In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Forty!

The people surrounding us all had the same look about them. From what I could see, they were all Native American, the majority of which were inked in one or several places. The women had long, shiny black hair with braids coiling throughout while the men had an assortment of long hair, Mohawks, half-shaved heads and baldness. The men were all bare-chested, the women dressed in brown shorts and tops, their legs chiseled and toned. Everyone was barefoot.

In appearance, this group of people seemed harmless. Until you looked into their eyes. Their eyes were like none other I’d ever seen before. They were too bright, too vivid, too neon – and those were the ones of normal colour. Pink eyes,  golden yellow eyes, eyes that were almost a transparent gray stared back at me. Those eyes were those of a fierce predator, much scarier than even Irina.

Declan, Kat and Cade had noticed the eyes too – no surprise there. In the dark shade of the forest, the eyes were like neon hotel signs. Only Declan seemed to know what they meant, though.

“Uri,” he breathed, almost in a stunned voice. At his breathless whisper, Cade and Kat’s eyes lit with understanding, but were tinted with a tinge of fear. Uri? I was confused, but who’s really shocked? Compared to my friends I was like the village idiot. Who were the Uri and what about them frightened my friends?

Of the huge crowd surrounding us, two people stepped forward, one male, the other female. The woman caught my eye because, although she was dressed like all the others and had the same vivid eyes, her skin was as milky as mine.

The pair moved to the man who had spoken to us. The male, his eyes a dizzying mix of blue and purple levelled those orbs on us, giving us the once over. The woman spoke quietly in the man’s ear. He nodded once and said something back that made her eyes widen. She opened her mouth, as if to protest but one commanding look froze whatever comment she had. She nodded her understanding and turned to us.

“You will follow us,” she said in a tinkling fairy voice. “If one of you tries to run, we will snap her neck.” The threat was directed at me. Even as it was uttered in her sweet, high-pitched voice, the intent behind it made me shudder. “Do not say a word.”

The male stepped towards us and with a rope pulled from his pants pocket tied us together, one in front of the other. We walked like this – like prisoners, really – further into the forest, always followed by that crowd of people. I could hear them murmuring amongst themselves, their voices low, tones serious. Nobody cracked a smile. Apparently humour wasn’t big this far out in the country. They'd probably only just heard about the toaster.

I sighed in exasperation and the white woman threw me a look, as if I’d just killed ten people. I gave her a look right back and when she looked away, I felt a childish sense of victory. Sure it was petty, but I was tired and it wasn’t like this was my first imprisonment. I knew they wouldn’t kill me, or else they would have done it the second we crossed their path. These people wanted us for some reason, so for a while we were safe. I glanced at the javelin the man to my right held, the tip sharp and deadly. I gulped. Okay, so we were relatively safe.

The sun had completely gone down by the time we stopped at the mouth of a cave. I dropped to my knees in gratitude and relief before remembering I was connected by rope to three other people.

It was like the domino effect.

With a shout, they collapsed to the ground beside me.

“You know, Ainsley,” said Declan. “I’m not really too surprised to be breathing in dirt right now – you were always known for your grace.”

“Don’t think I won't punch you, Declan. And then you’ll be eating dirt.”

“Enough talk.” The leader stood over us. “Get up. There’s someone who wishes to meet you.”