Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 109: brought to you by the very very bad day

Today on "Licking Muscles!": Curtis gets chewed out, Harvey becomes boss, baby snakes cry, everyone cries, and only the bottom totem of the pole is able to keep it together. But hey, we all have our talents, so stop your whining!

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In the pitch black, Shay could not see Curtis's expression. But the hairs on her body rose as a palpable sensation like a buzz tightened the air. It was like an increase in pressure, a wave of strength.

"What?" asked Cutis in a deadly quiet.

The children fell deathly still and silent.

"I'm not leaving her to a male who hurt her, terrified her, and left her in this horrible storm to satisfy his own grudge."

The stillness almost had a taste, like a tang or bitterness of sweat.

"Hurt her...?"

"You unleashed your strength right over the wall from her. She heard it all. She thought the world was ending. She's been trembling in fear the entire time thinking you'd kill Ryan, whom I can't smell, so I assume you left him, injured, in the woods, in this hellish storm. The only thing that comforted Shay was me telling her you wouldn't kill Ryan, but it seems I was wrong."

"He won't die--"

"Are you sure? She's not. What proof do you have to her? I'll remind you Shay isn't like other females. If Ryan dies, she might too out of grief, or did you forget in your selfish rage?"

Curtis said nothing. The buzz in the air fizzled down to a sizzle. The air got easier to breathe.

"She's terrified for her children," Harvey added. "Absolutely terrified. But she is keeping quiet for your sake. Did you know that? Even after you left her to the storm and anxiety, she's still caring about your useless comfort."

There was a low hiss. Scales rubbed on stone. Cold spiked in.

Then, somehow, the space seemed bigger again, and she knew: Curtis had left.

She heard Harvey's knees hit the stone.

"Harvey?"

"I...just give me a second..."

He was breathing heavily. She felt out for him in the dark and found his back, which was wet with cold sweat and trembling.

"Harvey, you didn't have to do that."

"I did."

"But it was between me and Curtis--is it the storm you can't go out in?"

"No," Harvey said sharply, and his hand reached over his back to grasp her wrist. "I told you before. Your mates need something other than physical strength to defend you, with that tender heart of yours. You need someone to defend you from them when they don't know any better." Slowly, he turned, still shaking, his touch clammy. "How could I dare say any of that and then not protect you?"

Her throat tightened again, but she swallowed hard. Something very warm welled up in her, making her want to cry and laugh at the same time.

She had never realized until that moment that she had needed this. That she had needed what Harvey had just given her. She had always believed she had to learn to defend herself--to stand up and argue until her mates understood her and fixed their mistakes.

But Harvey already understood. And he learned more every day.

It didn't make her love Curtis and Ryan and less, but...

There are certain cells in the brain that help people find each other's lips in the dark. Once she traced her hands up to his face, she used those cells, and tasted his trembling mouth. She tried not to laugh as he stopped breathing and his trembling stopped immediately.