Free The Retreat (The After Trilogy Book 1) by Kelly St. Clare Page A

dealt with the injured animal to escape.
    A second crack echoed through the bush and Romy paused, holding her breath, straining for any hint of his next move.
    It wasn’t subtle.
    The man’s large body crashed through the bush towards Romy, whipping her into action. She looked around frantically. With a weak ankle, it took a full precious minute to climb far enough up a tree that she was above eye-level.
    The crashing stopped.
    Bark grazed at her ivory skin, but she worked through the pain, quietly dragging herself farther up.
    The bush was still. She had no idea where the man hid, and knew that the lack of sound was a bad thing. Every night since the crash, the creaking insect had starting singing at sunset. It wasn’t singing now.
    She lodged herself in a straddling position over a broad branch, facing the tree’s trunk. She hugged the trunk and worked to calm her breathing, ears straining. It would be a perfect time for her knot to appear. With guns. Phobos could take the strange man down. Romy recalled the man’s size against the animal.
    Better have Deimos help, too, just to be sure.
    Romy pressed her shaking hands against the tree. The man was close. She knew this as surely as her own name.
    There was no way Romy was climbing down.

CHAPTER SIX
    R omy winced at the pain in her neck as she straightened from hugging the tree. She’d spent the night up there, wedged in the fork between the trunk and a thick branch. It was now dawn and her butt was numb in the worst possible way.
    Retrieving her belongings was out of the question. If she were hunting someone and couldn’t find them, that was where she’d wait. She didn’t relish the thought of travelling in her underwear, but surely she could find some kind of shelter at night.
    She probably should have slipped off in the night, but the engulfing quiet put her off. Now there was more noise to cover her descent.
    Romy gingerly tested a lower branch, slipping down onto it when it proved sturdy. In this fashion, she slid down the tree, forcing her stiff joints into action.
    The tree took just as much skin off on the way down as it had on the way up.
    She paused at the base of the tree, listening.
    Nothing. Romy put a slight weight on her ankle and winced. Last night's dash through the forest had set back her healing.
    A warm body slid behind her as she made to turn. In an instant, one muscled arm clamped around her waist. She sucked in a terrified breath. He was too close to elbow, and her injured ankle couldn’t hold enough weight for her to kick out. Romy whipped both arms up above her and encircled his neck, intending to bend over far enough to break his hold.
    Her plan backfired.
    Using his other hand, the man took control of both her hands, encasing them in an iron clasp. Romy struggled against him, arms lifted awkwardly, forced to rise on her tip-toes from the pain in her wrists.
    A voice rumbled in her ear. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    The Earth human spoke! “Get off me,” she ordered.
    The man tightened his grip. “No.”
    He spoke English. She was in an English-speaking country.
    “Release me if you mean no harm.” She pulled at his grip.
    “Why would I?” came the infuriating answer. “You’ll run.”
    Oddly, his reply only served to sear away her galloping fear. Romy let her entire body go slack. “Well, who are you, then?”
    The man's chest vibrated behind her. Was he . . . laughing at her? She threw her head back and caught him in the face. It didn’t crunch as she’d intended, but it was satisfying.
    . . . Until she found herself flat on her back.
    He straddled her hips, and no matter how she writhed, it was impossible to free herself. The man just watched her, in slight amusement.
    Realising she wasn’t going anywhere, Romy gave up her struggle and took a good look at her attacker.
    The tall man was tan with jet-black hair and the most incredible grey eyes. He was older than her, but just by a few years.
    Her stomach flipped.