The beast hesitates, but only for a second before turning and disappearing into the jungle.
Facing away from me, Karzan stands there with his hands balled into fists at his side, his breathing so hard his shoulders shake.
With all that’s left of my strength, I push myself slowly to my feet and use the tree to lean on.
“Thank you,” I whisper my voice hoarse from all the screaming.
Snapping his head to me, he freezes me in place with one look. Need is present in his eyes again, and what’s more…it’s a feeling mirrored in my own emotions.
I want him.
“Did you dream of me too?” I ask, breathless from him and the exhaustion.
Not saying anything, he stalks up to me, his movements calculated; territorial. But unlike with the beasts, I don’t feel like prey.
“I’ve dreamed of you since I was five,” I continue my body ready to collapse.
Standing directly in front of me, he leans in as if he was propelled forward by a rope. Burying his head in my neck, he inhales, the sound and sensation causing my eyes to drift closed. His body jerks against mine at whatever he smells, unable to get enough he moves down my body scenting as he goes. Still reeling from my ordeal, I don’t stop him. Instead, I lean deeper into the tree, drifting off into the unknown until he intentionally draws back.
“You’re bleeding.” His words come out like an accusation, as though I’m somehow at fault. I open my mouth to protest; to explain, but I’m unable to get the words out as darkness starts to consume me.
Reaching out with a shaky hand, I place it on his cheek. Delirious from dehydration and exhaustion, my mind has a hard time believing this is real. but when he moves my hand to his chest, and I feel his heartbeat beneath my palm I know without a doubt, this is real.
“I found you,” I whisper, relief, happiness and that same fear swirling inside me. “I didn’t fail.” He makes some sort of reply, but I don’t hear any of it as the world goes black.
Catching the girl before she falls, my heart fucking stops, my animal crying out with a terrified howl.
Was I too late?
Gently laying her on the ground, I place my ear to her chest. Hearing the low beat of her heart, I breathe a sigh of relief. Sitting up, I hover above her, taking in the angel from my dream.
Ignoring the tremble in my hands, I push back the hair from her face. My chest tightening.
Fuck, she’s beautiful.
Just like in my dream, her pale skin glows against the moonlight. Tracing her brow with my thumb, I admire the dark lashes that cover her hidden freckles. My hand lowers on its own, outlining her pouty lips, and I find myself aimlessly leaning towards them. Inhaling deeply, a possessive growl rumbles in my chest, and for a split second, I’m no longer me—I’m a man dying of thirst. But the sour taste of blood in her intoxicating scent is what has me lifting out of the sensual fog she has put me in.
Fuck!
Everything in me protests with a vengeance as I pull back, breaking our connection. Clenching my teeth, I fight against the instinct to claim her. She’s wounded and I need to stay focused so I can help her. Putting the girl's needs before my own, I draw in a steadying breath.
Following my nose, I scent down her body, tracking the blood to a spot between her legs. Dread fills me as I spread her legs, the worst scenarios possible running through my mind.
Being as respectful as possible, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see her pussy seemingly bare of injuries. But that relief is short-lived as I spot where the blood is coming from. A bite mark, deep within her thigh. The need to kill all over again has my bones shifting and cracking.
Grasping for control, I cover the girl back up with her tattered gown and gently cradle her to my chest. The feeling of her against me so fucking right.
I need to get her to safety.
Standing, I use my strength and climb the tree. Keeping the girl safely tucked in my arm and reach for a vine and get ready to leap, when the sensation of her face nuzzling deeper into my neck, nearly sends me to my fucking knees. Breathing through my teeth, I ignore my desire and jump.
Swinging through the trees with this girl against my chest, something within me shifts. A rightness, a balance. Whatever it is, I know without a doubt, I would do anything to keep it.
The moon has risen and fallen twice since I brought the chosen one to the abandoned treehouse. Having once belonged to a family of humans, who, by the looks of it, seems to have been found by the hunters, is tattered and almost bare inside, but I was able to find the necessities I needed to clean her wound enough to appease my beast.
Why does she still sleep?
Worried that there is more wrong than what can be seen, my animal places inside with impatience.
Is she still hurt? Did I not get to her in time? Have I done something wrong?
Banging my fist on my head, I continue marching the length of the room. I know nothing about this female, not her name or where she comes from. All night I’ve replayed the dreams of her over and over searching for clues about who she is. But with the dreams always beginning and ending the same way, I’ve found nothing.
And I’m beginning to grow desperate.
Before the light flashed in the sky, I had felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and terror, and I knew instantly it wasn’t coming from me. But from her. The need to get to her had nearly pulled my animal completely out as I searched for her, but it was more difficult than I imagined it’d be to trace the girls’ whereabouts. It was as if a barrier was placed between us. When the ground began to quake, and the light poured in through the sky was when I finally felt it; my mate. Not even the sun could distract me from reaching my chosen one. Yet, in spite of all my efforts, the hunters had reached her first.
A moan slips from the girl’s lips, drawing me from my thoughts. Facing the bed, I freeze, afraid to move, as she slowly comes to. The beast within screams for me to go to her side, but I’m rooted in place. Watching as she takes in her surroundings. Sitting up with furrowed brows, she searches the unkempt dwelling until those hypnotic bright green eyes latch right onto me. Electricity builds between us as we both stay frozen in place.
There is so much I want to say. So much I want to ask. But as I find myself being caught in this magnetic storm, I’m at a loss for words.
Gods, what is happening to me.
Parting her lips to speak, she ends up coughing instead, effectively snapping me out of my it. Rushing to the clay cup I had filled with water earlier, I bring it to her. Taking it with shaky hands, she downs the entire thing, drops of water trailing down her chin.
“Thank you,” she whispers, setting the cup down.
Standing before her, those expressive eyes land on my waist, and slowly…oh, so fucking slowly…track up my torso, the torturous pursuit almost like a caress, causes my nostrils to flare with need. A growl rips from my throat as that intoxicating stare, glassy and full of lust, finally meets mine.
Mate! The beast inside me screams, begging to sink its fangs into the back of her neck.
Blinking a couple of times, as of snapping out of the trance, she breaks our connection. Running her hand across the back of her neck, she clears her throat.
“Where are we?” she asks, her voice caressing me in ways I didn’t know was possible.
“In a tree,” I reply, my tone harsher than I intended it to be. “You’ve been asleep for two nights. I cleaned your wounds.” Her skin suddenly pales, and she places her hand to her wound between her legs. Needing to know, I bend down to the balls of my feet so I can be at eye level and ask, “Are you hurt anywhere I can’t see?”