Page 43 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

Something inside me seemed to settle into place. I could almost feel the creature’s determination sliding, and then vanishing.

The klynna chomped down on the ice in its mouth as Presley dove beneath its belly. She spiraled into the trees, hauling ass away from the creature, and further away from the Stronghold just in case it didn’t listen to me.

The monster roared, but then its shadow left us.

And when Presley broke through the trees again, so we could find the beast, we saw its tail as it flew away from us.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, my heart thrumming in my chest.

Presley let out a puff of air that sounded like an agreement to me.

A snarl beneath us had my attention jerking downward.

Presley let out another puff of air that sounded like a sigh, before she dove back into the trees, moving slower now that our lives weren’t at risk.

She was on the forest floor a minute later, and Aev leapt to the ground, his massive paws shifting into feet before he landed.

I slid off Presley, pretty damn sure he was storming toward me, not her.

She shifted too, but stayed back.

Something told me that if anything went to shit, she’d take my side.

Oren landed a few feet away from Aev, too.

My body tensed, expecting the king to yell at me, with that fury in his eyes. I waited for him to tell me I’d screwed up, or ream me for my many mistakes.

Instead, he yanked me into his arms and squeezed me tightly.

My arms were trapped between us, and the stress in my middle dissolved as he hugged me fiercely.

“You scared the hell out of me,” he said roughly.

My eyes stung at the emotion in his voice.

He… wasn’t angry.

He was scared.

And relieved.

“I should’ve stayed with everyone else and asked what the plan was,” I whispered back.

“We’ll do better next time. Be more ready.”

I blinked back tears.

I’d given him the chance to put the blame completely on me, and he’d settled it on both of us. Even more than that, he had sort of… done away with it, by turning it into a lesson that we’d learned.

After slipping my arms out from between us, I wrapped them around his back, and held him. Not quite as tightly as he held me, but I didn’t have the same strength he did.

“We’ll tell the others what happened, in case they didn’t see everything,” Presley said. When I peeked past Aev, I saw her grab Oren’s arm and start dragging him away. “Take your time.”

“He might need backup,” Oren growled at her.

“She’s not Naomi,” Presley tossed back.

Oren didn’t have anything to say to that, and I shut my eyes, taking in a deep, shaky breath.

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