The Chosen Ones

Chapter Five

Chapter 5

I knew I was being watched.

Not that I heard the intruder. No, it was more of a sensation: the tightening of my gut, a shiver that whispered over my body and raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. It was a knowing.

While living in the compound, I would have dismissed the feeling. But now even the tiniest oddity yelled at me. And this, whatever it was, definitely screamed. I swallowed hard, my hands beginning to tremble as I racked my brain, trying to come up with a way out of the situation, preferably with my life still intact.

After only about thirty minutes of walking, exhaustion had forced me to stop at the river to get a drink and cool off. Once again I found myself cursing the fact that I had done nothing but sit those first two weeks. If only I'd accepted my fate immediately. If only I'd started training that first day.

The sun had almost set and the woods were an eerie gray in color, the birds loud as they chirped their good nights. Their songs and the gurgle of rushing water made it hard to hear. Will was right, I was an idiot. It was too much too soon for my weak body, and I knew too little to traipse out into the world on my own.

The only thing I could do was hope it was a deer, and if it wasn't...flee.

But I didn't run because I had a river in front of me, and the hill and whoever followed were behind. Another stupid move on my part. Instead, I cupped my trembling hands, dipped them into the clear stream, and sipped the cool water, waiting for the attack. My fingers itched to grab the dagger attached to my thigh, but I didn't want to make a move too soon. Common sense told me a surprise attack was the best and only option.

A twig snapped, a shadowed reflection wavered against the water, next to the reflection of the moonlight. Too blurry to make out the details. How I wanted to be brave, but I couldn't stop my heart from jumping into my throat. Not a deer, unfortunately. A man. Fear tasted bitter against my tongue. Not Will; he would have called out instead of sneaking up on me. I knew. I knew even before the soft scent whispered to me on the breeze. The scent of spring. A scent I knew too well. The scent of a beautiful one.

An odd calm washed over me. This was the moment I'd been waiting for, the moment when I would either win or lose. Kill or be killed. I had only a second to react. All in one motion, I snatched the dagger from its sheath on my thigh and spun around, shoving my arm forward.

The intruder hit my wrist. Pain radiated down to my hand. My fingers opened automatically and the dagger fell to the ground, lost in the brush and darkness. Desperate, I lifted my knee to the spot that was vulnerable on every man, whether human or a beautiful one. But before I got near, he grabbed my arm and flipped me.

For a brief moment I spun, staring up at the dark, skeletal branches above before landing with a thud to the ground. The wind knocked from my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. I didn't have time to recuperate as suddenly he loomed over me.

As I lay there begging for breath, he knelt beside me. Moonlight hit his face, pure as the art work I'd seen in books. Beautiful. Stunning...if not for the scar.

"Thanatos," I whispered, unsure if I should be relieved or terrified.

"Please, Thane." He smiled mockingly. "It's what my friends call me."

My hands curled into the damp earth as I resisted the urge to swing at him. It would do no good. I was no match for him physically.

His gaze shifted from my face to my fingers and his smile fell. "You're bleeding."