Page 266 of Evil Hearts

I sat there on my knees, unable to stop the shaking that wracked my body. Fear, adrenaline, relief. It all slammed through me at once.

A sob escaped.

Beast spun on me at the sound. The ferocious monster was still there, on the surface. His eyes burned with blood lust, his black fur was even darker with the blood that dripped from his sharp claws. His breath was bellows, expanding his entire body with every one he took.

I should have been terrified. I should have run screaming from the clearing as fast and as far as I could get. But I was angry.

“Why is my village dying?”

The question seemed to startle him. I watched as he calmed his breathing. He bent to dig his claws into the ground, cleaning them of the dripping blood of my clansmen.

“It isn’t me.” He growled. “Nor any of the creatures under my control. If they’re dying, it’s something they brought upon themselves.”

He stayed on all fours and slowly prowled to where I was on the ground. The scent of blood was in the air. I knew it would soon draw other predators to us. But I was only worried about the one in front of me.

His eyes were beseeching, begging me for something I couldn’t understand. What did this monster want from me?

“Why?” I gestured a shaking hand to the clearing and the blood and gore that surrounded us in what had once been a place of beauty and peace.

“They touched you.” He stopped just in front of me, raising a paw and dropping it back to his side. “They hurt you. They would have killed you.”

“Are they right? Is my life harming my village?” I had so many complicated feelings about my village. They had thrown me away like a bit of trash. They had put their lives and safetyabove mine and so many women before me. But the women, the children? What could they do? We needed the hunters to hunt. There was no survival without meat and the pelts to create our clothes. We needed them to protect us from the predators in the woods, to keep us safe.

“No my love,” this time he pressed his paw to my cheek. It was still damp with the blood of my clansmen, the men he’d just killed in front of me. “Your life is a gift. Whatever is happening in that village is because of the toxins they injected into themselves.”

“Will my death save them?”

“No.” The word was sharp, harsh. I flinched in response and Beast pulled away from me. I instantly missed his touch.

“Your death solves nothing. The people of your village used to worship me like a god. They saw me as a friend and protector. At some point, something convinced them I was something to be feared. They started poisoning the hearts and minds of the people. That poison has been slowly killing them for generations. There is nothing your death could solve. And it would cost me greatly.”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Everything.”

Beast

Not touching herwas killing me. My paws tingled, my heart pounded in my chest and roared in my ears. I couldn’t shake the image of the men holding my human down, drawing a knife on her.

Threatening her.

The girl was mine and I would protect her and keep her safe until the end of time.

“Please, let me touch you.” I shifted to my hind legs, raising paws to hover beside her face. Instead of answering, she threw herself on me. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she buried her face in my chest. Sobs wracked her body, causing her to gasp and shake against me.

I wanted to kill them all over again for touching her, for upsetting her. For making her believe their suffering was her fault.

It wasn’t in my nature to take pleasure in killing. I did so for defense, for food. But I had never reveled in the violence before. Nothing had ever mattered to me as much as the woman in my arms before.

Branches snapped and trees rustled around us as the bears and wolves made their way to the scent of a fresh kill. They wouldn’t come any closer, not while I was there. Not until I gave them permission. But it was wasteful to let the bodies go to rot.

“Come, little human. It’s time to go.” I shifted to lift her into my arms as her sobs settled into gasping breaths. I cuddled her close to me, noting the blood had transferred to her clothing. She would want to bathe.

“Eat well,” I told the animals as we left the clearing and entered the safety of the trees.

“Home.” Mari said as I started toward the stream. “Please, take me home.”

I froze. I had feared this moment, the time when she would be done with me and want to return to her kind. A human wasn’t meant to be in the woods with the beasts.

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