The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne novel Chapter 182

Six: Charlie

Charlie's P.O.V.

It was like I was doomed to make the same mistakes repeatedly.

Twice. Twice in two weeks, I had returned to camp covered in another creature's bodily fluids. Only this time, it wasn't because of my carelessness.

I had gone savage.

All of my pent-up anger and emotions were set free, and I unleashed a fury on the Oread that I hadn't known I had in me. My parents, brother, and every tutor I ever had would have been appalled by my behavior today.

It thoroughly impressed the men, and they sat back and watched as I dropped my sword and took the woodland nymph on in hand-to-hand combat.

I knew my team wouldn't let anything happen to me. They would have jumped in if I were about to get seriously injured. But they didn't have to.

Typically, I made executions quick.

But one thing Roman insisted on was training to be better when unarmed. I could take almost anything down with a blade, whether a sword or a dagger. But going into one of those fights without a weapon was a suicide mission.

The Oread was unstable and weak enough that I knew she would be an excellent creature to start with, and she was. Her disease-ridden body and manic state made her attacks sloppy and easy to predict.

I had maintained the upper hand during our scuffle until she collapsed and fell onto me.

Woodland Nymphs were known for being one with the woods. Their skin had spots of growth with moss, mushrooms, and flowers. If one were to touch it, the growth tended to leave a thick green residue behind, staining anything it came into contact with.

Similar to a tree, and probably the one she was bound to, she was diseased. Her body had been rotting, stinking to the high heavens.

When she collapsed into me, her rotten moss-covered body pressed against my front with a squishing sound that would be burned into my memory forever. But the smell, oh Goddess, the smell was horrendous.

There was no way I could go to sleep without rinsing off first. Even having my dirty clothes near the camp would keep everyone awake from the putrid smell.

I knew the river was safe during the day, but I had never had a reason to inspect it at night. Several creatures only came out when the sun had gone down, and the water couldn't be seen through. But it was a risk I had to take.

The night vision my wolf granted me allowed me to see several feet into the running water, and after determining the coast was clear, I waded in. It was the first time that the cool water had been unwelcome. It felt unreasonably cold without the sun, and I knew getting out to sleep with wet hair would be horrendous.

Still, I walked forward until I was able to submerge myself completely. Grabbing fistfuls of sand, I began scrubbing at my clothes. The faster I could get this over with, the better.

I wanted to be as far away from my mate's side of the river as possible. Today had been a nice distraction, but Roman had been right.

I hadn't even been officially rejected. Yet, the pain of what had happened hadn't lessened at all. Even when I was mid-fight, the bear with the black hair and eyes was on my mind.

A disruption in the water made my eyes open. I squinted as I tried to see what creature had joined me and what fight I was in for, but the bubbles from their movement obscured my vision. Just as I pushed off the bottom, a large arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me against him.

I hadn't been deep. The deepest part of the water was only six feet. But I had been completely submerged to clean myself and my clothes with the sand as quickly as possible.

Sparks erupted along my skin, and I melted into the touch even though I knew better.

My hair washed away from my face as I tilted my head back upon breaking the surface.

'What the hell are you doing?" The deep, familiar voice made me gasp, not out of shock but from the wave of desire it sent rushing through me as our bodies pressed together beneath the surface.

My hands grabbed the back of his neck, holding him closer. I blinked several times as the water ran down my face.

He was here.

"Why are you here?" I gasped, feeling him moving us closer to the shore until the water only went up to our shoulders.

"I... I came to return your dagger. I wasn't expecting to find you trying to drown yourself!" He sounded furious, but with his arms wrapped around my back, I could feel his fingers digging deeper into my sides.

"What?" I shook my head, thoroughly confused and trying to hide my amusement.

"Do you know how terrifying that was to see? I walked up, and you were under the water, struggling! I thought something had dragged you down!" I figured his yelling would have alerted the men from camp, but the world was silent beyond our heavy breathing.

'I wasn't trying to kill myself," My voice came out in a whisper as understanding dawned on me. Whether he understood it or not, he felt the mate bond too. It was why he came back to the river at all. He could have turned around and walked away when he saw me here, whether I was underwater or not. He could have either kept or gotten rid of my dagger. It would have fetched him a reasonable price in town. He also didn't need to jump into the water to fight an unknown, nonexistent creature for my freedom.

His eyes scanned over my face, looking concerned and confused. When they landed on my lips, I couldn't help but lick them, even though they were already wet from being in the water.

"You weren't?" His question made me smile, and as he watched my lips curve up, he relaxed. But he didn't let go, and I didn't want him to.

"No, I was cleaning Nymph slime from my clothes." I wanted to tell him he hadn't hurt me that bad when he said he didn't want me. Not bad enough to make me suicidal. I would never let a man bring me to that point. But with how tight he was holding me and how close his face was to mine, I couldn't find it in me to bring it up.