Excerpt from Enslavement!
Here is another glimpse into Enslavement by Ashley Lavering. Grab your copy here for a $0.99 pre-sale special! Coming to your kindle Dec 21, 2015:
A clang of metal was only a
distant sound as someone wrapped their arms around her. “Breathe!” Bear’s voice
commanded.
Azika gulped the thick air as if
she was suffocating.
“What now?” Vince’s irritated
voice barely registered as panic seized her.
Hands pried her fingers from the
ragged stone wall she was gripping. She fought them but it was useless. The
next thing she knew she was being carried back to cleaner air. The cool air was
a soothing relief from the sulfur stench, but she longed for the fresh air of
outside.
She looked up into Bear’s face,
his eyes were soft with concern. Forgetting herself, she buried her face into
his tunic and cried. Guric’s revenge was more than she could handle. She wasn’t
going to make it down here.
She wasn’t sure how long she
cried but when the tears finally stopped, embarrassment and unease replaced
them. Bear hadn’t said a word and she was scared to look into his eyes, afraid
of seeing them distant and cold.
She moved out of his embrace,
but he held her fast. Azika dared a peek at Bear and shied away from his
intense gaze. Sinking as far away as his arms would allow, she lowered her gaze
to the cave floor.
Her small voice filled the air
between them. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—I’m sorry. You didn’t have to help me.”
His grip on her loosened and she
backed out of his arms. “What was that back there?”
Her hands rubbed her arms as if
that would warm her. She didn’t look at him when she spoke. “I don’t like tight
spaces.”
He barked with laughter. Azika
jumped and her gaze flew to his face.
“You have got to be joking! How
have you survived this camp being claustrophobic?”
Tight lipped, she pushed to her
feet. “You wouldn’t understand.” She wasn’t about to explain to him how Guric
had kept her from the mine as a child and how many times since entering the
mine she was whipped by the guards for having an episode. Rene usually helped
calm her down before it got too bad, but sometimes even she couldn’t help.
People just weren’t meant to be underground.
“Azika, does this happen every
time you go on shift?”
“No.” Azika paused, unsure if
she wanted to say more, but then Bear’s eyebrow arched and she continued, “I’ve
learned to deal with it.”
“Not very well from what just
happened,” Bear said matter-of-factly.
Her energy seemed to leech from
her and she sat down. “I try, but dirt was falling from the ceiling.” She pointed up to emphasize
her point. “A whole crew died from a cave-in.”
