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Percival frowned, but thankfully dropped the topic.
“So, you are unmated?” Triston asked.
I nodded and smiled wide, resisting the urge to rub my aching chest. “Yes.”
“And you live all alone on all this land, surrounded by animals …” He raised his head and sniffed several times. “… like bears and pumas?”
Pumas? It had been months since I’d seen a puma. I hoped that meant they were thriving and not running out of food in the mountains. “Yes.”
“That seems … unwise,” he whispered. “Does your family not worry for your safety?”
Holding my smile in place, I said, “No, no they don’t.”
A loud bear’s roar had us all on our feet and looking at the opposite bank. Standing on its hind legs, the giant black bear creature stared at me and roared again.
“That is not a bear,” Percival whispered.
“It’s enchanted or cursed or something,” Triston said and sneezed. “Bad magic.”
“What?” I asked.
The creature jumped across the river and I stared in shock and awe.
“Ember, run!” Branson bellowed, breaking me out of my disbelief.
Percival picked me up and ran down the riverbank, holding me tightly against his chest.
I looked over his shoulder, relieved to find Triston right behind us, but the creature was gaining.
Triston pivoted and shifted into his tiger form, attempting to attack the creature.
The creature hit him with his large paw, knocking him into the woods and against a tree.
“Triston!” I screamed and tried to get out of Percival’s arms.
“You can’t fight that thing,” he growled at me as he continued to run.
“I have to check on Triston. He might have hit his head again and?—”
“You’re no good to him dead!” Percival snapped. He squatted down and leapt across the water, heading back towards my house.
Riddick caught up to us, blood running down his temple. “Are you okay, Ember?”
“You’re bleeding,” I said.
“It’ll stop in a second,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at the creature following us.
“We have to get Triston,” I said urgently.
“Kieran went to get him. We’ve got to get you into the wards,” Branson said.
“Wards?” Percival asked.
“She’s got wards around her house that will prevent the creature from entering,” he explained.
“It’s a bear, Branson. My wards won’t keep it out,” I argued.
“It clearly wants to hurt you, so your wards will keep it out,” he said assuredly.
