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Dizziness swam as Nathair pushed down the fragment, staggering on his hands as his right elbow attempted to cave in.Lassitude and weakness softened his muscles, and his lack of breathing didn’t aid the overload of pressure in his mind. His skull throbbed, a painful reminder as to why he shouldn’t have done this.

He’d never be able to string together a conversation like this, as he couldn’t change the fragments, but he could sometimes borrow what lingered there. So long as he opened his maw, it was as if he was able to speak from his belly, rather than his mind. Doing so brought on discombobulation, and his skin tightened as confused rage flooded his muscles.

A large stick snapping in the distance caught his attention, just as voices softly began to reach them. They were close,tooclose.

“Their footprints went this way,” a male said, grunting as he fought through the brush.

“Hopefully we find them, and they weren’t eaten,” another added, disgruntled and obviously displeased with such a notion. “It’s been two days. That’s rarely a good sign.”

Forest debris cracked and snapped under quickly approaching footsteps. They weren’t far, only a few metres deep into the trees.

I was not paying attention to my surroundings.His fragments had dulled his senses, as did his focus on the female.

“They better have left her alone if they have her,” a deep, guttural voice bit. Another branch snapped under the power of an axe, yet their voices echoed louder and louder. “Or it’ll be the chains for them. I won’t have my woman be sullied by other men.”

A sob broke below him. Nathair turned his wavering sight down to her.

She’s crying.Why was she crying? She’d covered her face with both hands, and even turned on her side with her back towards the forest.

Warmth wrapped around his wrist – blissful, groan-inducing warmth. His focus sharpened momentarily, and he sucked in a quick breath. He regretted it when red entered his orbs at the terror-stricken scent coming from her, and he sunk his claws into the dirt to fight it.

He halted his lungs once more.

“Please,” she whispered, tightening her tiny hand on him. “Please don’t let him take me.”

In a final bid to make the female understand, he released a quiet hiss. She flinched and brought her knees up to make herself smaller. Yet, she didn’t let him go, didn’t try to run. Her tears fell faster, wetting her face in streaks as they dripped onto the grass below her. Her weeping worsened.

Nathair’s heart began to race.

Look at her,he told himself, watching her tremble and shake.

Not once had she been this terrified before him, nor had the Demon made her nearly paralysed with fear. She was reaching out to him, a Mavka – a skull-headedmonster– as if he was preferable in comparison to the four human males approaching. Her own kind.

Had he taken a second breath, he could tell by her trembling that her scent would have sent him into a bloodthirsty rage.

Her delicate hand tightened on Nathair. A snap decision was made.Fine. If she desires guarding so deeply...Then he would guard this creature, andonlyher.

Scooping her up with his right arm, Nathair dived for his pond. With his tail hooking around her bag, he submerged them both just before the other humans could enter his clearing.

Oxygen flooded his system, giving him acute sharpness after being without it for so long. The female released panicked air bubbles, but he covered her mouth as he let them both sink. Then he turned, pointing the end of his snout downwards as he swam deeper and deeper, swiftly gliding through the water.

Darkness surrounded them, but he could easily make out the stone walls of the tunnel he descended before ducking to the right where an entrance opened. Nathair swam fast and hard, knowing she wouldn’t last long without air.

A small pocket opened, and he shoved her against it, letting her breathe what little air was there. She sputtered, gulping it down, then he pulled her back under. He swam on, his long tail wiggling up and down and propelling them with intense speed.

A little while longer, the tunnel opened into a wide and vast area. He shoved the female above him, and they broke the surface of an underwater cavern. He dragged her towards the land available; it was a large and long section of rock.

She sputtered and choked, clinging to him. That was until he dumped her onto solid ground and joined her.

“You almost drowned m–”

Before she could finish whatever silly complaint was about to fall from her lips, he slapped his hand over her face to quieten her.

Nathair listened to the bandits above them, their voices echoing as the sounds moved through the many chambers. It wasn’t strong – the water muffled and diluted their noise – but the area they were in was tall, only leaving a small amount of rock between the ceiling and the land above. Even thin streaks of light glittered here and there, brightening the area through deep cracks in the rock, which could topple if the world violently shook.

He hissed at the foulness of indecipherable chatter.

Instead, releasing his grip on her face, he turned his sight on the wide-eyed female he’d just brought to hishome. An inferno of swirling, violent heat radiated behind his sternum, and a dark, possessive green flared into his orbs.