on anyway. The other two would soon discover their
dead brother, and it would not take them long to find her. They would smell
her blood and track her down. If the gods were merciful, she would already be
dead before they found her and ripped her body to pieces.
She stopped and leaned against one of the thick trees, the
bark scraping against her bare back as she took shallow, gasping breaths. The
small dog at her feet whined nervously and pawed at her leg.
“Tia.” Her voice was thick and she coughed weakly, moaning
when it made her sides burn. Blood coated her mouth and lips. Her ribs were
broken, she was sure of it. She had both heard and felt the crack when the
beast threw her against the tree.
She raised her hand and touched her face gingerly. Her
battle with the beast had left her face battered and bruised. One eye was
swollen shut completely, and her lips were bruised and swollen from having her
mouth punched. She touched her front teeth experimentally with her tongue,
wincing when they wiggled loosely in their sockets. She was surprised they
hadn’t been knocked out completely.
“Tia.” She tried again. “When I die, you have to leave me.”
The dog stood and rested its small paws on her shin. It
whined again and she smiled at the dog. “Don’t stick around. They’ll kill you
if they see you. You have to – “
She coughed again, moaning and crying out with the pain as
fresh blood poured from the wounds on her side.
“You have to run away. Find a new family okay?” She
whispered.
The dog barked once, shrilly, and she winced. “Hush Tia.”
She made herself push away from the tree. Oddly enough the
pain was a little better. It had been replaced by a curious feeling of
numbness. She pulled the sodden material of her shirt away from her wound, and
stared at the blood spurting from the four deep slashes.
“That can’t be good.” She whispered and then laughed
weakly. She replaced the drenched material against the wounds, why she
bothered she didn’t know, and stared down at the dog.
“Do you hear me Tia? Find a new family. Don’t stay with
me.” She stared into Tia’s soft brown eyes and then frowned when the dog
cocked its head, stared into the trees, and then bolted away.
“I’m not dead yet damn you.” She muttered. Her heart
squeezed painfully. The little dog’s abandonment hurt more than her broken body
did, but it was for the better. She swiped a shaking hand across her mouth,
staring dully at the blood on her fingers, and lurched on.
They would bring her head back and stick it on a pole beside
the others. She cringed at the thought that her brother would see it. He had
screamed and raged, and begged the beasts to allow him to take her place in the
hunt. They had laughed and sneered at him. He was too valuable to be used in
hunting.
They had stopped laughing when he had attacked and killed
one of them with his bare hands. Valuable or not, they would have torn him
apart if she had not gotten on her knees and begged Draken to spare his life.
They hadn’t let her say goodbye to him. They hadn’t let her
hug him and tell him she loved him. The last time she had seen him he had been
pinned to the ground, his face red and his muscles straining against his
captors as he fought to get to her.
She swallowed thickly, tasting the metallic tang of blood,
as tears began to slip down her cheeks. She was suddenly so weary she couldn’t
take another single step. She collapsed to the ground, her breath wheezing in
and out as her lungs laboured to draw in air.
She was cold and so very tired. Her eyes slipped shut and
she pictured her brother’s face - his strong jaw and clear blue eyes. His eyes
had once danced with laughter, but it had been many moons since there had been
anything but anger and sorrow in them.
There was snuffling beside her and a warm, wet tongue licked
her forehead. She forced her one good eye open and stared at the small dog.
“Tia.” She whispered.
Tia whimpered softly and looked behind her. The dying woman
followed the dog’s gaze, squinting at the two figures behind the dog. Dread
filled her body. They had found her.
One of them crouched beside her, and she realized with a
faint thread of relief that it was not one of the beasts. The man was as big
as her brother, his shoulders broad and heavily muscled. His eyes were a dark
brown, they looked nearly black in the dim light, and his hair was a rich, dark
red.
The second figure knelt beside him. He was blonde and blue
eyed, and almost as big as the redhead. Even with only one eye working
properly, she could see the horror and disgust on his face.
“Gods be damned James. What happened to her?”
The redhead grunted. “I don’t know Nicky.”
He leaned further over her. “What’s your name girl?”
She ignored his question and, with the last of her strength,
reached up and brushed his face with her bloody fingers. “Tia. Please help
her – “
Vicious pain shot through her chest and she screamed
hoarsely. Darkness crept across her vision and the last thing she saw before it
overtook her, was the redhead reaching for her.
* * *
The thumping in her head was loud and irritating. With her
eyes closed, she reached up and massaged at her temple. It didn’t help. The
thumping continued - a solid, constant beat that demanded her attention.
She wanted to ignore it. Her side hurt and her head hurt
and she was exhausted. She wanted to drift back into sleep but the thumping
wouldn’t allow it. She frowned. Her bed was moving. Only a little but it was
definitely moving.
She forced her eyelids up, and her mouth dropped open with
surprise. Her bed wasn’t a bed at all but a human being. She was sprawled
across the body of a man twice her size. Moving carefully, she lifted her head
from his chest. The thumping stopped, and she realized that it was the solid
beat of his heart she had been hearing.
Not daring to move anything but her head, she looked
around. She was in a tent; cold sunlight was filtering through its walls and
although she could see her breath, she wasn’t the least bit chilled. The man
beneath her radiated heat. It surrounded her entire body and –
She realized with sudden horror that she was completely
naked and the gods help her – so was the man underneath her. She froze, her
pulse thudding and her eyes widening as she stared at the man’s broad chest.
It was covered in a layer of reddish-brown hair and despite the cold weather,
he was deeply tanned. His chest was rising and falling evenly, and she risked
a glance at his face. He was sleeping soundly, and she studied his face
carefully. He had a broad nose and wide cheekbones, and freckles covered his
tanned cheeks.
He looked to be around her age and he was a handsome man, she
decided. He was also huge. Her small frame fit neatly on top of him with room
to spare. He would be at least a foot and a half taller than her, her feet
barely reached his knees. If she –
For the gods sake – what are you doing? In case you’ve
forgotten, the man is very naked and very much a stranger. Get your naked self
off of him and get out of his tent before he wakes.
She decided that was excellent advice. Moving slowly, she
slithered off his body onto the blanket beside him. He snorted, his hands
twitching by his sides, but didn’t wake. She almost screamed out loud when a
cold nose poked into her back. She twisted her head, flinching at the pain in
her face, and stared into the face of the small dog.
“Tia!” She breathed softly and the dog licked her face, her
entire body wiggling.
“Hush Tia.” She said quietly. She started to slide out
from under the blankets that covered them and then paused, reaching for the
edge of it.
What are you doing? Have you gone mad? What do you
think he’ll do if he catches you staring at his naked body?
Her mind
moaned at her.
She ignored the voice and lifted the blanket a little. In
all of her nineteen years she had never once seen what was between a man’s legs,
and curiosity was winning out over her fear. She lifted the blanket higher,
squinting to see in the dim light below it. Before she could fully see what
was between his legs, he muttered thickly and turned away from her. She stared
at his naked back and ass for a moment before scooting out gingerly from under
the blankets. Away from the heat of his body, the cool air brought goose bumps
to her skin and she began to shiver. Her clothes were nowhere to be seen but
his were piled neatly on the ground, and she picked out his shirt and slipped
into it. The material was cold but soft and fell past her knees. Tia
scratched at her legs and she reached down and petted the small dog, wincing at
the pain in her side.
She frowned. Lying in the redhead’s bed she had felt tired
but there had been only a dull ache in her side and her face. Now, sharp pain
was radiating from her side into her back, and her face was throbbing dully.
She touched her face gingerly, noticing for the first time that she could see
out of both eyes. The one that had been puffed shut was tender and sore, but
not swollen the way it had been before. She pressed her tongue against her
front teeth. They didn’t move and she frowned a little. They had been loose
last night. She was sure of it.
The evening came flooding back to her. Her fight with the
beast, and the agonizing pain in her side and back when he had thrown her
against the tree. She paled and reached for the hem of the shirt, lifting it
up and studying her side carefully.
It was swollen and bruised, and she could see four barely scabbed
over cuts where the beast had swiped her with his long claws. She blinked in
astonishment. Last night they had been wide, gaping slashes with blood pouring
from them.
She looked down at her dog. “What’s happening to me Tia?”
She whispered fearfully as she dropped the shirt.
She decided that for the moment she didn’t care. What mattered
was getting out of here before he woke up. Her side was burning and throbbing,
and she would have to move slowly. She needed to put as much space between her
and the stranger as possible.
“Come Tia.” She whispered. Her eye fell on the sword lying
next to his pants. She hesitated and then picked it up. It was heavy and it
hurt her side to hold it, but she would take it anyway.
“Good morning.”
She screamed breathlessly and whirled around. The wounds on
her side split open. She could feel blood dripping down her side as she lifted
the man’s sword and held it in front of her.
The redhead was sitting up in his nest of blankets. He
yawned and stood, and her eyes dropped automatically. She flushed scarlet at
the sight of his penis. It was partially erect and as big as the rest of him.
He walked towards her and she stumbled back, holding the
handle of the sword tightly in her hand and giving him a warning look. He
ignored it and reached for his pants, slipping into them and smiling a little
at the redness of her cheeks.
“Do you know how to use that?” He pointed to the sword in
her hand.
“Yes.” She lied.
He reached out with terrifying quickness and knocked the
sword from her hand. It clattered to the ground, barely missing her bare toes,
and he picked it up swiftly. He held it out to her, handle-first, and grinned
at her.
“Try again.”
She glared at him and snatched it back. Her sudden movement
ripped open the barely-healed wounds on her side further, and she fought back
the wave of nausea that went through her as she felt the blood soaking into his
shirt. She swayed a little and he frowned.
“You’re not fully healed yet.” He held out his hand. “Come
to me.”
She scowled and backed away towards the opening of the
tent.
“Do not be frightened of me little one. I only wish to help
you.”
“Stay away from me!” She spat at him.
“Tia - that is your name is it not?”
She frowned in confusion at him as the dog at her feet
perked its ears up and ran to the man. She stopped in front of him, her tail
wagging happily, and as the man reached down she rolled on to her back.
He rubbed the dog’s belly and the woman made a low moan of
dismay. She whistled softly and the dog, after licking the redhead’s hand,
bounced to her feet and ran back to her.
“We’re leaving. If you try and stop me, I’ll kill you.”
She whispered.
She backed out of the tent. The man made no attempt to
follow her as she stepped into the cold morning air. She trembled violently
and pressed her hand against her side. It was getting hard to breathe again,
and she felt weak and faint.
She took a deep breath and turned to flee into the forest.
A blonde man, his expression amused, was standing behind her.
“Good morning.” He stared at the sword in her hand. “Are
you planning on hunting for our breakfast?”
She lunged at him, lifting the sword and jabbing it at him
weakly. He sidestepped her easily and she tumbled to the ground, crying out at
the bolt of pain that went through her side. Dimly she could hear Tia barking
and the blonde man cursing, and then the redhead’s face was over hers and he
was staring at her gravely.