He's right. I just focus on what he's saying. It's alright. I shake off my shock and then crash into him, holding him tight.
"Thank you, Thivoll. Thank you."
He chuffs. "No thanks are necessary. You had that well handled."
"I don't want to think about that."
"I'm taking you home."
"But—"
He cuts me off. "We're leaving."
He crouches down in the water and I climb up, the feel of his wet fur against me a reminder that I'm naked. The black suit covers me again, but the thin fabric does nothing to stop the shivers making my teeth rattle together.
I hold on tight as he leaps from rock to rock, then we are back in the forest.
"Did you stash her somewhere?"
He doesn't answer right away and my heart leaps into my throat.
"Thivoll! Is she safe?"
"I let her go when I saw the braceaaer."
My lips feel numb, but I make them work anyway. "You what? W-Where is she?"
"Somewhere down the river, Ree."
I'm shaking violently as I hurl myself off of him.
I ignore the sting of the sticker bush I tumble against and scramble back up, desperate to get back to the river.
I know she must be well out of sight but I have to look. I don't make it another step before one of his arms cage me.
He lifts me and completely ignores my kicks of protest. I just barely keep down my screams of rage, though I don't know how much longer I can manage it if he doesn't let me go.
Something in me is breaking and unless I find her, it won't ever be pieced back together again.
"Stop! You aren't well, Ree. We need to go," he hisses in my ear, his hot breath fanning the still dripping locks of my hair.
"I'm fine. Let me go! I can't leave her."
"I hope it doesn't kill you, but I can't let you."
His voice sounds gutted, but there's no room in my mind for sympathy as long as he's keeping me from what I need to do.
His tail replaces his arm and then I'm shifting around and along his fur.
Before I realize what he's doing he has me pinned against his back, my face buried in the back of his mane and then he's running.
I struggle against the unyielding grip of his tail, just to have it trap my legs against him in addition to my chest.
I sob. "Please, Thivoll . . ."
Nothing.
"Alright. I won't go. Just put me in a tree."
