Lycan (Monsterverse)

19. Mia

NINETEEN

MIA

I clawed my fingers into his fur, trying to haul myself up his large body aaaaaand slid back down to my feet.

“This is pointless.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Just go without me.” His head swung to the side so fast he almost gouged my eye out with the sharp tip of his antler. It shouldn’t be this hard to grab onto him since he was on all fours.

“I will not leave you behind.”

“Are you sure?” I shuffled from foot to foot. I looked back at my house. Nerves squeezed my stomach. “I’ll just hold you back.”

“Up. Now,” he growled.

“Jeez, okay, I’m going.” I gripped tufts of his fur and hopped on my toes to get momentum.

He lowered closer to the ground, practically laying down. That helped me get a leg up. Fenrir jolted up, angling to the side to have me fall in place. The ground was way too far down. I leaned forward, scrunching his fur in both hands to keep hold of him. Close call with him being too large for me to spread my thighs around him, but fortunately, I managed where his waist tapered in.

“This is scary,” I said, voice shaking.

“I will not let you fall.” His voice vibrated through his entire body.

I was counting on it. I squeezed my legs tighter as he began walking forward. His strides so long they ate up the ground. What would take me six steps to cover took him one.

“And you’re sure you’ll know how to get back?” I looked back at the house as it became smaller and smaller in the distance and soon disappeared. Having never left the farm before, I would be as lost as a fawn. His pace jostled me to the side, and I scrambled to hold on tighter to the bunches of his fur in my hands.

“Yes.”

He was beginning to sound exasperated. The intonation was low, but very present. A new tone unlocked. Something dramatically different than the toneless, growling voice he’d had when I’d found him half-dead in my shack.

As a monster, he may be instinct driven, but he was capable of learning and understanding.

“Okay,” I mumbled and squeezed my arms tight around him.

“When your weak human body grows tired, say so.”

A yawn stretched my mouth, and I wiggled my toes within my shoes. My legs were numb to the point of aching. I’d succumbed to the lulling sway of his body and fallen asleep at some point. Surprisingly, I’d stayed mounted on him, but it was at the risk of having my legs fall off from the position.

I flexed my cramped fingers into his fur to stretch out the appendages. I sat up on his back, my body aching, and rubbed my eyes. Everywhere I looked was forest stretching further and further. The thick brush inclined to our left. I squinted, looking into the dense forest line. It seemed so dark within the crush of foliage. Fog coated the ground closer to the top, lending to an ominous and frankly, scary view.

“What’s that way?” I squeezed his fur with one hand and pointed up at the dark shroud with my other.

“The Rift.”

I stiffened. Pam told me a lot about the Rift. That was where monsters came from. Where the earth had split after the San Andreas fault line ruptured from the catastrophic earthquake and spawned their world into ours. Crossing the Rift meant death according to her. I shivered and hunkered lower against Fenrir. I trusted him to keep me safe.

“Are we going to cross it?”

“No.” Fenrir’s ears twitched and his body tensed under me.

I relaxed my stiff fingers. I hoped we arrived soon. My legs were starting to pulsate from all the moving I was doing.

“So how much longer?—”

The rattling of chains cut me off. Leaves and branches crunched, and a large green forearm burst through the compact foliage to our left about ten of Fenrir’s strides ahead. He slowed. He’d been aware of someone approaching. Another one burst through, followed by large, tall bodies. I huddled closer to Fenrir.

“What are they,” I whispered.

“Orcs,” Fenrir’s voice rumbled, no intention of staying quiet. Like a collective, they all turned their heads. All five of them. So big and . . . they carried weapons strapped to their person.

Fenrir growled, lowering his head, displaying his antlers.

One of the smaller Orcs put up her hands. By her slighter stature, breasts, long hair, and narrowed features, it was clear she was the only female Orc. The four big ones behind her took their weapons in hand like they’d choreographed it.

“We do not want problems, Lycan.”

The actions of those four behind her said otherwise. Fenrir only snarled.

“Fenrir,” I whispered. My stomach hurt. One of the males to her side met my eyes. The vibrant shade of his yellow eyes glowed.

“Do not look at her.” Fenrir shook so much that I struggled to keep hold of him. He felt like he would burst.

“We will pass without waring with you. Ignore us,” the female said. A chain rattled, drawing my attention to one of the Orcs and the chain he held that was connected to a woman’s wrists. She was without shoes and tears streamed down her face, silent but prevalent.

I gasped and my fingers flexed.

“They have a human,” I breathed, starting to slide down.

“Stay,” he ordered. I stopped moving. “I will not war.” Aggression bled from Fenrir despite his words. The female Orc inclined her head at him while the others sneered, following her lead as they moved along, heading up the mountain, toward the Rift.

“But Fenrir?—”

“No.” His snarl shook my body. “I will not risk you. I do not doubt I can destroy them. But you will be left vulnerable. There are too many of them, one can take you?—”

He went quiet, a violent growl melding into his words. “You are the only one I protect.”

Fenrir and I watched the Orcs trek up the incline. The girl trailed behind, listless. Her chains rattled with each of her steps. My lip trembled. She seemed so sad and the clothes she wore seemed so dirty and tattered.

Tears flooded my eyes. This was the life I’d been ignorant to. I understood it existed, but seeing it was different. I’d been so sheltered up in my little piece of the world. Even before Pam took me in, I didn’t remember anything other than sleeping on the ground and that was as hard as I’d had it.

I’d truly been lucky until Jason went crazy.

Fenrir lifted to his back paws. The sudden shift jolted me and I began to slide down his back. I would have fallen if his arm hadn’t propped me up before bringing me to his chest.

“Do not leak, human. I will not allow anything to harm you.”

I burrowed my face in his chest, breathing in his pine scent.

“It’s called crying. Not leaking.” I sniffled.

It was a good thing I’d never been allowed to leave home. I would have been eaten alive.

Not everyone could be saved. I understood that, but it really sucked—that poor girl—I needed to get my mind distracted.

“So . . . what you are . . . is a lycan?” Pam and him never referred to the creatures as anything other than ‘monsters.’

“It is what humans have named my species.” He released a snorting huff. “You humans enjoy placing things in boxes.”

“So those Orcs were also named by humans?”

“Yes, before the Rift, we would not have consciousness to name ourselves.”

“You almost sound sarcastic,” I mumbled.

He grunted, continuing on the path in silence. I squeezed his fur, holding onto him tight.