Chapter 18 #2
He whispered a command, and the carpet took off, and he did it so easily. So thoughtlessly. As if flying right over the males’ body parts and torn flesh was nothing.
“You’re going to leave them on the road?” I finally managed. “Like that?”
Kole didn’t even glance behind us. “Let the evidence remain of what happens when one crosses an Imperial Warrior. The wildlings who witnessed it will spread the word.”
Kole’s eyes were as hard as diamonds as he stared straight ahead, his demeanor stoic.
He never looked back.
Neither of us spoke again as we traveled onward. But the entire time, Kole steadily surveyed the Wood, as though waiting for another attack. Anticipating it.
Despite his silence, energy pounded through the warrior’s aura, growing and swelling with every mile that passed beneath us. He had his Shield locked down tight, but I could still sense him. Feel him.
Rage filled the warrior, and it was so palpable that I could practically taste it.
Since I never used my forbidden magic, I didn’t enter his mind to read his thoughts, as tempting as that was.
But I guessed he was likely stewing over the skirmish, or perhaps feeling indignant that those males had dared to defy his orders, or perhaps now that the battle was over, he even felt regret that he’d murdered six fae.
Whatever the case, I didn’t ask as I let him work through whatever inner war he was fighting.
I didn’t shift away from him, though, because while Kole’s violence might have scared some, I didn’t feel fear.
Deep down I knew the warrior would die to protect me.
Whether that be because of an oath he’d sworn to the Imperial Council or because he felt the need to protect all innocent fae, I didn’t know, but the fact remained that I knew Kole would protect me with his life.
I was sure of it.
Mine.
Once again, that word he uttered collided with my thoughts. I nibbled on my lip, frowning. Kole had said that to those males so easily, so convincingly. But I reminded myself it was only because we were in Stonewild, in the land of shifters whose song was threaded with possession and claim.
Several times, I glanced subtly at Kole, but the fury strumming through him didn’t abate, so I kept my mouth shut and respected his need to work through whatever was raging within him as the miles passed beneath us.
Midday came and went. The sun had passed its peak, breaking through the thick cloud cover to show its slow descent into the western sky.
Hours had passed since the attack on the road.
Hours of silence. Hours of contemplation.
And hours in which Kole and I hadn’t mentioned the six dead males he’d left behind.
Kole finally broke the quiet in the afternoon, startling me since his voice sounded so guttural. “What would you have done if you’d been alone and that had happened?”
My focus snapped to him. “What?”
He continued staring straight ahead. The Wildland Mountains loomed around us. Rocky terrain had grown, and the thick swamp of trees had finally begun to thin. We were moving steadily upward, snaking through the trees toward the stony peaks above.
Yet even though this terrain was new to me and wildly beautiful, all of my attention focused on the warrior. On his tone. On his pounding energy.
A thunderous expression brewed upon Kole’s face. Once again, the warrior’s emotions were leaking through, his carefully constructed mask cracking on every surface. And I didn’t need to read his mind to know that the past hours of silence hadn’t abated his fury in the least.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t been with you?” he repeated. “Those males would have raped you, even if I hadn’t killed their friend.”
I angled my head, confusion strumming through me. “I know.”
“Yet you insisted on traveling here despite the dangers.”
“No harm’s come to me.”
“But it could have.” He turned toward me, and all of the emotions swirling inside him hit me full force, and the underlying essence of what he truly felt startled me completely.
I jolted back, and it struck me why he’d been so quiet. I’d been wrong about what he’d been feeling. He hadn’t been enraged at the males for defying him or regretting the fact that he’d killed so many or contemplating if that battle could have been avoided.
No, it wasn’t rage at all. Kole had been quietly terrified at the thought of what would have happened to me if he hadn’t been there.
“That’s why you’ve been so quiet?” I gentled my tone.
“Because you think they would have raped me if you hadn’t been at my side?
” It hit me again what he’d said to the shifters.
Mine. For the briefest moment, it felt as if the warrior believed just that.
That I was his. His to protect. His to care for.
His to cherish. That such a word hadn’t been said simply because fae males understood it. But because he’d meant it.
But I wasn’t his.
We barely knew each other.
I frowned, but I felt more curious than indignant that he thought me so weak. “Where is this coming from, Kole?”
He held my gaze, unflinching. Dark hair curled around his forehead in the wind.
Eyes as blue as the Adriastic Sea regarded me steadily.
“They would have done unspeakable things to you, Primelle. Disgusting things. Things that would make your insides shrivel. I could scent it on that male who stood near the end. He was just waiting for the opportunity to hurt you.”
“And that’s why you killed him?”
Kole blinked, but none of the emotion in his energy abated. Nostrils flaring, he shifted his attention forward. “He deserved it. No male like that should be allowed to roam the Wood.”
It wasn’t lost on me that he’d evaded my question. But Kole was right. That male would have gladly raped any female who happened upon them. I’d sensed that too.
I swallowed down the sickening thought of what that male had likely done to other lone females who had been traveling this Wood, without a warrior at her side or psychic magic that was strong enough to protect herself. And I was suddenly glad he was dead.
“Well, he didn’t hurt me. None of them did, and now none of them will hurt anyone else either.”
“But they would have.” His tone dipped. I only then became aware that he was breathing faster, and his hands were balled so tightly that his knuckles were white. “That’s my point.”
My arms loosened. I’d never seen the warrior this transparent. I’d seen hints of it at times, even a few moments, but not like this. Kole’s carefully controlled exterior had completely fallen away, as though it’d never been his emotional armor to begin with.
“Kole?” I laid my palm on his forearm. Heat billowed up from him, and his muscles stiffened. “They never would have hurt me. I wouldn’t have let them.”
“Six against one, and you truly believe that?”
Normally, my reply would have been biting if any other male were acting as Kole was, but the warrior’s expression stopped me, because when his gaze cut to mine, once again, I sensed what was truly lurking beneath the depths.
Not anger.
Not hatred for those males.
Not contempt for me.
But fear.
Bone-chilling terror.
I squeezed him. “You saw what I did to those two criminals in Mistvale. I’m not defenseless.
” When he didn’t respond, I squeezed him again.
“Nothing happened to me, and nothing would have happened. Believe it or not, I could have taken all six at once, just like you did.” Trying to lighten the mood, I added, “Just because my muscles aren’t as impressive as yours doesn’t mean I don’t have my own strengths. ”
But he didn’t rise to my inviting humor, and his tone turned anguished. “You shouldn’t be alone up here, Prim. Not in this area. It’s wild in this portion of Stonewild. The kingsfae are few and far between. Shifters up here follow their own set of rules as you saw back there.”
I shrugged. “Then I guess it’s good that you’re with me.”
He abruptly raked a hand through his hair. “Dammit, Prim. This is serious.”
I sighed loudly. “I realize that, Kole, but you’re underestimating me.”
He growled. “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”
I bumped him, once again attempting to lighten the mood, and said teasingly, “No, but you’re kind of implying that by acting like I don’t have the sense to understand where I am or the danger I’m potentially facing.
” I waved toward the trees and rugged terrain.
“It’s not only uncouth fae that roam these parts but predators too.
I knew up here that it would be difficult to rest, let alone sleep.
I knew that I’d have to keep my wits about me at all hours of the day and night.
I knew that, which is why I always sleep with a ward around me at night and have blades under my clothing”—I lifted the hem of my pants and pulled the knife stored in my boot out—“and it’s why I have so many supplies with me.
I’m on my own out here. Trust me. I get it. You don’t need to worry about me.”
A heartbeat of silence passed, and then he said quietly, “I can’t help it.”
I bit back a smile and slipped my knife back into its sheath.
“Make no mistake, my aunt shares in your sentiment, but I’ll tell you the same thing that I told her—I had to do this.
I couldn’t not hunt the Stone with my uncle dying at home, when absolutely nothing was saving him.
I had to at least try, even if it was a dangerous journey.
” I nudged him again, and some of the fear in his aura calmed.
“I could give you a demonstration if you want, to show you just how capable I am. Would you like to be rendered defenseless so you can rest easy that I’d be fine? ”
He side-eyed me, then chuffed lightly. “You could take me down?”
“In a blink.” I batted my eyelashes flirtatiously.
His eyes narrowed, but his lips curved, and at last, a sense of lightness began to overtake his aura.
That strange sensation stirred in my chest again, stretching and yearning toward the warrior, and it felt strangely gratifying to know I could turn the tides of his emotions.
“No need,” he finally said gruffly. “I believe you.”
“Good.” I smiled sweetly up at Kole, and his attention dipped to my mouth. My heart began to thrum. Energy stirred inside me anew, that thing wanting me to go to the warrior again. To lean into him, to tilt my lips up to meet his, and to kiss him again with complete abandon as I’d done in Whiteolf.
Kole’s eyes grew hooded, and he fixated on my lips. His gaze grew hungry, but out of nowhere, magic cracked around his wrist, and a painful shock emitted from it, strong enough that I slightly felt it too.
The warrior hissed and snapped his energy forward, then said in a tight voice, “We should stop soon and eat something.”
I nodded, not responding, and the thick sexual tension that had begun to form between us felt as if ice water had just doused it. “Right. I’ll start pulling some food out.”
I shifted to the back of the carpet, putting space between us, and once again felt the need to remind myself of why I was on this journey.
Find the Stone, Prim. That’s where your focus needs to be. It certainly shouldn’t be on flirting with an Imperial Warrior and fantasizing about what it would be like to lie with him. You’re only here to save Timith.
With that reminder firmly in place, I cracked open a box of supplies.