Page 121 of Evil Hearts

Mari

I watched Beast leave and my heart sank. He always remained close during my trips outside of the cave. For weeks he’d followed behind me as I explored his woods. He showed me the most beautiful places, the sweetest berry bushes, the safest place to bathe in the stream. He’d shown me so many wonderful things but he always kept himself apart from me.

There was no way to describe the yearning inside of me. I wanted his company, his thoughts, his attention. I reveled in what he gave me but always found myself wanting more. He’d been there looking at me and I had thought maybe he’d wanted the same. But the silent withdrawal told me everything I needed to know.

Beast may have caught my heart, but I was nothing to him.

“What have we here?” A low voice drawled. I sat up, startled by the voice. It had been three moons since I’d left the village and I hadn’t spoken to anyone but Beast in all that time.

There, in the woods, in my woods, stood three hunters from the village. I recognized them instantly. They were the fiercest hunters, and had been a part of the group that had pulled me out of my cottage the night of the sacrifice. They’d taken glee in my fear.

“Mari?” Peeter asked, shock clear in his voice.

“How?” Demanded Aleksi, his voice rough and angry. He strode forward and grabbed my arm, hauling me off of the ground and toward him. “How have you survived?”

“How did you escape?” Levi asked.

“It doesn’t matter how, what matters is we now know what has befallen our village. Her life has cost us many of our people.”

“No!” It couldn’t be. Beast swore to me he hadn’t come in contact with anyone from the village. That no one was harmed as he gathered items for me to survive my life out in the woods. I knew he was stealing the clothing and tools but I’d believed him when he said my people were safe from him.

“Death hangs over the village. People are dying. You’ve angered the beast and the gods. Your life in trade for our village.” Aleksi shoved me back into Peeter and Levi. “Hold her.”

Rough hands grabbed me, shoving me to my knees. I cried out as my arms were wrenched behind my back. Aleksi pulled his knife and raised it.

A roar filled the clearing as a giant black monster launched itself at Aleksi with impossible speed. The man didn’t have a chance to scream before his blood was flowing freely from his neck and chest. Beast turned on us, blood matting his fur.

“You dare touch what’s mine?” The words were a roar and the only warning anyone had. With a flash, Peeter went flying, his back slamming into a tree trunk with a sickening crack.

Levi released me and attempted to run, to escape. There was no escape for any of us. Beast launched himself at the fleeing man, taking him to the flower-filled ground. Blood sprayed, destroying the beautiful white and blue blooms. Covering them in crimson.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

This was the beast of the tales, the creature of our nightmares, the monster in the night. This was the horror we were taught to fear.

I sat there on my knees, unable to stop the shaking that wracked my body. Fear, adrenaline, relief. It all slammed through me at once.

A sob escaped.

Beast spun on me at the sound. The ferocious monster was still there, on the surface. His eyes burned with blood lust, his black fur was even darker with the blood that dripped from his sharp claws. His breath was bellows, expanding his entire body with every one he took.

I should have been terrified. I should have run screaming from the clearing as fast and as far as I could get. But I was angry.

“Why is my village dying?”

The question seemed to startle him. I watched as he calmed his breathing. He bent to dig his claws into the ground, cleaning them of the dripping blood of my clansmen.

“It isn’t me.” He growled. “Nor any of the creatures under my control. If they’re dying, it’s something they brought upon themselves.”

He stayed on all fours and slowly prowled to where I was on the ground. The scent of blood was in the air. I knew it would soon draw other predators to us. But I was only worried about the one in front of me.

His eyes were beseeching, begging me for something I couldn’t understand. What did this monster want from me?

“Why?” I gestured a shaking hand to the clearing and the blood and gore that surrounded us in what had once been a place of beauty and peace.

“They touched you.” He stopped just in front of me, raising a paw and dropping it back to his side. “They hurt you. They would have killed you.”

“Are they right? Is my life harming my village?” I had so many complicated feelings about my village. They had thrown me away like a bit of trash. They had put their lives and safety above mine and so many women before me. But the women, the children? What could they do? We needed the hunters to hunt. There was no survival without meat and the pelts to create our clothes. We needed them to protect us from the predators in the woods, to keep us safe.

“No my love,” this time he pressed his paw to my cheek. It was still damp with the blood of my clansmen, the men he’d just killed in front of me. “Your life is a gift. Whatever is happening in that village is because of the toxins they injected into themselves.”

“Will my death save them?”

“No.” The word was sharp, harsh. I flinched in response and Beast pulled away from me. I instantly missed his touch.

“Your death solves nothing. The people of your village used to worship me like a god. They saw me as a friend and protector. At some point, something convinced them I was something to be feared. They started poisoning the hearts and minds of the people. That poison has been slowly killing them for generations. There is nothing your death could solve. And it would cost me greatly.”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Everything.”