Page 13 of Stolen By The Beast
Woods that had gone completely silent. Where had the singing birds and chirping insects gone?
“Humans are nearby.” Karvik answered my unspoken question. “Let’s go observe them. If they do not seem dangerous, they can help you return to your home.”
He reached down, to lift me to my feet, but I scrambled back.
“Please! No!” I begged, scaring myself with my outburst.
Karvik stumbled away from me, and I swear a look of hurt flash across his face. “I do not understand.”
How could I explain the dark yawning terror opening in my chest at the thought of being around humans when I didn’t understand it myself? Not to mention the sorrow tearing at my insides at the thought of being away from him.
“I don’t want to go with the humans. I’m not ready to go back.” Salty tears streamed down my cheeks. “Let me stay with you… here in the forest! I won’t be a problem and I can help you!”
“No.” His answer was firm, but he didn’t try to grab me and force me toward the humans.
Their excited chatter and loud laughter drifted through the forest. They were getting closer.
“Karvik. Don’t make me go. Let me stay.”
I might be human, and my mind might be a little broken at the moment, but my soul told me I’d been through something traumatic and it involved humans.
Until I figured out what that was, I didn’t think I’d feel safe. I was broken and needed to heal. And I needed to figure out why I felt drawn to the beast who towered above me.
Chapter Four
Karvik
Everyinstinctrebelledatthe thought of keeping her.
She didn’t belong with me—she belonged with her kind. However, the scent of her fear overwhelmed my senses. I couldn’t let anything or anyone hurt her. The only guarantee of her well-being was if she stayed with me.
The tiny female peered up at me, her green eyes much too large for her human face, silently begging me not to send her back. In a world where the line between compassion and cruelty was blurred because human nature had turned darker, I couldn't be sure she would be safe.
My options boiled down to either sending her back or keeping her. Then a new idea unfurled in my mind—perhaps I could build her a shelter deep in the woods, far from where I lived.
She could reside there, away from the malice of her kind, but alsonowherenear me. In the harsh winter, I would make sure she had plenty of pelts to keep her warm, kindling to start a fire, and food to fill her belly.
What more could such a delicate creature ask for?
Finally, I nodded, answering her unspoken plea. “You can come with me—for now. I have a plan.”
“You’re not… going to return me to the humans, are you?”
“You’rehuman, but no. You’ll stay here in the woods with me.”
As the scent of her fear dissipated, it was replaced by something altogether different. Her lips curled up, and I realized she was happy at the thought of what I said because she thought she was staying with me.
Since it wasn’t worth the argument, I didn’t bother to clarify that when I was finished making this shelter and giving her a new life, I would disappear from her forever. The tiny female would be too grateful to be upset.
Besides, didn’t she see what I was? What human would want to stay with that?
We walked slower than an oak tree grew from a sapling to a forest giant. Each step was a burden for the female. Tapping her shoulder, I held out a clawed hand, waiting for her to accept it.
Without a second thought, she slipped hers into mine and rose so I could lift her into my arms. She buried her face in my chest, acting as if this was where she belonged. I grunted, marching forward, refusing to acknowledge the strange emotion unfurling inside of me.
It was nearly nightfall before I found the perfect spot to build her new home. The distance between here and my own abode was too great for her to ever walk, let alone remember. Human lives were too fleeting for their minds to hold such knowledge.
But the tiny female continued to surprise me. “Why are we stopping here? Don’t you live over there?” She pointed right in the direction of where my tree trunk was.
