Page 24 of A Soul to Guide

Maniacal laughter boomed from him and carried over the distance, no matter how far she managed to get. With branches and leaves cutting across her clothing and face, it had her heart racing. Her breaths stuttered, warming her lips as the air froze them.

Nothing could shake her of the fear pummelling through her.

All she could think was,he lied to me.

Merikh let out a humour-filled, dark chuckle as he watched Raewyn scamper away, knowing she would.

With her hands forward, she bounced herself off tree after tree, and he just laughed. No matter how far or fast she ran, he would inevitably catch up to hisprey.

Yet his laughter was also a product of frustration because, for three fucking days, he’d been taking this woman on a silly goose chase through the damn forest!

The nearest town to Clawhaven was merely a two-day walk, and he’d been guiding this woman in circles, hoping she would just tell him what thefuckshe was.

Because Merikh knew... he knew this woman wasn’t human, and he’d known it back in Clawhaven. She’d smelled ripe with strong magic; he’d even noticed it through the snout cloth he used to dilute scents.

So, what in the hell was she?

For a week, he’d been following this woman around those scum-filled streets, wondering how to best approach her so he could get her to follow him into the forest.Being straight forward and asking seemed far too suspicious– especially when her constant, near pathetic, begging for a traveller had been rejected so many times. And she’d already revealed she was cautious of people, since she rarely interacted with anyone except when necessary.

So, he watched, and he waited, and he planned.

Being the ‘knight in shining armour’ was the best approach he could think of. He was an unsociable bastard at the best of times, so he needed a protective guise to mask his true nature and intentions.

Did he feel terrible that he paid those four humans to harass this woman? Not. One. Bit. Not when all her troubles would shortly end, alongside her life.

The only reason he wasn’t dashing after her was because he was shoving back those wretched, demanding hands that pleaded with him to chase his fleeing prey and tear her to pieces.

He would, eventually, but Merikh wanted to knowwhathe was eating first... and where he might be able to find more.

After a deep, pacifying breath, one that gave him confidence he’d suppressed the worst of his hunger for sweet, delectable meat, he picked up his cloak. He slung it across his shoulders and calmly walked after her.

Run, little bunny. Run.

Her heartbeat was deafening over the distance, a scared little flutter, and it was a pretty beat as he followed. Her scent was sweet, split into three different kinds.

One of undeniable fear, so delicious it made him salivate despite his snout cloth.

One of her scent, which had annoyingly sometimes made his seam twitch. Convallaria majalis, or lily of the valley, was the closest he could come up with to naming it. It had been wrapping around his mind like a horrible little ache for the past three days. It was just as pleasant as it was toxic.

Then, finally, her magical scent that intertwined with her lily body odour: clary sage – so earthy, so vibrant, and so rich with power.

It was that clary sage scent he was interested in the most. He not only wanted it, but needed it, if he ever wanted out of this hellhole of a realm.

A small growl tore from the back of his throat, a sound he’d been hiding as grunts.

Every day that Raewyn acted coy, tiptoeing around him to not share a shred of information about what she was, was a day he’d lost figuring his way out of this realm.

He’d been hoping to get her to lower her hood, but it was like the damn thing was stuck to her head. Any time he tried to get close to her while she was sleeping, she’d wake suddenly, and he’d pretend he was doing something else.

The urge to rip it from her had been near undeniable, but he needed her to give her informationwillingly.A confused and frightened woman would do him no good.

Seemed it was too late for that.

He’d been hoping the Demon would get her to trust him more. Instead, it meant she now knew he wasn’t human.

Oh! And that damn lame, made-up story he gave her today... The one about having a human family, coming from a farming town – the whole thing had been bullshitted to get her to talk. Which, in fact, it had, but everything she’d shared was utterly useless.

His friendly, chatty approach had failed, but he’d realised it might have been the key to her finally slipping up and telling him something of value. She’d seemed rather sincere when he pretended to be choked up over his ‘parents.’

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