The crash of bush and trees behind me spun me around. Like a cross between an ogre and a giant, the creature stood easily fifteen feet tall, but it had only one eye. Correction, she had only one eye, her pendulous breasts swinging as she skidded to a stop. She blinked several times, sniffing the air, then launched toward us.

I had no choice.

I sprinted to the left, away from the door, away from Doran and Faris. If the asshole wouldn’t let us through, he’d have to find me. I wasn’t about to stand there and let the Cyclops scoop me up for dinner, thank you very much.

In the darkened jungle, I couldn’t see where the hell I was going. “Alex, lead the way.”

He brushed past me, the silver tips of his coat seeming to gather the little bit of light coming through and giving me a glowing lead. At a full tilt run, we wove through the jungle, the crash of the female Cyclops not far enough behind.

I had no way to stop her, not even a deterrent—

A tree flew through the air crashing into the ground right in front of us, dirt and bush spewing up in a wave of earth. “Over it!”

Alex leapt over the downed tree with ease and I vaulted it, felt the brush of fingertips along my shoulders. We either had to go faster, or find a way around this big bitch.

Sprinting full out in a tiny black cocktail dress in the middle of a jungle in the dead of night was, surprise surprise, not going well.

The only thing I knew about Cyclops was their hide was thicker than a giant’s and their only real weakness was their single eye. But getting to that eye would prove to be the problem. I needed a weapon, something that could be used at a distance like my crossbow.

Jungle, what the cle, needed a hell was there in a jungle to help?

Tribes.

“Alex, find humans.”

A tribe would have weapons. Spears, bow and arrows. Anything sharp and pointy would work at this juncture.

Alex veered to the right, his tail streaming out behind him. “Close,” he yelped as the ground dropped out below us and we skidded down an embankment. The Cyclops, unfortunately, was right behind us. I didn’t dare look back, that was the kiss of death in chase scenes and it was a rule I lived by.

Never look back.

“Faster, Alex!” I screamed as we hit the bottom, a shallow creek gurgling along softly. On the other side, the chatter of voices erupted and torches were lit.

He’d done it; he’d gotten us to a village.

Now I had to get a weapon and pray it was strong enough to do the job.

When we were midstream, the men of the village poured out of their huts, their nut brown faces lit up with horror alongside the fire. I didn’t know the word for weapons, or spears, but I didn’t need to.

The man closest to me threw me a spear. I grabbed it mid air and spun, facing the Cyclops. With weapon in hand, fear skidded away from me. This I knew, this I could deal with.

The big bitch swung a hand toward me and I caught it on the tip of the spear, driving the point deep, praying it would at least stall her.

Nope; the spear’s haft broke in the middle, blasting apart under the pressure. I caught the broken spear, knowing I had no choice but to wait for the opening I needed to take her out.

To pop that bulbous eye like a grape.

A hail of arrows arced over my head and hit the Cyclops. None of them stuck, but it got her attention. She let out a roar and I got a good look at her mouth. Blunt, flat teeth, meant for grinding bones, snapped at the tribesmen. There was no fucking way they could take her on, yet they were buying me the time I needed.

“Alex, we have to hamstring her.” He ducked a swing from her, and got around to her back side, driving for the flesh and tendons above her thick cankles.

Teeth and claw, he attacked her. Clinging to her leg as she spun to dislodge him. A single thick belt hung from her waist, bones dangling as if mementos of kills. A blocky thighbone swung by me. I grabbed it with one hand and let her momentum pull me from the ground.

Clamping the spear haft in my teeth, I clawed my way to her belt, felt her stiffen as my hands touched her bare skin. I glanced down, saw Alex had gained nothing, hadn’t even drawn blood.

“Alex, get away. Leave her!” His obedience saved his life. The Cyclops swung down hard, her fist sending up a spew of water and rock where he’d stood only a moment before. With her bent over, I scrambled up her back and straddled her shoulders in a second.

This was a death I would lay at Faris’s feet. Letting gravity take me as she stood, I let the weight of my body pull me around her neck. As I slid in front of her I clamped my thighs tight and faced a very surprised Cyclops. I dropped the spearhead from my mouth into my hands and drove it deep into the wide-open eye.

There was no sound, no final roar of pain. Her eye frosted in a matter of half a breath, from the exterior in toward the point of the spearhead, as if dipped in ice. She slumped to her knees and I jumped off as she fell face into the creek bed, the water sluicing around her, her body melting into nothing as if it had never been.

“Good ctifr anight, big girl,” I said softly, for the first time in a long time feeling a sorrow at the death of a creature trying to kill me.

Breathing hard, my brain tried to tell me why I was feeling bad. The pieces put together slowly in my head. The large breasts, the sagging belly, driving me away from her territory …

“Ah, shit.” I hung my head, shame burning through me. A mother protecting her babies. Dying to protect her children. A big ass nasty mother, but that wasn’t the point. She never would have come after us if she hadn’t felt threatened.

A hand touched my shoulder and I spun, settling into a half crouch. The tribesman held up his hand, palm outward.

“I speak little English. You Tracker. Yes?” His dark eyes were wide with something akin to awe. I didn’t like it.

I slowly came out of the crouch. “Yes, how did you know?”

“Magic man tells us. You kill one eye. You make us safe.” He gave me a tentative smile.

I swallowed hard. “Did she have babies?”

He bobbed his head. “Yes, yes. Babies are excellent.”

My guts lurched and I backed away, feeling as though I’d been duped. Excellent, as in … “You ate them?”

He bobbed his head again. “Yes, take strength. Be better warriors.”

Horror, absolute and pure, rippled along my spine, through my heart and soul. They’d eaten her babies, and then she’d come after us thinking we were the ones? Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tears pricked at my eyes, and I knew I had penance to pay for this one.