The sharp command came not from Kaelan but from the stranger.
The little creature instantly darted beneath Bria’s skirts and pressed itself trembling against her leg.
Bria froze in surprise, sensing fear, and it was not her own. It was the little creature’s.
It shook violently where it hid against her, and the moment Bria realized that fear was for the man standing before them, her healer instincts took over without hesitation. She scooped the trembling thing into her arms.
“Easy now,” she soothed softly, one hand stroking through its thick fur while the other rested gently against its small racing heart.
At once, emotion flooded through her: confusion, loneliness, fear. And beneath it all… home. A desperate aching need to go home.
It was clear to her. She could feel his heartbreak. The creature had been taken, abducted from his home.
Bria looked sharply toward the stranger. “He fears you.”
“It has nothing to fear as long as it obeys me and it seldom does,” the man said annoyed. “Now hand it over. It belongs to me.”
The little creature buried himself tighter against Bria.
“Nay,” she said firmly. “He does not belong to you.”
The stranger’s gaze hardened. “Careful, woman, or you will find?—”
Kaelan lurched forward then with such fierceness that the man jumped back and anger rumbled through his warning.
“Do not dare threaten my woman. Leave now… without the animal.”
The forest itself seemed to turn silent at his commanding warning.
The stranger held Kaelan’s gaze a moment too long, as though deciding whether to challenge him.
Then he stepped forward, only one step, then he abruptly stopped.
Bria saw the exact instant something changed.
The man’s bravado not only vanished but his face paled. His eyes fixed briefly on Kaelan with something very close to alarm before he quickly masked it again and took a careful step backward instead.
Kaelan remained perfectly still. Too still. She had never seen such control, not the slightest movement could be detected. It was as if he were waiting for the right moment to pounce.
The stranger forced a smile that barely curled his lips. “Take it. I have no further use for it.”
The little creature gave a soft, relieved sound against Bria’s chest.
The stranger’s eyes lingered on it briefly before returning to Kaelan once more. Then, without another word, he disappeared back into the forest.
Bria watched until the trees swallowed him completely.
Only then did she turn toward Kaelan. “What frightened him so badly that he stepped away from you?”
A faint shadow of amusement touched Kaelan’s mouth, though his eyes remained watchful on the forest around them.
“One look is all it takes.”
“You are telling me that one look frightened him off?” she asked, skeptical.
“It depends on the look,” he said with a grin.
The small creature suddenly wriggled free from her arms before landing lightly upon the ground.
