Stolen Melody (Snow and Ash #2) by Heather Knight Read Free Book Online Page B

one else can have you or try to take you from me.”
    “Okay. How long does this last? A day? Three? Am I going to wake up next week and find myself pulling a train?”
    He chokes, and his eyes sparkle. “I have plans for that dirty mouth of yours.”
    “Just tell me. How safe am I? How long does this claimed thing last, and what happens to me when it’s over?”
    His nostrils pinch, and he levels me with that I’m-a-savage-biker/homicidal-murderer look he’s so good at. “It lasts as long as I want it to.”
    I might just throw up. What I really want to do is sit, but there’s only snow, snow, and more snow. Raking my hair off my face, I shift away from him. I hug myself like somehow it will prevent me from falling apart. It doesn’t work.
    He runs a hand down my arm, but I don’t turn. I can’t live like this. I won’t. Somehow I’ve got to get away from these animals.

    “Smell that?” The blond guy from earlier has to be ten strides behind us, but he’s loud and I get the feeling he’s talking to me. “Good old home cookin.’”
    He gives me the creepy-crawlies, but I do smell it. Ham?   Someone not too far off is cooking.
    I shoot Axel a frown. “Aren’t they afraid strangers will smell the ham and attack?”
    “Nope.”
    “Why not?”  
    “That’s not ham.   That’s human meat.”  
    A shudder slithers up my spine. “Cannibals?”  
    My voice comes out little more than a squeak.
    He frowns and rubs his hand down my back. “They won’t attack.   Our party is too large.”
    “How can you be sure?”  
    “I’m not.   But we’re ready.”
    I clamp my mouth shut.   I’m four again, convinced if I make even the slightest noise the monsters will hear and find me. A quick glance at our party tells me we’re heavily armed, but I still smell meat.  
    Vomit kisses the back of my throat ten minutes later as we pass a wooden fence.   The others just keep moving, but I stop.   I can’t help it.   I thought smelling human meat was bad…
    “Keep moving, Melody.”
    “But—”
    “They’re marking their territory.”
    I breathe so fast that my head goes light.   Hands, dozens of them arranged in pairs are nailed to the top row of the fence. They’re all frozen, of course.   It’s winter.   At first all I see is the horror, but then I lock on a pair with blue veins that bulge above the wrinkled skin.   I think of my grandmother, and a sharp ache stabs me in the chest.   I’m sure I never met this person, but grief grabs my lungs and wrings them until I think I’ll never breathe again. It’s only been three and-a-half years since the Ash.   How can people have become so barbaric, so fast?
    We keep moving, and despite the feeling of spidery eyes watching my every move, the monsters don’t come.   This time.  
    The group stops again at dark-fall near a half-burned-out farmhouse. I shiver when I see it, but not entirely from the cold. The windows all seem to be broken and the front door stands crookedly in its frame. Half-rotted curtains flutter in the breeze, and I picture the ghosts of former tenants waving at passers-by.  
    The barn looks safe enough. At least it’s not falling down. Yet. The guys put together a double-ring watch around the building and assign sleep shifts. Axel takes my hand and leads me up a ladder to what was probably once a hayloft. He readies our bed, and as he does, I feel my shoulders fuse together. What if he wants to do it again?
    Every time I tried to pee today, it burned my torn flesh. Plus, I’m still bleeding. No way can I handle him shoving that thing in me all night.
    Then again, maybe yesterday was enough to last him a while.
    Then it hits me. There’s at least a dozen men just below us and the entire building is open. We’re not having sex. Not in front of all those witnesses.
    I relax for, like, a second.
    Then he reaches up under my sweatshirt and cups my breasts. He lets out a grunt and rubs his hardness against me. No way.
    He