SWNOVELS Chapter Eleven: Sawyer
Rage.
Rage and regret swirled inside of his mind like a ticking time bomb while he stood in front of the old woman with a death glare. He hated this, being forced out of his clothes and into cleaner ones whilst he held a bouquet of flowers. It took him two hours to find the right ones, at first, he refused to pick them but then he thought of the smile Marley could have on her face and began to find the perfect ones. But none of them was perfect enough, none of them would ever satisfy him because nothing compared to her.
But what really pissed him off were the four males casually surrounding her while she smiles sweetly and talks back in return. If she was uncomfortable she wasn’t showing it and that pissed him off even more. How was she able to openly talk like that? How was she so comfortable with talking to strangers? She was naive, more naive than she knows but he thought she had the common sense to know when she was being flirted with.
Sawyer had long ditched the old woman and she seemed to have done the same as he walked towards Marley. Her scent was driving him insane and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold off from marking her. All species were territorial of their mates but dragon shifters had stronger instincts, their mates were their life, their world and having them walking around unmarked was practically sinful.
He could feel the eyes of the Fae on him while he walked through the open field. He knew he was a sight to see, without his cloak he felt naked, exposed and he hated it but the old woman had gotten into his head during his stupid flower mission and now he was afraid of losing his one chance of happiness.
Two of the males noticed his oncoming presence and sniffed the air to figure out what he was. He loved seeing people do that, years of hiding has caused every other species on the planet to forget his smell and watching their confused expressions was one of his favourite pastimes since he left his home.
“Marley.” He spoke, her name feeling weird on his tongue as this was the first time he had ever spoken her name out loud.
Her gorgeous green eyes looked up at him with a hint of relief before they moved down to the flowers he was holding. Her lips slightly parted and her cheeks blushed as she bit her plump bottom lip. “Did you…”
He avoided looking at her lips by putting a scowl on his face. “I was made to. Who the fuck are these little boys!?”
Marley rolled her eyes, dusting her distracting dress with her hands as she walked over and grabbed the flowers from his hands. Her fingers slightly grazed over his as he had to hold off from growling at the contact, she wasn’t helping his restraint and it was as if she knew that. “These boys were all asking me if I could sit with them during the feast.”
Her casual shrug as she smelt the flowers with a small smile on her face made his right eye tick while he death glared at the group in front of him, all of them shrinking back in fear and a few running off for their lives. “You are with me, I don’t trust these people!”
She rolled her eyes again, getting ready to scowl him just as a bunch of kids and teenagers ran past. The bomb fire that was lit in the middle of the village expanded as a few men threw logs of wood into it. A large table was laid out a few meters away as he took notice of how bright Marley’s eyes had gotten, the flowers tucked into her chest with her hands as if they were the most precious things in the world.
Her eyes moved to look up at him again as he sighed and pushed her forward. He refused to touch any of the food and would inspect everything she eyed before touching it. People crowded them as they found a place, some three-year-old girl was sitting on his other side with a missing tooth grin, if he had not of hated the Fae, he would have thought she was cute and almost looked like a mini Marley.
A blessing was announced that he zoned out. His eyes never left Marley’s every move whilst she listened to what was being said. If he was being blunt, all of what was being said was a bunch of boring bullshit, if they were going to bless anyone it should be for all of the cooks who worked their asses off to do all of this.
Once it was over, everyone dug in. Marley grabbed a roll and sniffed it as if she was trying to see if it was poisoned before tearing it in half and taking a bite. Her eyes beamed at the taste as she kicked her legs back and forth on her seated spot.
Sawyer loved watching her, whether it be that she was sleeping or glaring at him. She was a sight to behold, a person that shouldn’t exist or even be his for that matter but he could see it. Everyone needs an opposite to even them out and she was exactly that.
Soups and thick stews came out as Marley’s bowl was filled, taking the bowl from her hands, he put a finger in and tasted it to make sure there was nothing wrong before giving it back to her. He didn’t answer the confused look that she gave him and decided to look around instead.
He was on edge, he knew that but something kept nagging at his gut. A feeling he has and will always trust but if it wasn’t the food then what was this feeling? Marley needed to be protected and it annoyed him to no end that he didn’t know how to protect her or what to protect her from.
The night went on without any issue. Sawyer would occasionally try different foods before Marley could eat them. She never once openly asked what he was doing as she figured it out pretty quickly. He was grateful that she never once protested, it was one thing he was growing to like about her. She was slowly trusting him by following his instincts and that made his job as a mate and protector a lot easier.
Cake was placed in front of their faces next, and he found himself getting distracted by the weird-looking cherry on top. Cherries weren’t supposed to have red veins let alone moving ones as he growled and went to tell Marley not to touch it but it was too late.
Her cherry was gone and her body had already slumped onto the table. Her hair was on her face and her lips were slowly turning blue. Red hot rage consumed him as a deep, angry-sounding growl shook the table causing the remaining Fae to pause from their laughter.
So many of them had wicked smiles on their faces as he stood, steam coming out of his nose as he eyed the leader at the end of the table. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!”
The man dabbed his mouth with a cloth, leaning back in his chair whilst he crossed his legs. “What had to be done, we cannot trust her kind and we cannot trust you.”
More and more steam came out as he felt his razor-sharp fangs come through, his red eyes turning cat-like as the Fae jumped back in fear and all backed away but the leader stayed in his place. “I swear if you killed her.”
“Oh, I haven’t killed her.” He said with a shrug. “She will be our sacrifice, we need her blood to protect us from the shift.”
“There will be no shift! That shit is a made-up prophecy!” Sawyer seethed. “And she will be nobody’s sacrifice! She is one of you! Why take your own species’ blood!”
The man chuckled. “Have you not realised, dragon boy? She is a mixed race, that girl has demon blood running through her veins and it’s only a matter of time before that blood takes her whole.”
“I have heard enough of this!” He seethed, his body shifting as all he could see was red.
His Marley wasn’t what that man was saying. She was kind, she was innocent, she had fire in her veins that shines brighter than the sun and no Fae king was ever going to take her away from him.
She was his and he was hers, mixed raced and all.