12. The Journey Continues

“You are wrong about me too, healer,” he said. Farrel’s touch on her jaw loosening then drifting down as he tenderly stroked her neck where there had once been bruises. “I care little about what you are. Aside from reminding myself constantly that you are human and I must control myself, I do not care about the rest. I did not fuck you just to warm you. I wanted you as I still do. You’re beautiful and smell better than anything I’ve ever breathed in before. You demanded my word in nearly every other sentence that came from your mouth, but I agreed because I wanted to keep you safe. I wanted to protect you. Most of all, I wanted to make you happy.”

She listed to every word he said to her as if her very life depended on it. It wasn’t fair or right of her to think of him in terms of her society. He was from a world that she didn’t understand. And, more than likely, the people that told her about his world knew little more than what she did at that moment. She had let her ignorance guide her, and it hadn’t been fair.

There, he paused. While the crackling of the fire clicked and popped in the heavy silence of the forest he slowly lowered himself to one elbow, leaning over her head enough for him to press a delicate kiss against her cheek.

“I forgive you, though there is nothing to forgive. Learn from this experience. I do not expect you to understand what it means for me to give my word when your kind is so fickle. But know this, healer; If you die, then I will follow you soon after.”

When his touch on her skin softened and he was touching her as he had before, gentle caresses, she moved closer to him, wanting to be near him, not just for the heat he could provide, but for something more. When he granted her forgiveness, those words she desperately wanted to hear, she exhaled a breath she didn’t even know she was holding and smiled softly.

She leaned back a bit and looked at him.

“Emmalyn.” She said with a slight smile. “You call me healer, but my name is Emmalyn.”

She leaned back closer to him again. “I was wrong to demand those promises from you. It was my fear that spoke for me. I shouldn’t try to cling to someone to protect me; I should be able to protect myself. If I can’t do it physically, then I should run. I have no right to ask you to share my fate with me.”

She leaned forward again and looked into his eyes. “If I tell you I want to release you from your promises to me, would you let me?”

Emmalyn didn’t want to insult him again, so she asked instead of assuming. She was trying to learn and adapt and hoped he could see that. Despite himself, he laughed softly at her request and pressed a more exuberant kiss against her lips. He even playfully bit at her bottom lip, showing just how much restraint he had by not piercing her delicate skin with his sharper K-9s when it would take very little to cut her against those razor points. After his teeth grazed that tender flesh, he dropped one more kiss on her and shifted around to stretch out beside her on the ground.

Emmalyn laughed with him, intrigued by the almost musical sound of his deep rumble. She kissed him, smiling against his lips as he played with her. She was happy he seemed back to his normal humor. It meant a lot to her he was. She hated to think that she caused him to feel anything other than happy.

“No. I wouldn’t. You did not know better when you asked, but I did. I know the depths of what I’ve done and do not wish to take it back,” he murmured as he nuzzled his face comfortably against the side of her neck. “I do not mind if you call me hunter. Though if you care to know, my birth name is Farrel.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I asked that of you.” She said as she nuzzled back against him, trying to mimic his affectionate motions. “I will call you hunter if that is what you want.”

She sighed a bit, the weariness of the day catching up with her. She yawned and held her hand up to her mouth as she did. Emmalyn didn’t want to admit that she was tired, but her body didn’t care. It was demanding rest and she would not deny it. She moved closer to him, cuddling closer as she rubbed her cheek against his chest.

“You can call me Farrel,” he assured her.

When she curled into him, he slid his arms around her, shimmying them both back away from the fire more. She helped him move them both away from the fire a bit. She was already feeling too hot again from both the fire and him. With his body, she did not need the added heat source, and he did not want to risk putting giving her a heat stroke while she slept. Once they were several feet away, he peeled up the edge of the tarp to slide in beside her. Again, he threw the tarp over them, closing the outside world off. She was naked and felt exposed, but she felt safe with him, more so now than before. She felt closer to him after baring herself to him and hoped he understood what that meant to her.

As he got comfortable, cradling her frail form to his body, he brushed a chaste kiss against her forehead, then whispered in her ear, “I am sorry I hurt you, Emmalyn. But I hope you realize the difference now. And I will not abuse you like that again without provocation.”

She smiled when she heard her name fall from his lips. It made her feel more like a person than a thing.

“I understand,” she said sleepily. “I won’t give you reason again, I promise you.”

It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep in the circle of his arms. She couldn’t remember a time when she felt so secure as she did at that moment. Like earlier, it felt as though it was just the two of them with no outside world. At least it would until morning came and they would have to continue on their journey.

Through the night, Farrel slept little. He drifted off in shifts, dozing, and waking at the slightest noise. Anytime during the night that she rolled away from him, his arms were there to pull him back against his hard chest, keeping her safe and sound. She would roll back towards him, mumble something in her sleep, and nuzzle against him until her breathing became regular again. A few hours before dawn, the others returned from their hunting and they exchanged only a few words regarding the sleeping healer and her status with the hunter. She didn’t wake at all when the others returned from their night venture. Dawn came, yet she still slept, exhausted from the night before and her romps with Farrel. As he told her, the three under his command took his word that she was his, but the other two appeared skeptical; even disgruntled. He knew that he would have to keep her close the entire trip to save her from being used.

As the light broke through the forest and the birds began chirping overhead, he lifted her, tarp and all, and brought her to the wagons. While the others were tending to the embers left from the fire and hitching the horses up, he cared for her. She would wake for only a few moments when he moved, dressed, and cared for her before she fell soundly asleep again. Farrel slipped her naked form into one of his shirts before tucking her into a comfortable space between the crates.

Once the wagons were moving again, he was at her side, sitting with his back to the low wall of the wagon while he cradled her in his lap. She slept in his arms, cradled in his warmth, and surrounded by a dreamless sleep.

The wagons moved on, carrying them closer to his village. She curled up in his lap and against his chest, his arms around her again. Her warm breath moved over his bare skin as the motion of the cart rocked them back and forth. During her sleep, her hand slipped down and her fingers laced their way through his, and a faint smile spread across her lips as she lay there.

While Farrel was a noble creature, he still had base needs and did not feel shame over them like humans had. The longer he sat with her, breathing in her scent and holding the soft warm weight of her body on him, the hotter his blood flowed. For a time, he ignored the pulse in his body. She needed rest more than she needed sex, and his need to care for her overrode his own desires. He controlled himself for nearly an hour until she threaded her fingers with his in her sleep.