The trees blurred slightly around Lucas as he rushed back to the campsite. All caution that he usually used when in the forest was the last thing on his mind right now.
His mind kept making up scenarios where he would find Eva dead or fighting for her life. Each vision was worse than the last. Would he find her bloodied and broken?
Even a small gash on her cheek felt unbearable to him. How could he allow even a scratch to cross her fair skin?
He was not sure if it was the part of his mind that was in love with her or the imprint that produced these images. Did it really matter at this point?
Lucas was already in this deep. He would never be able to part ways with her. If it wasn't for his promise to take her to the Capital, he would hide her away somewhere.
She may fight at first, but at least she would be safe. Realizing he was becoming a bit obsessive he killed the thoughts that were obviously coming from the part of him that had imprinted upon her.
Finally, the area in which they had made their camp came into view. It was empty. He came to a full stop as he looked left and then right to make sure that she wasn't in the nearby trees.
Lucas' ears twitched as he listened intently to the area around him. His flight back to the camp had disturbed many animals in the forest, but he could not hear anything distinctly human.
The tension did not leave his body. Until he saw her face, the growing thread of terror in his heart would continue to grow.
Pivoting in the direction of the river where he last saw her, Lucas once again took off, not caring what heard him. How could he think about other things when Eva could be in danger?
A growling noise made Lucas' heart sink into his stomach. Lucas heard a thud and squeal mixed in with the strong wind. Lucas' heart beat faster.
This was the worst thing he could think of to happen. He willed himself to run faster, to somehow make it to her side faster.
'Let me be there on time.'
************
Eva had finished bathing and was combing out her long hair. Sitting on a rock by the river felt so peaceful she almost did not want to leave her spot to return to the camp.
She briefly thought about cutting her hair, but decided against it. If push came to shove she could always cut it later. Despite her obvious tomboy tendencies she liked how femine her hair made her look. She could always just braid it back and tie it up.
Her thoughts seemed to be in a daze since she woke up. It was rare for her to have this much free time in the morning. Especially recently, with the new training Lucas had been putting her through.
'Why was Lucas not at the camp this morning?'
She had asked this question multiple times since she woke up. He was almost always there when she woke up. Especially most recently since he had been waking her up each morning.
Of course, it was to train. Eva didn't want to admit to herself how much she liked seeing his face first thing in the morning. Seeing his delicate elven features was definitely not a bad thing.
'It is just nice to have someone who cares about you like family to wake you up!'
The excuse she always used to hide away the bottle of emotions she didn't want to admit to having immediately came to mind once again.
She felt her cheeks burn slightly. Placing the comb back into her small bag that carried her items to clean up with she lightly smacked her cheeks to refresh her thoughts.
"Growl…"
All the hairs on Eva's arms suddenly stood still. She didn't have to turn around to realize that something had managed to sneak up on her while she was lost in her thoughts.
'Lucas would be furious if he realized I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings again.'
She swiped her hand as if she was clearing the thought bubble away from her. Remembering the small hunting knife that was on her belt, she grabbed it before turning around.
A medium sized wolf was crouched in a low stance about twenty meters from where she had been sitting. Eva felt her hands start to shake as her eyes focused on the sharp teeth of the wolf.
'Lucas said that wolves tend to hunt in packs.'
Eva bit her lip and raised the knife in her hands. She did not have time to think more deeply about if the wolf may be alone or not.
'Lucas where are you?'
This was the last thought she had before the wolf lunged at ther. Eva unconsciously moved into the stance that she had been practicing with Lucas each day and readied the knife that was in her hands.
Before she realized it her eyes had squeezed shut and she felt a heavy sensation where the knife was in her hands. There was a high pitch squeal in her ears and then she felt the sharp rocks by the river under her.
'Ow.'
She slowly opened her eyes and saw the teeth of the wolf who had fallen on top of her. Eva could not help herself and let out a light scream.
"Ahhh…"
However, the wolf did not move. It took her a moment but she realized that the wolf on top of her was dead. Try as she might she could not shove the wolf off of herself.
The heavy weight was lifted and thrown to the side just as she had given up.
"Are you ok?!"
Lucas' warm voice filtered into her ears and the vision of the huge teeth in her face changed to his face. For once his hood was back and she could see his expression clearly.
"You came…"
Tears fell from her eyes. She knew it was childish to cry, but she could not help herself. The last time she felt this afraid had been when she fled her home after seeing her parents murdered.
Lucas pulled her close and she cried into his chest. His arms were gentle, but he held her firmly against him. Time seemed to stand still as she cried until the tears refused to fall any longer.
Lucas just sat there and continued to rub her back and smooth down the still slightly wet hair on the back of her head. A piece of her broken heart began to heal with each of Lucas' strokes.
******
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