Page 220 of A Soul to Guide

“I need you to calm down, okay?” she gently sang in English, rubbing at his chest in hopes of soothing him. “You’re scaring everyone.”

“Tell them to back off,”he growled.“Tell them to control their fear.”

Raewyn managed to shove her hands through the gap where the corners of his jaw and his shoulders were. She covered the end of his snout with one hand to block their scents for him while waving the other in the air.

“Please give us some space,” she called to her people. “The smell of your fear is agitating him. He won’t hurt you, so please ease yourselves.” She hoped she wasn’t making empty promises. “Better?” she asked him when rattling informed her the small army had backed up.

He grunted in answer.

I feel so bad for him. Has he been running since the moment I lost his sight?That had been two hours ago, if not more.

Silence radiated between them, but it was thick with tension. His snarls and growls hadn’t faded, nor had his heart or breaths calmed.

She braved moving her hand from his face and brought them both down to rub at his thick, firm neck soothingly. When she scratched it, he shivered, and the pressure weighing down on her lessened.

Which was good, since he’d been crushing her.

“Did you hurt anyone, Merikh? It’ll be much harder to fight on your behalf if you did.”

“No, I made sure not to harm any of your people. I knew they wouldn’t trust me if I did, and I didn’t think you’d forgive me.”

Such a smart Duskwalker, on both accounts. She smiled lightly as she placed her forehead against his big chest and took in the comfort of his orange and cinnamon scent. His fur tickled her forehead, and she rubbed into the soft fibres.

Despite her desire to stay with him, her heart blossoming at his return, she turned her head up to the underside of his skull.

“I need you to let me up, Merikh,” she gently requested, only to wince when he bared down on her again.

“No.”The depth of his unusual, monstrous bass doubled, and it was so definitive, it had goosebumps rising on her arms.

“We can’t stay like this forever.”

“I won’t allow them to take you away again.”

She wanted to promise him they wouldn’t, but she knew where his next destination was – and it wasn’t her home. At least, not yet.

That’s if he wanted to stay with her.

“You’re here. You made it to Nyl’theria,” she said, hoping to reassure him. “If you let me up, we can resolve everything and work on gaining you permission to remain in the city.”

“I don’t give a fuck where I am, Raewyn.”

Her brows drew together so tightly they knotted her forehead. “I don’t understand. Isn’t this what you wanted? To come here, to get away from Earth?”

“What I want has changed. I don’t care where I am so long as I have it.”

“What do you want, then?”

His breaths whimpered, anxious and fearful. It was strange. His answer was slow to come, but it was soft, uttered so quietly that it was a whisper.“You.”

Her heart stammered in her chest, racing for what that could possibly mean.Does that mean he feels the same way as me?

“Is... Is that why you tried to take something from me?” she asked, unsure if her voice was shaking from nervousness or excitement.

The silence that followed weighed heavily on her chest. He didn’t want to answer.

“Merikh?” she pushed, her voice cracking.

“Yes.”

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