Page 20 of His Human to Charm

“Please, stop.”

They don’t. No, I’m forced more toward the middle of the bed, where Curls pins my wrists above my head, and Twirls grabs my ankles. I let out another scream, realizing it’s the only thing that seems to make them hesitate. Twirls turns to look at the door to the building we’re staying in.

“She cannot be making those sounds,” he says, a hint of worry entering his voice as his eyes stay pinned on the wooden door. “We are far from their tribe, but they would have sent others to look for her.”

“Stop being loud,” Curls hisses near my face, his eyes narrowed, teeth drawn back to reveal sharpened teeth. I look him right in the eye and scream as loud as I can, watching with a hint of pride as he flinches slightly. “Stop that.”

I scream again, and this time, I’m met with another hand around my throat, squeezing until I feel the blood in my face heat, and my eyes start to feel pressure behind them. The world starts to go dark, and that’s when I see Curls stumble backward, his hand loosening on my neck a little too late. A knife is ripped from his neck, and blood splatters against my tunic just as the world goes dark.

12

Toron

Present Day

Ihave been running through the trees for three days now, I think. The light is starting to rise in the sky, lightening the clouds. My mate’s sweet voice has been calling to me all night, and I have chased it through the trees. Not once have I found her, not once have I even gotten any closer to her. I know it is just my mind playing tricks on me, but I cannot force myself away from chasing after her call in case it is finally the one time it is real.

“Toron, this way,” Alice’s voice calls out to me, causing me a renewed energy as I push through the tiredness trying to make me succumb to taking a break. It has been many days since I have had anything to eat and just as long since I have slept at all. I want nothing more than to find my mate, but my body will start to give out soon. I am surprised that I have not fallen yet.

Alice calls out again, and I forget about the emptiness of my stomach and the burning of my arms and legs. “Hurry, I need you.”

I think I say something in response to the voice. I cannot tell for sure. I spent most of the night speaking with the voice in my head. It might have made me fall more into madness, but it made me feel good to talk to my mate, even if it was not actually her. I may never get a chance to speak with her again, so I treasure every time my mind has her call out for me.

Every time she calls my name, even though I know it is not her, my heart races, and the hollowness in my chest eases some. Maybe it could be seen as a cruelty that I am kept from resting, from eating and drinking, because of the voice calling out to me.

Maybe some would think it is the goddess punishing me for not keeping my mate safe in the first place. I think of it as a blessing because the longer I am out searching for my mate, the more hopeless it all feels.

In the distance, a shrill noise cuts through the silence all around me. At first, I think I am imagining it because it is not a sound I have heard from one of the creatures that lives in the trees. I shake my head, almost certain it is just another trick of my mind. Still, I find myself running toward the sound, worried that, for some reason, it may belong to Alice. I have not heard her voice in my mind for many moments now, and for the last day, she has pestered me incessantly with her sweet words.

Another shrill sound, louder this time, but still just as far.

My chest hollows as I realize what the sound is. My body moves faster than I have since I started searching for Alice. If this is just a sound in my mind, then yes, the goddess is now punishing me. My human is screaming, either in pain or fear, and I am not anywhere close enough to her to be of any use to her for a long time.

My chest burns as I try to suck in enough air, my legs burning and crying out for relief from how much I have used them in these past few days. I cannot stop, and I cannot think about how much pain I am in. I have only one thing I must do, and it is to get to my mate to help her with whatever is happening to her now.

Alice does not speak to me anymore. No, instead, I am left with just her shrill screams every once in a while until they are completely silenced, leaving me to keep running in the direction I last heard them. I hope she is still okay, that whatever has silenced her screams has not hurt her in such a terrible way that I will never be able to hold her again.

More time passes, and I do not hear another scream. I have become more and more accustomed to the idea that something terrible has happened to my mate. The only reason I do not lose hope is because I can still feel my soul has not completely died in my own chest yet. Surely, if my mate were no longer here, I would feel the despair in my soul.

I do not find my mate first. No, I find a male in a blood-stained tunic pacing in front of one of the safety buildings. I stop myself, watching him from the trees where he cannot see me. There is another male lying on the grass near the first demon. He is not moving, and his tunic is also covered in blood.

My claws feel heavy at the ends of my fingers, my fangs dropping low. I do not know who the blood on their tunics belongs to, and I am hoping more than anything that none of it belongs to my mate. She has done nothing to deserve being hurt, especially in such a way that would produce as much blood as I can see on the males’ tunics.

I silence the growl in my throat as I think about my mate being hurt. The male near the safety building looks in my direction but does not see me. He kneels down by the male on the ground and grabs him by his ankles. He drags him deeper into the trees, away from the safety building, and that is when I realize he is dead.

After disposing of the dead male, the first male starts walking back to the safety building. I cannot let him go back in there, not if my mate is in there. I cannot let him hurt her like he probably hurt this male he just dragged into the trees.

The male is caught by surprise when I tackle him to the ground only a few feet from the door to the safety building. He makes a sound that is meant to be a word, but I do not hear it. I do not register anything as I drag him back toward one of the trees with my claws pressing into his throat.

I pull him up by a horn until he is at eye level with me. One of my hands is around his throat, itching to rip it from his body. I can feel his claws piercing my body as he tries to claw his way out of my grasp, but none of it is fully registering in my mind. The only thing I can think about is all of the blood on him and how I do not know if any of it belongs to my mate.

My vision is red as I snap my teeth at him. I should ask him if he has my mate. I should ask if there are any more males. I do neither of those things. I am not rational, and I only want one thing. His claws scrape against my chest one final time before I rip his throat from his neck. His body falls limply to the grass, and I snarl at it as blood pools underneath him.

I stare at the body for a moment longer. My chest heaving as I watch to make sure he truly is dead. The sound of the safety building’s door closing has my eyes darting to the small building and my lips twitching as my fangs start to press against them. A growl bubbles in my chest as I think about how many others might be in there, holding my mate against her will.

The growl that tears through my chest is loud, but my rage is louder as it pounds underneath my skin in the same rhythm as the beating of my chest. I do not care how dangerous it might be as I push on the door to the safety building. My mate is in there, and she could be in danger. There is only one thing I can do to make up for not keeping her safe, and it is rescuing her now.

I push against the door, the wood budging but blocked by something. I growl again, a deep sound meant to scare anyone in the building from trying to keep me from my mate. I throw my entire body into it, the door cracking slightly, whatever is up against the door moving underneath my weight. I rear back and throw myself into it again. This time, there’s enough space for me to get inside. My lips pull back, blood drips down my claws, and my body tenses, knowing I may have to kill again.

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