Her lip quivered, this time more from fear than cold. Candy struggled harder. Her legs prickled with pins and needles as the blood flow returned to her limbs. Had to escape. She had to get away.

Run.

Run.

Run.

“Stay still,” the monster growled, he tightened his grip on her.

His voice was rough and commanding. He said it with such an air of authority. Like he expected her to just give up. Bastard! Candy squirmed harder.

“Stop that or I will throw you back.” There was something in his tone that told her that he meant it.

Yes! No! She would die if he threw her back in and she didn’t want to die. She was too young. Candy sighed. All of the tension left her battered, exhausted body and she slumped against him. “Don’t hurt me,” a mere whisper. She hated begging but what choice did she have?

A soft gasp of shock escaped as he deposited her on the bank. For a moment it looked like he was going to leave her there. Candy couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe she was going to survive this after all.

The dark eyed monster with the gruff voice leaned in next to her and swept the hair from her face. Shit! He wasn’t leaving. She moaned, terrified and sickened just thinking about what was going to happen to her next.

His eyes moved to hers as the ground vibrated with heavy footfalls. They weren’t alone. Oh god! There were more of them. Maybe she would get lucky and they would kill each other. She forced her gaze away from the terrifying man at her side and her heart stuttered in her chest.

The beast that approached was bigger than the dark one. Way meaner looking. He moved quicker than she thought possible. His eyes were a pale blue, the color of a glacier on a winter’s day and just as hard and cold. His features were set in a hard grimace. A shiver ran up her spine.

He didn’t even glance in their direction. Those hard orbs were fixed on the path ahead. He frowned, there was a look of determination edged onto his features. His ridiculously large hands were fisted at his sides. His arms were like massive tree trunks. They were corded and knotted with muscle. Her mouth fell open with the sheer shock of seeing a specimen like him. Thank god he didn’t seem interested.

Wait a minute!

That didn’t bode well for her. She needed them to hurt each other. To focus on one another and forget about her. Feeling was slowly coming back to her limbs. If given a few precious minutes, she might be able to crawl out of harms way. Her energy reserves were almost on empty, but she needed to try.