Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
She stopped mid-word, frozen, and she was not the only one.
Teddy heard it and he had frozen too.
For half a second.
Then he hissed, “Stay low, stay quiet, and follow me.”
He got low himself, while scanning the trees, looking for fallen logs, hollow ones, wide trunks, anything that would hide them.
He did this as the distant, but approaching, sound of horses’ hooves got ever closer.
The steeds were not on the road, which was some ways away.
They were coming through the forest.
Toward them.
“Kate, Terra, duck behind that log,” he clipped, pointing to a fallen log that was thick, so it rose high from the ground.
Kate and Terra bustled that way and disappeared behind it.
With cautious haste, he continued guiding the rest through the trees and searching for hiding places.
But he could hear the horses getting closer.
Damn it!
Could he have been wrong about The Rising priests searching for them?
“Hattie, Constance,” he whispered urgently. “Over there. Big tree. Hide behind it.”
“Minnie, Irma…behind that log. Lie on the ground. Side by side. Everyone, pull leaves over you,” Moira instructed, indicating a fallen log that was not tall, but would provide the two women cover if they did as told.
And the horses continued to get closer.
He turned to Moira.
“Go to Kate and Terra. Hide with them. If it is us they’re searching for, I’ll draw them away,” he ordered Moira.
“I’m staying with you.”
Gods!
Why was the woman so bloody stubborn?
It suddenly felt like the thundering hooves were shaking the trees.
Damn it, how many of them were there?
There hadn’t been that many before.
Had they gone to find reinforcements to chase down seven women and him?
“Go!” he snapped to Moira.
“I’m staying with you!” she snapped in return, grabbing his hand and starting to pull.
He looked into the distance and he could see the first horses through the dead trees.
“Moira!” he tried to pull away. “Go hide!”
“Teddy!” she snapped. “Run!”
“Teddy!” he heard roared.
When he did, he stood immobile, staring at the trees, his heart beating fast, his skin warming, his throat itching to shout his elation.
“Teddy!” Moira was pulling urgently at his hand. “We need to run!”
“Go!” he heard whispered loudly from one of the trees, he thought from Constance.
“Please, Teddy. Take Moira and go!” he heard cried from behind a log. Terra.
“Faunus,” he whispered.
“Teddy!” Faunus shouted.
“Faunus!” Teddy yelled.
He whipped to Moira, caught her face in both his hands, yanked her to him and kissed her smack on the lips.
He pulled away and exclaimed, “We are saved!”
“What?” she breathed, eyes wide and staring at him.
But the large, proud Firenz horses were upon them, all around, galloping grandly about them and Teddy had let Moira go, had turned and was running to one of them.
Faunus dismounted before his steed was at a complete stop and he only had to jog five steps before he and Teddy ran into one another.
They embraced, Teddy shoving his face in Faunus’s neck, taking in his scent, feeling his strength, before Faunus grasped him on either side of the neck, pulled him back, and his head came down.
His kiss was wet and punishing and fantastic.
When he pulled away, in return Teddy took his head in his hands and stated, “I knew you’d come.” He yanked Faunus to him, pressed his lips hard against Faunus’s, pushed him away but didn’t let him go, and he cried, “I knew you’d come!”
“Many thanks for the message about where you were headed,” Faunus replied, grinning.
Teddy recalled what he’d written in that message and fought the heat hitting his skin.
“Though it would have saved time if you’d taken the bloody road,” he went on.
“I have…we have…” He blinked and mumbled, “We.” He brightened and shouted, “We!”
He pulled from Faunus and spun around.
“Ladies!” he yelled. “It’s all right! Come out! It’s safe! These are my friends come to rescue us!”
He caught sight of Saturn, standing by an astonished-looking Moira, and he bounded over the dead leaves to his friend.
They embraced, Saturn pounding him on the back stoutly many times, before he pulled away and looked severely down at Teddy.
“You are skin and bones,” he declared.
“I’ve been abducted and then on the run,” he returned.
“We need to fatten you up,” Faunus stated, coming to stand by their sides.
Just the word “fatten” made him discontinue ignoring the gnawing hunger in his gut and his mouth began to water.
“Actually, if you have food, my women need feeding,” he told them. “The ham we stole ran out yesterday evening.”
“Your women?” Faunus asked, before his dark gaze moved toward Moira, as if he just noticed she was there.
Teddy shifted around, noting Firenz warriors everywhere, at least twenty-five of them, and many were standing beside or behind where his women were hiding, but had not come out.
“Truly!” he yelled. “It’s all right! These are my friends!”
“How are you friends with Firenz warriors?” Moira asked quietly.
He looked to her and saw she was not only stunned, she looked worried.