Blood Legacy Chapter 99: 97. Why am I here?

My horror-filled scream managed to even scare a few birds away, echoing throughout that darkened forest like a warning siren.

I tried to kick and claw at his face again but he was faster this time, swiftly grabbing my wrists and pining them above my head before I could even land a single blow.

I stared up at the barely visible outline of his face, wide-eyed and unblinking, small tears making their way down the sides of my face as I laid there frozen with fear.

He suddenly pulled himself away from me and I let out a shaky breath, unsure of what was going on until he leaned over and hauled me up in his embrace, making me startle and let out another frightened shriek.

I immediately started to fight and squirm, struggling to get away but he only held me even tighter after every kick and thrash, effortlessly holding me restrained even with all that material from my dress billowing between us.

I tried and tried but all my actions proved to be futile as he remained impassive, holding me like a fussing toddler until I lastly gave up and fell limp in his arms as I was feeling way too tired and weak anyway.

There was a slight jostle in my body with every movement he made, making me realize that he'd started walking through the forest, carrying me to god-knows where. Probably back to that cabin.

"Don't try to run away again. It will be useless because I will always be able to catch you, and you'll only end up hurting yourself anyway," he calmly said, his tone flat and emotionless.

"Please..." I lamented, too breathless to even cry as I let my head rest against his broad shoulder, feeling his powerful heartbeat underneath my tightly-closed fist.

"What do you want from me?"

My question remained unanswered as he kept walking through the forest at a normal and unhurried pace.

"Please, I just want to go home..."

A few beats of silence followed, the sounds of my small sobs and his determined footsteps being the only ones cutting through it.

"I'm afraid that is not possible,"

**

A massive headache started to settle in by the time we'd arrived back to the cabin, my throat raw and my cheeks sticky from all those salty tears.

I didn't even have any more tears left to cry. I was all cried out.

He walked us through the wide open front door and headed straight for the kitchen, carefully placing me on a high stool by the island.

My eyes widened as he stepped back because I suddenly found myself looking at his muscled and completely bare body, heat flaring in my cheeks as I hurried to look away.

I didn't want him to think that I was admiring him or something. Very far from it actually.

And I still hadn't a single clue what he wanted from me. What if he tried to rape me? Especially after touching him so eagerly in the forest. I thought that he was Nathan but he was still very hard for me. I did notice.

My gaze stealthily trailed after him as he shuffled out of the kitchen. And the very moment I was alone I desperately looked for any weapon I could defend myself with, my eyes falling on the block of knives sitting on the counter on the other side of the kitchen.

I hopped off of that stool, immediately regretting it as pain went through me like an electric current, remembering that I had blisters and cuts all over my feet.

My hand quickly slapped over my lips, muffling that pained moan and I waited for a second, listening in for any indications that he might be coming back before I hobbled my way towards the counter.

My feet were hurting like hell now and I almost felt like crying, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. I had to keep going. So I drew in a long an encouraging breath, my hand landing on the edge of that counter for support before I reached out with the other, about to touch the hilt of one of those knives when a larger hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist, putting a halt to my actions.

I let out a scared whimper, quickly trying to free myself but he wouldn't budge. Instead he turned me around and forced me to face him, holding me impossibly close as he calmly said,

"You're going to hurt yourself with that,"

I started to struggle against him but he didn't let me go and instead he wrapped one arm around my waist and carried me right back to that high stool, plopping me on it.

I watched him turn his back to me and start roaming through a cabinet nearby, noticing that he'd thankfully put on a pair of shorts.

He came up with a small first-aid kit, placing it on the island before kneeling in front of me. My brows furrowed, jolting with fright the very moment his warm hand wrapped around my ankle, again trying to free myself from his grip but he held me in place, his other hand pulling down my destroyed and dirty sock.

"I keep calling you little doe but you're more like a feral kitten," He mumbled under his breath and brought my foot closer towards him for inspection.

I rolled my eyes with annoyance but didn't say anything, watching him work as he started to clean up my wounds with disinfectant.

I hissed and jolted with pain every time that cotton bud touched a wound, wiggling in his hands but he didn't let go.

"Sit still," he commanded but I didn't listen, that stinging sensation provoked by the disinfectant too annoying for me to control myself and I continued to jolt and wiggle, that chair moving underneath me until I lost balance and almost fell off of it. But he swiftly caught me and put me back in place with fast and effortless moves.

"I said; sit still,"

I made a face at him but he wasn't looking anyway, his attention reverting back to what he was doing to my feet as he slid back on his knees, so I eventually settled down, quietly watching him work.

His hands were touching my foot so delicately now that I'd stopped fussing, one holding it as if it was made out of thin glass whilst the other dabbed at it with the utmost care. One wouldn't say that he was capable of performing such gentle and careful moves, seeing as he had such big hands compared to my dainty feet. However, he was doing it so effortlessly.

I couldn't stop myself from curiously trailing my eyes over him as I obviously didn't have anything else better to do at the moment, not at all surprised to notice that he did look like Nathan. Well, more or less. The differences were glaringly visible. He was handsome too, but not in the youthful and boyish way Nathan was. He looked a little rougher. More mature. More masculine.

His shoulders were broader and his muscles more defined, making him look much more intimidating and dominant than his brother.

*He is older though,* I casually reminded myself.

"How are you even alive?" The question came out on its own, noticing him pause for a moment.

"I was brought back by magic," he simply answered and resumed back to what he was doing, dabbing a few more times before he threw that dirtied cotton bud away.

"Believe it or not, your clan is not the only one capable of wielding ancient magic," he said whilst rummaging through that first-aid kit before he came up with a small tube of cream and some bandages.

"After centuries of our clans' blood constantly mixing, let's just say that a transfer of power was bound to happen eventually," he was right back on his knees as he'd said that, taking my left foot in his hand.

"We couldn't keep inheriting a singular gene; shaman or werewolf. And so the hybrids were born," he started to gently apply the cream and I let out a small hiss, again bothered by that stinging sensation.

Wait...what?

He was a what?

My brows furrowed as I stared down at him, my eyelids fluttering with dumbfoundedness as he looked up at me for a second and threw me a wink.

He bandaged my foot and then moved to the other one, performing those same steps and after he was done he got up to his feet, placing those items back in their place.

I thought that he was done so I tried to climb down from that stool, only to be abruptly stopped by his large hand splaying over my stomach.

"Wait,"

My gaze rose up to meet his, confusion written all over my face until I suddenly noticed that hand coming straight towards me.

I immediately let out a squeal and tried to evade him, slapping at his hand and even landing another one over his cheek before he had me restrained again by grabbing both my wrists with his hands.

"Whoah. Calm down, I was just trying to get your other wounds cleaned, not strangle you," he said with a hint of disbelief, staring down at me as he held my hands apart.

I could feel that silvery metal digging into my wrist as he was holding me a little bit too tight and I let out a displeased whine, trying to tug my hand free from his hold.

"Ow,"

He immediately noticed and let me go.

"Sorry,"

I threw him an angered glower and tried to rub at it, so seriously annoyed when I noticed that I couldn't take that damned bangle off, no matter how hard I tried.

"Ugh! Why am I wearing this and why can't I take it off?"

"I apologize for that, but it only comes off by my hand and I put it on your wrist as a precaution, just in case your father gets any creative ideas,"

My brows furrowed at the sound of that, failing to understand what could those "creative ideas" actually mean. Could he use his magic thingy to find me or something?

Yeah right. As if he would care where I was or if I was okay or not.

I lightly shook my head, dismissing those thoughts right before I noticed his hands reaching out to me once again, this time giving away the smallest wince.

His lips pursed with evident displease, looking at me like I was a feral kitten indeed he was trying to tame.

He blew out a long and tired sigh through his nose, slowing down and using gentle moves as he placed one hand on the side of my neck, his fingers tracing over my forehead and then the side of my face with the softest touch I'd ever felt in my entire life, tucking those wild strands of hair behind my ear.

I couldn't stop that audible sigh that went past my lips in response to that, shocking the hell out of me.

What in the fuckity fuck was that?

My eyes were wide and I was pretty sure that I was also blushing a little, but he didn't seem to notice or even care as he grabbed a cotton bud soaked in disinfectant and started to gently dab at a scratch on my face I didn't even know I had.

I let out a hiss at the sudden stinging feeling, hearing him mumble an apology before he proceeded to gently blow over it.

My eyes widened again as a warm feeling bloomed within me, shocked by my own reaction to that.

What the hell was happening?

He dabbed at another scratch and I hissed again before I could even try to control myself, receiving that same soothing treatment.

My insides flared with heat again and I started to feel so incredibly awkward and embarrassed, weirded-out by my own body's responses to his ministrations.

What the hell was going on with me? Why was I reacting like that?

He blew again over another scratch and I couldn't stop myself from throwing him a cautious and curious look, my heart almost jumping out of my chest the very moment his gaze quickly shifted as if sensing my own, our eyes inevitably meeting.

I had to suck in a breath as I definitely wasn't prepared to witness such intensity in his eyes as he peered right back into my own, that darkness within seeming to suck me right in as I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried.

So dark and richly-coloured his eyes were, seemingly almost black. There were tiny flecks of brown in them, the only indication that he had normal human eyes and not demon-like like I'd initially thought, his pupils slightly dilating as he continued to look at me.

His nostrils flared and only then did I finally realize how close we actually were as I could feel his hot breath fanning on my lips, my eyes widening with alarm before I placed a hand in the middle of his chest and pushed him away, thoroughly startled.

I almost fell off of that stupid chair again as of course, because he was so much bigger and heavier than me I actually managed to push myself back instead of him, letting out a small yelp right before his arm went around my waist and pulled me back in my place.

"Whoah, easy there,"

My hand was still pressed against the middle of his chest and he didn't let go right away, holding me as I breathed fast and hard after that scare I'd just had. We stood like that for another few moments as I took my time to calm down but as soon as I looked up at him again, my heart flipped at the sight of that softened, almost tender look on his face, scaring the crap out of me.

"Okay, you can let go of me now," I mumbled with annoyance and pushed at his chest again, so eager to have some space to breathe. I didn't like it. The way he was looking at me.

He thankfully didn't say anything and took his hands off of me, raising them up into a surrendering manner.

"I still have to finish cleaning up your wounds though. They could get infected if I don't," he explained with the tiniest hint of uneasiness, pointing at my face and I blew out a tired sigh, taking but a moment to mentally prepare myself before I lastly agreed with a small nod.

He was back on me in an instant, meticulously dabbing at every single tiny scratch and cut over my face, shoulders and arms, tending them with the utmost care as I sat there and endured, hating it so much. The fact that I wasn't entirely repulsed by his touch.

"Why am I here? Why did you take me away?

What do you even want from me?" I found myself asking after a little while, so damn curious to find out.

"You'll get your answers. In due time,"