Dark Need by Clarissa Wild

Chapter 29

April

I runas fast as I can, not looking around to see where I’m going. I’m running on pure terror because the sight of those claws and that jaw made me cower in fear. I’ve never faced an actual fucking bear before, let alone in the wild. I’m terrified it will come running after me, but as I keep running, I realize after a while that it doesn’t.

So I come to a stop and wait for a second, looking around the area like a hawk in case I need to run. I’m utterly alone in the woods with nothing and no one to protect me.

And the only person who could was left behind.

Fuck.

Soren is fighting that bear all by himself to protect me. Even though he told me to run, a pang of guilt still shoots up and down my muscles, making me cramp up right on the spot. How could I leave him like that?

He’s the bad guy, April. He made you walk all this way just to bring you into the hands of more strange men wanting to abuse their power. If there’s anyone who deserves death, it’s him.

I shiver at the thought of Soren getting eaten by a goddamn bear.

No, not like that.

And especially not while trying to save you from the same fate.

I can’t just wait here and do nothing while he’s fighting for his life out there. It would make me just as bad.

But what do I do? How can I help?

Suddenly, a loud roar makes me look up in shock.

That was no bear.

I’d recognize that sound anywhere.

That was Soren, and he sounded in pain.

Without thinking about it, I turn around and run the other way, right back in the bear’s direction. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I can’t stand idly by and have this man suffer because of me. Because I decided to storm off that cliff and argue with him over a goddamn road.

Even though I was right … I don’t want to be that kind of human, the kind who lets others suffer just because they did the same to me.

So I rush back through the forest as fast as I can, jumping over rocks and shoving aside the branches in my way until I come to a screeching halt.

Right in front of a bloody body.

Tears well up in my eyes.

“Soren!”

I sink to the ground in front of him and grab his arm. Claw marks are everywhere, not deep enough to have him shredded, but he is bleeding. There are bear hairs and marks on his face too. He must’ve fought that thing off with everything he had left in him.

He groans and makes a face from the pain.

Fuck. I have to do something. Think fast, April.

I reach for his bag and empty the contents until I find some bandages and alcohol pads. I tear off the paper seal and wipe the wound with the alcohol, which makes him hiss. When it’s done, I unroll the bandage and wrap it around his arm.

He groans again. “April?”

I push the tears away when he reaches for my face with his unscathed hand. “I’m here,” I mutter.

“I told you … to run …” He coughs, his voice straining.

“I know, but I’m not leaving you like this,” I reply.

He tries to get up, but his whole body creaks and moves like it’s been wheeled over by a bulldozer.

“Shh … don’t move,” I mutter, finishing the wrap around his arm.

There’s a strange, almost surprised look on his face. “Why … did you come back?”

My cheeks flush with heat from the way he looks at me, his eyes filled with worry and confusion. “I … I couldn’t just let you sacrifice yourself.”

His head flops down onto the ground, and for a second there, I almost believe he’s fading out of consciousness.

But then he smiles.

He actually smiles.

And it’s a handsome smile too.

Goddamn.

So much that it makes me clear my throat and pull more stuff out of the bag just to take my mind off it.

“Stubborn little Kitty,” he murmurs.

I’m caught between a mixture of embarrassment and rage.

“I am not a kitty,” I say.

“You sure hiss like one,” he retorts.

“Should you be worried about that with a wound like this?” I hold up his arm until his face contorts from the pain.

“Fine, you win,” he growls back, which makes me smile for once.

He leans up on his elbows, but I press my hand on his chest. “Whoa, where are you going?”

“Up. We should move,” he replies, pushing through, despite my reservations.

“You should stay still and let me check the rest of your injuries. You took on a bear for crying out loud.”

He sits up and takes a few deep breaths, then inspects his arm. “I’m fine. But that bear could come back.”

Just the thought of that almost makes my stomach flip.

“Are you sure?” I ask, swiftly stuffing all the supplies back into the bag, which I throw over my shoulder.

As he gets up, he wobbles a little, and I quickly shove my arm and neck underneath his shoulder for support.

“What are you doing?” he growls.

“Helping you,” I say, but he flips my arm right off him again.

He saunters forward and says, “I don’t need help.”

I traipse behind him, watching him struggle as he continues to walk through the woods, refusing to give up. It’s admirable but foolishly stubborn at the same time.

“Why won’t you just let me help you?” I follow him, even though I have no clue where he’s going.

Suddenly, he falls on one of the small rocks lying on the ground, and I hurry to his side. However, the second I touch him, he shoves me aside.

“Don’t.”

I frown. “Okay. Geez. I was only trying to help.”

“I didn’t ask for help!” he yells in a way that reminds me of an injured lion licking its wounds. “Besides, I’m fine.”

I step back and watch him as he tries to recover.

“You don’t look fine to me. You were bleeding. And your body looks pretty beaten up. But it’s fine if you don’t want my help,” I quip, folding my arms.

“Why would you want to help me?” he asks.

“Because … that’s what you’re supposed to do. Help those who need help. And you couldn’t take care of that wound by yourself.”

He glances at me over his shoulder. “I’m the bad guy.”

He’s right, but I swallow my pride. “Even bad guys deserve help.”

I won’t change my stance. Even if it means I’m still not free, at least I’ll be a good person who did a good deed. Someone who doesn’t let others die.

He gets up on two feet again but waits and sighs out loud. “I’m sorry.”

It’s not often those words come from his mouth.

Which means they carry a heavier weight to them.

And it makes it impossible to ignore.

I step closer and place my arm underneath his again, carrying a little bit of his weight. Even if I can’t do much, I can at least help him walk around … if he’ll let me.

“Thank you,” he says, and it makes me blush.

“Thank me when we get to a safe spot,” I reply. “Where to?”

He points to the north, not far in the distance. “There’s another cabin there.”

I drag him along with me in the direction he pointed, which was opposite of where I ran.

“How do you know where all these cabins are?” I ask.

“I saw it from the mountain top.”

“Oh.” And here I was thinking he knew every corner of this forest by memory.

“What, you think I know every inch of these woods?”

I shrug and raise my brows. “You could have. I don’t know what you do every day.”

He laughs but stops midway, clenching his ribs. “Just because I remembered one doesn’t mean I know everything.”

I roll my eyes. “Right. So you don’t spend the entire day in the forest. Got it.”

“No,” he replies. “You know where I spend my time.”

When our eyes briefly connect, a chill runs up and down my spine.

He’s right about that. The dungeon in the house is his home. Torturing people for their sins is what he does best. And I must never forget.

The connection breaks as we reach the wooden cabin. There are no lights turned on and no people outside. I peer through the window, but there’s no movement at all.

“Did you kill the people who live here too?” I ask.

“No. I don’t know this place,” he responds. “C’mon.”

He treads forward, even though I’m hesitant. My heart beats out of my chest.

“What if people live here?”

“This far out in the woods?” he retorts.

“Well … they could.”

We walk up to the door, and I peer through the window again but still don’t see a soul. “What do we do if there are people? Ask them nicely if we can rest because you got mauled by a bear?”

He narrows his eyes. “Or I kill them.”

My pupils dilate.

Fuck no. He isn’t actually considering that option, is he?

“Please, don’t,” I say.

He snorts. “Do I look like a savage?”

I frown, confused why he’d ask.

He locks his arm in place behind my neck and pulls me closer to whisper into my ear, “Relax. It’s a joke.”

When he pulls back and looks me dead in the eyes, I don’t know whether to burst out into laughter or punch him in the face. Or both.

Yet my body can only respond with a blush from the mere sight of his blue eyes homing in on mine.

Typical.

I sigh out loud and knock on the door to break the spell.

Only one way to find out if someone lives here.

A very anxious minute passes, and nothing happens, so I knock again.

More minutes pass, and my racing heart begins to slow down.

No response again.

“Okay, enough.” Soren leans forward and kicks the door so hard it slams open against the wall.

“Hey!” I yell. “That’s someone’s house you’re breaking into!”

“Not a house,” he retorts, throwing me a look before dragging himself inside.

“Vacation home then, fine.”

“They’re not here.”

“Well, they could have been,” I say, walking in behind him. “It’s their property. No need to damage it.”

He leans against a table in the middle of the cabin, only slightly less menacing, because he’s still a towering giant as he looks at me. “Close the door.”

His voice and the command alone make me do what he says. Not just because it’s the safest option, considering the bear still wandering out there, but also because I’m finding it harder and harder not to do precisely what he tells me.

And I don’t understand why.

Maybe it’s the coarseness in his voice that’s forcing me to.

Or maybe it’s the penetrative stare boring a hole through my heart.

I swallow as the lock falls into place, and we’re all alone again with nothing but silence and a million unspoken words.

The air between us crackles with tension. All he has to do is look at me to make me feel small. But not in a way that’s threatening or dangerous …

In a way that makes me want to beg.

What is wrong with me?

Why do I feel this way when I’m around him?

I have to stop. I have to go do something else.

I clear my throat and walk off to inspect the cabin and take my mind off things even though I can feel his stare burning in my back. The cabin only has one bedroom and one bathroom with a small toilet and a shower hose. There’s a tiny kitchenette and a living room with a small but cozy-looking red couch with only a wooden table and two shabby chairs separating the two areas.

It’s not a lot, but it’s a whole lot better than a forest bed made of grass, leaves, and twigs.

Sighing out loud, I put the bag on the table and point at the chair. “Sit.”

He throws me a damning look that reminds me of lightning splitting a tree in half, but I’m not scared of him. He won’t hurt me.

And when I cross my arms, he finally does what I say so I can work on him.

I fish some rubbing alcohol from the bag and a bunch of cotton pads and soak them all in it. Then I grab a chair and sit right in front of him.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

I swallow. “Take off your shirt.”

He frowns, and then a smile appears. “Are you trying to get me naked, woman?”

I try not to let it get to me even though my cheeks are surely changing color again. “C’mon.”

He snorts and hooks his fingers under his shirt, groaning in pain as he pulls it over his head. My eyes immediately lock onto the ridges of his abs and the cut lines of his toned muscles, gulping as if I’ve never seen a ripped man before.

Focus, April. Just do what you need to do.

I grab the cotton and rub the wounds on his chest with the alcohol, making him hiss in pain. Suddenly, he grabs my wrist and forces me to stop while glaring at me.

“I’m trying to clean your wound,” I say.

He narrows his eyes.

“It’ll only hurt for a second.”

After a short but deadly stare, he releases my wrist again, and I continue working on his chest, trying desperately to avoid his eyes because he can’t take them off me.

“Tell me why.”

His sudden question makes me stop midair with a cotton pad still between my fingers.

“Why what?”

“Why would you want to help me?”

I rub my lips together. “I already told you, I—”

“Be honest.”

I look up at him, completely stunned by the question and the implications behind it.

Because I know, deep down, that I didn’t just help him because it was the right thing to do.

That I didn’t just come back because running would make me a bad person.

Because the second I ran, fear lodged itself into my heart so violently that it made me choke up. Fear of … knowing that he’d perish.

And for some reason, that makes my throat jam up.

His blue eyes are so crystal clear when he looks at me as though he doesn’t have a single doubt in this world. Like he knows exactly what he wants and what he’s supposed to do, and nothing can stop him. And I’m just … so confused.

When I look at him, a mixture of emotions swirls through my heart, and I don’t know which one is the right one to pick. But it’s impossible to look away and think. All I can do is stare at his face, his buff chest, that chiseled jaw hiding underneath the scruffy beard, and that tongue dipping out to lick those sultry lips and all the things that they do to my fluttering heart.

And I just. Can’t. Breathe.

“I have to go.”

I get up and put everything down on the table without taking even a single glance and head straight for the bathroom, locking myself inside. I’m panting. Physically shaking.

Because what I felt there wasn’t just carnal lust.

It was something way, way more dangerous.

A desire for something more.

“April?”

He’s right behind the door.

I stupidly hold my breath, wishing he didn’t know I was here so I could disappear in my embarrassment. So I wouldn’t have to face the fact that I’m falling for a man I can’t have.

His voice is the last thing that brings my crumbling walls down. “Be back quickly.”