Chapter 17 #2
“Take her,” Cyrus tells him, and I feel Eli grip under my arms, Cyrus having to unwrap my legs as they tighten around his waist in panic.
Eli hugs me, wrapping my legs around him as I clutch him.
I can’t see anything but darkness, and his silver eyes make me panic even more.
Suddenly I see red glowing eyes before feeling sparks rush over my face from Cyrus’s hands.
“Breathe, calm down. You are okay. You are safe. Just breathe,” Cyrus says, wrapping his arms around me and making me relax, my muscles relaxing as his words wash over me.
I know he is using his compulsion, but I let it roll over me instead of fighting it. I slump against Eli, his furry arms wrapping around me tighter. His fur is warm as I rest my head in the crook of his neck and shoulder.
“I will take her. She is freezing,” Eli says, and I feel him move and hear him pass something, which I assume is our duffle, to Cyrus.
“You good to go again? Only thirty minutes more, dear, not far. Then you can rest,” Maverick reassures me.
I nod against Eli’s shoulder, closing my eyes. I feel his arm go under my butt, lifting me higher.
“Hang on, love,” Eli says, his other hand going behind my back when I feel my belly move and bump against his hard-muscled torso. He growls softly, and I know he feels it.
The feeling of the tiny nudge makes my lips turn up. My baby is alright. I am alright, I tell myself, tightening my arms around his neck and snuggling against him before he takes off running again.
We run for a while more before Eli starts to slow down and taps my shoulder, his fingers then moving to the back of my neck as he scrapes his claws through my hair, making me shudder at the feel.
“We are here. You can open your eyes now,” he whispers, pressing his nose to my cheek near my lips.
I sit up in his arms, but he doesn’t place me on my feet.
Looking around, I see light, flamed torches lighting a path, bonfires between houses lighting up a small village in the middle of fields, and the entire forest circling the village.
The forest looks never-ending as it wraps around the village in the middle of nowhere.
“Home sweet home,” Maverick says, coming up beside us and looking at his village.
He walks ahead of us, and people are coming out of their little stone houses to greet him.
Eli walks between them before stopping in an open area that seems to be a gathering place.
I can also see a podium in the middle and gallows, something I never thought I would see in real life.
So medieval-looking… Sitting in the center, a man is strung upside by his ankles, his back bleeding and dripping onto the wooden floor below him.
I tear my eyes away from him. I also notice some sort of ring off the side and some small carts that remind me of some old-fashioned stall with fruit and vegetables piled onto it.
“You grew up here?” I whisper, and Eli looks at me.
This place is terrifying, like stepping into a medieval movie of a time long before mine and plunged back into the Dark Ages.
“Yes, Addie. It isn’t all bad here, just different,” Eli tells me.
I notice people staring at us, watching as Eli follows after his father, who gets stopped a few times by different men before continuing to the largest of the stone houses. Eli stiffens, and Emery comes over, dropping her hand on my shoulder.
“Home,” is all she says before walking through the red-painted door.
Eli follows her before stopping at the same door Emery has just walked through. He takes a deep breath before stepping over the threshold. I try to stand, but he hoists me up higher, hanging onto me. His body trembles with a mixture of emotions: fear, sadness, anger.
“Just let me hold you,” he whispers before breathing in my scent.
I look around, the lights flickering on, to find a very dated house.
But it has power, as Emery has told him.
It is cozy, and we step right into the living room.
It has two armchairs and a futon. I can see a few doors leading off it, and next to the living room is a counter and sink basin on one wall.
I try to picture Eli and Emery living here but can’t.
I can’t imagine anyone living here. Inside looks more like a shack; a stone fireplace sits in the center of the wall between the two armchairs.
A bear-skin rug lies on the floor. Cyrus comes in with the bag before dumping it on the futon.
Emery walks off before returning out of the room down the hall with a loose nightdress on.
“You guys can take the bedroom. I will have the futon,” she says, looking at it. She pats it, ash and soot coming off it, dust going in her face, and she coughs.
“Floor might be cleaner,” she mutters.
Eli doesn’t move, though; he appears frozen, just staring at his sister.
Maverick comes in with some shorts on behind Eli and pats his shoulder, making him jump.
“Everything alright, son?” he asks him.
Eli nods before walking into the small hallway and turning into the first room next to the living room.
I try to get down, my legs aching from being around his waist. But once again, he pulls me up closer, refusing to put me down.
“Eli, can I stand?” I ask him, wanting to stretch my legs.
“No, you stay with me,” he says, looking around the room.
“I won’t go anywhere.”
“You stay with me,” he growls, making me jump.
“Addie, just give him a sec. I know you are uncomfortable,” Cyrus says, brushing my cheek with his hand.
I nod, resting my chin on his shoulder, waiting for Eli to calm down. He sits on the double bed, and I hear the springs groan, the bed dipping more than it should.
“Eli, you should shift back. Let me take, Addie,” Cyrus tells him, but Eli shakes his head, pulling me closer.
“She is safe with me, Eli,” Cyrus tells him.
“No one will harm her. I won’t let anyone harm you,” Cyrus tells him when Eli’s head whips to the side to look at him.
He growls low and deep in the back of his throat, making my hair stand on end. “I would kill them if they tried.”
“I know,” Cyrus tells him, reaching for me.
Eli sighs but lets go, and Cyrus pulls me to him, allowing me to stand. I look around the room. It has an old dresser, the mirror is broken, and the entire room is covered in dust, like it has been closed for a long time.
“This was Emery’s room?” I ask, looking around. There is an old rocking horse in the corner, but besides the bed and dresser, that is it.
“And mine. We shared. It used to have another bed over there for Clarissa,” he says, and I nod before sitting on the bed beside him, yet he still doesn’t shift back, making me wonder if he will. Cyrus rummages through the duffle bag, pulling out a blanket and draping it over me.
“I will sort the bed tomorrow. We will just have to endure it tonight,” Cyrus says.
“Is it like you remembered?” I ask Eli while he stares off, looking at the wall.
“No, it is pretty modern-looking compared to what it was when I was a child,” he says, making me wonder. To me, this is extremely dated, yet he thinks it is modern compared to what it used to be.
“You should sleep,” he says, walking out of the room before coming back with a wooden chair. He shuts the door before jamming the chair under the handle.
“Eli?” I ask him, confused by his actions.
“Addie, just let it go. It makes me nervous having you here among them,” he says, and I sigh before lying down, only to be jerked upright by Cyrus gripping my arm.
He chucks the old pillow off the bed before lying down and patting his arm.
I lie down using his arm as a pillow. Eli, however, shifts back into his wolf form before climbing on the bed and lying across Cyrus, resting his head on my arm.
I expect the bed to break under all our weight, but it seems to hold.
Despite how squished we are on the tiny bed, I am surprisingly warm with only the thin blanket Cyrus has wrapped me in, and it doesn’t take long before I fall asleep.
I am not sure what time Eli’s gone to bed, but I feel him get up a few times, moving and growling, waking me up a few times.
But when I finally awake in the morning, he is passed out.
I wriggle out from under him, placing his furry head on Cyrus’s arm.
Moving the chair out from under the door, I open it before pulling it shut behind me.
I make my way to the living room. Emery is asleep with her mouth wide open, snoring in a not-so-lady-like manner compared to the well-dressed put-together woman I am so used to.
She is even drooling a bit. I shake my head, opening doors, trying to find the toilet.
I only manage to find a bedroom, which I am certain is Maverick’s, which is more furnished and clean.
I also find a closet but no bathroom. I am about to ask Emery where the toilet is when Maverick walks in through the front door.
“You’re up early,” he says, making me look to the window to see the sky has lightened, but the sun is still around an hour away before it will be visible.
“Yeah, I was looking for a toilet,” I tell him.
“There weren’t toilets here originally attached to the house, only an outhouse. But we managed to set up plumbing and have a working bathroom out the back. Even has hot water,” he says excitedly, making me wonder if hot water is a new thing to him.
“Come, I will show you,” he says, holding his hand out before pulling it away. “Oops, nearly touched you. Probably best I don’t with Eli.”
I follow him outside, and he walks me around the side of the building to a more modern-looking part, seeing as it isn’t made out of stone and clay but brick.
He opens the door, and I find an actual functioning bathroom that even has a shower and a proper toilet. I step into the tiled room.
“Slowly moving into the modern era,” he chuckles, and I nod to him.
“Thank you,” I tell him, and he nods before wandering off.
I shut the door before quickly peeing and washing my hands. Stepping outside, I wander around, looking at the gathering area. The gallows sit in the middle, and it makes me shiver as I stand in front of it, a guillotine off to the side of it on a platform.