by Lisa Daniels
Fayina scowled at him, but a hand on hers drew her attention back to Adrik. “He’s right, Fayina. We have to move slowly. We need to get somewhere safe for now. The distance I think we need to cover is going to be much too far to make in my current predicament. We will need to go slowly.”
“You already said that,” she said. Looking at the other bear shifter, the princess was starting to see his point. Adrik had started to slur, as well as repeat himself. His eyes were also drooping, and she was afraid that he would fall asleep if they didn’t get him to move. It went against everything that she had learned about dealing with poison, but then she had never tended to a shifter. “What about the wound?”
“I’m afraid that will need some treatment. Do you have any experience taking care of a serious injury?”
Fayina held up her chin and drew her hands down the side of her neck, highlighting the scars. “This was my introduction to medicine. My father’s kingdom is constantly at war. And women are expected to tend to the wounded when we aren’t bearing them sons.”
“How very archaic of your father.” The shifter sounded bothered, but there was a flash of compassion in his eyes. When he replied, his tone was different as he pulled a small kit out of a satchel. “Here. You have more need of this at the moment. Oh, and this.” He handed her the bag that Adrik had been carrying until they were attacked. “It has the food and some other stuff he packed. Sentimental fool that he is.” The shifter shot a look at his friend.
“Oh, Fayina,” Adrik said, stumbling to his feet. “I see you’ve met Filip. When did you get here, Filip?” He gave his friend a pat on the shoulder, knocking Filip forward a couple of steps.
Simply shaking his head, Filip said, “I wish I could help you more as the toxins are clearly close enough to his heart to seriously impair him. However, I have to see to Myra, and she isn’t exactly the most… reasonable woman I’ve ever met.”
Fayina snickered, “Tell me about it. Good luck with that one.”
Filip flashed a smile that quickly left his chiseled face. “I had thought that you would be the most difficult, considering how suspicious you were of the princesses. All of my observations suggested that you would cause the most trouble. What kingdom are you from?”
“Chervil.”
“Ah,” he gave her a knowing look. “I definitely should have found that out beforehand. Knowing that would have completely changed my assessment. Well,” he held up his hands, “had I known Myra was going to be worse, I would have taken you instead.”
Adrik put an arm around Fayina. “No take-backs, Filip. I’ve got this one.” He staggered forward a little, and Filip held out a hand.
“Not up to the challenge,” Fayina said, slipping under Adrik’s arm to try to steady him.
“I am not so well equipped to deal with difficult people, Fayina.” Filip’s demeanor had changed, and Fayina thought she understood why—she had not been quite what he had expected. If the cold way he had treated her was any indication, he must have been having a very difficult time with Myra. Now, she was quickly warming up to the more caring and charming version, and hearing him say her name gave her a warm sensation in her stomach. He continued to explain the situation, “That is why I asked Adrik to take you. He is the panacea for pride, ego, and mistrust. I’m sure you felt it, judging by the fact that you are trying to protect him at the moment.”
Fayina knit her eyebrows, the observation taking her by surprise. “I suppose I can see what you mean. He’s very easy to get along with.”
“Yes. Almost unbearably so when you need to negotiate.”
An image of Adrik trying to do peace negotiations with her father and Iliya’s was laughable. “I can understand that sentiment, too,” she said.
“Please take good care of him. We cannot afford to lose him. And as grateful as I am for what you did, I must ask that you not put yourself at risk again. We are more durable, and Adrik would be crushed if something were to happen to you.”
“I’m not worried about myself.”
Filip’s mouth twitched up on one side. “I know. That is exactly what I mean. The more reckless you are, the more reckless he will be. Moderation, please, for both of your sakes.”
As much as she wanted to argue with Filip, Fayina had realized that where Adrik was charismatic, Filip was intelligent and a very quick study about people. His assessment was undoubtedly accurate, causing her to feel worried about what else Adrik would be willing to do to protect her. Still, she had enjoyed feeling the liberation of acting instead of being rescued. Unhappy to have to give it up so quickly, Fayina agreed to spare Adrik from having to save her.
“Thank you.” Filip began to walk away, but turned after a few paces. “And thank you for helping us. I don’t want you to be reckless, but it would have been disastrous if you had not distracted them as you did. Be safe, and I’ll see you up north.”
“Filip,” Fayina said as he turned to walk away. He again turned and looked at her. “Try acting like you are now. It might make a better impression on her.”
Filip observed her for a moment before asking, “Are you saying that because it worked for you?”
It was clear that he knew what kind of relationship the two had. “I'm speaking from my own first impression compared to what I think of you now.”
He gave her a sincere smile, “I will keep that in mind.”
Fayina was going to say something else, but Adrik took her arm. “I’m sleepy, Fayina. Do you mind if we go find womerehere togeth boreray?”
“What?” Entirely forgetting about Filip, Fayina put all of her attention on Adrik, who was no longer making any kind of sense. A feeling similar to panic began to rise in her, and Fayina looked around. “I have no idea where to take you.”
Adrik pointed toward a hill off in the distance, “Blurfel.”
“Yes, I should have known, blurfel.” Fayina wiped a hand down her face. She had no idea what he had in mind, or what she would need to look for, because he was now speaking nonsense. When she looked at where Filip had been to ask him if blurfel meant anything discernable to him, Filip was gone. The temptation to call out for help was checked only because she feared that other bandits might hear them. Four of the five men had been killed, but the one who had escaped was the bandit leader. That meant she needed to get Adrik somewhere safe as soon as possible.
A loud roar pierced the air, startling her. Above her, Adrik smiled, “He’s drawing.”
Fayina frowned up at him. “That sounded more like a threat than some passive activity.”
He nodded, the smile bouncing with each bob of his head, “Yeah, exactly. He draws them and they come more.”
Fayina thought about his words before they finally settled in. She had thought that Filip had left her to manage Adrik all on her own with bandits approaching from different sides. Apparently, he was retrieving Myra and drawing the bandits away from them. Wrinkling her nose, Fayina muttered, “He could have told me that he was going to draw them away.”
“He did.”
“He absolutely did not.”
“Of course. He said to me, then he left.”
Unable to follow Adrik’s crumbling understanding of language, Fayina decided it wasn’t worth arguing over what Filip did or didn’t say. “Come on, we have to get to blurfel before night.”
“Yep. Back up.” Without any other warning, he pitched forward and fell on his hands and knees. “Up, up, up,” he said, almost like a childish song.
“I’m not going to get on you. Filip said—”
“Rawr, rawr, rawr,” Adrik said, giggling afterward.
Despite their situation, Fayina couldn’t help but laugh; the whole scene was too bizarre. “Fine, but I’m fixing you up as soon as we reach your magnificent blurfel.”
“Rawr!” he responded.
Cautiously, Fayina put her arms around his neck. Before she could get her legs around his waist, Adrik shifted. Though he was clearly out of it, she was surprised to learn that her rescuer m
anaged to be nearly as silent as he had been before being shot.
It wasn’t long before they reached the hill, despite the long distance from where they were. Stunned that he could not only manage to be quiet, but cover such a distance so quickly while injured, Fayina hoped that she would be able to treat him.
“Come on, Adrik, let’s get you inside so that you can get some sleep after I fix you up.”
“Fine, fine, fine,” he muttered.
“Yes, you will be, but don’t try to act like you are fine now.”
He pouted at her, his gorgeous eyes unfocused.
“That’s not going to work on me. I was raised in a family of tough love. I’m going to focus on what you need over what you want. And right now, I’m afraid that what you need is a bit more pain so that you can heal.” She helped him over to a small area of the cave.
“I love you too, little Fayina.” He then kissed the top of her head. “My little Fayina, fighting off the bandits and leaving me to spectate.”
“You seem a bit more coherent now. Does that mean you are already getting better?” She looked at him for any sign that it was true, but he was ignoring her. Fayina stopped and considered their position.
“More,” Adrik said, pointing to something in the back.
“Sorry, Adrik, but I’m not going to be able to hold you up much longer. This is as good a place as any.”
Adrik brought his arm over her head and stumbled away from her. “Mooooore. It’s more.”
Fayina quickly followed him. “What are you doing? Get back here. If anything were to happen to you, I have no doubt—” Her words ceased as the rock began to slide away.
Adrik gave her a beaming smile. “More.”
He began to pitch forward. Trying to stop him from hitting the ground, Fayina rushed in front of him. He fell on top of her, and together they fell onto a padded floor. Fayina stared up at Adrik as he groggily smiled at her, his eyes almost completely closed. “See? Comfortable.”
Before she could respond, he wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep.
Chapter 5
More Than Her Rescuer
At first, Fayina felt crushed, and she tried to wiggle out from under the large bear shifter. As he started to snore, she realized that escaping was going to be next to impossible. Looking at her situation, she remembered what Filip had said about treating the wound. From where she was, Fayina could see his wound and the bag that Filip had given her was under Adrik’s shoulder. The princess shifted her body, freeing her right arm from Adrik’s hug. Pushing until he rolled a little to the side, she managed to free her other arm.
It wasn’t too difficult to get the bag, but trying to pull Adrik’s shirt up so that she could get to the wound was a unique challenge for which nothing had prepared her. As long as she remained trapped under him, she stood no chance of succeeding at tending to him.
There was a bit of annoyance as Fayina thought about how she had recently wanted to be more active. Struggling to get out from under her friend had not been what she had in mind for being more active. Mumbling and grunting, she finally managed to extricate herself from Adrik’s hold, but now without any real strain. Then she still had to contend with the shirt covering the wound. She was sweating by the time she finally managed to work off enough of it to see the skin and wound. For as hairy as he was in his bear form, Fayina had expected him to be hairy underneath his noble-looking clothing. Instead, he was as smooth as if he shaved his body. That made it that much easier to see just how bad the wound was.
“Good grief, and you are still bleeding.”
Kneeling by his side, she pulled out the small kit that Filip had given her. Inside it were some normal first aid items, like wrap, bark, and cleaners, but it also had some things she couldn’t identify. “Hopefully, I won’t need these,” she said, placing them to the side.
She went to work staunching the blood flow, then treating the wound. Despite Filip’s assurance that the toxins would quickly leave his system, Fayina used some of the bark to try to draw them out. She had never heard of them and knew nothing about what they could do, but the princess had ample experience working with poisons. Many of her family members and the nobles had been poisoned through food and weapons over the years.
As soon as the young woman felt that she couldn’t do anything else, she cut up the wrap and worked to fix it to his taut skin. “I guess it is a good thing you are so smooth. Getting this off would have been really painful if you were as hairy as a human as you are as a bear, huh?”
Sitting back on her haunches, Fayina admired her handiwork. “Not bad, if I do say so myself.”
Adrik’s eyes opened a little. “There you are. I was wondering where you went off to.”
Fayina smiled, “How do you feel?”
He began to push himself off the ground, but a sharp intake of breath escaped his lips as he clutched his side. “What happened?” He lay back down, rubbing one hand over his face while the other continued to hold his side.
“You got me out of the castle, and we were attacked while you led us away. Filip helped us for a little bit, but had to go protect Myra. You ran all the way here, after roaring like a child to convince me to hop on your back.” She gave him a lopsided grin as she remembered how he had looked.
He opened one eye, “That doesn't sound like me.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she tapped her head. “The image is ingrained in my memory.” The smile faded as she considered what was important. Clearing her throat, she continued, “Are you feeling any better?”
He closed his eye and put his head on the floor. “Things are still fuzzy. Can’t seem to remember much. Guess I’ll just have to believe you.” The smile he gave her was goofy.
That was when she knew he was going to be alright. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck. “Filip said you would be alright, but I was still worried. That was a deep wound.”
Adrik laughed and gave her a one-armed hug before sitting up. He had to hold his side as he did. “Well, bolts may not be as effective as a bow and arrow, but they can definitely be effective, even fatal, in the right hands.”
“Are you saying that those crossbows weren’t in the right hands?” Fayina asked, sitting back down on the floor.
“Since it didn’t kill me, they probably weren’t in the right hands. Though it would be very difficult for most humans to kill a shifter with something as primitive as a crossbow.”
“Really?” She sat cross-legged, holding her feet in her hands and rocking a little. “Are you that thick?”
Adrik lifted an eyebrow at her. “Are you saying I’m slow?”
“Blurfel,” Fayina replied, then broke out laughing. A warm hand shocked her, and she saw Adrik looking down at her with concern.
“Did something happen to you? Are you alright?”
“I’m just fine,” she smiled back at him.
“What do you mean? Blurfel?”
“I’ve no idea what it means. That was what you called the cave when I asked where we could go to be safe.”
He gave her a light push. Rocking to the side, Fayina laughed again. Adrik snarled at her, “Now I know you are making it up.” This was followed by an exaggerated pout.
Fayina looked at him and kept laughing. “Careful or I’m going to bite that lower lip.”
Adrik stuck it out further.
Forgetting about everything else, Fayina rocked forward and placed her hands on his knees. Her focus was on teaching him a lesson, so she did not stop to consider the implications of her actions. She stopped laughing just long enough to gently clamp her teeth on his lower lip and pull at it. She looked at the shocked expression on his face and let go. Laughing, the princess began to sit back down.
“Don’t think for a second you are going to get away with that,” Adrik said. Leaning forward, he put a hand around her back and put his lips around her lower lip. Instead of biting it, he began to suck on it.
A moan escaped Fayina at the way he felt agai
nst her body. When he started to pull away, she pressed her lips against his. This time her eyes were closed tight as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. She did not see the stunned expression on his face. It did not take long before he began to react to her kiss. Pressing her to the floor, his hand slid between her thighs as he kissed down her neck. Fayina pulled at his shirt, this time more urgently than before. He whipped it off before resuming an exploration of her body.
Adrik’s lips followed the scars on her neck, then his tongue traced it before he began to kiss her. Fayina quietly called his name, encouraging him as he removed her grimy clothing. Once the clothes were off, Adrik stopped when he looked down at her.
Fayina had a nice figure, but the clothing she wore covered a wealth of scars. Without a word, Adrik picked her up off the floor and carried her further into the cave.
Feeling like he had rejected her, Fayina bit her lip. “I know, it’s quite grotesque, isn’t it?”
The self-deprecating shot at herself did not cause the reaction she had expected. With one arm, Adrik lifted her up, his mouth covering hers. The princess wrapped her arms around his neck as he whispered, “I think you are gorgeous.”
With one hand, he executed a forceful motion that resulted in the sound of flowing water. Fayina turned to see a large, round bowl. “What is that?”
The desire in his eyes belied his calm response. “It’s a bath. I’m going to help clean you off.” His body staggered a little, reminding Fayina that he was not quite himself. But she found it impossible to fight against the look in his eye and her own desire.
Fayina turned back to the bath. “That doesn't look anything like a bath. The ones we have are longer and only fit one person.”
“Of course. Most humans have not figured out that you can share bath time for a completely different kind of cleaning.” His mouth pressed against hers, leaving her breathless. When he stopped, the look of amusement in his eyes was enticing. “A completely different kind of experience.”
