Chapter Ten: Safe Haven

Layla hissed in pain as she regained consciousness. Pain sliced through her left shoulder, and she found it hard to breathe amidst the ditch she had fallen into. She spat out dried shrubs that had gotten into her mouth when she fell and climbed over the heap of it back to the surface. She paused a breath, heightening her senses as she scanned her environment to decipher the presence of her attacker. The day had gone utterly dark by then, and her surrounding was still except for the distant squeals of nocturnal creatures and ceaseless droning of insects around her. She held her injured shoulder as she got to her feet, wincing in pain. She caught a whiff of his scent in the air. It lingered faintly in the air hinting at the fact that it had been a while since he had been there. Her conjecture was confirmed that the man wasn't human. He wasn't of the same species as she was either, and the tendency of him coming back got her feet moving. The scent of the underbrush in the ditch had