Page 5 of Christa's Obsession

You know what she is to us.

No, I damn well don’t!

Feel her.

Christa didn’t know how to do anything but that as she stared at the beaten woman, who, despite the marks on her skin, was beautiful—captivating.

“We need to do a four point attack. I’ll take out Rainar while Silas grabs his sister. Merihem, once Silas has Wanda, would you send them straight back to the forest? You know the location.”

Christa’s demon didn’t care what the plan was, she just wanted to get to Wanda and Christa’s human side couldn’t disagree. She could wait to explore the reason why until she was alone, because she needed her wits about her for now. Dusken was the worst part of the realm. It was not a place where any decent demon went, and Christa had never been.

Following Dakata, they all translocated. There, in the shady darkness, the coppery stench of blood, lust, and death permeated the dank air.

Silas made a distressed sound as Christa tuned into Dakata’s thoughts, a talent she had. She felt him search the darkness, then they followed him as he crept forward silently with Silas.

Within inches of the first guard, Dakata let go of Silas’s hand and tucked it into his pants pocket to keep him close. The move gave Christa a moment of affection towards her older brother, who was being too cute for words.

The moment got lost when a millisecond later, Dakata broke the neck of the first guard, lowering him silently to the floor. He repeated the move three more times before they got close to the door of the rundown building. Its windows had been painted black in an attempt to hide the interior.

Christa wasn’t into blood and scat play, but the smells suggested that was what went on inside. Christa held back the urge to rush in with an iron will—something she got from being the only girl amongst strong-willed brothers—at the anguished cries that came through the cracks in the wood.

Christa’s lips parted in protest as Silas burst through the door, his bow and arrow aimed in the room. An arrow sailed through the air, but Christa didn’t see if it met its mark as Dakata blocked her view. Then, Merihem charged in and went to town on the demons as all hell broke loose.

Silas leapt over furniture, arrows flying, heading for Wanda, who was slumped and tied to a chair in the center of the filthy room.

Christa had never been a rampaging demon, yet as she followed a blood soaked Merihem into the room to form a battle formation around the others, she was ready to rip apart some demons for daring to touch what was most precious to her.

The thought registered, but the direness of the situation as more demons poured into the room to protect Rainar held all her focus.

“Get them out of here,” Dakata’s demon hissed. The moment Silas and Wanda disappeared, he spun, his furious gaze locked on Rainar. “You are dead.”

He would be, but only after he’d suffered for laying hands on Wanda. He would know pain, and she was just the demon to help deliver it!

Chapter Three

Wanda

Something in the surrounding air changed, she felt it despite how she struggled to surface from the darkness.

Silas.

She struggled to open her glassy eyes. To check this wasn’t a cruel trick of fate. His arms were as familiar as her trees’ branches, and she whimpered at the touch of them. She felt her bond to him give back some of what the demons had stolen.

Relief came with wave after wave of pain as the scent of the forest filled her nose when she took a ragged inhale into lungs that burned from the effort. She was unable to form words with how weak she was. The rocking of her body against Silas’s felt surreal, yet the pain told her she was alive.

It wasn’t until Silas got her to the edge of the forest, quite close to the road, that Wanda felt herself being welcomed by her trees. The living bond came through the roots and soil that Silas now ran across.

Their love, all four trees’ bond with Wanda, allowed the air to sink deeper inside of her, to the part that had suffered the most from the break of their connection. The love and care she had given to them, they now returned.

Their devotion to her was in the sway of the branches as they reached for her. The lush green leaves roamed her battered body, removing her dress, seeking her wounds and tending to them.

Through their bond, Wanda felt the pain her peach trees had suffered, yet they used their magic to heal her. Their love was unconditional, as hers was to them. What she’d been through—the shock and pain she had experienced—they suffered, too. That was the nature of a dryad bond and though Wanda hated that they had endured her pain, she could not regret their bond when they offered everything they were to heal her.

They made room for Silas in the nest, knowing she needed him to help her heal, too. All the trees combined their branches to create a canopy and block out the outside world. They covered her in leaves, cocooning her. Despite that, Wanda felt their sorrow that they could do no more to take her fear.

This is what I need. Your loving embrace. The feel of your touch, my beloveds.

You are the heart of us, Wanda. They…

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