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All my senses, my entire body, were attuned to my surroundings. I felt every part of the tree’s bark against my back, heard the rushing of blood in my ears, smelled the moist ground underneath my feet, and something else, something stronger. The scent of an approaching predator: Daryus.
Would he kill me?
Because of the excessive pumping of my heart, it was hard to focus on anything other than my deep drive to keep running, but I couldn’t run anymore. I was exhausted. Spent.
Part of me wanted to assure myself that Daryus wouldn’t kill me, wouldn’t hurt me, but that part was easily overshadowed by another that insisted, you didn’t think he was behind your abduction either. And if I allowed that point, I had to consider the possibility of him killing me, which brought back the only question I didn’t have an answer for: why?
Why would he have me abducted only to find and rescue me? It didn’t make any sense. None of it did.
I was too confused, too tired to think rationally and when I heard his stomping footsteps closing in, I darted away. But I didn’t get far. I hid behind the next tree, because my knees shook and I still wasn’t able to take in enough oxygen to keep myself going.
I watched him peel part of my dress off the tree I had leaned against, watch him almost caress the bark with his palm. His head twitched as if he had sensed me. When I saw his expression, another surge of fear pushed through me, filled my body with the adrenaline it needed for another sprint.
That man didn’t look like Daryus, not at all. The man coming for me looked almost… possessed.
Was that the explanation? Was this a part of him he had been hiding from me?
I was unable to suppress a shriek at staring at his animalistic features, and I turned and ran again. Through the thick forest, through fallen leaves, around a bush, winding my way through trees and feeling him closing in.
He was so close now, I feared he could make a grab for me, so I veered right. I didn’t dare look back but heard him falter and realized I had gained a few paces on him. I knew I couldn’t outrun him forever, I needed a spot to hide.
Just then though I watched an unscalable wall coming at me, or more precisely, I was running at it. I was barely able to scramble to a halt and push out my arms in front of me, otherwise, I would have collided with the rock-solid wall and probably cut my face open and knocked myself out.
Like a cornered animal, I looked left and right, but there was only rock. He was already here, behind me. I sensed him only a few paces from me, so I knew no matter if I went left or right, he would be on me. I slowly turned to face him, hoping to find the Daryus who had made such tender love to me, the one who had pulled me out of the hole Gitgo had put me in.
When my eyes fell on him, all I saw though, was a predator. A predator ready to finish me.
With the last of my ragged breath, I called his name, “Daryus.”
I pushed my hands out as if to ward him off. My palms made contact with his skin, so hard, so filled with ridges from his blood vessels and muscles. They felt so familiar and yet so frightful, because I knew the strength behind this man.
Something strange happened then. Right in front of my eyes, his features relaxed, turned from the mask of a merciless predator to my Daryus, filled with care and empathy.
“Heather,” he said, as if he was seeing me for the first time.
His hand reached up, cupped my cheek. “Heather,” he repeated. “Don’t be afraid, I would never hurt you.”
My heart rate slowed, yet it beat harder, stronger, and somehow that felt even worse.
Feverishly, my mind sorted through the thousands of thoughts going through it, considered and disregarded ideas. Confront him, seduce him, knee him, ask him, they were all a jumble of words and questions I couldn’t separate, and I didn’t know what to do.
But his warm skin was right underneath my palms, his hand on my cheek. I saw the tender expression in his eyes and knew without a doubt that he wasn’t lying to me. This man would never hurt me.
“I don’t understand,” I finally managed to say.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but what you overheard had nothing to do with you.”
“But that woman, Lady Madeema,” I objected. “Why was she there? She knew… She was with Lady Natoi the night I was taken.”
His expression darkened and I cursed myself. Had I gone too far? Oh, I should have kept my mouth shut. Now he would be angry and—
“Lady Madeema talked to Lady Natoi the night you were taken?” he checked.
Hesitantly, I nodded.
His head turned to the side, deep in thought, before he pulled me against his chest. “We will figure this out, I promise. You’re safe with me.”
I should have kept quiet, I knew I should have, but I was too confused, too anxious to stop myself. “Like I was when you chased me through the forest?”
