Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The two walked hand-in-hand, taking it slow, happy to simply be spending this wonderful time with each other, though Margot was paying far more attention to their surroundings, scanning for any signs of hidden traps. Funny how being impaled like that tended to make one a bit hyper-aware.

Braxxos tried to put her mind at least a little at ease, explaining that the trap she had triggered was actually an old one left by normal hunters, definitely not Gromm's people.

"Regardless, that was truly careless of them," he said with clear disdain. "To leave any trap when finished with a hunting expedition is unforgivable. Anything could have been caught by that, left to bleed out in agony."

"Or it could skewer people, let's not forget."

"As we know first-hand, it would indeed be very hard to forget. Which reminds me, if I may, I would like to examine your wound."

"Shouldn't we leave it wrapped?"

"Normally, for most races I would agree. However, I have reason to believe the changes you have felt might extend to wound healing as well."

Margot lifted her top carefully, allowing him to peel off the plant paste and bandage.

"What is that stuff, anyway?"

"Chewed Mangarrus root and Zilavian leaf. A potent combination to stave off infection and stimulate healing."

"Did you say chewed ?"

He chuckled softly. "Do not fear. The Mangarrus is a natural antiseptic. Any organisms in my mouth would be eradicated in the process. That is what makes it such a good healing compound. Now hold still a moment."

With great care he pulled the bandage up, lifting the partially dried paste to examine where the hole in her side had been. He smiled, relieved, and lowered it back in place.

"As I had hoped. The skin is healed enough to prevent anything from getting inside."

"It's a scar already?"

"Yes, though it will likely take a few more days for it to feel normal on the surface. As for the muscle beneath, I do not know how long it will take to heal. However, you seem to be responding quite quickly, so I would venture a guess that it will not be long."

"Wow. This place is full of surprises."

"As are you."

He let her top fall back into place, fingers trailing down her skin as he did, the pair continuing their walk to their secret waterfall retreat. It was still a fair distance, but the paths they took—always alternating to hide tracks and avoid leaving a recognizable trail from overuse—were mostly quite familiar to Margot by now.

"Hey, did you have any issues with wildlife while you were out here?" she asked, recalling the utter stillness that had left her feeling so uneasy.

"I did not."

She waited for him to say more but he left it at that.

"Okay. I just ask because I think that monster was out there again."

He cocked his head slightly at her words. "You were safe up there."

"I know. It's just I?—"

A pulse rifle shot blasted through the air, narrowly missing them both, exploding into the tree beside them. Braxxos pushed Margot hard, sending her tumbling into the brush as he charged ahead, ready to protect her no matter what.

"Wait!" she shouted after him, but he wasn't about to do anything of the sort.

She heard the Raxxians before she saw them emerge from their hiding spot. There were three of them, but only one had a rifle, and with his injured arm he was not a very good shot. It was some good luck, and the next two blasts missed as well. Braxxos hadn't slowed at all and was upon them in a flash, targeting the gun wielding Raxxian first, bringing his fist crashing into the scaley alien's face with a sickening crunch.

The other two were only armed with blades, but they launched into the fray simultaneously, opening several slices in his arms and torso as they swung wildly. This wasn't a well-oiled retrieval unit. This was a ragtag group of Raxxian guards operating outside their normal procedures. It was that lack of cohesion that gave Braxxos an opening.

He whipped his shirt off, using the wrapped material to deflect the blades, launching devastating kicks to their legs as they tried to block what they expected to be headshots. Instead, he pounded their thighs with brutal kicks, making their quad muscles spasm hard enough to prevent them from properly pivoting their weight as they tried to fight back.

The gunman was back on his feet, but his weapon had been damaged in the fray, rendering it no more than a useless club. He decided to use it as precisely that, swinging it hard into Braxxos's head.

"No!" Margot cried out as he stumbled from the blow, a trickle of blood running from his head.

He was hurt, she realized. And he was going to lose.

Or so she thought.

A monstrous growl erupted from his throat as he spun on the man, punching him hard enough to send him tumbling backwards into a tree, stunning the Raxxian temporarily. Braxxos smashed into the other two in a similar manner, acting in a rage, his motions jerky as if he was fighting off a swarm of bees, his entire complexion darkening from head to toe, shifting from reddish tan to a deep brown.

His eyes locked on Margot's for a split second, a look of pain and regret clear on his face before he spun away from her.

His eyes, she marveled. What was that? They were glowing orange .

Braxxos further confused her by hopping on one leg then the other, pulling his trousers off as fast as he could, as though they were full of biting insects. Even the Raxxians were momentarily stunned and unsure what to do now that they were facing an unexpectedly naked man. One hurled a stone, the rock bouncing painfully off the man's nude body, opening a small gash.

Braxxos howled in pain. Then, with the last shred of self-control slipping away, he finally let it happen.

"What the fuck?" Margot gasped as his body cracked and swelled, tufts of hair sprouting from his arms and shoulders as he seemed to double in size. His forearms grew enormous, his finger elongating on meaty hands. His back spread wider than before, making his already athletic physique seem dwarfish by comparison. His runes were positively glowing now, shining through the newly sprouted hair clear as day now that she knew what she was looking at.

He was utterly enormous. Enraged. And, shockingly, he was familiar.

"The beast ," she gasped as the raging creature tore into the Raxxians with tremendous violence and power.

He ripped the nearest one's arms from his body as easily as plucking the wings from a fly before crushing his head in his massive hands. The other two charged. There was no chance of escape. Attack was the only option, hopeless as it now appeared. They stabbed him over and over, their blades drawing blood but not slowing the beast's advance.

He lay into them with extreme malice, not merely ending them, but doing so in the most horrific and violent manner possible, tearing and ripping them to shreds until they were no more than piles of gore.

The massive beast's chest was heaving, blood dripping from his hands. He spun, glowing orange eyes locking on Margot's.

She felt her breath catch in her throat. This was it. She was a dead woman.

But there was something new in those eyes. Something she hadn't seen on that first encounter. They glowed orange, fierce and frightening, but there was more to them now. The beast glanced at the dead Raxxians, its tensed shoulders relaxing. It turned back to Margot with a pained look on its face.

"Braxxos?" she said quietly, gingerly walking closer.

"I-" he tried to say, his deep, beastly voice gravelly and halting. He was a killing machine and not accustomed to speech. At least, not before. "I did not know how to tell you," he managed to say, the words so deep they rumbled her belly with the vibrating force of them. "It is my curse."

The eyes were that of a beast, but she saw something else. There was intelligence now where there hadn't been any before. And more than that, there was love.

"I'm sorry," he said, tears welling in his eyes.

Then turned and ran away.

"Braxxos! Wait!" she called after him, but he was gone in a flash. If his regular form was fast, this startling other self was even more so.

She stood there, trembling with shock. This was why he'd left her those times. Why he locked her in his elevated home for her own safety. When he was the beast, he would not recognize her. A mindless killing machine. But now? Now something had changed.

She felt the burning in her chest grow strong, the Infala rune glowing bright, just as his had.

Her shock turned to resolve.

I guess I know why he stripped in the middle of a fight , she realized with dark amusement as she gathered up his clothes. Margot let out a morbid chuckle as she wondered just how many times he'd had to re-stitch them after not shedding them fast enough.

She turned a slow three-sixty, taking in the carnage dealt at his hands as well as the utter silence surrounding her. He was the biggest, baddest thing in the forest. And, whatever it meant, he was all hers. She took one step in the direction he'd fled. Then another. Then another.

I can't believe I'm doing this , she chided herself, then headed after him. The most unlikely of chases; the tiny human in pursuit of the massive beast.