Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
A Surprising Rescue
And the Heart of the Beast
The strange men did not carry them far before the forest finally began to thin around them.
Bria lifted her head enough to see sunlight glimmering faintly through the trees ahead, along with the sound of rushing water growing steadily louder.
Moments later the men emerged into a narrow clearing where a wide stream cut through thick moss-covered rocks before disappearing once more into the forest beyond.
Without warning, Bria was tossed unceremoniously to the ground.
Pain shot through her shoulder and hip as she landed hard amongst damp leaves and stone. Nearby Kaelan hit the ground just as roughly, the vines still wrapped tightly around his arms and chest.
Before the men could notice, Kaelan rolled quickly toward her.
“Trust me,” he whispered urgently, his voice low enough that only she could hear. “I will see us safe.”
Bria stared at him in disbelief.
The vines binding him had tightened so viciously around his arms and chest that she could already see bruising darkening beneath them. His wrists bled where the rough vines cut into his skin each time he struggled.
How could he possibly protect either of them like this?
Yet despite the fear clawing inside her, she found herself nodding.
The large men wandered toward the stream, crouching beside the rushing water to drink deeply while speaking amongst themselves in rough amused voices.
“What do we do with them?” one asked. “Sell them?”
“Aye,” another answered with a grin. “Witches pay well for outsiders.”
One snorted loudly. “Trolls would pay better.”
That earned a round of laughter.
“The lass especially,” another added while glancing toward Bria. “Pretty thing like that would bring good coin.”
Kaelan went utterly still beside her.
Bria felt the dangerous change in him instantly.
Then one of the larger men spoke again. “What about the outsider? The one paying good coin for information.”
Several nodded thoughtfully.
“Aye. He might want them.”
Kaelan suddenly laughed.
The sound startled even Bria.
It carried pure mockery.
The men turned toward him immediately.
“I expected stronger warriors in Driochmor,” Kaelan said loudly. “Not cowards hiding behind vines because they fear an honest fight.”
The men scowled instantly.
Kaelan smiled despite the blood running down one side of his face where he had struck the ground.
“You call yourselves warriors?” he continued with deliberate contempt. “You are nothing but oversized fools too frightened to fight a bound man properly.”
One of the men cursed angrily.
Another grabbed Kaelan roughly by the front of his tunic and hauled him upright.
Kaelan only laughed harder.
“Aye,” he said. “Big dumb cowards.”
Bria’s eyes widened.
Even she knew he was provoking them intentionally.
“You want to fight?” one snarled.
Kaelan spat blood at the man’s feet. “If you know how.”
The vines released him instantly.
Bria sucked in a sharp breath.
Kaelan attacked without hesitation the moment his arms came free, driving his fist hard into the nearest man’s jaw. Another swung at him immediately, while a third slammed into his ribs before he could fully turn.
The beating became brutal almost instantly.
There were simply too many of them.
Kaelan fought viciously despite it, landing blows when he could, but fists and boots struck him from every direction until blood ran freely from his mouth and brow.
Bria struggled wildly against the vines binding her wrists.
“Stop!” she shouted desperately. “You’ll kill him!”
The men ignored her.
One drove a heavy fist into Kaelan’s stomach hard enough to drop him to his knees, while another struck him across the face.
Still, he tried rising again. Still, he fought.
It took all six to finally force him down.
Moments later, they dragged him across the ground and dumped him roughly beside Bria.
Kaelan barely moved. Blood stained his mouth while one eye already swelled darkly beneath bruised skin.
Bria immediately rolled closer to him, tears burning fiercely in her eyes from both fear and anger.
“Why?” she whispered, upset. “You fool.”
Kaelan managed the faintest crooked smile despite his split swollen lips. “I love you too,” he muttered painfully.
The large men laughed and congratulated themselves. One dropped heavily onto a fallen log near the stream and declared they deserved rest before deciding what to do with their captives. The others agreed easily enough, still amused by the beating they had delivered.
Bria kept her gaze fixed upon Kaelan.
Though bruised and bloodied, he remained unbound now, exactly as he intended when he provoked them into fighting him.
The vines still wrapped tightly around her wrists and ankles, but the men no longer seemed concerned about Kaelan.
They had beaten him badly enough to believe he no longer posed a threat.
Bria knew better.
Even lying there bruised and bleeding, something dangerous still lingered quietly within him.
The men settled themselves carelessly around the clearing; some stretched out upon the ground near the stream. Their rough voices gradually faded until silence slowly reclaimed the forest once more.
Only then did Kaelan move.
Slowly he turned his head toward Bria.
Blood streaked one side of his face while swelling darkened beneath one eye, yet when his gaze met hers, she still saw the same fierce determination burning there.
He pressed his brow against hers and whispered, “I love you, always.”
The quiet words tightened painfully inside her chest.
Then before she could speak, his swollen lips brushed hers softly despite his injuries. The kiss lasted only a moment, but she felt the promise inside it as surely as if he had spoken it aloud.
Trust me.
Then suddenly he was gone.
Bria blinked in confusion as Kaelan slipped silently into the forest beyond the clearing, disappearing so quickly and quietly that it scarcely seemed possible a man so badly beaten could move that fast.
Shock held her frozen for several moments until the emptiness of his absence took hold. He was gone. She was alone. The thought vanished almost as quickly as it came. His kiss had not been a farewell, nor had his words.
Kaelan had promised her before that he would never abandon her, and, somehow, she knew with absolute certainty he meant to keep that promise.
Whatever he intended… he would return. Until then she needed to remain strong.
Moments later a terrifying roar shattered the silence surrounding the clearing. The sound ripped through the forest so violently that Bria felt it deep in her chest.
Every sleeping man jerked awake instantly. Fear, not surprise, swept visibly across their faces.
One scrambled to his feet and looked wildly toward the forest, then toward Bria. “He’s gone!”
Another cursed harshly while grabbing frantically for a fallen branch as though it might somehow serve as a weapon.
Bria stared in disbelief.
These enormous men who had laughed while beating Kaelan now looked terrified.
“We need to get out of here,” one said urgently.
“He’ll hunt until he finds us,” another answered, panic sharpening his voice.
The beast roared again.
Closer this time. The sound rolled through the trees like thunder and sent fear racing straight through Bria despite herself.
Branches cracked loudly somewhere beyond the clearing. Something massive moved through the forest.
“No time,” one of the men barked.
The six quickly gathered together near the center of the clearing, their fear obvious now despite their attempts to hide it. Vines twisted nervously through nearby trees as though responding to their unease.
Then the forest exploded.
The beast burst from the forest in a blur of white fur and savage fury.
Bria gasped.
He appeared even larger than in her vision, massive muscles rippling beneath thick white fur while glowing golden eyes locked upon the men with terrifying intelligence and rage.
The first warrior barely had time to shout before the beast slammed into him.
The sound of snapping bones echoed sickeningly through the clearing.
Chaos erupted instantly.
Men shouted.
Vines lashed wildly through the air.
The beast roared again.
One warrior tried fleeing toward the trees only for the beast to seize him violently and fling him hard enough against a massive trunk that the sound alone turned Bria’s stomach.
Another lunged with vines twisting around his arms like whips, but the beast tore through them as though they were nothing before dragging the screaming man down beneath massive claws.
Blood stained the clearing.
The remaining men fought desperately now, no longer warriors amused by helpless captives but frightened prey struggling to survive.
It made no difference. The beast moved too quickly, too powerfully.
Within moments four of the six lay motionless upon the ground.
The last two dropped heavily to their knees, trembling.
“Mercy,” one gasped desperately.
“We did not know who you were,” the other pleaded. “We swear it. We will never cross your path again.”
The beast stood over them breathing heavily, blood dripping from its sharp tusks, while its glowing eyes remained fixed upon the terrified men. Then slowly its massive head turned toward Bria.
The clearing fell silent except for the rushing stream nearby and the ragged breathing of the surviving men.
One of them quickly nodded toward Bria as though understanding some unspoken command.
At once, the vines binding her loosened and slipped harmlessly away.
The beast suddenly threw back its massive head and released a deafening roar directly into the faces of the two kneeling men.
The sound struck through the clearing with such force that Bria flinched where she stood.
The beast then slammed one enormous paw against the ground hard enough to shake the earth beneath them.
The men cried out in terror.
“Run!” one shouted frantically.
Neither waited another moment.
They scrambled clumsily to their feet and bolted into the forest without so much as a backward glance, crashing wildly through the trees in desperate panic while the beast watched them flee.
Then silence settled over the clearing once more.
Bria slowly rose to her feet. Her heart still pounded violently from all she had witnessed, yet now that the danger had passed, she found herself unable to look away from the massive white creature standing only a short distance from her.
Blood dripped from his huge tusks and stained spots of its white fur. Its chest rose and fell heavily as his golden eyes fixed steadily upon her. Not the eyes of a mindless beast, but the eyes of something far more dangerous, far more aware.
The beast snorted once, a rough burst of breath curling through the cool air between them, then suddenly turned and disappeared into the forest with astonishing speed despite its massive size.
Bria remained standing there several moments afterward, unable to move.
Then the emptiness returned. The sharp aching emptiness she felt whenever Kaelan left her side slammed into her so suddenly that she nearly staggered beneath it.
Her breath caught on a whispered, “Nay.”
The beast had appeared and the emptiness vanished. The beast disappeared and the feeling returned.
Bria’s pulse quickened painfully.
Her thoughts flew wildly back through everything she had seen since meeting Kaelan. The strange connection between them. The fierce possessiveness she felt inside him. The way he always spoke carefully whenever the beast was mentioned. His unexplained injuries vanishing completely. And now this.
Fear and disbelief twisted violently together inside her. It could not mean what she suddenly feared it meant.
A man could not become a beast. Could he? The thought horrified her. Yet somewhere deeper inside, beneath the fear and confusion, another truth settled heavily upon her.
If the beast truly was Kaelan… then even in her terror, some part of her had still recognized him. That realization unsettled her more deeply than anything else.
Slowly she walked toward the stream and crouched beside it, lowering her aching wrists into the cool rushing water. The vines had left angry red marks across her skin, but she barely noticed the sting.
Her thoughts remained trapped elsewhere: on Kaelan, on the beast, and on the impossible truth beginning to take shape inside her.
How could she fear him and yet still feel safer with him near than apart from him? Nothing made sense anymore.
Bria closed her eyes briefly while the cool water rushed over her wrists. Then a shadow fell across the stream. She did not startle, nor feared who stood behind her. The emptiness consuming her had vanished once more, which could mean only one thing.
Bria slowly lifted her gaze.
Kaelan stood above her, not a bruise marked his face, not a trace of blood remained upon him. Even the swelling around his eye had completely vanished.
The savage beating she had watched not that long ago looked as though it had never happened at all. Yet strangely… seeing him whole again did not frighten her nearly as much as it should have.
Kaelan said nothing. He simply lowered himself beside her near the stream and gently reached for one of her wrists. His fingers remained careful around the angry marks left by the vines as he scooped cool water into his palm and slowly let it flow across her skin.
The tenderness of the gesture tightened painfully inside her chest.
He tended her other wrist the same way, his touch gentle and filled with quiet concern while silence stretched between them.
Bria watched him carefully. He had risked his secret that could prove dangerous if discovered outside of Driochmor. He had risked his heart, declaring his fierce love for her even though she might reject him and leave him to never truly love. He risked everything for her without hesitation.
She may have risked chasing after him into Driochmor, but she had yet to risk her feelings.
All her life she had focused on the hurts and needs of others. She comforted pain, soothed grief, and offered strength wherever she could, rarely pausing long enough to examine the quiet emptiness living inside herself.
But Kaelan changed that. He made her feel too much and too deeply.
Sitting beside him now while he carefully bathed her wounded wrists as though her pain mattered above all else, Bria finally allowed herself to admit the truth she had been avoiding had tried not to feel… she loved him.
But if what she thought, felt were true… how could she love a beast?
“Bria,” he said pulling her out of her thoughts. “There is something you need to know about me.”