Free Shattered Soul by Angela Verdenius

rapes and beatings.
    Physically she was still intact, that much she managed to assess upon awakening again. She was in one piece and wearing a shirt which fitted tightly across her breasts, and a pair of panties. Thank the stars for small mercies.
    Covertly she watched from beneath the fringes of her lashes as the hunter approached the bed. Keeping her breathing slow and even, she feigned sleep.
    “You don’t fool me, Ceri,” Abra drawled.
    Well hell, if he already knew her name and that she was awake, why bother playing dead? Ceri lunged up, hands reaching out to grapple him, only to fall straight out of the bunk onto the floor.
    Lying on the floor with those big boots planted firmly on the tiles in front of her nose wasn’t quite how she’d planned to handle the matter. The cabin dipped sickeningly in front of her eyes as she pushed upright onto her elbows. Disregarding the queasiness roiling through her belly, Ceri gritted her teeth and tried to lunge upright.
    Her body wouldn’t co-operate. Instead, she barely made it to her knees before she tipped forward to land against hard, muscled thighs. Instinctively she gripped the tough material of the hunter’s pants and hung on.
    “Unless you’re trying to strip my pants off me,” Abra growled, “I suggest you let go and stop being bloody stupid.”
    A muscle jumped in her jaw as she tightened her hold on the material and tried to hoist herself up.
    The pants started to give and she could feel the sudden slide downward of them.
    “Bloody hell.” Two hands grabbed under her arms and dragged her upright, and she found herself leaning weakly against the hunter’s stocky body as he supported her.
    Embarrassment and fury swept through her when her head wouldn’t stop spinning and her knees started to buckle. Sagging fully against the hunter, she felt him brace himself against her weight, his hands settling at her waist.
    God, a warrior being supported by a hunter. If Rani saw her, she’d laugh her arse off.
    Rani. Where was she? Bracing her hands on the hunter’s shoulders, Ceri pushed back and looked down at him. Being a head taller gave her an advantage but he didn’t seem overly impressed. His expression was dour, his dark eyes wary.
    “You quite finished being strong and mighty?” Abra asked harshly.
    “Why?” she croaked back, then cleared her throat. “You got other plans for me, hunter?”
    “Yeah,” he replied. “Namely getting you back to your people in one piece.”
    “My people? One piece?” Fisting her hand in his shirt front, she lowered her face until their noses almost touched. Glaring down at him, she said between clenched teeth, “I won’t lead you back to my people, hunter.”
    “Don’t have to. I already know where they are.” His lips twisted a little in a mocking smile and she saw the faint scar puckering at the corner of his eye.
    Then it was time he died right now. She might be dizzy and weak, but it only took one punch to the throat to crush the air pipe. Ceri released the front of Abra’s shirt and aimed straight for his Adam’s apple.
    Her movements were so off the mark and clumsy that he didn’t have to move very fast to avoid the hit and simply shove her backwards. Ceri fell onto the bunk, cursing. Abra grabbed her legs and und r legs nceremoniously swung her full length onto the bunk.
    Her stomach lurched and she had to grit her teeth against the nausea that threatened to overcome her. When she blinked and refocused, he was standing close to the bottom of the bunk, a frown on his face and his arms crossed across his chest. With his legs braced apart, he made a forbidding figure.
    Ceri wasn’t impressed. She’d faced down scarier men and lived to tell the tale. If she could only get over this cursed weakness, she could snuff him out.
    “Get me a sword,” she snarled, “And I’ll cut your heart out.”
    “No doubt.” Abra was as unimpressed as she. “However, I don’t have the patience to fart around. These are