Forty two

Forty two
Fear gripped Kyra in its clutches and she opened her mouth to let out scream, but the scream never made it past her throat. It was almost like something was obstructing it.

Her limbs locked in fear, and she couldn’t move out of the way. No matter how much she tried to will her body to, she remained in the same position.

Kyra closed her eyes and instinctively tried to bend her body to protect her baby, but a strong hand gripped her by the elbow and yanked her out of harm's way at the very last minute.

The force threw her against the chest of her savior, knocking her out of the haze she was about to fall into.

“Shhh, you are fine. You are alright,” the stranger's voice was deep and soothing. He rubbed her back with his large palm as he whispered words of comfort to her.

Kyra jerked back to look up at the face of the man who had just saved her and her unborn baby from being trampled to death, he was unfamiliar, and he was not wearing the uniform of the guards in Anton’s palace. 

He was dressed like the other commoners in the market, so Kyra assumed that he was one of the men who sold something in the market, or he was there to buy something. 

Either way, she was grateful that he was present just now, if not, she would be a minced meat.

The whole market was covered in dust and everywhere was as silent as a graveyard, it caused Kyra to wonder if everyone had disappeared, and they were the only two left. 

“You need to calm down, relax,” the stranger was still saying, causing Kyra’s attention to move back to him. She shook her head.

Kyra’s body was shaking violently, but she managed to find her voice to thank him, “I… I’m fine now. Thank you for saving my life,” she wiggled her hands together.

The stranger looked at her in something akin to surprise. Like he could not believe that she had recovered so quickly but he still nodded and accepted her thanks, “You are welcome. Why didn’t you leave the way when you saw them coming?”

Kyra shook her head, “I did not see them on time and when I did see them, it was already too late.”

“It is never too late to try to save yourself. It’s better to die trying.” 

He sounded like he was scolding her but Kyra did not take any offense. All she was thinking at that moment was if all of Anton’s pack members were this brave. If they were all brave, then she needed to work hard on herself, because all she wanted to do at the moment she realized that the horse was upon her was to fold into herself to protect her baby in her womb.

Now, Kyra realized that even if she had folded her body, with the number of horses that those rogues rode, she would have still been killed. 

She felt two heavy hands on her shoulders. Her eyes went to her right shoulder before she traced the hand up to the owner’s, it was her saviors’.

“I think you are still in shock. Hey, let’s get you out of here.”

The man spun her around with one of his hands still on her shoulder and began to lead her off and Kyra followed him without a word, but after taking a few steps, she snapped back to her right senses.

Kyra halted with a deep frown etched on her face, “Where are you taking me to?” She asked him. Her mind kept trying to tell her that she was doing the wrong thing and that she was forgetting something, but she was still in shock, her brain was not coming up with anything meaningful.

“Not anywhere far from here. Those rogues would surely come back and believe me, you would rather not be on the road again,” as he spoke, he started to lead her away again with his hand firmly placed around her shoulder, “You are still in shock, so I’ll take you where you can be out of harm's way. You’ll sit for a while until you stop shaking like you are about to convulse.”

Kyra nodded as she relaxed and allowed him to lead her somewhere. The stranger was really a good man, so she was just going to go with him and relax until she was fine, then she would begin to head home before those rogues came back again because she…

Kyra jerked away from the stranger violently as she looked around. She was not in her father’s pack! She was in alpha Anton’s pack, and she did not come to this market alone. She came here with Tanya and the palace guards, where were they?

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

The stranger returned his two hands to her shoulders as if trying to calm her down and his voice still had that soothing undertone that made her trust him after he first saved her. This time, it did not work because Kyra instinctively jerked away from him again as she looked around, trying to see through the thick dust that was yet to settle if she could catch a glimpse of Tanya and the palace guards.

She realized with shock that they were nowhere to be found and the royal carriage they also brought them here had disappeared. Kyra went into another stage of shock.

Where in God’s name did they go, and how did they even disappear so quickly and left her behind to be trampled underfoot by those rogue horses?

The guards were standing with them, so how did they get into the carriage so quickly to drive off and was Tanya with them or did she run off to avoid being killed? If Tanya ran off, why didn’t she drag her out of harm's way because she was standing there on the road with her?

Kyra was so sure that Tanya saw those rogues coming even before she did. She had only noticed them because Tanya kept looking in that direction when she was talking to her.

Kyra’s head was swimming in a dark haze of confusion as she tried to place two and two together but nothing was coming together in her head. Nothing that’s just happened made any made sense to her.