18. Mia
EIGHTEEN
MIA
I eyed the positioning of the wood. I’d needed to fix the broken slab with some extra strength wood glue. Fortunately, Jason had been a hoarder, so I’d found everything I needed in the shack behind the house.
Fenrir held the door up for me to make sure it was lined up perfectly. He’d been my little assistant. Quietly studying my movements with such focus that he bore holes into my face.
“A little more toward you,” I said. He did as I asked, dropping it a bit. The hinges lined up with the door frame perfectly. I slipped the screws in and took the screwdriver in hand, turning the handle as fast as I could, forcing the bolt into the hole.
I looked up at him. His eyes flared bright, and I squinted.
“Dampen the glow,” I winced.
He grunted and did as I asked. His ears twitched, flicking side to side. The tips of his antlers almost touched the ceiling when he fully straightened. Good thing the ceiling was so tall. Unlike in the shack.
For a monster, he was incredibly patient with me. But he was taking his statement about never leaving my side to a dramatic level. He literally didn’t leave my side. No, he refused to. That was a more accurate description. He’d developed a clinging fixation.
Since he’d proclaimed that he would take me with him, he hadn’t said anything to me about leaving. But I could tell he was growing increasingly antsy. He had one thing left to do and he was fixated.
I’d exhausted myself by cleaning up and making sure the crops were making progress. Now, the clean-up of the house was about to be done.
Returning to the place he’d been tortured shadowed my every thought too. It would be time very soon. I couldn’t keep holding off. But I kept wanting to. What if they managed to capture him again. Or kill him? My stomach soured. I finished turning the screw until it could turn no more.
I tossed the screwdriver into the tool bag. As I stood, I brushed my hands on my shorts.
“Where are you going?”
“To feed the chickens,” I said. The front steps creaked and the gravel crunched under my weight. My thigh muscles burned as I climbed up the incline toward the coop. Chickens squawked and flapped with a flurry. Fearfully.
I peeked over my shoulder. Fenrir loomed up right behind me on his two back legs.
Feathers littered the front of the enclosure. Some feathers even clung to the metal chain link fence as if there had been a violent struggle. Was that blood?
I abruptly stopped and whirled on the monster.
“I told you not to eat them.” I scowled at Fenrir. He grunted and lowered to all fours.
“They are delicious little snacks . . .” He trailed off, staring toward the coop. I shoved his arm.
“Fenrir,” I snapped.
“Fine. Fine.” He growled.
“You need to go while I get them settled.”
He stared at me, not moving. I crossed my arms and lifted an eyebrow.
A harried sounding huff left his muzzle.
“Fenrir!” I threw my hands in the air. He was driving me crazy. He drew up back onto his back legs, looking down at me. Even with him watching me like that, with violence brewing in his posture, I didn’t fear him. I scowled up at him and crossed my arms.
“I will leave you be.” The announcement almost sounded angry. With that, he took off, disappearing through the brush.
I thinned my lips, watching the brush sway with his retreat. My shoulders dropped more and more with each second I didn’t see him.
My stomach twisted. I took a step forward, about to chase after him. An orange glow flared within the forest.
He watched me. I sighed with relief. He hadn’t left me. I could still feel his gaze even though I couldn’t see him.
Getting the space I’d wanted made me feel yucky. I rubbed my arms and hurried to the coop. A tube of homemade feed sat next to the gate. I grabbed the scooper and carefully unhooked the metal latch to slip inside. The faster I worked meant I could go find Fenrir sooner. As much as I griped about him following me, I’d grown used to his presence, so I made quick work of spreading the feed.
He was all that took up my mind. No longer did I hunger, or even use the bathroom, all I craved was him. It was so weird, but it had everything to do with his monster cum. He’d explained a bit of what he knew about it after I’d pried it out of him.
I navigated around the seventeen—now, fifteen chickens and exited the gate. I set the scooper on top of the feed as I scanned the area.
Leaves crunched and I followed the sound.
“Fenrir?” I called, walking deeper onto the pathway. The dirt was disturbed past the shack. Claw marks marred the ground. “Fenrir. Stop avoiding me.”
I came upon him as he reached his long arm inside the ground and dirt flew, raining down behind him. I stopped across from him, at the edge of the hole and crouched. It was shaped like a small human. A fine layer of dust covered his face, but he didn’t stop.
“Why are you digging a hole?” I licked my lips nervously. Had he changed his mind? Would he kill me and?—
“For the dead,” he said, clawing deeper into the ground.
The air vacuumed out of my lungs. Dirt kicked out behind him. He seemed so concentrated on digging. I took one step back, then another. My nose burned with the building emotion wanting to burst free. I swallowed with difficulty.
He stopped suddenly and cocked his head to the side. In a smooth glide, he loped across the ledge of the hole.
Panic squeezed my throat, suffocating me. I backed up so fast my heel caught on something.
“Why do you smell of fear?” He snapped, moving toward me. I put my hands up.
“J-just make it quick,” I croaked and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I couldn’t believe he’d already gotten tired of me. Tears pushed behind my eyelids.
Seconds passed where nothing happened. The panicked shroud that stalled my thoughts slowly lifted. He exhaled hard and blew my hair back. If he wanted to devour me, he wouldn’t leave anything behind to bury. I peeked out of one eye. He studied me from only an arm’s distance away.
“What are you doing?”
I blinked quickly. Even though doubt had already crept forward, I had to hear it from him.
“Are you going to kill me?” I whispered.
He recoiled like I’d smacked him.
“Why would I kill you?”
“You’re digging a hole in the ground . . . for the dead.” I was so confused. He chuffed and he’d never sounded more annoyed.
“This is for your . . . family.” His voice dipped slightly as if unsure about the word.
“My . . .” Pam.
I’d mentioned the human custom of burying humans after he said they did nothing for their dead.
This was for Pam?
Tears prickled my eyes. I’d been avoiding entering her bedroom, but a smell was starting to seep under the crack of the door. I didn’t have it in me to enter.
“You believe I would kill you?” He rumbled. “You are my female. I protect mine.”
I scrubbed my face with my palms.
He turned around, his large form retreating. His tail swished behind him. He didn’t stop at the hole to continue what he was doing but continued past it.
“Where are you going?” He didn’t stop at my question. “Fenrir!”
“Leaving. My female does not trust me.”
Wait, what? Panic squeezed my chest.
“Don’t leave. Wait!”
He ignored me. I chased after him, but his stride was too wide for me to keep up with him. My heart pounded in my chest like the wings of a hummingbird and running after him wasn’t helping my pulse. He was right, I hadn’t fully trusted him, but it stemmed from fear. I’d lost everything already, and I didn’t want to lose him too. I pushed myself to run faster, even as I lost sight of him in the brush.
“Please, Fenrir,” I cried. I didn’t realize how much I cared for the monster. He was much kinder than I thought a monster could be, and I struggled to trust it.
“Do not panic, little human, I am right here.”
I whirled to face him. He stared at me from a few feet away. As if he’d been standing there the entire time. I hadn’t even heard him approach.
“Don’t do that.” I ran up to him and threw my arms around his waist. His vibrating purr reached through my body and squeezed my heart.
“I will not leave you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, rubbing my cheek against his soft fur.
“Never?” My voice trembled.
His palm pressed me closer to him.
“You will never be rid of me.” I sniffled and hugged him as tight as I could. A perk about a monster? I could hug him as hard as I wanted.
He swept me into his arms, lifting me to his chest. I nestled against him, trusting that the limb he settled under my butt would hold me up.
“Thank you for taking care of Pam’s body.”
Fenrir’s chest vibrated in answer.