13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Kya
“ W ake up, Roav.”
Hot breath ruffled my hair as a calloused hand brushed down my arm. I stirred against something soft, nestling farther into the warmth against my face. A throat cleared and my eyes flew open.
The second dawn.
Daylight was just starting to appear through the trees.
I moved to sit up more and hissed at the soreness of my muscles.
My ass was killing me but at least my leg felt better.
I was leaning against Njall’s chest, his sword resting beside him.
We had stayed up for most of the night, listening to the sounds of the beasts prowling and the squelching of their meals.
Mercifully, the wailing had stopped after a while. I spent the night thinking about the task over and over, trying to crack the riddle. I must have dozed off at some point.
“How long was I out?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I stretched my back, my bow resting on my thighs. My leg really did feel much better. Maybe our healing wasn’t completely gone, just delayed.
“Not long. Maybe an hour,” he yawned.
“We should get moving.”
I grunted as I made to stand, balancing on the branch. Njall stood as well and stretched his arms above his head. My eyes widened as I noticed the bulge in his pants and I snapped my head to the side, looking away.
“What’s wro—” He stopped, presumably noticing what I had. “Fuck. No. Trust me, it wasn’t you. It’s morning.”
I slowly turned around, making an effort to stare him in the face, which paled when I lifted my eyebrows at him.
“I mean…not that you couldn’t. You’re beautiful. But you didn’t…ugh,” he groaned as he ran his hands down his face.
I laughed, truly laughed. This brute of a male stammering over a little erection—okay, big—had me laughing so hard I had to cover my mouth to quiet myself. Njall laughed with me.
After our fit of amusement, we climbed down the tree and continued our slight uphill trek toward the mountain—and the source of the wailing from last night.
We could see the crater at the top of the mountain clearly now, being so close.
Its steep grassy slopes, barren of trees, were covered in large jagged rocks halfway to the top.
I hadn’t anticipated that it would be an easy ascent, but the rocks would make it more difficult.
I didn’t even know how high we would have to climb to see what we needed to—or if we even would.
I still doubted my solution to the riddle. Something at the back of my mind told me that we were wrong, a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just… knew . But without an alternative, we had to work with what we had. And what we had right now was telling us to climb the mountain.
We continued to walk in silence, still apprehensive of our surroundings and keeping a sharp eye on the woods around us. I surveyed the right, he surveyed the left. I glanced around a large tree to the side and did a double take.
“Njall.” My hushed voice broke the silence.
I crouched and drew back my arrow, Njall raised his sword as he quietly walked to me.
I flicked my eyes to the tree then back to him.
He nodded in understanding and took a protective step in front of me.
We naturally worked well together. Even in such a short amount of time, subtle gestures were enough.
I didn’t know what I saw exactly, but it had a body, and that alone was threat enough in a place like this. We took a stance on either side of the tree and carefully craned our necks to look around the trunk before we leapt out with weapons raised.
Dangling from the tree was the gruesome sight of a male with the lower half of his body missing. His wrists were impaled with blades that held him up the tree. Blood pooled beneath him, with shreds of skin and muscle littering the ground.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming my racing heart. I turned around just as I heard Njall vomiting behind me.
“This has to be who we heard last night,” I said as I tossed Njall a canteen of water. He poured the water in his mouth before spitting it back out. My own stomach churned. I had thought it was from one of the beasts in the forest, but this was fae…“You alright?”
“Better than him.” He nodded. He wiped his mouth and tucked the canteen in his side pocket.
I took one last look at the male and shuddered before turning around to face Njall.
Gods, that could have been either one of us .
I jutted my chin. “Let’s get out of here.”
He nodded as we both turned to go back around the tree before Njall was tackled to the ground. An arrow was aimed at my face before I could react, and a sword at Njall’s neck held by a brawny male on top of him.
“Move and she dies,” the male spat.
Njall growled, bearing his teeth .
“Well if it isn’t the lovebirds, finally down from their perch,” a silky voice said venomously.
The female was tall, taller than me, and dressed in sleeveless leathers showing her muscular arms. Her dreadlocked blond hair hung loosely down her back to her waist. “We saw you two cuddled up in that tree of yours.” Her eyes flicked to Njall.
“What, you couldn’t go a few days without a piece of ass? ” She aimed a smug smile and winked.
This Torx bitch was delusional, and I wanted to smack the look right off her face.
The male let Njall stand, the tip of his blade still pressing into the skin of his neck—a small amount of blood dripping down the length of it.
The female stepped closer, the arrow aimed at my eye and so close that I could see the string of the bow fraying from lack of care. I smiled inwardly.
Big mistake .
“We couldn’t get close enough without you noticing us, and thought maybe you’d come running to this one’s rescue once you heard the screams. Seems our bait took a little longer than expected to catch its prey.
” My eyes snapped to the burly male standing in front of Njall, both staring each other down with rage rippling off them. The scent of their fury was stifling.
“What do you want?” Njall’s voice was low as he seethed through clenched teeth. I swore that if he had his fire, his burning look would have melted the male’s pale skin right off his bones.
“Why don’t you tell us what you know of the riddle, and maybe I’ll let one of you live,” the female said, glaring at me.
Njall’s eyes narrowed on her. “We don’t have it solved.”
She scoffed. “Liar. You’ve been traveling together since the first day, with purpose. Looks like you two have it all figured out.”
The male stepped forward, pressing the tip of his blade harder into Njall’s neck.
I gritted my teeth. I wouldn’t have been able to move fast enough to get to him without her killing me first. But I knew they weren’t going to let us go until they got what they wanted.
And even then, they would have still killed us so we didn’t get in their way.
Neither of us spoke. We both knew they wouldn’t let us live, so why make it easier for them.
“Kill her. Maybe it’ll loosen his tongue,” the male suggested.
The female shrugged and pulled back the arrow—
“You don’t want to do that,” Njall said quickly.
“Oh? Why is that?” she asked.
My fingers twitched, itching to reach for my blades.
Njall paused for a moment, then sighed. “She’s my mate.” Completely forgetting about the arrow, I snapped my head to him with wide eyes. “I felt the bond when we arrived and she was in distress.”
What?!
My heart sank, and I felt the color drain from my face.
No. This couldn’t be happening. It didn’t feel right. I hadn’t felt anything. I should have felt something, right?
He has to be mistaken .
“So?” the male snorted.
Njall didn’t even look at me. “You think the Gods will deem you Worthy by destroying a mating bond? A direct gift from them ?”
The female tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Perhaps not.” Her lips turned up into a rueful smile. “But I guess we’ll find out.”
He looked at me, his eyes spoke where his mouth couldn’t, and I understood.
In an instant, Njall leaned back and kicked the male square in the chest. At the same moment, I let go of my bow and grabbed hers just below the arrow, pointing it up, and kicked back her hand holding the string.
The already frayed fiber easily snapped, and the arrow shot off behind me.
I yanked the wood from her hand and whipped her across the face.
In the span of a heartbeat, I grabbed the dagger at my back and launched at the female.
Pinning her hand to the tree with my blade and my other hand around her throat, she screamed.
I tightened my hold on her as she clawed at my arm, gasping for breath.
I didn’t let go until she fell still, and her body went limp.
Njall had the male held firmly to the ground. The male’s own sword was embedded in his shoulder. Njall’s eyes were filled with hatred as he looked down at the male below him. I breathed a sigh of momentary relief.
We tied each of them up to a tree next to the male they had used as bait, a sacrifice to the beasts. We didn’t linger, running hard and fast toward the mountain, not wanting to get caught by whatever would feast on them later. I pushed through the pain shooting up my leg.
Once we were far enough away that we couldn’t hear their pleading cries, we came to a stop. My hands braced on my knees as I caught my breath, Njall’s words ringing in my head.
‘She’s my mate .’
I glared at him as I walked to his hunched over body, heaving heavy breaths. He straightened, sorrow filling his eyes right before I swung up and punched him in the side of his face.
He grabbed his cheek as I turned and stormed off. He tried to grab my arm but I yanked it out, spinning to face him.
“What the fuck, Njall?” I yelled as I shoved his muscled chest as hard as I could, but his large body didn’t even move with the effort. “Mate? You’re lying!”
He has to be .