The beast stopped, his frame heaving with ragged breaths and emitting a low, rumbling growl. He turned his head and entire furred body in my direction. I could feel him looking straight through the cloak at me. The animal approached, his mouth slick and dark, leaving a trail of mangled limbs.
I pulled one knot from where my cloak clasped together, my hood falling back, and I was visible again. Even though my heart drummed, I kept still, staring the creature in the eyes. My instincts just saw a threat, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. He never had.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him, trying to imagine his face.
I took a step closer. Slowly and calmly, I reached for its head, and he let out a growl of warning. I paused.
“This isn’t your fault,” I said, trying to make my voice steady. “Let me help.”
He growled louder now, trying to scare me. Reagan still believed I couldn’t handle him, or that I’d be afraid. It wasn’t a gamble. He didn’t attack me even when he hated me. I knew he wouldn’t now.
My hand reached for the wet brown fur again, and I could have sworn his blue eyes rounded with recognition. He didn’t pull away. He let me touch him.
A low growl came from him, but his snout leaned in the direction of my stomach, sniffing my cloak.
My chest sank.
I couldn’t see a way to help him, not just with Silas, but with this. This cursed sentence.
A cracking sound startled me. The creature howled. It drew back, squirming as if it were in pain. I stepped forward but stopped when he roared, head and body falling to the ground.
Raindrops slid from my hair to my eyelids, and I had to brush them off my face. My hair was so drenched now that it was as if I had dipped my head underwater, but the rain was easing, turning into a steady drizzle.
In front of me, wet fur began to disappear, the wide form shrinking into a smaller, familiar shape. Claws retreated where human hands appeared. It was as painful to see him turn into an animal as it was to see him come back from it. But I let out a long sigh when I saw Reagan’s body again, crouched in front of me, naked and fully wet from the rain.
He rose from the ground, a bleeding cut on his cheek, and slashes of Grim stained his leg and shoulder. The second his eyes met mine, I noticed a swirl of emotions there. Guilt, shock, sadness, awe. I cupped his cheek, feeling the chill of his skin. His hand covered mine.
“You’re mad to have followed me,” he said, then pressed a kiss to my palm.
“You’re not as scary as you think,” I replied. “I knew you just wanted to be petted.”
A flash of human teeth brightened the rest of the clouds in the sky. An emotion crossed his face as Reagan closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on mine. I couldn’t tell if it was sadness or happiness, but he let out a breath, and I continued stroking his cheek.
“You did all you could,” I said.
His arms came around me. “Yes. I’m so generous.”
I could almost taste the bitterness. “We’ll find a solution,” I murmured.
My hands fell to his arm, reminding me that he was naked. I reached for the knot in my cloak to drape it over him, but Reagan stopped me.
“No, don’t take it off.”
“But you’re naked.”
“I’m fine,” he answered. “I just don’t think I can fling us back. We’ll need to walk.”
So we did, and he told me how he had known Silas from a young age. The man had been invited to several dinners when his parents were still alive. I refrained from asking more about his mother and father, though I wanted to. Reagan explained that they would need to find Silas and end his existence. His life was already lost.
It didn’t take long for us to return to the Hall. A battle mage handed Reagan a cloak once we crossed the tunnel to the courtyard, which made me sigh in relief. His skin was still freezing by the time we entered the foyer.
Cerridwen caught sight of us as we stopped on the staircase.
“I’m leaving for Eldritch,” Reagan said.
“I will go with you,” she offered with a quick chin dip.
“Maybe you want to bathe first,” I suggested, earning a nod from him.
