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PETEY’S bark alerted her first. The little dog went wild, growling and barking and snipping at the thing who just climbed through the tiny entrance into her home.
He shouldn’t have fit. He was far too big. He blocked what little light came in around the tapestry with his monstrously huge body. Just like every other Dardaptoan she had ever seen, he was well over six foot tall. Maybe even seven feet tall. He had to duck down when he stood—the ceiling was far too low for him.
“Get out of here!” She knew he was Dardaptoan—he had a silk scarf tied around his waist and wore their clothes. He wasn’t as naked as one of the sex demons usually was, either. That wasn’t reassuring though—he was still a large unknown man in her space.
Trapping her.
With the way she was hurting, she probably couldn’t defend herself anyway. He waved a hand at Petey, and her little dog just froze. Stood like a statue. She squealed and dove for him. Miranda scooped her dog up and cuddled him. He wasn’t hard as a rock, but he was limp. Unmoving. “What did you do to him?”
“I merely silenced him. While I look at you.” He walked closer. Miranda backed away. There was no other way out of this little cavern. She’d long known the threat of being trapped existed. But it was the best shelter she’d found. “Tell me, what is your name?”
“Tell me...why don’t you go out the way you came? After you fix Petey.”
He smiled softly. “So that is his name. Do not worry, your Petey will be fine today.”
“What do you want in here? I know it isn’t much, but it’s home. And I’m not exactly up for visitors.” If she screamed, she risked bringing more of them to her little den, didn’t she?
That meant far more danger.
So she would have to fight him off somehow.
Ok, she could do that. Even one-handed.
“This is where you live? You are alone.” His matter-of-fact tone scared the shit out of her. “No more.”
“Yeah, who says?” It hurt to hold Petey. Her arm hadn’t stopped hurting yet. Hadn’t stopped bleeding. She had been working at taking the scarf she’d wrapped around it off so that she could look at it. She was almost certain it was broken. “What do you want?”