I undid the buttons and shrugged off the heavy, cumbersome garment. Beneath, I wore a simple white slip that fell to just above my knees. It wasn’t any more revealing than a short sundress on Earth. Tugging at the scooped neckline, I peeked beneath and saw that I wore something halfway between a corset and a bra. My girls were well contained and didn’t bounce around, so I was thankful. Leaving the dress behind, I continued walking, following the edge of the stream. The shoes I wore were simple and flat. I didn’t know what would happen to them if they got wet, so I stuck to the dry bank and didn’t feel the need to cross.
The sun did not seem to set in Viken, nor move across the sky. It felt like hours since I’d killed that man, miles I’d walked from the transport building and I had seen no one, heard no one other than the little tree creatures. I felt like fucking Snow White walking through the forest, waiting for the woodsman to come cut out my heart.
Did anyone even know I was here? That I’d gone missing? Or been rerouted. Or whatever the hell had happened.
My legs ached, the muscles shaking and I was hungry. The last thing I’d eaten on Earth had been hours before my testing at the bride center. Who knew how long ago that was? My stomach thought it had been days and days, the ache sharp as a knife. I’d been told that Earth was light years away from this planet, so I was allowed to grumble about wanting a hamburger and french fries. I’d earned a damn double-fudge milkshake with whipped cream and little chocolate chips, even if it would stick to my ass.
Nauseous and dizzy, I couldn’t keep going. I needed to rest. Moving away from the stream, I turned back into the woods until I found a large tree and began to climb, wedging myself into a seat of sorts made where three large branches intersected. Pulling my knees up beside me, I leaned my head against the smooth bark and slowed my breathing. Glad that it wasn’t cold, I rested for several minutes as the noise of the forest resumed around me. Birds sang songs I did not recognize. A strange, fuzzy black creature hopped from branch to branch like a squirrel back home. Odd insects flew in the air around me, but most left me alone. One or two landed on me, but I quickly waved them away, wishing I’d kept the blue dress for a blanket or bug net.
At least I hadn’t tripped over it for the past few miles.
“Sophia!”
The loud cry caused me to stiffen, but I did not respond as three large Viken males entered the woods directly below me. The man who’d cried out was tall and blond, his eyes too far away to see clearly, I suspected they were green. He was big and muscular, his large frame covered in a dark green uniform with a red band around his arm. His face was handsome enough to cause my heart to race with more than fear.
“Sophia!” A second man walked a few paces behind the blond and called out to me as well. He turned his head from side to side, looking for me. He was thicker of chest and a few inches shorter than his companion. But he looked like my favorite actor, his long brown hair tied at the base of his skull to flow midway down his back. He wore a brown uniform with the same red band around his arm and carried a strange-looking weapon he used to push aside foliage in his search for me.
Allowing them to pass, I sat in silence for long minutes and considered coming down from the tree as they wandered farther and farther away from my position. I’d begun to think I should climb down and take my chances that they weren’t here to kill me. That was, until I saw the third man.
He did not speak as he followed at least a quarter mile behind them. He moved through the woods on silent feet, his dark gaze searching everything.
Of the three, he was the only one to look up.
Shrinking back behind the huge tree’s main trunk, I hid completely and peeked down at him through a full spray of emerald green leaves. He wore black from head to toe with the same red armband. He had dark black hair, cut short and dark eyes. His face reminded me of the hottest Greek or Italian model ever to grace the pages of a magazine, but his skin was darker, the color of my favorite mocha latte. He was beautiful, but hard. It was his eyes that held me frozen in place. They were cold, unemotional and calculating as he followed the others through the woods.
So, the first two were meant to flush me out for the hunter following behind.
I might be a city girl, but I wasn’t stupid. I’d seen this scenario played out on the streets back home. Send a couple guys around to knock on doors and stir up trouble. And, just when everyone thought it was safe, the real enforcer showed up and knocked someone’s teeth in.
Nope. Not falling for this bullshit.
Chapter Four
Sophia
The last man walked directly beneath me and I held my breath, not daring to make so much as a whisper of sound as he stopped moving. Heart pounding so loudly I feared he would hear it, I clutched at the tree and prayed he would just keep going. If he looked up, straight up, I’d be his.
The weapon in his hand, a larger version of the space gun I’d held earlier—the gun I’d used to kill—rested across his arm like a familiar friend. The dark black sleeves of his uniform inched up and I bit my lip to keep the scream trapped in my throat as I spotted the tattoo on the inside of his wrist.
The three-headed serpent.
Fuck.
That answered that. The transporter guy must have sent these three to finish me off.
I closed my eyes, the air I’d held trapped in my lungs burning like acid.
With a slow, controlled technique I’d learned in yoga class, I released a small trickle of air before filling my lungs in the same manner.
I counted to a hundred. Two hundred. Three. When I opened my eyes he was still there.
I wanted to scream at him to move on, to get the hell out of here.
The other two returned to join him, their calls increasing in volume as they came nearer.
“Gunnar? What are you doing? We have to keep moving.” The blond one spoke.
Gunnar. So, my tattooed hunter had a name.