A Girl Named Calamity (Alyria 1)

He laughed deeply. “You sure are refreshing.”

My stomach twisted with fear, and I was really starting to panic as he took another step towards me.

“This is a great chat, but I need to be going,” I said while I gave him a wide berth and walked towards the tent flap. He noticed my sideways glance at his bare arms and then his lips lifted in a dark smile before he walked toward me. My heartbeat kicked into overdrive, and I ran towards the flap, but he was quicker and stepped in front of it with a glint in his eye.

I cautiously took a few steps back while he followed. “Don’t touch me,” I warned. He only laughed once more and continued to walk toward me with purpose. I grabbed the knife out of my pants, but he didn’t even glance at it.

He smiled. “You left the chest open.”

Good move, Calamity.

“I swear, I will stab you if you come any closer,” I growled.

He didn’t stop, and I had no choice but to hurl it at him. It was one of my best throws, and yet he managed to somehow dodge it. I didn’t even get a chance to think about what to do next before he had his bare rough hand wrapped around my wrist.

I stared at it with wide eyes, waiting for the pain.

Waiting for death.

Seconds had never passed as slowly as they did during that moment. The pounding of my own heart ticked as if it were my own internal clock as I waited.

I had imagined my death many times, and yet dying by an Untouchable’s hand never made the list. And it was probably the most feasible.

After a minute passed and I was still alive, I looked up a foot into amused dark eyes. He was the same height as Weston, and it did a great job of making me feel like a child. And uncomfortably aware of how vulnerable I was.

I swallowed. “Are you not an Untouchable?”

He frowned. “Do you know anything about us?”

What I did know was that he had known that I thought I would die, and yet he’d persisted in his disgusting demonstration. Why did men think to use me for their amusement?

I ripped my wrist out of his grasp. “I know you are rapists and murderers!”

His eyes hardened. “Insult me again and I will show you a rapist.” He said it in that way only one with authority could manage, and I grew uncomfortable under his hard gaze. He shook his head, and his lips lifted into a small smile. “I don’t think a woman has ever spoken to me like that before. Where did you come from?”

“Do I have to say it again?” I asked, none of your business being said with my eyes. “Can I go now?”

“I can’t let you go.”

“Why?”

Please tell me I didn’t go from one man’s grasp to another’s.

“Because women are not allowed to travel in this province alone.”

“What kind of disgusting rule is that?”

“Tell me who your man is and we will find him. You cannot leave without one.”

My thoughts immediately went to Weston, and I pushed them away with a disgusted shove. “I don’t have a man. Nor do I need one.”

He raised a brow. “Father, then?”

“No.”

“Well then, it looks like you belong to me.” His smile was wicked, and I wanted to smack it off his face. But self-preservation was awakened by the almost death scare earlier. Thank Alyria.

“I don’t care about your stupid laws. I’m not from here, so they do not apply to me.”