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A stone the size of a fist caught her eye, and she threw it into the pond.

“You big jerk! You didn’t have to hiss at me!”

Heat bled from her face when he popped his head above the surface with blood-coloured orbs. Then she squealed again and threw her arms up when he squirted water at her from his mouth.

“Ew!”she cried, fighting the long stream of water by tossing her arms around.

Wet and now cold, the top of her completely soaked, she shot him a foul glare when he stopped.

Shesworeshe heard a snicker as he creepily sunk beneath the surface, leaving behind large bubbles that popped at the top.

Inching slowly towards the edge of the pond, Linh hesitated as she peeked into it. He was gone, fading into the abyss, as if it was much deeper than she originally anticipated. She couldn’t even see the bottom of it.

She stumbled away and palmed her rosy cheeks, dozens of shocking and startling emotions heating them.Oh my fucking gods. I spoke to a Duskwalker!Well, at him would be more accurate, but still! He only squirted her with water, further proving he wasn’t as bad as his hissing and monstrous exterior seemed.

Pouting in thought, she wondered if she could convince him to change his mind – since she figured his little tantrum was a rejection.

I’m pushing my luck though, aren’t I?The longer she lingered, the more likely he might turn her into a yummy snack.

Her shoulders fell as she averted her gaze to the forest surrounding the large clearing and this small pond in the middle. Her gaze landed on the western peak of their valley’s mountains.

I’m out of luck, and I was out of it two months ago.If she’d been lucky, or if the cosmic universe cared about her wellbeing, it wouldn’t have allowed her to be taken in the first place.

There were very few options for someone in her position, which was a horrible realisation. The reality was: her future, her next heartbeat and breath, was all uncertain. Hopelessness radiated throughout her entire being.

She could either brave the perilous journey ahead of her or remain in hopes this Duskwalker helped her.

Both could end with her dead.

She refuses to leave,Nathair grumbled, as he crept his head high enough from the water’s surface so his orbs could see the female. The rest of him, from just below his hollow eye sockets to his tail tip, was submerged.

All day, she remained.

He, at first, thought she’d leave after he warned her away with a hiss. Most humans tended to reek of delicious fear when he showed them his fangs, which is why he’d leapt into the water before that tangy scent could cascade off her supple flesh.

Retreating to his underwater cave and lake, he’d gone to do what he always did. Which was nothing but huddle around himself, trying to deal with the irritating human voices that didn’t belong to him. They were quieter since his wounds took his focus, but he didn’t know which was worse – his injuries or the memory fragments.

He’d prefer not to be subjected to either.

Since he always left his tail tip in the water so he could perceive movement in it, he hadn’t expected to feel her drink from it again. Even with the grand distance of water stretchingbetween them, he’d been able to feel the sensation. He’d dived under to come closer, curious about why she’d remained.

I saw her fill a drink sack yesterday.He wondered if she’d only chosen to drink from his pond to annoy him, or to preserve her stored supply in case she needed to make a quick escape.

For a long while, she sat near the edge of his pond, waiting for him with her arse and the bottoms of her feet against the ground. She hugged her knees with a remarkably disgruntled expression – which somehow made her look both saddened and annoyed.

During that time, he refused to come up, but did watch her from within the darkness. Her body wavered through the ripples.

He thought she’d given up when she disappeared, finally giving back his small territory she so rudely trespassed upon. He rose to watch her leave, discovering he was wrong.

Instead, she crouched over one of the bags he’d dropped when he ripped the limbs off his meals. She rifled through it, shoving some kind of fluffy food into her mouth – if the fragments of his memory weren’t wrong, he thought it may be a bread roll.

Stuffing her face, she appeared to be starving. He could hear heromnomnomingfrom all the way over here.

After rifling through the bag, she went to the two others. With the way he ate, which was limb by limb, by the time there was nothing but a torso, anything carried tended to fall right off.

If he wanted to, he could swallow even the largest prey whole. Nathair didn’t like doing that, as it often left him immobile for long periods of time. He’d need to lie there and let his internal throat muscles push the body down as he swallowed bit by bit.

It was just easier to do it in smaller bites.