Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

GAHRYE

The mountains that loomed over the WildWood were limned in light gray, as if they glowed, when he finally found her. He'd been tracking Elia's beast for hours, catching sight, but never able to reach her. An hour earlier he'd found a spot where she'd successfully hunted a small deer, apparently prowling to catch it in its bed. She'd dragged it for more than a mile before she'd finally settled down to eat. 

When he finally caught up to her, she hunched over the carcass, still eating, and growled at him, turning to position the carcass between herself and him, so she could watch him while she ate.

He'd assumed she'd eaten Shaw and wouldn't be hungry. Perhaps he'd been wrong.

"Oh, Elia," he said quietly crouching at the edge of the trees a few feet from her kill, keeping his head down so he'd be seen as no challenge by the Beast. "Did you stop her eating that little asshole?"

The beast paused in her chewing and eyed him for a moment, then went back to her feasting. 

Gahrye sighed and dropped the bags off his back, then moved slowly back to sit against the trunk of one of the trees and wait for her to be done. He rolled his aching shoulders that felt like the bags, which had started out not feeling heavy at all, had been dragging them towards the dirt.

While Elia ate, Gahrye looked around. They were so deep in the forest now, so many miles from the Tree City, he prayed it was close enough to dawn that she'd decide to sleep now that she'd eaten. He needed rest, but he couldn't let her out of his sight. 

"You went the wrong way," he said sullenly as she cracked through one of the deer's legbones, then gnawed on it, her huge teeth scraping every ounce of flesh from the bone. "We've got hours to get back to the City." 

She ignored him.

"Reth is there."

The beast paused in her eating again and turned her head to meet his gaze again, licking the blood from her muzzle as they stared. 

"You need to rest, then we'll go find him. I was trying to tell you… I'm sorry I fell apart when we got here. The voices… look, I'm guessing we can get to Reth in two or three hours? But I can't keep up with you when you run. You'll have to stay slow, with me, so I can show you." And pray that they weren't walking into a warzone. 

Or worse.

What if Reth wasn't even here anymore? That thought hadn't even occurred to Gahrye before now, and a chill ran down his spine. 

The beast gave a small groan and turned her head to lick her stomach. When she turned back, she growled and didn't go back to the meal. Gahrye watched as she licked the carcass, then picked it up by the back of its neck and dragged it forward a couple feet, towards Gahrye. Then she dropped it and looked at him.

He stared. What was she doing?

Then she huffed, picked the carcass up again, and dragged it closer, until dropping it almost on his feet.

She was giving him the carcass?

Gahrye swallowed. "Uh… thank you. I'm… I'm not hungry right now." His stomach growled to call him a liar, but it was true that he wasn't yet hungry or weak enough to be tempted by the raw meat.

Gahrye decided in that moment that he was more human than he'd realized. 

They sat there for a long minute, just staring at each other. Then Elia's beast got to her feet again and Gahrye leaped up. She startled but he just picked up the bags, then raised his hands to show her his palms and kept talking. 

"Elia, can you come out? Can we… can we talk?" he waited, but the beast just watched him until he sighed. "Look, you need to rest. If you're going to move to find a place to lay down, you need to move slowly so I can keep up. I can show you how to find Reth in the morning. But right now, we both need sleep."

The beast huffed, and immediately turned, but kept her pace at a walk. Gahrye hurried to keep up with her.

He followed her another twenty minutes until she found a small cave in the side of the mountain. By that time he was genuinely worried. She'd been panting the entire walk, despite keeping the slow pace. And she'd groaned a few times as well, once stopping to turn and butt her own stomach.

Was this why she'd been running? Was she in pain? Was she sick? Was something wrong that she couldn't tell him because she couldn't get back to her human form?

Or was he following and talking to a wild lion that was just deciding whether or not to eat him?

The thought wouldn't leave him alone, but he told himself that couldn't be it. A Silent One wouldn't have let him so close when she was eating. 

When they found the little cave, she approached cautiously, her nostrils flaring, each step slow and silent until she'd walked as deep into the little cave as she could and found nothing but bats and insects.

Then she groaned and dropped to the rock floor, her chin on her paws.

Gahrye turned to look out of the cave mouth. 

They were on the rising side of a valley floor, the mountains reaching for the sky on every side, while the trees punctured it in small thickets. Everything was outlined in silver by the half-moon that was still low in the sky. 

The sky itself was slowly turning from indigo to gray, the stars twinkling out one by one. A soft breeze fluttered in his face bringing all the smells of Anima and Gahrye's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the beauty around him. 

The beauty of home. 

And yet… it couldn't be home anymore without Kalle.

Keep her safe, please, he prayed to the Creator. Keep her away from Dillon, aware of the voices… just keep her safe until I can reach her again.

Then he turned and looked at Elia's beast, whose eyes followed him without moving her head. "We'll get back to them. Both of us," he said, quietly but fiercely. "You first. Tomorrow. Or, later today I guess."

She blinked, but didn't move and Gahrye sighed. He dropped the bags at the mouth of the cave, then walked back to where she lay, laid himself down on the dirt next to her, his back against her side so while the cold of the ground seeped warmth out of him, her fur and body would return it to him.

Something was definitely going on for her. Laying against her side like this, he could feel her body tightening and loosening against him. Against pain. "Oh, Elia… we'll get through this. We have to," he whispered.

And then he fell asleep praying that Kalle was safe, and that if she was pregnant, his son would remain safe too. 

And never, ever alone.

**** Privilege Warning & Mass Release ****

1. Don't forget: DO NOT buy expensive privilege tiers this late in the month, because privilege resets on 1 October (30 September for the USA) and you would have to pay again! Wait until the monthly reset and enjoy your privilege access for the full calendar month for a single charge! (And if you buy in October you'll be entered into the draw for a limited edition paperback of Volume 1!)

2. Your Golden Ticket support has earned an additional mass release chapter! But because I've been so touched by all your support--reading, commenting, gifts, and summoning pens--I'm going to release FOUR chapters on the last day of the month to say THANK YOU! (that's 30 September on NovelFull, 29 September in the USA.) 

Thank you again for everything you do to help me and Reth & Elia continue to thrive. You are a gift to me!