The End Zone: SPORTS ROMANCE (Contemporary Sport Bad Boy Alpha Male American Football Romance) (New Adult Second Chance Women’s Fiction Romance Short Stories) (12 page)

Her bare feet were covered in mud and also looked bloodied.  Conrad looked her in the eye, noting for the first time that there was more than just the typical wide-eyed look of a defiant young human caught out after curfew.  This woman wasn’t a teen pushing boundaries, she was genuinely terrified.

“I don’t know what happened to you, but we have to leave, soon.  This forest is protected, but this far out from town, I can’t guarantee the vampires aren’t sneaking in and breaking the treaty.  We don’t have time to discuss this.  We have to leave soon or you’ll be in danger.”

He kept his hands up in front of him, swinging his leg over Stella’s rump and stepping onto the ground.  He moved slowly towards the human, keeping his pace even, trying not to frighten her.

Hooves beat down the path ahead and to the right of them as Sterling pulled up and met them on the path.  Conrad groaned aloud, not at all surprised when the girl turned and ran east, back the way she’d come.

“You have the worst timing.”

Conrad took off after the girl on foot, his long stride easily covering the distance between them.  He caught himself admiring her firm backside as it peeked out from beneath the hem of her tunic.  He admonished himself and picked up speed.  They couldn’t spend any more time in the woods. 

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her back, slowing her down enough to grab hold of her waist and pull her into his arms.

“We have to go.  I promise that no one will make a meal of you if you’ll just cooperate.”

“Never!”  She kicked and writhed in his arms, trying her best to break free.  She leaned down and bit his arm, drawing blood as he howled in pain. 

Behind him, Sterling’s laughter carried through down the trail.  A quick glance over his shoulder told him that Sterling had a clear view of the scene and his friend was enjoying the show.

“A little help, Sterling?”

“It looks like you’ve got it under control.”

Conrad groaned and picked the girl up, whistling to his mare.  Stella raced to his side and stopped, waiting for him to mount.  He placed the girl in the saddle and swung up behind her.  He picked her up and slid into the saddle proper, locking her between himself and the cantle.

“I’m sorry I have to be so rough.  It looks like you’ve had a hell of a day.  But we’re out of time, and I don’t want to break my promise.”

Sterling turned the horses and took off at a fast gallop down the straight, open trail towards town.  They’d lost a bit of time chasing after Lizette, and they both knew that Dallin couldn’t be trusted to uphold the treaty when the smell of human flesh was so close.  The two of them didn’t stand much of a chance fighting alone with no way of calling for backup.

***

They eased the horses into a walk not far from their cabin outside Bradenton.  Sterling pulled up beside Conrad, eyeing the angry red-head he held tightly against him while the horses trotted quickly towards home.  Her tunic had bunched all the way up, leaving very little to the imagination.  Her legs were strong, and beneath the dirt he could tell that she was quite pretty.  He pushed back thoughts of her legs wrapped around his waist as he spoke to Conrad.

“We can’t take her to town.  We don’t know who she is.”

Conrad nodded.

“Wait, no.  I want to go to the town.  I can’t stay out here!  If I do, Dallin will—”

Conrad covered her mouth with his hand, gently but firmly.

“We don’t have time to argue.  You have been bleeding for a while.  The scent of your blood will lead them right to where I picked you up.  We can’t risk bringing you to town, in case they are foolish enough to come after you.  We can keep you safe in our home.”

Sterling looked as shocked as Lizette.

“I didn’t mean to bring her to our home, Conrad.”

“Then where would you have her stay?”

Sterling growled.  Conrad was right, it was either their home or the town.  They couldn’t put the townspeople at risk any more than they could turn her loose in the woods to fend for herself.

“Fine.”

Lizette tried to speak, but Conrad held fast.  “I know you want your say, but I don’t know how to stress to you enough that we simply don’t have time.  We aren’t going to hurt you, or we would have done that in the woods.  Once we’ve had some time to figure out our next move, I promise we’ll take you into Bradenton.  For now, you have to trust us, do you understand?”

Lizette nodded.  She suddenly felt exhausted, and sagged against Conrad.  Her lips felt parched and she struggled to wet them.

“Are you thirsty?  When was the last time you drank anything?”

“At sunrise, right before I was drugged.”

Conrad wondered about the last comment, but decided to let it go, for now.  They would have time enough to get her story from her.  Right now, she needed more than just a few sips of water.  He pulled a canteen from his saddle bags and twisted the top off before he handed it to her.  She drank greedily, her throat working to pull the cool liquid out of the container.

Conrad looked her over as best he could, wincing in pain at some of the deeper cuts on her legs and arms.  Her feet were caked with mud, even though it hadn’t rained in more than a week.  It was likely caked blood that held the dirt to her bare feet.  Conrad grew angry, but he kept himself in check.  Dallin would get what was coming to him, but now was not the time.

They turned the horses down the road to their cabin, tucked neatly against a stand of trees outside the stone wall that surrounded the town.  The wall was made entirely of stone, and had taken years to complete.  It surrounded the entire town, with a mile of pasture land between the inside of the wall and the town itself.  Every quarter of a mile, another cabin was built against the wall, with another pair of Lycan sentries living there full-time.

Sterling dismounted first, handing both horses to Conrad and reaching out for Lizette.  She reluctantly turned towards him and allowed him to help her down from the saddle.  He was about to set her on the ground when he thought better of it, cradling her in his arms.

“I’ll take the horses back to the barn and have a stable hand take care of them.  I’ll be back quickly with some medicine for her cuts.”

Conrad turned his horse around and trotted off towards the only entrance into the walled settlement.  He’d be back before the sun set after informing the captain of the guard about the girl.  The two horses ambled behind Stella.  The gate opened when the guard saw Conrad and the horses approach. 

A guard met him, concern etched on his face.

“Did something happen?”

“The prisoner was delivered, but we had a small issue when we were returning.”  He handed the reins to three young stable hands that appeared and gave Stella an affectionate pat as she moved by him.  He quickly briefed the guard before leaving with supplies to dress her wounds.

“Do you have any idea where she came from?”

“No.  I don’t even know her name.  All I know is that Dallin was keeping her captive and she escaped.  Until I know more, I won’t bring her into town and put the others at risk.”

The guard nodded in agreement.  Conrad walked through the gate again, and jogged down the trail towards his home as the heavy gate swung shut behind him.

***

Owen Wrigley’s heartbeat pounded in his ears as he fled south, away from the Immortal Woods.  The sun was dipping ever closer to the horizon as he ran, and he pushed himself as fast as his legs could carry him over the rugged terrain.  He was not going to die tonight.

The trees grew closer together as he raced up to the top of the hill before him.  At the top, he climbed up a tree and looked south.  He could see the town wall far in the distance.  He estimated ten miles, and he figured he had about two hours of daylight left, if he was lucky. 

The trail went downhill from here, but the going was quite steep.  He would have to walk for a while, slowing his progress somewhat, though he needed to rest.  He’d been running non-stop since the wretched Lycan had abandoned him in the forest hours ago.

His legs were weak as he climbed down, shaking under the strain of running.  He picked his way down the steepest part of the trail carefully, pulling his canteen out of the pack to take a small sip of water. 

The low bushes pulled at his clothes as he passed.  The exposed roots threatened to trip him, but he was focused on his goal.  Fear of death was a huge motivator and Owen wasn’t about to give up this close to freedom. 

He’d spent the entire time they’d held him in the prison cell preparing for this day.  He knew they’d find him guilty, because he was.  He made no apologies for what he was, though he’d let the matter go to trial rather than confessing, in order to buy himself some time.  Each day, he’d woken up early and jogged in place in his tiny cell, increasing the amount of time a little each day. 

The guards had laughed at him, well aware of his plan, but their mirth didn’t deter him.  So close to the town, Owen didn’t dare congratulate himself just yet.  He still had so far to go, and this steep decline down the treacherous trail was hindering his progress.  The last six miles or so he would have to run at a full sprint non-stop to make it by sunset.

Owen pitched forward, leg caught on an exposed root he’d somehow missed.  He reached out with his arms to break his fall, but the hill was too steep.  He tumbled down the trail, rolling and sliding, slamming into rocks as he went.

He tried to stop his progress, to grab hold of something, anything on his way down.  But it was no use.  He made his body go completely limp, hoping that doing so would spare him severe injury.  The world spun around him, and he closed his eyes to hold back the nausea as his fall continued.

He came to rest at the bottom of the hill, a little battered but otherwise fine.  He turned back to look up the hill. 
Well that made things a little quicker,
he thought to himself.  He laughed at his good fortune; maybe he would make it to the village in plenty of time after all.

He took a quick gulp of water and shoved the canteen back in his pack before slinging it over his shoulder.  His mood was lifted by his good fortune as he took off at an easy jog towards the village wall in the distance.  He’d taken no more than three steps when the ground opened up beneath him, swallowing him whole.  He had a moment of panic before his head connected with a rock on the floor of the deep pit.  His body hit the ground and he faded into darkness, cursing his bad luck with his last breath as he lost consciousness.

***

Lizette sat by the fire, sipping the warm broth from the heavy cup that Sterling had handed her.  After so much arguing, she’d finally consented to having her wounds cleaned and dressed.  Exhausted, she struggled to keep her eyes open while Conrad went to work on her feet and legs.

Her feet were sore, but they weren’t as bad as she’d feared.  Once Conrad had soaked her aching feet in warm, soapy water and washed away the dirt and dried blood, they’d found several cuts on the soles of her feet, and one long scratch on the top.  The latter was the source of most of the blood, as well as some that had trickled down from the cuts along her calves.

Sterling came into the main room from the kitchen, handing Conrad a fresh bowl of water to replace the dirty water.  Conrad helped her lift her feet into the new water.  This water was deliciously warm and felt wonderful and healing. 

“Thank you.” 

She looked at Sterling, a shy smile touching her lips before she turned her attention to Conrad, thanking him as well.  Sterling left the room quickly, taking the old water and some of the rags they’d used to clean her wounds.  She wouldn’t be thanking them in a moment; one large gash over her eye needed stitches and the cuts on her legs were deep and would be painful to clean.  But they’d deal with that soon enough.

Lizette watched Conrad as he soaked a small rag and began clean her calves and ankles.

“So what are your names?”

“I’m Conrad and he’s Sterling.”

“Are you brothers?”

“No, we’re sentries;
Lycan
sentries.  We guard Bradenton and protect the village from vampires.”

Lizette nodded. 

“You’re not happy that we’re not human?”

“It’s not that,” said Lizette. “I can’t really complain.  Better a werewolf than a vampire, right?”

“I suppose so.  What about you?”

“Am I human?  Yes.”

“No.  What is your name?  You do have a name, right?”

Lizette laughed softly.  “I’m Lizette.”

Conrad held his free hand out, gently shaking her hand.  “It’s nice to meet you, Lizette.”

She pulled her hand from his, the heat of his skin sending shivers up her spine.  His brown eyes twinkled merrily at her sudden shyness. 

Sterling walked into the room, setting another bowl of clean water down and a suture needle and thread.  Beside it he set a bottle of clear liquid with a red label.  Lizette eyed the needle, but said nothing.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to numb the pain except laudanum.  It works quite well, but you’ll still be able to feel it.”

“It’s okay.  I’ve been through worse.”

Sterling smiled at her, the expression gentle and reassuring.  “We’ll wait until we’ve finished everything else.  You’ll likely fall asleep during or after, so we’ll finish taking care of your legs and get you dressed and in bed before I stitch you up.”