Chapter 18
Desire burned hot enough to sicken me. It made me want to protect and provide in a way I’d never felt before.
I came into view naked, laying in the nest as if I was awaiting something... But I was experiencing this from someone else’s perspective.
I wasn’t me anymore.
Pale skin was ethereal in the darkness. Wild curly hair was free from its bun, and I loved the way it contrasted against her skin. Piercing blue eyes drew me like a magnet I was powerless to resist. Even though I knew it was the eyes of destruction.
It didn’t settle the urge to tame such a wild force of nature. The kind of force that ruined civilization.
My mate.
Part of me respected her fire. Levicy never had that kind of fight in her. She’d lay there and starve if someone didn’t hand feed her.
This woman. A hungry need I’d never felt before made me ravenous for something that couldn’t be fed by anything else.
“I hate you,” I told the naked version of myself.
She shook my steady world and threatened to burn it down. So why was I walking toward her like a moth to the flame? I knew what she was.
Because she was that beautiful. Because the bond was that strong.
I wanted my hands on the curve of her thick hips again.
She didn’t shrink away in fear from the monster I was. There was something calculative in her eyes. As if she had ten exit strategies already in place.
It made a pit in my stomach grow. I’d suffered for a century waiting for her, and she was already planning on ripping my heart out of my chest.
I waited too long to let her escape,
Whether either of us liked it or not, she was mine.
Drew’s screaming startled me awake from my dream. My breathing comes in heavy pants. The dream of claws and a forked tongue made my core clench with emptiness I already knew he could fill.
The way I’d seen myself from his eyes made my cheeks hot. Was that really how he viewed me?
Drew’s voice made me focus on the here and now. The first inkling of light peeping over the horizon softly illuminated the green sky. The soft threat that rain was due any second hung right over me. My eyes went to where the road was already partially flooded.
Time to move.
“Talia.” Shannon grabbed my wrist. I leaned up and saw the muddy webbed tracks circling the sage path over and over again. Like he’d paced around us most of the night. “What if he heard us?”
“Doesn’t matter, the plan is the same. Might just need more of that dramatic flair.” I was hearing more and more of his thoughts. There was no doubt he probably already heard the plan in mine. That’s why I didn’t go any more detailed than that.
I’d have to trust Shannon’s judgement to make the calls as she saw fit, because I was compromised.
It unsettled me that the plan of survival hinged on someone else’s actions, but I had to make peace with this. It was the only way. Relinquishing control was easier said than done. But if anyone could do it, it was Shannon.
“Did you take the journal?” I asked her, realizing I’d gone to sleep reading it the previous night.
“I didn’t touch it.” She frowned, scanning the ground to see if it fell. “Maybe he took it.”
Concern that didn’t belong to me dripped down my spine like ice. That book had his weaknesses inside it, and it was no longer in the possession of someone who couldn’t harm him.
“I don’t think so.” I flipped out of the hammock and went to where my bags were. Maybe I forgot putting it away.
Three dead minks were haphazardly resting near my bag as if they’d been tossed there.
Eat. You haven’t eaten. His voice filled my mind.
Yeah, that probably had to do with the dying man screaming all night and the stench that made my stomach turn.
How kind of him to bring me food? I guess that had been his intention when he abandoned me in that place. After all, he couldn’t let me starve. Because then he might suffer some consequences.
It was my job to follow the script, no matter what: Stay in your cage. Be a good girl. Let me fuck you when I want. Let me treat you how I please. After all, you’re a stray no one wants.
The story of my life.
He was just like everyone else.
Hot anger bubbled in my throat as I grabbed the minks by the tails, plodded to the edge of the sage, and tossed them into the water. “Go fuck yourself.”
A snarl echoed between my ears, but I chose to ignore it, focusing on pretending I would get to leave this place.
Ten minutes later, Shannon and I converted the med cot into a portable gurney. Shannon turned to the group waiting, “Who’s carrying their friend, Drew?”
One of the guys I didn’t know snorted, “He’s not even my friend.”
None of the others seemed inclined to help either. Shannon’s critical gaze landed on them. At least they had the decency to fidget under her gaze.
“Yellow bellied twats,” Shannon spat. They meandered off, and her eyes went to me. “Will you help me?”
“We should leave him. He’ll slow us down.” But I still went to the head-end of the bed and grabbed the handles.
“Thank you.” Her teeth ground together.
We ended up at the back of the group, and my arms struggled to hold Drew up.
I thought about the great escape from the night before and the physical reminder of the dream I had reminded me that I’d already pushed my body to its limits.
I couldn’t afford to rest now. Even when my body threatened to give out completely.
The steep incline made it that much more difficult. At least I wasn’t the only one huffing and puffing.
“Sorry I’m.” Drew struggled to whisper.
Up front the boys whined about their knees hurting, and I fought the urge to snap at them. I couldn’t waste energy on their idiocy. Gale navigated fine, but didn’t offer to relieve one of us, kindly reminding me that Gale only worked when it suited him.
For all his talk about no one being left behind, he was awfully silent now.
Whatever, I’d do everything, like always.
My eyes rested on the frizzy bun in front of me. No, I wasn’t alone this time. Shannon was in the shit with me.
Something soft and warm spread through my chest. Was this what it was like to have a friend?
My cheeks grew hot. Shannon wasn’t my friend. Her goodness rubbed off on me. That was all.
She wouldn’t be friends with the likes of me.
I had no clue how far we made it, felt like miles, when a growing annoyance that didn’t belong to me festered in my chest, but I couldn’t figure out why. “He’s mad.”
“Great.” She huffed tiredly.
Water moved alongside us, and I took steady breaths. “The left.”
We halted watching the motion, holding our breaths to see what he would do. The rest of the group was ignorant of what was happening.
“Guys,” Shannon said evenly, but no one paid attention, too busy complaining amongst themselves. “Guys!”
The monster jumped out of the water, flying over us in a way that was not natural for a creature that size.
He grabbed Drew off the gurney, sending me and Shannon off kilter.
Since Drew was strapped in, I slid down the incline a couple of inches, before digging my fingers and boots into the mud. Shannon yelped as she slid past me.
I reached out, grabbing her hand to help stabilize her. Her hazel eyes shone with appreciation that hit deep inside and threatened to make me feel valued.
Sticky rain trickled over us and the sky thundered as if to match the sudden downpour. Only to realize little drops of red were all over Shannon.
The silence was deafening as we stared at each other, as if neither of us could process what was happening. What is that, sat on my tongue, but didn’t leave my lips.
Probably because I already knew the answer.
A loud thud on the right and crack of bone made everything snap into place.
There he was with Drew pinned to the ground. Blood everywhere as he ripped Drew’s throat out. Drew didn’t even get the chance to scream.
One minute we were doing everything that we could for a sliver of hope that Drew could be saved, only to have that last thread ripped away from us.
Screams of terror that resonated inside me sliced through the silence. People stumbled over each other and shoved others down, to scatter in every direction that mattered. They were all dead meat.
“Stay on the path!” Gale yelled. “Come back.”
The monster’s eyes locked onto Shannon with a predatory gaze, and I knew he intended to make sure my plan never succeeded. No one was leaving this swamp.
“Run.” I used our intertwined hands to pull her forward.
“But–” she whined.
I used my body as a barrier between him and her. “Go!”
She whimpered, but ran full speed up the path.
He went down on all fours and leapt to go around me, but I followed his movement. I wasn’t sure how long I could fight him off, but I’d give her the best headstart I could. He tackled me to the hard ground, knocking the wind out of me, and sending a shot of pain up my spine.
He leaped over me like I was nothing. His clawed foot scratched me in the process when it landed near my hand. I rolled to my stomach, making a last ditch effort, and locking my arms around his hind leg.
He dragged me behind him like I was nothing. Rock and plants slapped and hurled at me, but I refused to let go. My arms shook, begging me to release him, but I held on.
Shannon deserved to live.
All I cared about was if she survived. She was a good woman. She still gave enough fucks to fight all the battles that needed to be fought.
I fought to survive. She fought because it was right and true.
If anyone could save this swamp and make a difference in this world, it was her.
He stopped in his tracks as if I’d demanded he stop and looked back at me like I was something he understood. I remembered too late that he could hear my internal monologue, and I blushed with embarrassment.
He twisted and leaned down, grabbed my torso and yanked up hard enough to force me to release my hold, so my spine wouldn’t pay the price of my insolence.
He tossed me over his shoulder as he stood.
“Wait!” Professor Gale yelled, waving his arms much like I had on my first interaction with Rot. “Not her!”
This motherfucker. I rolled my eyes. Talk about a delayed reaction.
The monster grunted. His tail flicked with annoyance. “The woman is mine.”
“Do something!” I screamed at Gale as the monster stepped off the side of the road into a pond. Water filled my mouth and nose, soaking my lungs.
I kicked and fought, desperate to get some air. I wouldn’t survive the trip back to my cage if he didn’t give me a chance to take a breath.
The edges of my eyesight turned black, and I knew if I passed out so would he. Then we’d both die.
Maybe that was how this was meant to end.