“Bran, come now, my sweet giant, you’re scaring her.”
My gaze flicks to the other man. He’s short, closer to my size, I suppose. His hair is black and stops at his thin shoulders. His eyes are dark green and are looking directly at my face. I gulp. This one is cunning. You can see it in the tilt of his head and the slight smile on his thin lips.
“Rush.” Bran’s whisper-soft voice pulls that green gaze from my face, “You are scaring her.”
I take another step back as they stare at each other. I watch them for any sign that they’re paying attention to me. Rush settles his hands on his hips as he shakes his head. His thin black hair shifted with the movement.
I peer over my shoulder and go back to them. Can I make it to the tree before they can get their dirty hands on me? My mind made up. I twist around, dashing for the tree. It’s not that far away. I can make it.
“Now look what you did, Rush,” Bran sighs.
I dart for the tree.
“I’ll get her,” Rush mumbles, and I'm almost there.
I scream as I fall to the ground, tripping over something. I groan, and my breath comes in and out harshly. What the hell? I jerk my fingers away from the tree trunk. I was so damn close. I twist my head and see a tiny mound of dirt. That wasn’t there before.
“Please, don’t run,” Rush says, sounding ashamed for me.
I grunt and push up to my feet. Run, where in the hell would I go?
I glance up and see Prince’s ember eyes glowing between the leaves. I give him a pleading look.
A bitter hand latches onto my left arm, and I scream bloody murder. I kick out with my right foot, hitting Rush in the knee. His leg buckled, but his grip is as firm as ever. He groans from the ground, and I glance at the dagger in my right fist.
I scream again as pain radiates from my calves, and I collapse to the ground with a thud. He kicked my legs out from under me!
Tears fall from the corner of my eyes as I gaze up at Prince.
“Help me,” I plead breathlessly.
His head tilts, then he jumps to the ground. His roar echoes out and has me sighing in relief. Prince sits down in front of me, putting him only a couple of inches away from Rush.
I smile as his green eyes widen, and he slowly starts to crawl backward. He gets a reasonable distance away before he scrambles up. Bran strolls to his side as they both stare at Prince.
I climb to my feet, wincing at the pain going through my body. I keep Prince in between the two men and me.
“That’s a Fire Cat,” Bran says, glancing between Prince and me, baffled.
“Fracking right you are, Bran.” Rush chuckles.
I shift from foot to foot. Why are they not leaving?
“Where’s the Eligere?” Rush huffs.
I keep my mouth shut. They don’t need to know that Prince is my soul’s heart. Nothing good could come out of that.
Bran shrugs his vast shoulders and limps back to the small campsite. Rush chuckles again, following him. I watch, unsure of what to do. They sit down happy as pie and whisper to each other.
I can’t hear from where I am standing, but I’d say they are trying to figure out what is going on from the glances they cast back at us. Only Eligere has the soul’s hearts - a bonded animal. They think I am only a child. Even though they’re wrong, I’m still no Eligere. This is only my third day on Elementum, after all.
Prince wraps his thick tail around my wrist and pulls me towards the two. I dig my heels in, pulling back, but it’s no use. Soon I’m standing in front of Rush and Bran, red-faced.
“We don’t hurt children," Bran says softly.
“So, you hurt other people,” I snapped, crossing my dirty arms across my chest.
They share a glance that makes me uneasy. “Only the bad people,” Rush states, stretching his short legs out.
“There are heated springs close to here. Once the suns come up, we can take you there,” Bran gazes at my dirty bare legs.
I shift, putting Prince in front of my pale legs.
Rush chuckles, “You should sit. It’ll be a couple of hours.”
I sit down in the packed dirt and reach for my pack, dragging it to me. I dig around until I find my red cloak. I wrap it around my shoulders, covering up my bare legs and feet in the process.
Bran picks at his nails with a small knife, and Rush just smiles at me.
“What?” I snap, clutching the cloak tighter to my chest.
“You’re not a child, are you?”
My breath freezes, “What! Why would you ask that?”
“It’s that look in your eyes.” Rush states, “You look like you’ve been to hell and back.”
“You could say that,” I mumbled, leaning against Prince, soaking up his body heat.
Rush tosses a rock, making me jump, “Fracking worm. He should be here by now."
He? There’s more of them? Dread pools in my belly. I can’t deal with any more strangers.
“Quit your fussing. He’ll be here.” Bran says.
I shift uncomfortably when a feeling grabs my stomach. The spit in my mouth dries up as the feeling gets more potent by the second. It feels like I’m being jerked from the inside. I grimace and feel a tear fall from my eye. It’s the same feeling I got with Derrick and Rylan. It’s the Electus bond pulling me in the direction of my chosen. Not again.
“Bout fracking time.”
I open my teary eyes and view a man standing directly in front of me. His hair is a dusty brown. His eyes are pale green, staring wildly in my direction.
Tug. Tug. Tugg.
I grunt at the pull of the bond. I don’t want another one. I didn’t even like the one Rylan forced on me.
“Keen. Where have you been?” Rush snaps.
Without taking his eyes off me, he speaks, “Had a bit of a problem.”
My heart clenches. His voice is low with a hint of an accent.
Tug. Tug.
Can I ignore this hideous tug? It’s not painful, only really freaking annoying. He squats down in front of me. My body tightens with tension. If I wanted to, I could reach out with my hand and touch his face.
Prince yawns, doing nothing. An excellent help he is.
“Who is this?”
“No clue, mate. Found her here, doing nothing,” Rush says.
Keen’s head falls to the side, his hair lying across his forehead. “Who are you?” he whispers.
I push into Prince more, “No one.”
He hums, sitting down in front of me, crossing his legs. His hand reaches out, and I jerk backward, almost falling over. One of his slim eyebrows goes up as he pulls his hand back, laying it on his knee.
“Doll, you’re someone."
I narrow my eyes, “I’m not a doll.”
Rush cackles, “You look like one.”
“Enough,” Keen speaks. It’s not loud, but it’s full of authority.
I clutch my cloak tighter as I have to forcefully keep my body from leaning into his. This damn Electus Bond. Why is there something like that? Something that forces you to form a lifelong bond with a complete stranger. What if you never get along? What if they are nuts? Then what in the hell are you supposed to do?
“Where are you heading to?” Keen asks, propping his chin in his hand and analyzing me.
Heading? God, I don't have a clue. I shrug my shoulders.