She brought a hand up to the gash on her forehead. She still didn’t know what she’d cut it on. A rock? A branch? Her fingers came away bloody and she didn’t miss the way he scowled.
As if the blood spurred him on, he pushed his body even faster, darting through the forest at an impossible pace, putting more and more distance between them and whoever pursued them.
It felt like ages before he finally stopped. They were still inside the thick overgrowth of the forest, but Crystal thought she spied large boulders interspersed. Was the landscape beginning to change?
He stood still, with her still clutched in his warm arms, and cocked his head, listening. He didn’t even breathe as he peered deep into the darkness.
Finally, he relaxed a little. He caught her gaze and asked quietly, “If I put you down, are you going to run?”
Crystal’s breath hitched a little, remembering his words to her when he’d caught her.
Never run from me again, female.
Never from me,he’d said, his voice sounding anguished, as though he was the person she should be runningtowards.
She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her muddled thoughts.
When she realized he was still expecting an answer, she felt her shoulders sag and she said, “No.”
It didn’t mean she trusted him. It didn’t mean anything. It just meant that she wouldn’t run from him, or try to get away, that night. Because she didn’t know what else was out there. She had no idea where Erin was, or how she would find her again.
That was all the male seemed to need as he let her slide down his body. She stiffened when her hip made contact withsomethingin his pants and she pushed away from him on trembling legs, trying to put distance between them.
The male was tensed, watching her warily, his body prepared to catch her if she tried anything. She gave him a dark look but then asked, “What now?”
“There,” he pointed into the darkness, as if she could see what he was pointing to. “We can make shelter for the night behind the stones.”
She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. He was still a male. And judging from what she’d felt in his pants…she needed to keep an eye on him closely. Because there was nothing more frightening than a sexually aroused, dangerous male who could easily make her do anything.
Crystal wasn’t a fool. She wasn’t naive. The cards were seriously stacked against her and the only thing she was relying on was that this male would keep his word. That he would protect her, even if it was fromhimself.
“Your dagger,” she said then, suddenly. “I want it.”
“Rebax?” he asked quietly, stilling.
“I don’t know you,” she said, keeping him an arm’s length distance away. “I don’t know what you intend. But I don’t want to be without options.”
Even though it was too dark to make out his face clearly, she could sense his mind working, could sense the way he looked at her.
“You think I will let anything hurt you? You think I cannot protect you?” he asked, his voice quiet and low, as if she’d gravely insulted him.
“Right now, I’m more worried about you,” she confessed, softly.
His body jerked, as if she’d slapped him.
Then he said the words that brought back the feelings of dread that had pulsed through her since the first moment she’d seen him.
“You are my female,” he murmured lowly, stepping closer so that she could see his face clearly as he spoke. “You are mymate. I would rather cut off my own hand than lay a finger on you in anger.”
Crystal closed her eyes, feeling on the verge of tears. She took in a deep breath, pushing away the panic that surfaced.
“I don’t know you,” she repeated. She held out her hand. “I don’t trust you. So I’d like your dagger until I do.”
Chapter Seven
“Are you hungry?” Cruxan asked the female after what felt like a long stretch of silence. “Did he...” A burst of anger squeezed his chest. “Did he feed you?”
He’d already cleaned her wound, though she had sat as rigid and still as a statue, and brushed healing salve over it from ayixiaplant.
