Captive of the Horde King (Horde Kings Of Dakkar #1) - Zoey Draven Page 0,99

his hands roamed down my body, as I felt his disgustingly cold flesh through my tunic. His clawed fingers came to the laces of my pants and he sliced through them with one flick. The waist loosened.

My breathing went shallow. Alarmed, I wondered if this had been a good idea, especially when he pressed his lower body into mine. My belly churned when he tilted his head and licked a line up my throat, over my cheek with his slimy tongue.

“I do not care about the king,” the Ghertun slurred. “I haven’t had a human cunt in a long—”

With a sudden jerk, I gripped the hilt of his dagger and pulled it free. Before the Ghertun even realized what was happening, I sank the blade deep into his belly—right where Arokan told me during our training sessions—feeling the hard scales give surprisingly easily.

His eyes flashed to me in shock and he stumbled back, but not before I twisted and pulled the dagger free.

For one stunned, silent moment, he looked down at his wound, one leg giving out underneath him.

My hands shook and I stared at him, feeling the heavy weight of the dagger in my palm.

He was the first being I’d ever wanted to kill. I didn’t know how I felt about that, not yet, but I would do whatever it took to survive, to get back to Arokan, the horde, and Kivan. I would do whatever it took to keep my growing baby safe.

The Ghertun fell with a loud thud, blood spilling from his wound. I saw his eyes roll back, but not before he let out an anguished, angry cry, alerting the leader and the other Ghertun at the clearing.

Then he was dead.

I heard the leader shout. Through the black vines, I saw him racing towards me…the other three Ghertun not far behind.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I was running out of time.

Immediately, I bent down and sawed the dagger back and forth over the bindings at my feet as hard and as fast as I could. If I wasn’t able to run soon, they’d catch me. And who knows what they would do if they did.

Thankfully, the rope was as thin as I originally thought and it didn’t take long for the sharpened, bloodied dagger to snap through the bonds. Without another moment of hesitation, with my feet freed, I turned and sprinted away as fast as I could, pumping my arms at my sides, just as the leader and the three Ghertun reached the body of the fifth.

I heard the leader curse, heard one Ghertun stumble over the body, but I continued to run. I might not be strong, but I was fast and I used that to my advantage.

What I didn’t count on, however, was how dark the forest would be. Hardly any moonlight—what light there was from the crescent moon—penetrated through the canopy of the thick vines. Only shafts of it, here and there, helped illuminate a clear path for me, but I feared that the Ghertun would have better vision in the dark. I knew the Dakkari did. Darkness was a weakness of humans and I had no room for weakness. Not right then.

My breath came out in panicked, loud pants and I made an effort to quiet it when I heard rustling behind me, when I heard the leader give orders to his Ghertun, not too far away. They’d lost sight of me in the thick darkness, but they were experienced trackers as scouts. I wouldn’t underestimate their ability, considering they knew this forest better than I did.

Though I continued to run, I tried to be as quiet as possible. But my footsteps were loud and I feared that running was drawing their attention even more.

As I ran, I cut the bonds tying my hands, though I was clumsy and managed to knick my wrist. It didn’t matter. At least I wasn’t tied, at least I would stand a fighting chance if one of them found me.

Pain exploded in my shoulder, right over my burn, when I ran straight into a vine covered boulder I hadn’t seen and my body spun, landing heavily on the earth.

Panting, I pushed up and heard the leader’s voice. They were close.

Not too far in front of me, I saw a shaft of moonlight illuminate a large, jutting rock, with a fissured crack right down the middle. It would be big enough for me to squeeze into.

Slowing my breathing, I went for it. Holding the dagger close, I squeezed myself into