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Chapter 4
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Back in the forest, Raine still carried Noelle while he and Fletcher led the three other women towards their estate. He hoped they would make it without any further interruptions.
Tamsin tried to pull out of Fletcher’s grip, but he held her fast, refusing to let go. She rolled her eyes and tugged again, hoping he would get the hint. Fletcher let a small smile creep across his face, but he still didn’t let go of her wrist. Instead he increased his pace, knowing it would be hard for her to keep up. “Will you let go!” she yelled exasperated. “I can’t go that fast.”
He stopped abruptly, causing her to run into his back with an ‘oof’. “Guess I’ll have to carry you then,” he said thoughtfully.
“You did that on purpose!” she accused angrily. He raised an eyebrow at her and gave a wicked grin. “I told you I can walk on my own. You are not going to carry me like a small child. It is degrading and—no, stop!” she backed away from him quickly when he reached for her.
Fletcher chuckled softly and pursued the fiery vixen in front of him. She was a small thing, barely coming to his shoulder with red curly hair to her shoulder blades. He felt that he could swim in her deep blue eyes framed by long sooty lashes for hours. “Come along dear, we’re falling behind because of your stubborn ways,” he teased.
“My stubborn ways?” she practically screeched. Her skin was flushed pink in irritation adding to the adorable picture she presented. Moving faster than the eye can see, Fletcher grabbed Tamsin around the waist and cradled her in his arms.
“See, not so bad, is it?” he purred, letting her feel every inch of his muscled body pressed against her side. Tamsin tried to suppress a shudder of delight and pasted a frown on her face. Fletcher laughed, admiring her stubbornness. “What is your name, love?” Tamsin turned her head away from him, blatantly ignoring him. “I am Fletcher,” he announced after a few minutes when she said nothing.
Tamsin continued to ignore him, hoping that he would give up and leave her alone. However, Fletcher wasn’t one known for giving up easily. “You know,” he mused, “if you don’t tell me your name I’m going to have to come up with a pet name for you.” He paused thoughtfully, “How about: pumpkin, muffin, pudding, sweet cheeks, sweetums, cookie, honey bun, sweet pea—”
“I’m not food,” Tamsin grumbled, “is that all you think about? Eating?” She blushed when Fletcher gave her a knowing look.
“Fine, none of those. How about: baby, button,” he paused to draw out the next name, “lover.” She tried to ignore the fire that was racing through her belly when he spoke to her in that smoldering tone. “I think I’ll go with pumpkin,” he said decidedly. “Pumpkins are orange, just like your hair.”
Tamsin snorted and continued to ignore him, but Fletcher kept on talking, making sure to insert ‘pumpkin’ every so often. Delilah and Ingrid watched the exchange between Tamsin and Fletcher in amusement. Tamsin was known for being sharp-witted and quick on her feet, not to mention stubborn, but it seemed that she had finally met her match too. “Do you think Violet is going to be ok?” Delilah asked Ingrid worriedly.
“I’m sure she will be. Finn, King of the Coldhearted seemed like he cared enough to make sure she doesn’t die,” Ingrid pointed out.
“You just contradicted yourself there,” Delilah laughed. “But he did have an avid interest in her.”
“Just like you do in Theo?” Ingrid said slyly.
Delilah gave her a light whack, trying not to blush. “He was injured, I was worried.” It was a bonus that he happened to be absolutely gorgeous too. All of the men were, but there was something about Theo that was different. She could immediately tell him apart from his twin, and it wasn’t just because of his golden eyes, he had a different aura about him. Sighing, they followed after Raine and Noelle with Fletcher and Tamsin behind. They hoped they would reach wherever they were heading soon. It felt like they had been walking forever.
“Aargh! Fine, my name is Tamsin. Just stop calling me pumpkin!” Tamsin finally yelled in frustration from behind Delilah and Ingrid. They stifled laughter and smiled knowingly at Noelle.
“Tamsin,” Fletcher said slowly, letting the syllables roll off his tongue. “What a beautiful name.”
“Yah, thanks, ‘pookie’,” she said sarcastically. “Are we there yet? I’ve had enough of you.”
“I like that you want to give me a nickname, but you need to come up with a better one. Pookie is not a manly name.”
Tamsin grinned wickedly, “Pookie it is then. And you evaded my other question: are we there yet?”
“Good God, yes!” Raine grumbled loudly from the front, cutting through their argument, “You two have been arguing the entire way, will you just shut up now?”
“If he lets go of me,” she muttered.
Fletcher set her gently on the ground and bowed mockingly, “As my lady wishes, so shall it be.”
“Oh shut up.”
They broke through the woods to see a large estate sitting in the middle of a clearing. It was massive and had an almost medieval castle feeling to it. Vines crawled up the three stories and curled around the walls lovingly. A large wrought iron gate presented an intimidating entrance to a deadly fortress.
“Welcome to Haven,” Raine said. He whispered a strange word to the gate and it opened, revealing a gravel path that lead straight to the front door.
Delilah raced ahead as soon as the gate opened, heading for the front door. She threw open the front door and looked around frantically, “Where is he? Where’s Theo?” she asked breathlessly.
A butler materialized out of nowhere and gestured towards the stairs. “If you will follow me, miss.” He led the way up the stairs to the second floor and down a long hallway. Delilah wanted to yell at him to go faster, but she couldn’t risk pissing off her only guide to Theo. Finally after passing a million rooms they entered a large chamber where Theo was laying peacefully on the bed.
The chamber was accented by warm mahogany and red velvet, giving off a warm and comfortable aura. Charcoal sketches lined the walls, giving the room Theo’s personal touch.
She walked slowly to his side and placed a hand on his arm. “Is he alright?” she asked after a moment. There was no response. The butler had already disappeared. Weird. “Theo,” she whispered softly. Someone had already tended to his injuries and wrapped his shoulder. All he needed now was some rest. Running her fingers through his hair, Delilah smiled softly. She didn’t even know him, but she already cared about him. He had put himself in the way of the arrow, pushing her behind him, and for that she owed him her life.
“Delilah?” Noelle asked softly from the doorway, “we’re going to visit Vi, want to come?” She nodded and left the bedside reluctantly, following Noelle out into the hallway. Raine was there along with Tamsin and Ingrid. The five of them set off down the hallway, back the way Delilah had originally gone with the creepy butler. They stopped at the last room at the end of the hallway and entered slowly.
Noelle shivered when she entered. The room was all white with slashes of black and red furniture throughout. There was no excessiveness in the room, only practical pieces of furniture. No artwork was on the walls; overall it felt very cold and unemotional.
Violet lay on the bed, still deathly pale. Nothing looked wrong with her though. Finn was seated beside her, holding onto her hand like it was a lifeline. He looked sharply at the group when they entered, confusion and determination in his eyes.
“There is something strange about Violet,” he said flatly.
“What do you mean?” Noelle asked slowly. “Is she going to be alright?”
Finn nodded, “She’ll be fine, and in fact the wound is gone.” The women gasped and looked at each other in shock. He answered the question written on their faces, “Usually I can tell what someone is, just by sensing it. But she…she is a mystery to me. I can’t make heads or tails of what she is. Many creatures have the ability to heal quickly, but not this quickly.”
“If she’s not human…then what is she?” Ingrid asked. Violet had been their friend for the longest time, and they had never noticed anything exceptionally different about her. Sure, she was a generally quiet person, but they had never been given reason to think that there was anything off about her as a human. They never really took notice of how fast she healed.
Finn gave a frustrated growl and clenched his empty fist, “I don’t know.”