Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

ELIA

Everything was surreal. Reth was here, somehow. Lucine was dead on the ground. Candace was… unconscious? She prayed it was so. But her companion been out cold for so long.

Elia's entire right side screamed in pain that had gotten worse since Reth pinned her with his bleeding arm. And even though she understood what he intended to do, she didn't think it worked that way.

And worse, he was beginning to pale.

"Reth, please," she said through her clenched teeth. "You need to get a tourniquet on that arm!"

"Soon, love," he gasped, his voice rough. "Soon. This is working."

She couldn't see anything. The wound was on her shoulder, right on the joint. But Reth had his massive arm pressed against it and his shoulder and the side of his face filled her gaze.

Everything seemed suddenly too bright. She wanted to squint against it. Only his hair glimmered in it and she reached to stroke it, her fingers too dark, and wet… his hair caught in them.

Then she realized it was blood. She was painting him in blood.

"Oh, Reth, I'm so sorry," she said, sucking in a deep breath as her shoulder gave a great stab of pain. "I'm so sorry, the people, the city—"

"It was a ploy," he said through this teeth.

"What?"

"It was a trick. To get me away from you. So they could…" he trailed off, his entire body tensing and his eyes fixing in the middle-ground, his pupils wide.

***** 

RETH

He inhaled, but all he could smell was the forest, and their mingled blood.

"Reth, what are you—"

He clapped his free hand to her mouth and scanned the forest around them. But he couldn't see anything. Fuck! The wolves had to be there. But why hadn't they attacked?

His head spun as he tried to see it from all angles.

If the wolves knew enough to send a bird, to use his scout, then they must know where the portal was. Or was it possible they'd only known who would be with him, not where they would be going?

But no, Lucine was here for her.

Think, Reth!

"We can't be alone," he breathed as low and quiet as he was sure she could hear.

Elia blinked up at him, her mouth wide. But she didn't make a sound.

"I don't know where they are, but they must be here somewhere, I—"

Thundering hooves broke the silence, still in the distance back on the trail. Reth straightened, and his head spun. Elia caught his shoulder. "Reth, you need to sit down properly. If you fall I won't be able to catch you."

"That's got to be Behryn," he said and needed a deep breath.

"Reth," Elia said, her voice much stronger than it had been. "Reth, look at me."

He looked at her and found her eyes pinched with worry. "You're helping me, but hurting yourself. I'm doing better. What you did is working. So we need to take care of you now, okay?"

"They're coming," he said through his teeth. "Behryn will be here in a minute, but… they've got to be close. They'll smell the blood. We have to get out of the open."

She nodded as she took hold of the bloodied, torn sleeve of her bad arm and yanked it off, hissing at the pain the movement caused. "Okay, so you take your arm, and we're going to tie this around it, okay?"

He was still scanning the forest, his ears perked for even the slightest sound, still scenting the wind—though he knew the wolves wouldn't be dumb enough to come at them upwind.

"Reth, help me tie this, please."

He looked down to find she'd twisted the torn sleeve over his arm, but needed another hand to pull it tight. He used his good hand, but kept scanning. The cave was behind them. Behryn was coming, but probably alone.

They were both injured.

"We need to get in the cave," he murmured. "Right now."

"What about Candace?" Elia said tightly.

Reth concentrated, scenting her. She was still alive, but failing. He looked at Elia. "Can you walk?"

Elia nodded and pushed up to stand. She wavered, slightly, but not as much as Reth when he stood.

He must have lost more blood than he realized. To his shock, though, Elia was moving without too much pain. The arm wound was… already beginning to close. His mouth dropped open and he grabbed her bad arm to stop her moving it, but she thought he was going to fall, and clutched at him, grabbing him even with the bad hand.

"You can move it?" he asked faintly.

"Yes, I… Reth… Reth you look… we need to get you into that cave right now," she said, her voice tight with worry.

He knew she was right, but he leaned down, groaning, to grasp Candace's ankle in his good hand and walked towards the cave, dragging her over the dirt, Elia under his bad arm, her good arm around his waist.

They made slow progress. What was wrong with him? It was as if he'd lost his strength. But they made it and Reth turned in the mouth of the Cave to scent the wind again and look for any clue.

The sound of Behryn's hooves was even closer. Suddenly, Behryn in beast-form broke into the clearing. Mid-stride he shifted and was running for them.

"They're coming!" he yelled. "Wolves! Two entire fists! Get Elia into the cave, quickly!"

Reth whirled, and lost his feet.

Elia shrieked and grabbed for him, but he went down on one knee, his entire weight landing on the joint in a teeth jarring blow.

But then Behryn was there, and grabbing him, pulling him upright, and they were moving deeper into the narrow cave, Behryn hissing at Elia to show them the way to the Traverse.

Reth knew it, and tried to say so, but they both shushed him.

What was wrong with him? He should have roared them both down.  Instead, he shuffled alongside Behryn and struggled to take in the words his dearest friend hissed.

Wolves. Coming. At least ten.

And they could smell blood.