Valiant Heart by Angela Addams Page B

snapping, a few night birds calling. The crickets and frogs around the lake, the other bugs that usually serenaded me with their sounds were not making a peep. Had they been making noise when I first went under? I frowned. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention. I turned, searching the forest line for danger, my hackles rising with each sweep as I reached down and unsheathed my blade.
    â€œYou want some company in that big bath tub?” Lance stood at the shore, my toiletry case in his hand.
    I scowled, letting out a hiss as my pulse quickened for different reasons. “No.” Yes, fuck yes, hell yes , I wanted him in here with me. I wanted to slide onto his cock and ride him underwater. I wanted his hands and lips all over my wet skin, pinching my hard nipples, eating my mouth, licking the water from my flesh. “There isn’t enough room in here for both of us.”
    I resheathed my blade and swam a little closer to shore, the feel of the muddy bottom under my toes giving me a little more stability.
    Lance held up my case, a cocky smirk on his mouth. “I think you forgot something over here.” He zipped it open, rummaged around inside. “Body wash, hmmm, shampoo, toothpaste.” He glanced up. “Yep, all necessities for a good wash up. You want it?”
    â€œZip it up and toss it here,” I said with a wave, the movement splashing water in my face. “It’s waterproof and it floats.”
    He held it up, pinched between finger and thumb and shook his head. “Nah ah, you’re going to have to come and get it.”
    I lowered my chin, mouth below the surface so he couldn’t see my smile. Did he think I wouldn’t? I shrugged, lifted my gaze and boldly met his stare. “Okay.”
    Walking in neck deep water is not as graceful as one would think, and I had a bit of a trek to get to the shallower area. Instead I swam, ass skimming the top, lily white skin no doubt like a beacon. Just to make it more fun, I flipped over and floated for a bit, tits breaking the surface as I lazily stroked toward him. I was smiling, not bothering to look at him, knowing that his eyes were probably glued to my breasts.
    Okay, flirting was fun. I could do flirting.
    I heard a splash, figured he’d shed his clothes and was barreling for me. Was waiting for his hands to come up from underneath, maybe cup my breasts, flick my nipples. And then I felt a wave. It splashed over me from the wrong direction. I bolted up, my feet slipping on the lake bottom before I could get purchase.
    Lance was screaming at me. “Ariana, get out, get out! There’s a beast in the water with you!”
    I looked to the other side. Only about two hundred feet away and there it was—a werewolf swimming at frightening speed toward me. I spun toward Lance, who was knee deep in the lake, sword in his hand, one of my sickles in the other. I made it within a hundred feet of him when the second beast attacked, coming out of the forest to Lance’s left, barreling at him with fangs bared.
    â€œLance! Look out!”
    He spun and slashed. The beast in the water caught up with me. With a claw digging into my hip, it spun me so fast that I fell back, my ass hitting the lakebed. I scrambled to unsheathe my blade, my hands clumsy as the pain from the claw wound roared through my hip.
    It was on me, rank breath washing over me. “Huntress,” it growled, then pushed me under. With gigantic paws on my shoulders, it curled its claws around my back, puncturing flesh so I cried out, losing my held breath. In a wavy distortion I saw it lift its head and roar, the muffled sound barely penetrating the water.
    It adjusted its stance, forcing its massive hips between my thighs. Rape? Not the usual MO. Typically the monsters just ripped us Huntresses to shreds if given the opportunity. It squeezed my shoulders, trying to angle me better for its distended, disfigured cock. Horrified at the idea but