“Please,” I whispered.
“You must be quiet.”
“I will.”Anything if he’d keep touching me.
One of his long fingers moved lower, parting my flesh then slipping inside me.I arched back, catching my breath and biting my lip hard.Another finger joined that one, stretching me until I was satisfyingly full.Then his finger slid upward and circled the small nub that throbbed for him.
I closed my mouth, keeping my moans inside, but I couldn’t stop my hips from rocking to increase the friction between us.I had found pleasure by touching myself before.I knew what I needed.
But Taio moved his finger away, gliding back inside me.I let out a small cry of disappointment, and he bit my breast lightly.“Shh,” he said.I almost moaned, so he’d bite me again.But then his slick finger was on me, flicking and teasing, and making me squirm.He brought me within reach of climax twice more before using his thumb on me.By that time, I was so lost in the pleasure that I didn’t object when he put a hand over my mouth.Instead, I bit his palm as his thumb circled me until I saw white stars.I bit harder as my hips bucked and my muscles clenched around the fingers inside me.He pressed upward with those fingers, making my breath catch as pleasure unlike I’d ever known coursed through me.I dug my hands into the bedroll beneath me and tried to hold on as my body soared into oblivion.
When I opened my eyes again, he’d moved his hand from my mouth and pulled me against his chest, probably to muffle the way I panted.His mouth was on my temple, kissing me gently and his hand was on my back moving in slow circles.
I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, and when I did, my voice wouldn’t work.“That was...that...how did you...”I finally managed.
“Sleep now,” he said.
I didn’t argue.My eyes already felt heavy, and my body felt light as though I were floating.I closed my eyes, and when Taio rose later that night to take his turn at the watch, I turned over and slept deeply and dreamlessly.
***
DARK CLOUDS HUNG LOWin the sky.I smelled rain and damp earth and wet fiber as I trudged behind Omira and occasionally wiped rain from my eyes.I’d woken before Taio this morning, and when I’d pushed his coat off my face, drizzle was already falling.Yung gave me a sympathetic look.He had the last watch and was already wet through.
The rest of the Zulenii were stirring.I carefully avoided Taio’s gaze as I plaited my hair, which had somehow come loose again, then rolled my bedding and helped break camp.No one seemed to want to talk.We had nothing to eat so we drank our water and shouldered our packs in silence.But my body still hummed with the pleasure Taio had given me last night.My face burned when I thought about how I’d reacted to his touch.I prayed to the gods none of the others had been awake and realized what was happening.I glanced at Taio as we formed a line, and he winked at me.I quickly looked away.Clearly, he wasn’t at all embarrassed.
Of course, he hadn’t been the one writhing about on the ground whimpering.
We walked for more than two hours before we came across another log structure.This cabin still stood, though it leaned perilously to one side.We gathered on the outskirts of the clearing where the cabin had been built, looking for any signs of Hollows.I was also watching for Gaz or Nize.If anyone was inside the cabin, they were long dead.Undisturbed leaves and moss as well as saplings dotted the clearing.No one had walked here in some time.
Kintle said something and Taio leaned close to translate quietly.I tried not to shiver when his lips brushed my ear.Had he done that on purpose?“Kintle says we should go inside and wait out the weather.”
“No,” I said.As tempting as that idea was, it was even more dangerous.The last time we’d found an abandoned structure, we’d lost Finnrey.“Whoever lived here might still be in the area.It’s not a coincidence that the last attack from Hollows was near what had once been a habitation.”
Omira gestured to the undisturbed ground.“No footprints,” she murmured.“No scent of them.”
We all breathed in, and I had to admit that the air smelled only of wet earth and the cedar trees surrounding us.
“We can build a fire inside,” Omira said, her voice heavy with longing.The mention of a fire tempted even me.The weather grew colder every day.This morning I could see the fog of my breath when I exhaled.I hadn’t been warm for days—except in Taio’s arms.Now I was wet and cold.We all were.
“Mara is right,” Taio said.“Too dangerous.”
I glanced at him, wondering if he’d sensed my hesitation.At his words, I felt relief flow through me.As much as I wanted a fire and the comfort of four walls and a roof, we had to keep moving.I felt Gaz breathing on the back of my neck and ached to run away.
Omira kicked at a rock but did not argue with Taio.He took the lead now, and I took the rear of our line.We moved silently and cautiously, my every sense on alert.A quarter hour passed, and I saw nothing, smelled nothing.After half an hour, Taio fell back, taking my place at the rear as Yung took the lead.The clouds above opened, and rain poured down on us, the sound like a waterfall.Omira gave me a disgusted look then faced front as we trudged through the downpour.
We continued walking, my skin prickling.I swiped water out of my eyes then unsheathed my skullcrusher.Taio touched my shoulder, and I paused.He gestured to the skullcrusher, and I shrugged but I held it at the ready.He nodded and withdrew his weapon.I wouldn’t have smelled or heard the Hollow if I hadn’t been looking at Taio.I spotted the movement over his shoulder as one of them crashed through the trees to our north.I pushed Taio hard to the side and met the Hollow in five steps.I noted it was a boy a few years younger than me and several inches shorter.His neck had been torn away, the skin hanging in rotten black strips that grazed his shoulder.His clothes were little more than threads hanging on his body of leathery skin over bones.I didn’t think I’d ever seen a Hollow this ancient.He opened his mouth, showing black teeth and a swollen, gray tongue.His teeth chattered as though he anticipated the meal I’d make.I hefted the skullcrusher and swung it in a wide arc, slamming the pointed end into the damaged side of his face.Instead of blood, yellowish fluid spurted from the wound that all but split his head open.I hadn’t killed him, though.He went down, his crushed skull looking a bit like wet sand caved in after the tide has gone out, but his limbs still moved.I stood over him and swung again, finishing him.
“Mara!”Taio called, and I pivoted in time to knock another one back with the blunt end of my weapon.This one had once been a boy of fifteen or sixteen.He’d lost one eye, and moss grew from the blackness of the empty socket.He stumbled back, and I wielded my weapon again, taking out his good eye and ending him.He crumpled to the ground, letting out a slow hiss as the rain poured down.
I scrambled away from the two Hollows at my feet, slipping on the wet ground.Taio grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the others who were a few yards ahead of us now.Most likely they hadn’t heard the commotion behind them until the first Hollow was dead.My eyes darted everywhere, looking for more of them.If we were fortunate, the noise of the rain would have muted the sounds of the fight.Taio shoved me ahead of him, and I skidded on the wet leaves.When I had my balance again, I looked up to see two more of them emerging behind us.I glanced at the Zulenii waiting ahead, their faces pale with concern.I waved a hand at them, urging them to keep moving.Taio and I would catch up.They were easy targets standing there.If more Hollows were coming for us—and I had every reason to believe more were out there—Taio and I might be able to outrun them and catch up.In the meantime, the others would be out of danger.
Taio swung his weapon at a man who came for him, arms outstretched and hands curved like claws.He too was an old Hollow, though young when he’d died.He was practically naked and all sinew and bone.The blunt end of Taio’s weapon connected with the old Hollow’s neck, all but decapitating the head.The creature moved toward him another step or two before spasming and going down.I took the woman who was right behind him, her chest torn open so I could see her ribs and what were once her lungs.Now all was black with dirt and decay.She was a foot shorter than I, and I drove the point of my skullcrusher into the top of her skull.She stilled and went limp, and I almost fell into her attempting to dislodge my weapon.The rain had made the ground slippery.We needed to get away from here before one of us lost our footing and slid into the biting jaws of a Hollow.
Taio grunted, and I looked over my shoulder to see two more coming out of the trees and heading for him.I uttered a curse, but before I could aid him, three more crashed out of the trees before me.My breath caught in my throat, and the first trickles of fear slid icy rivulets down my back.I’d never faced so many Hollows with so few allies.Two against five was not impossible odds, but usually I’d have six or seven members of my patrol with me when we faced a pack like this.
Taio swung at a woman, missed her neck, and lodged his weapon in her shoulder.The other Hollow came for him as he struggled to free the blunt end of his weapon.I glanced at the three coming for me then yelled to attract the Hollow heading for Taio.He swung his head in my direction, and I hefted my weapon as he changed course and headed for me.I was tired now, and the best strategy when fighting a pack was to wait for them to approach, then take them out.Unfortunately, I had the three behind me coming up fast, and I couldn’t wait.Instead, I kicked out, knocking the older man and even older Hollow onto his back.Then before he could grab my boots, I slammed the dull end of my skullcrusher into his face.Taio was already attacking one of the coming three, the woman he’d been occupied with a moment ago lying motionless on the ground.I heard something behind me and whirled to see another Hollow coming out of the trees.
And then two more.
