Lucy’s POV
The headless body of Nameless remained on the ground of the cave, motionless, lifeless, and colourless. Most of the blood in his body had certainly poured out of him once Shaun had pulled his head off of his body. I didn’t know how I could look at the gruesome sight without feeling like vomiting, but I slightly suspected it had something to do with having seen my family members in such a state before, and instead of this new experience to have triggered my pain and trauma, it simply made me . . . numb to it all.
Shaun had freed his brothers already, breaking their chains like they were nothing but mere twigs. He came over to me next, and waited for a few moments, looking at my face.
“What?” I asked quietly, too tired to sound angry with him. “Are you waiting for permission to touch me now?”
He clenched his jaw, causing a muscle there to twitch and dance. Fire blazed in his eyes for a very brief moment before he pushed it away and wore a mask of indifference once again. Carefully, he picked up the chains binding both of my legs together and started to break them apart. In a few heartbeats, he got the job done and looked back at my face briefly before getting back to his feet.
A rush of sweet blood flow went back into my lower limbs and I internally sighed at the great relief it brought. I had beeen trapped in one uncomfortable position for close to twelve hours, or maybe even more than that, and I’d feared that my legs were going to become so weak by the end of it all that I would have needed assistance to walk, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to start trusting any of these men.
I rubbed my legs, trying to bring blood back into them once again so that I could feel sensation, but the process was slow, and I saw myself remaining on the floor for a little while longer before I would have been able to go anywhere with my legs.
Scott walked up to me, looking at my legs. He held out a hand, and pointed the other to his back. “I’ll carry you.”
I shook my head. “No. I can make it myself-” before the words even finished coming out of my mouth he jad already picked me up like a child and pressed my body to his chest. “Put me down!”
He merely adjusted me in a more comfortable position that meant I had to wrap my arms around his strong neck. I wanted to keep resisting, but . . . this was Scott, the most quiet of all the brothers and the least person I held a grudge with-if I even had one with him in the first place. While he had been ignoring me like the rest of his brothers, I’d started to realise that it was probably the way he was with most people. He hardly even spoke unless it was necessary, so there was a chance that he hadn’t been ignoring me . . . but was genuinely just minding his own affairs and had nothing to say to me.
He was looking at me intensely, with made my insides tremble, but not with fear or anger-or any bad emotion. I looked away first, only to find the other brothers looking at us as well.
I resigned to just letting him carry me. After all, what did I have to lose? My legs were numb and I was completely exhausted from having nothing to eat and staying awake four hours without rest.
“Let’s go,” Shaun said, acting like he hadn’t just been looking at us like we were an image he had never seen before. “The others are probably hiding around nearby. I’m sure they don’t know their leader is dead yet.”
I still found it difficult to believe that Shaun apparently felt none of the severe side effects of the wolfsbane poison like I had. He and his brothers were still agile and strong, and I was feeling completely weak and drained.
I wanted to ask him how it was possible, but after way I had spoken to him not too long ago, I wasn’t sure it was the best time to make such an enquiry. So I remained quiet and simply looked on.
As we emerged from the cove, we saw that about a dozen men stood in a line, waiting for us. Against the backdrop of the rising sun, it almost looked like they were there to welcome us, if not for the bows and arrows they wielded. Now I understood why they relied on weapons. Halflings weren’t like normal werewolves, and couldn’t transform. They had enhanced hearing and sight, and were stronger than the average human, but that was the limit of their abilities. On the bright side for them, they were also indifferent to Wolfsbane, which explained why they could wield weapons coated with it.
We watched ourselves for a minute, each side weighing the option of acting first.
Scott turned to me, and I caught the flicker of his deep blue eyes to my lips for a split second. “It’ll be better if you’re on my back,” he said quietly, breath brushing against my face lighter than a feather’s touch. He sounded just like Shaun, but the way he used his words was like a soothing balm, instead of a weapon.
I nodded, and allowed him to gently put me down on the ground. My legs were still a little numb, so I wobbled a little.
He put his hands on my waist to steady me, thumbs dangerously close to brushing the skin underneath my breasts. Something devilish wanted me to shift a little so that they did touch me there, but I mentally chided myself for such a thought in the first place. Still, I wanted to know what his reaction would have been like to that.
“Take it easy,” he said, and again I couldn’t help but notice just how softly he spoke to me.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied. He turned his back to me, and I climbed on. The action reminded me of when Klark would give me piggyback rides when I was younger, and dash through the woods of Bloodbath pack with me screaming and hooting with joy.
Tears came to my eyes at the memory, but I blinked them away and took a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” asked Scott.
“Mhmm. Yes,” I said, reinforcing my hold over his shoulders. His hands went down to the underside of my thighs to keep me rooted to him, and the warmth of his hands almost made me gasp out loud.
“Nameless is dead,” Shaun said to the men, who still stood with their weapons pointed at us. They nust have suspected that something had happened to their superior, and now had little knowledge on what to do next. “And you will join him if you insist on fighting us. He told us what you are-Halflings. None of you would stand a chance if you went against us.”
“We have wolfsbane, and it is more than enough to put you down,” one of them at the center said boldly, adjusting hia aim so that his arrow was pointed right at Shaun’s chest.
I looked over the men again, and saw that they weren’t as old as I thought they were. Most of them looked like . . . teenagers.
“Why are you people staying with him?” I asked, looking over at them. Were they even aware that they were working for a murderer?
The first boy that had spoken lifted his nose haughtily. “Nameless is the one that gave us a place to sleep, food to eat, and clothes to wear.”
“And in return, you help him kill people, is that it?” I asked them.
At that, the young boys looked uneasily at each other. “We’re not killing anybody,” another teen said, looking a little red in the face.
A sigh as weary as it was troubled blew out of me. Impressionable children being used like this . . . was terrible. “So why are you helping him do this to us?”
“He said these men are dangerous,” said the first boy, gesturing to Shaun and his brothers. “We . . . we think he’s right. A normal werewolf wouldn’t have recovered from Wolfsbane so quickly.”
“I could care less about what you children think,” interrupted Shaun in his irritated voice. He really had no patience. “Just tell me who Nameless was working for.” He stepped forward and dragged away the bow of the first boy, who appeared to be the oldest. In one motion he snapped the bow in two, the harsh sound causing some of the boys to jump.
The boy looked like he was about to urinate all over his old pants. “W-we don’t know.” The other boys moved back, looking scared as well.
“Don’t lie to me.” Shaun leaned in close, growling. I knew him enough to understand that he was likely just trying to scrare the boys into giving him an answer, but it wasn’t the best approach. “Who was he working for?”
“We never met him. Nameless . . . always went to see him alone, and he’d come back with some extra money and food for us.” Even from where I was I could see the sweat rolling down the poor boy’s face. “W-we really don’t know.
“That’s okay, Shaun. I think the boy’s telling the truth,” said Seth, coming to gently touch his brother’s shoulder. “They’re not the enemy.”
“I know, dammit!” Shaun said, pulling away from the shaking young man before him and running his hands harshly through his hair. “We solved one problem only to come across another one.”
“Look, your master is dead. To you, he was probably a saint, but you know deep down that he wasn’t. We won’t force any of you to do what you don’t want to, but the wild is no place for Halflings. Moongrowl is open to you, if only you promise to turn a new leaf,” said Seth, taking the reins of the conversation.
The boys stared at him with confusion, which was understandable because how did one find it in them to ask children who had shot him Wolfsbane arrows to follow him home with such ease?
“And if we don’t?” One of the young boys at the far end of the group asked, his eyes blazing with anger. “What if we don’t want to come to your pack?”
Seth turned to him. “The choice is yours to make, and we won’t force you.”