Chapter 23

He came after me. He was chasing me, and I didn’t know where to run to or what to do. There was no way I could escape him, there was no place for me to hide and yet, I kept running. Driven by a primal need inside me to get away.

My heart felt as if it were breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. Daryus’s betrayal enveloped me like a poisonous fog, threatened to take my breath from me. Why? That was the only question running through my mind. Why? Why? Why?

I could hear him thrashing through the underbrush and felt like a deer on the run from a mountain lion, already sensing its fate and yet not able to give up.

Branches of a bush I wasn’t fast enough to avoid ripped at my dress, catching another piece of it, but I didn’t care. All I could think of was getting away.

When my lungs hurt so badly I could hardly catch my breath and my heart was beating so hard and fast inside my chest I feared it would simply give out or break through, I stopped and leaned with my back against a tree.

All my senses, my entire body, were attuned to my surroundings. I felt every part of the tree’s bark against my back, heard the rushing of blood in my ears, smelled the moist ground underneath my feet, and something else, something stronger. The scent of an approaching predator: Daryus.

Would he kill me?

Because of the excessive pumping of my heart, it was hard to focus on anything other than my deep drive to keep running, but I couldn’t run anymore. I was exhausted. Spent.

Part of me wanted to assure myself that Daryus wouldn’t kill me, wouldn’t hurt me, but that part was easily overshadowed by another that insisted, you didn’t think he was behind your abduction either. And if I allowed that point, I had to consider the possibility of him killing me, which brought back the only question I didn’t have an answer for: why?

Why would he have me abducted only to find and rescue me? It didn’t make any sense. None of it did.

I was too confused, too tired to think rationally and when I heard his stomping footsteps closing in, I darted away. But I didn’t get far. I hid behind the next tree, because my knees shook and I still wasn’t able to take in enough oxygen to keep myself going.

I watched him peel part of my dress off the tree I had leaned against, watch him almost caress the bark with his palm. His head twitched as if he had sensed me. When I saw his expression, another surge of fear pushed through me, filled my body with the adrenaline it needed for another sprint.

That man didn’t look like Daryus, not at all. The man coming for me looked almost… possessed.

Was that the explanation? Was this a part of him he had been hiding from me?

I was unable to suppress a shriek at staring at his animalistic features, and I turned and ran again. Through the thick forest, through fallen leaves, around a bush, winding my way through trees and feeling him closing in.

He was so close now, I feared he could make a grab for me, so I veered right. I didn’t dare look back but heard him falter and realized I had gained a few paces on him. I knew I couldn’t outrun him forever, I needed a spot to hide.

Just then though I watched an unscalable wall coming at me, or more precisely, I was running at it. I was barely able to scramble to a halt and push out my arms in front of me, otherwise, I would have collided with the rock-solid wall and probably cut my face open and knocked myself out.

Like a cornered animal, I looked left and right, but there was only rock. He was already here, behind me. I sensed him only a few paces from me, so I knew no matter if I went left or right, he would be on me. I slowly turned to face him, hoping to find the Daryus who had made such tender love to me, the one who had pulled me out of the hole Gitgo had put me in.

When my eyes fell on him, all I saw though, was a predator. A predator ready to finish me.

With the last of my ragged breath, I called his name, “Daryus.”

I pushed my hands out as if to ward him off. My palms made contact with his skin, so hard, so filled with ridges from his blood vessels and muscles. They felt so familiar and yet so frightful, because I knew the strength behind this man.

Something strange happened then. Right in front of my eyes, his features relaxed, turned from the mask of a merciless predator to my Daryus, filled with care and empathy.

“Heather,” he said, as if he was seeing me for the first time.

His hand reached up, cupped my cheek. “Heather,” he repeated. “Don’t be afraid, I would never hurt you.”

My heart rate slowed, yet it beat harder, stronger, and somehow that felt even worse.

Feverishly, my mind sorted through the thousands of thoughts going through it, considered and disregarded ideas. Confront him, seduce him, knee him, ask him, they were all a jumble of words and questions I couldn’t separate, and I didn’t know what to do.

But his warm skin was right underneath my palms, his hand on my cheek. I saw the tender expression in his eyes and knew without a doubt that he wasn’t lying to me. This man would never hurt me.

“I don’t understand,” I finally managed to say.

“I know, and I’m sorry, but what you overheard had nothing to do with you.”

“But that woman, Lady Madeema,” I objected. “Why was she there? She knew… She was with Lady Natoi the night I was taken.”

His expression darkened and I cursed myself. Had I gone too far? Oh, I should have kept my mouth shut. Now he would be angry and—

“Lady Madeema talked to Lady Natoi the night you were taken?” he checked.

Hesitantly, I nodded.

His head turned to the side, deep in thought, before he pulled me against his chest. “We will figure this out, I promise. You’re safe with me.”

I should have kept quiet, I knew I should have, but I was too confused, too anxious to stop myself. “Like I was when you chased me through the forest?”

A rumble moved through him. “Trust me, that didn’t quite go the way I wanted…”

I narrowed my eyes and pushed against his chest to see his face. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, looking troubled and wistful at the same time. “A long time ago, my ancestors used to chase their mekarry through the forests, to stake their claim and to assure they were worthy of their mates and such a bond.”

I stared at him and my slowly clearing mind began to make some kind of sense of his words. “Chase them through the forest?”

He nodded somberly.

I could see a certain allure for a guy in that, but for the girl? All I had felt was fear, confusion, and panic.

Wait, what had he just said?

“Their mekarries?” I asked hoarsely as bubbles seemed to rush through my veins.

“Mekarries, vra,” he repeated, taking my face into both of his hands. His teal eyes bored intensely into mine, underlining his next words. “You are my mekarry.”

I blinked.

It was that simple?

I had finally found the guy who would claim me.

But how did I feel about that?

From the moment I joined Lady Natoi and she explained the whole mekarry thing to me, I had wondered what this moment would be like, had even kind of yearned for it, just to be able to stop being paraded around. Now that this moment was here, I… I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

“I know that you don’t reciprocate those kinds of feelings for me yet, not the way I feel for you, but let me assure you that I would never allow anything to happen to you. You are my mekarry, my heart, my soul. I would rather die than be without you. I’m only sorry it took me so long to realize this.”

His words were sweet, heartfelt, and like a balm to my needy soul. But was that enough?

I thought I would find a guy or a guy would find me, take me away from all this parading around, but I had never allowed myself to think much further on it. Had never allowed myself to think of the guy having feelings for me, whereas I— Wait… I did have feelings for Daryus. I knew I did.

Was that enough though? For what he wanted? Expected?

“You don’t have to say anything yet, but I want you to know that no matter what, you are safe. I will do whatever you ask of me,” Daryus reiterated.

I bit into my lower lip, too confused to answer, everything was too much, just too much.

“I’m sorry if I scared you.” His voice grew more tender, soft and hoarse at the same time.

I sniffed.

“I need… some time… to… think,” I finally managed to get out.

“Of course.” He nodded, pulling me back into his embrace. I let it happen, felt the tip of his chin rest on top of my head, felt the powerful beating of his heart, and yes, the hardness of his cock pressing against my belly.

The chase had aroused him.

I should have been outraged, revolted even. Still, despite my confusion, a part of me understood. His words came back to me, A long time ago, my ancestors used to chase their mekarry through the forests, to stake their claim and to assure they were worthy of their mates and such a bond.

Chasing me had meant for him that he was proving his virility as a warrior, as a mate. My mate.

I had been on this planet long enough to have gained some understanding of their mekarry bond, of our differences. I had studied cultures and their diverseness, so I tried to approach this situation with an open mind, as much as my confused state allowed me. Considering the importance of this chase to him, I understood his arousal and took it for what it was, a compliment of sorts. Even more so that he wasn’t acting upon it. It wasn’t a thanks for not taking me without my full consent kind of thinking, but I did appreciate his tenderness toward me instead of him trying to push his desires on me now. I knew a few men who wouldn’t have acted in such a noble way.

“Let me take you back to my suite,” he finally said when his heart rate had almost returned to normal.

I wasn’t ready for that yet though. “What about Lady Madeema?”

His muscles tensed against me. “What you overheard… was directed at a different matter, something about the Cryons that can’t get out,” he confessed.

“But she was with Lady Natoi that night.”

He moved slightly away from me so I could see his eyes, which were earnest and held promises. “I will get to the bottom of this, Heather. I swear. But I have to ask you to trust me for now. If Lady Madeema”—and here he ground his teeth and locked his jaw—“had anything to do with what happened to you, I will hold her accountable for it. She is a dangerous merrily. I need to handle this carefully.”

Despite my better judgment, I said, “I trust you.”