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His eyes flew open, dark orbs of rage that pinned me in place.
My heart pounded like a drum in my chest, his murderous gaze holding me captive.
Fear wrapped around me, a cold shroud that left me paralyzed.
He sat up and turned on me.
My eyes bulged wide, like a mouse before a rhino.
He could crush me without even realizing it.
He got to his feet and towered even taller.
What did I think I was doing? I thought. Thinking I could somehow help this beast?
I regained control of my frozen body and shuffled back on my ass.
He took one step after another, trailing me, his bloodshot eyes red and filled with rage.
My back found the opposite wall where I had slept the previous night.
Nowhere else to run.
Ceara snorted through wide nostrils like a bull and I just knew he was going to charge.
I turned my head to one side and pressed my cheek into the wall, as if I could keep pulling back and merge with it.
He pressed his face to mine, sniffing, snorting.
I had never felt more afraid my entire life.
I might as well have fallen into the lion pen at the zoo.
I let out a pathetic whimper.
But then, as quickly as the storm had rolled in, it dissipated.
I watched, breath held tight in my lungs, as Ceara processed the lack of pain in his body.
The lines of tension eased from his face, his gaze softening.
A new emotion flickered there, something that looked like wonder before shifting dangerously close to… gratitude?
With a final lingering look at me, he stumbled back to his cot.
He was still weak, his body a far cry from the powerhouse it should have been.
The silence in the room was deafening as he succumbed to the pull of sleep.
His body seemed to melt into the cot, his steady breathing at odds with the adrenaline that had saturated the air moments ago.
The lingering scent of the medicine filled the room, a strange combination of antiseptic and something earthy and raw.
My breaths came in shuddering gasps.
“I can’t do this,” I muttered to myself. “I can’t do this.”
Hours slipped by in a muted blur.
