Hunted (Eden, #2)

by Louise Wise

  ‘Diana’s safe, Jenny,’ he said. ‘Hold on to that thought.’

  Her shoulders began to shake as she started to cry. He turned her against his chest. There was no sound. Just convulsions, but Fly continued to hold her until she was spent. Eventually, she pulled away and reluctantly he let her go. The tip of her nose was red and she ran the back of her hand over it.

  ‘I want the truth,’ she said. She looked up at him through a watery gaze.

  He frowned, not understanding. ‘That is the truth. She’s safe.’

  ‘But she’s been without food for days. Even an adult would struggle with that.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have left her if I didn’t trust that she’d be looked after. Molver was feeding her from an improvised bottle before I left to search for you.’

  ‘The girl! I forgot about her.’

  ‘Girl? You knew Molver was a girl?’ Fly half laughed. ‘When I left she was feeding her using diluted animal milk, and Diana didn’t seem too fussed. She was thriving.’ He didn’t know that for sure, but he did know that Molver and Saneg would do their best for her.

  She stared at him for a long moment as if to gauge his honesty, then her face transformed into a relieved smile.

  There was a crash behind them followed by the sound of escaped breath. They turned to see Gorjum, still gagged and bound from the waist up, on the ground. He scrambled to his knees and glared at them.

  ‘Uhhhhm,’ he said behind his binds.

  ‘It’s rude to swear in front of a lady,’ Jenny said.

  Fly started to chuckle, and then Jenny was laughing too. He pulled her against him again; this time the hug was one of pleasure and not of comfort. He buried his face in her hair.

  ‘I was so scared,’ he said in English, ‘that I was going to die without knowing what had happened to you. Up there on the podium, I thought the natives had inflicted the same on you as what they were doing to me. It was that thought that was killing me, not the birds.’

  ‘If it weren’t for them Murdow would have killed me,’ she said.

  ‘We found his body.’ He switched back to Jelvian, and glanced at Gorjum. He was standing now, breathing heavily, which Fly supposed was anger. He jerked his head in Gorjum’s direction. ‘He calls this new native race “orwain”. They’re another species of the honnard.’

  ‘What’s he doing here anyway?’ She’d followed his gaze. ‘Is he a friend?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Fly answered honestly. ‘He followed me. He’s the leader of the camp where I left Diana. He’s Molver’s father—’

  ‘Father? I didn’t think Jelvias had proper family?’

  ‘Neither did I.’ They both looked at Gorjum. He’d fallen again.

  ‘What shall we do about him?’ Jenny asked.

  ‘He thinks you’re my prisoner. He wanted to save you from me.’

  Jenny looked shocked, and then she laughed. ‘If he’s going to be another Bodie or Matt then kill him now. I couldn’t go through being piggy in the middle again.’

  ‘Hummm, Fiii!’ Gorjum was on his knees and trying to stand.

  ‘Are you sure he’s safe?’ asked Jenny.

  ‘You’re safe,’ Fly said. ‘It’s me he hates.’ Fly advanced towards Gorjum, and sliced at his binds. As soon as his hands were free, Gorjum threw a punch at Fly. It landed on his chin, and knocked him flat.

  Jenny had drawn her sword instantly, but Gorjum stepped back several paces with his hands raised.

  Fly sat up, rubbing his chin. ‘Jenny meet Gorjum, Gorjum, Jenny.’

  Gorjum sliced the rope around his face, freeing his mouth. He dropped the binding to the ground and stared at Jenny. Fly tried to read his expression, ready to kill if as much as a flicker of sexual interest crossed his face. But there was nothing but awe.

  ‘I’m not Fly’s prisoner,’ Jenny said. She raised her chin. ‘He’s mine.’

  ‘You can keep him,’ Gorjum said. He walked to the cliff edge, and shaded his eyes. ‘I recognise that cluster of rocks in the sea. The boats are over there.’ He turned his back to the cliff and using the rope began to climb down. ‘Shame your boat won’t be around by the time you get there,’ he added slicing the rope and jumping the remaining few metres.

  Jenny shrugged off a rolled up fur from her back. ‘I’ve more rope,’ she said, trying to unsuccessfully pluck at the knot.

  Fly grabbed it and tossed it over the edge of the cliff, then yelled at Jenny to hold tight as he threw her over his shoulder, and then slipped over the edge. Gorjum was calmly walking towards the ocean.

  Fly set Jenny down, watching him. ‘He’s bluffing,’ he said, and felt the relief sweep over him. He didn’t want enemies any more. Life was a struggle as it was. He began picking up Jenny’s fallen belongings as they had scattered from the impact of the fall.

  ‘Leave them,’ Jenny said. She was striding across the sand, her hand on her sword as if she was going after Gorjum to slay him.

  Fly grabbed the rope and began to follow.

  Gorjum reached the shore first, and turned to look over his shoulder. Fly watched his gaze fall to Jenny’s sword as she approached him and saw how his face softened and broke into a smile. He couldn’t hear what Jenny said, because the wind whipped her voice away, but Gorjum’s smile widened.

  ‘Your enemies were all in the valley,’ he heard him say as he drew near. ‘And Fly saw to it that they and their community were destroyed—’

  ‘Fly didn’t see to it, I saw to it,’ she said.

  Gorjum glanced at Fly. He looked shocked.

  ‘Don’t mess with a goddess,’ Fly said, coming to stand behind her.

  Gorjum’s gaze dropped back to Jenny. He half bowed, and then swept his hand towards the beach, where two boats lay. ‘After you.’

  She stalked ahead, leaving Fly and Gorjum following.

  They glanced at one another.

  ‘She’s not your prisoner,’ Gorjum said.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘You’re a lucky man.’

  ‘I know that, too.’

  Chapter Sixty One

  It was a long row back. Exhaustion had dropped on Jenny and she sat in the boat with furs around her shoulders, as Fly worked the oars. She couldn’t remember reaching land and was woken by strong arms lifting her up.

  They were on the same riverbank where she escaped Murdow for the first time. She slipped her hand into Fly’s as they stepped away from the river and followed Gorjum towards the cluster of trees. There was a worn path winding through the wood and Jenny could hear a faint clanging of a bell.

  Fly’s fingers squeezed hers as they stepped out of the trees and into a settlement. Jenny’s intake of breath was audible. There were several single-story houses made out of stone, with grassy roofs and tall chimneys, which belched smoke. There were the horse-like creatures she’d seen in the valley contained in a paddock. There were carts waiting to be hitched to the animals, a field of something tall and golden growing, another that looked newly ploughed…

  Jenny was looking around at this little bit of civilisation aware that she was being equally looked at. Her heart was thudding. She was sure everyone could hear it.

  ‘The goddess—’

  She looked over as a tall, but very skinny, girl clapped a hand over her mouth. This had to be Molver. Then she broke into a run towards them. She halted a few feet away and surveyed them from wide eyes.

  Gorjum ruffled her hair, and she beamed up at him. Then she turned back to Jenny and Fly as if she couldn’t peel her eyes away.

  Jenny forced a smile. But she was anxious to see Diana. She was afraid of being told bad news, and half didn’t want to know anything: wanted to keep the picture in her head that Diana was OK.

  Then a man came out of the building. He was holding a small bundle. Jenny heard her own voice, although she didn’t realise she’d spoken: ‘My baby.’

  Other Jelvias came out of buildings, until the dwelling was full of dark-haired men.

  Jenny was only interested in one
, and that was the one holding Diana. He came over, and very gently held out the child. Jenny stepped forward, her arms automatically outstretched.

  The baby was asleep. She looked cleaner than Jenny had last seen her. She grunted, but didn’t waken.

  Jenny snuggled the child against her shoulder, and nuzzled the downy hair with her cheek. She drank in the child’s scent, until, overcome at the soft, warm little body in her arms, her legs wobbled and she sank to the ground.

  Small noises were coming from her throat, but she didn’t register they were hers until Fly scooped both her and Diana up, and carried them into the house where Diana’s babysitters had been looking after her.

  He closed the door.

  Epilogue

  The child toddled into the honnard settlement and straight up to Bo.

  ‘Chuff-chuff,’ she said. ‘Chuff, nuff-huff.’

  Bo hunkered down and gabbled back.

  ‘I reckon she’s fluent honnard,’ Jenny said, watching from the side-lines. Fly stood behind her, his hands circling her waist to rest on her bulging belly. He felt her tense as a contraction rode her body.

  ‘OK? Want me to carry you?’

  ‘No, no I’m fine.’ She breathed out. ‘I’m ready for Mum, though. I think my waters have broken.’

  Coming crashing through the trees behind them was Molver and Saneg. Molver’s hands were on the rump of a sleeping baby carried in a harness on her chest. ‘I’m not happy about this,’ she said. She’d been saying the same thing over and over since they started out.

  ‘They brought Diana into the world,’ Fly said, ‘and it’s what Jenny wants.’

  ‘Definitely what I want,’ said Jenny. She waddled over to a crackling fire as Bo straightened and came towards them, his grin stretching his face. Molver and Saneg followed reluctantly.

  Fly helped Jenny lower her bulk to sit beside the fire. ‘How are the contractions?’ he asked as Jenny sucked in a breath, before blowing it out.

  The pain passed and she grinned up at him, excitement lighting her eyes. ‘Very close and intense now. Where’s Diana?’

  ‘She went into that cave,’ said Molver. She unclipped the harness and took out a dark-haired baby. She unbuttoned her clothes to free a breast to feed the child.

  ‘To find Mum,’ Fly finished for her, and sat beside Jenny. Since the valley-Jelvias’ demise life had been settled. They had lived in Gorjum’s settlement until Jenny was strong enough to travel home, then put their prairie back together with a little help from their new-found friends.

  Caring for Diana had made Saneg and Molver evaluate their true feelings for one another, and they’d come to a happy conclusion which resulted in Molver becoming pregnant almost two years later—their little boy was born three months ago.

  Diana came out of the cave holding Mum’s hairy hand. Mum rushed over to Jenny, pulling the maracas from her upper arm, and shaking them around her. Then she lowered her stocky frame and rested her hands on Jenny’s stomach.

  ‘Chuff-fari, fari chuff-huff.’

  The adults’ gaze automatically swung to Diana for a translation. She grinned at them. ‘Baba ready,’ she said.

  Jenny was whisked away, and Fly could see her being settled onto fur inside a cave. He hesitated, watching the activity around her.

  ‘What are you waiting for?’ asked Molver.

  He grinned, then kissed the top of Diana’s head as she tried to climb onto Molver’s lap while she fed her baby.

  ‘Careful, sweetie,’ she said.

  Saneg stood up and lifted the little girl onto his shoulders. ‘Let’s go and find some nuts to roast.’ At Fly he mouthed, ‘Go on.’

  Fly smiled his thanks then headed towards the cave where inside Jenny was on all-fours, rocking to and fro as a female honnard stroked her back. Mum was murmuring and shaking her maracas.

  ‘Get your arse in here, alien,’ Jenny said through her panting. ‘You ain’t missing this one.’

  Also by Louise Wise

  Eden

  Prequel to Hunted

  When the mission to Planet Eden went wrong and Jenny ended up castaway on the cold and dank world, she was resigned to her new life even if it meant she had to fend for herself and hide from vicious creatures that appeared to be half wolf half human.

  But was she alone? It felt like someone was stalking her; watching her. Waiting.

  Imprisoned for brutal crimes against his wardens, Fly became an unwilling experiment and was transported, with other criminals, to a hostile planet. Full of mutiny, anger and a desire for revenge the experiment was never going to be successful and Fly became the only survivor when the craft crashed.

  Jenny was about to meet Fly.

  Jenny plodded along, stupefied. The fingers circling her nape were biting and painful, but the echo of the howling wolves was still too tightly embedded in her mind for her to notice. One part of her knew Fly was leading her to her rape, and that part was going to allow it to happen, because the other side was lying dormant through fear and exhaustion.

  The corridor was laden with dirt and grime. Animal excrement, together with electronic debris, lay in her path, but she continued to be guided forward. His cabin door was open, and he nudged her towards the bed.

  While she sat nervously on the edge, he heated a metal canteen over a crudely assembled grill, wired haphazardly to a small accumulator. She watched as he stirred in the same beverage that she’d had yesterday morning. When it was steaming, he filled a cup and gave it to her.

  He sat on a chair opposite, and observed her with his usual disconcerting stare.

  She stared back, confused, until her fingers began to burn from holding the cracked cup. She pressed it against her lips, and it was only then that she realised her teeth were chattering.

  ‘You are not going to survive,’ he said finally, using one of the small computers he had taken from the shelf.

  She gulped a mouthful of the liquid and tried to disguise the unwelcome tears that pooled in her eyes. Already he thought her a weak, pathetic female; and, for some strange reason, she didn’t want to give him further evidence to think any worse of her.

  ‘How do you stand it?’ she asked quietly. ‘The endless howling, night after night?’

  ‘There is a worse sound, and that is no sound at all.’

  Louise Wise also writes romantic comedy:

  A Proper Charlie

  Charlie Wallis has everything a girl could wish for. A loving boyfriend, a nice flat and a fantastic job as a journalist for London Core. Trouble is, Charlie’s boyfriend’s a jerk, her job title really reads ‘clerk’ and her flat, at the top of a high-rise, isn’t that nice after all.

  Her new boss, Ben, is a huge bear of a man. A gentle giant, with chocolate brown eyes that hold a secret.

  While London Core investigates the murders of local prostitutes, Charlie wants in on the action, deciding that dressing as a hooker and walking the streets is good research.

  Bumping into Ben was the last thing she expected.

  Charlie watched as he fell back onto her settee, and then straddled his lap. Oh my God! What was she doing! She was having an out-of-body-experience, she thought. Only she wasn’t dead. She was alive. Very much so. She wriggled against him wonderingly and excitement flared in her body as his own rose to her teasing.

  His lips parted on a groan, and his Cadbury eyes blazed. She was rocking on Ben Middleton’s lap like she was in a third-rate porn movie. Rocking on the man of her dreams’ hardening lap.

  A criminal’s lap.

  She had recognised him the instant he pulled up beside her in the Audi. The hair curling around the ears, the way he held the angle of his head, the slight slip-up on the stupid Scottish accent. Oh, yes, here at her disposal was Ben Middleton. And boy, was she going to see justice done!

  But then he kissed her.

  Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!

  All Valerie Anthrope wanted was to be in control of her destiny.

  In a short-sighted decision, she
employs ‘mad as a hatter’ Ellen Semple as her assistant in her financial brokerage, only to find her life being taken over by the domineering older woman.

  And to add insult to injury, client, Lex Kendal, seems equally determined to own her.

  But just who is Ellen Semple? Where did she come from? Why does she want to help Valerie so badly? And how come she seems to know Lex even though they aren’t supposed to have met before?

  As soon as I entered, the music, balloons and smiley waitresses wearing festive hats, and the entire Christmassy atmosphere made me realise I’d made a mistake. I should have faked a migraine.

  Paul spotted me first and stood up. ‘Yoo-hoo! Over here, Miss Anthrope.’

  Paul, his wife Milly and Tim sat around a table where above floated coloured balloons, their strings attached to a weight in the centre of an equally bright tablecloth.

  I made my way over and immediately spotted a stranger – and a scam. Ellen guided me over and insisted I sit next to the stranger while she sat the other side of me. The man had a ready smile, and beautiful eyes. They were the brightest blue, and totally wasted on a male. I was immediately interested despite the set-up.

  ‘This is Jon. Jon, Valerie,’ Ellen introduced us.

  I nodded, removed my coat, which a passing waitress took. I sat down and smiled at Milly. ‘Nice to see you again,’ I said.

  ‘Ooh, can I have your red straw?’ Milly said to Ellen. ‘I’ll swap you my black one.’

  There was little doubt this was Paul’s wife. Ellen swapped straws, and winked across at me. ‘Jon’s an accountant,’ she said.

  ‘And you’re a financial broker,’ Jon said, tapping me on the nose with his finger on the word “you’re”.

  My interest vanished in a puff of oh-my-God-he’s-a-jerk smoke and I sent multitudinous angry thoughts to Ellen, but straight-faced she looked back at me and said, ‘Well, we’ll leave you two love birds alone while we eat on the next table. Come along, you others. Let’s leave the youngsters to it.’