From the appreciative looks of the Band, they had noticed as well.
She flounced off with her young admirer.
She did not see Maddoc's eyes break off from the females that he had tolerated fawning over him to watch the slight sway of Evelyn's hips and the golden hair that cascaded to her hips. Nor did she see his expression darken as Lee of the Band put a guiding hand on the small of her back, the entirety of it covering the hollow and disappearing under the sweep of her hair.
“Do not look at her!” one of the females giggled and he rolled his eyes, suffering them with the barest amount of patience. How he hated their prattling, their simpering. His eyes strayed to where Evelyn had been. He was not a close companion to Lee but knew that he had a healthy appetite with the females.
They never said no to him.
But Maddoc knew this female was different. The same fire that ran in his veins ran in hers.
Like knew like, she was of savage blood. He knew it.
He excused himself to a hail of grief at his departure. He strode out of the Gathering Hall, first looking to make sure at least three mature of the Band were inside. His mother was as well.
Good.
He went outside and his gills opened, allowing his acute sense of smell to find the girl.
Evelyn.
He found her scent and followed.
*
Evelyn was bored to weeping. Lee of the Band was but a rock with no sense of amusement, talking about war and weaponry.
As if this would be the least amount interesting or amusing? She wished to talk of the sea and the differences in their clan. She wished to know what the young did to amuse themselves. But he wished to talk of battle.
Finally, they came upon a log and he asked her to sit upon it. She did, narrowly avoiding utter rudeness by a slim margin. She put on a brave face and false smile, belatedly realizing that she had missed her intended target by twenty horse lengths.
Maddoc had not noticed or cared at her departure. She kicked a shell with her toe and buried it under the sand.
Lee had said something else and she nodded, having not really heard and her heart leaped in her chest as she realized she should have listened as he bent to kiss her.
Too late she shoved her hands into a chest that felt made of stone. Good Lord he was strong.
She fell back into the sea grass with a surprised yelp and he mistook it for excitement. He was on her at once, his large hand wrapping into her hair and holding it tight as he lowered his face once again, a knee between her legs and pressing against her groin, pinning her.
Evelyn whimpered in fear. How had it gotten this out of hand?
“You are most eager for ten and four years,” Lee said softly, mistaking her signals again.
“No! Please, I did not mean for you to kiss me...”
He rammed his lips down on hers with bruising force and she tried to get away from him, but he was too big, covering her body fully and then again by half.
She did the only thing she could think of, she bit his lip and he howled, rearing up off her.
She tried to scurry out from underneath him and he said, “I see how your are, you like to play rough. I am very about that.”
Evelyn got to her feet and sprinted and he chased her. She reached the forest that lay to the north of the beach seconds before he. She rounded a corner and hit a wall of warm flesh, bouncing off it as the breath left her body.
Lee rounded the corner and saw Maddoc. His confusion gave way to mirth. “Ah. You want a bit of sport with the new female?” he said, nodding his great head, arms flexing as he reached for Evelyn.
Evelyn lay on the ground, still without air and her eyes found Maddoc's.
Maddoc immediately understood her terror but was not sure of its source. Had she not left with Lee? Did she wish to be left with him?
She shook her head, moving to get away, warding him off with a hand. The air rushed back into her lungs and she screamed.
“Quiet! Someone will come thinking you need aid,” Lee said jerking her to her feet and she recoiled.
Maddoc had had enough. “Do not touch her.”
Lee's eyes flicked to Maddoc's in the gloom. “What say you? I will share, she is a hot temper. It will be great fun.”
Maddoc looked at her face, like a terrified colt. He shook his head. “She comes with me.”
Evelyn blew out the breath she had held. Mayhap she would escape this disaster at hand. She was embarrassed beyond words that the young Band that stood before her she had abused this day and all along he had been a true protector. She was ashamed.
Lee jerked her against him. “You have your pick of the few females we have in our clan. You begrudge me sport with this new female. Look at her,” he said.
Maddoc did and swallowed. Even from this distance she affected him. His eyes traveled her body and stopped at her lovely face. Then he looked at the hands which held her.
“Please, I did not wish, I do not...” Evelyn floundered for the first time in her life. “I have not yet been kissed by a male. I did not wish to be kissed this night.”
Maddoc looked at Lee and sobered. “Explain.”
“She lies. She was all about wanting my attentions but a moment before,” and with deliberate slowness he moved the hand that held her arm and covered her breast with it. He squeezed and she whimpered in fear, her panic a nauseating pulse in her body.
Maddoc felt a red haze of rage descend in front of his vision like a veil. One moment he was a horse length away and the next he had torn Evelyn out of Lee's grasp and was swinging his fists into his face. Lee rolled and swept his feet into Maddoc's ribs and Maddoc recoiled as he swung his knee into the face of Lee. He howled as blood sprayed from his nose. Maddoc drove his head into Lee's torso, the both of them flying onto the forest floor.
Blood sprayed onto Maddoc, temporarily blinding him as Lee took a jab at his jaw and he fell backward, Lee riding him to the ground, his hands around the sensitive throat slits at his neck.
Blood dripped into his face from Lee's nose and Maddoc took the two knuckles of his right hand and jabbed the injured nose, causing Lee to release him. Maddoc kicked him twice in his hard belly and he got up on all fours, shaking his head, blood flying like liquid ink.
“Stay down or I will finish you.”
“She is nothing to you. You can have any female of our Band,” his voice gurgled out.
“You have said that, dolt.”
“Why her?”
“Stay down.”
Maddoc turned to Evelyn.
She had fled.
*
Evelyn watched as Maddoc beat the one of the Band, Lee, into submission. It was not easy, Lee being the older of the two but Maddoc attacked him like an animal. Evelyn thought of how his hand had been a brand of fire on her arm as he tore her from Lee and she had been most glad. She had yet to be as frightened since her time with the fragment.
She backed away. Maddoc frightened her, his fists like bloody and deadly hammers as they struck Lee.
Most of all, she was afraid of herself and how she felt about Maddoc.
She turned and fled.
The branches from the trees slashed her as she ran. She needed to get back to her own Band, to Clara. They would protect her. Maddoc was a dangerous male.
As she ran she thought she heard something behind her but Evelyn did not turn until she was taken from behind. Her mouth opened to shriek, it was Lee, she knew it. He had recovered and was here to...
“Be still, Evelyn,” Maddoc said, wrapping her in against his body.
She whimpered in fear, remembering the beating he gave Lee. Surely he would not hurt her? But the image burned in her mind and she struggled.
He turned her in his arms and the scream stilled in her throat.
There was no mistaking the expression of tenderness which lay there. “I will not hurt you.” He reached out and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and trailed a hand down the side of her face.
The past half hour came crashing down and her lip began to tremble as she tried not to cry like some weak female of the sphere. Maddoc looked at her face and moved her into the cradle of his body, stroking her head and her reserve broke, she sobbed against his chest, soaking his tunic.
“I thought he would... would...”
“I know. I knew that something was wrong,” Maddoc said.
“How did you know where we were?” Evelyn asked, her head cranked back to look up at his face.
“Your scent.”
“Oh.”
“But how did you know that I did not...that I did not desire his attention in that way?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face.
“It was the blood about his mouth that told me you did not reciprocate his attention.”
She nodded her head, biting her lip to keep from crying again and backed away from Maddoc. He frowned. “Do not go, let me walk you back to the Gathering Hall.”
Evelyn nodded. She would go with him but she would not be a part of the harem that he had so clearly already established. She thought of her own Band and how they were so much older than she. There was no male close in age to her. However, she would rather be without a male than have one that she had to share. Maddoc was a good male of the Band but she would not be less because of his bevy of females.
They walked in an easy silence and she broke it with, “Where is Lee?”
“Off in some corner of the wood, licking his considerable wounds,” he said with a smile as they neared the Gathering Hall. She turned to him and the faint light which streamed out of the summer tent caught his face and she saw where Lee had bashed his jaw.
Her hand rose to the spot, her arm fully extended and she placed her hand upon it, feeling a well of remorse boil to the surface of her body. She had been foolish. Wishing to make him jealous at such cost to his bandmate and him.
Maddoc looked at Evelyn and felt a piece of his soul reach out to hers. She was utterly unlike the females of his clan. She looked differently, acted differently. She was beautiful as she covered his wound with her hand. He could see her emotions as they washed across her face and he covered her small hand with his, pressing her palm tighter against his face. “Do not fret. Lee did not understand that you would be unwilling to his advances.” He shrugged. “He is used to every female being most cooperative.”
Evelyn snatched her hand away, silently thanking him for reminding her of the obvious females that were plentiful here. He had been only acting out of sense of duty to protect her.
She was not special.
Maddoc saw her face shut down and did not understand what the cause of it was.
“Thank you for reminding me of what the Band is here.”
“What say you? Lee was not about rape. He misunderstood I admit, nothing more.”
“Then why beat him? If it was a simple misunderstanding, why did it necessitate a beating?”
Maddoc was uncomfortable. Did he tell her that he would have behaved similarly with any female? That he had been with females in the presence of Lee? That he knew Lee to be a buffoon, that he had not interpreted Evelyn as he did? He rejected all of it. He would be about the truth.
“I knew that you were different. I would have protected any female I understood to be in distress. Lee is a dolt, he knew nothing of you.” He shrugged, hoping it was enough.
Evelyn crossed her arms underneath her breasts. “And you know so much!” she huffed.
He smiled. “Your face is a plethora of emotion, everything you feel is plain upon it.”
Evelyn's brow came low atop her eyes and Maddoc frowned. He had inadvertently said the wrong thing. He sighed.
“I am so happy you were able to do your duty! And that I am an obvious female for you to read with ease!” she said, stomping off.
Maddoc watched her storm away and shook his head. Should she not have been more grateful for his timely intervention? She drove him mad! And only a day acquainted! His hand rose to the spot she had touched but a moment ago.
The fire still burned where her flesh had been.
CHAPTER 18
Clara saw Evelyn storm in and had but a moment to wonder what the Guardian was going on when a flushed and somewhat beaten Maddoc stormed after her.
Clara began to go after them and Charles stayed her. “Do not interfere with the clan's affairs.”
Clara looked up at Charles. “I thought we had moved past this prejudice you feel for them. For my kin.”
Charles winced at her words, her forcible reminding of her relationship to them.
The savages.
“He is my brother and she is a girl I have sworn to protect.”
“Half-brother. And it is not your place to protect anyone, Clara. You are but a small female and royal beside. Let the guard or some such as myself or Clarence be about your welfare. Your safety.”
“Do not take the change in my relationships with the Band as invitation to command which things I do. I will not abide that.”
Charles' eyes narrowed upon her and he grasped her other elbow, holding her still.
Clara did not like anything which resembled a physical restraint, her heart speeding, her fear and anxiety a live thing which began to choke her.
Charles needed to make her see reason. She would see reason.
“What say you?” Matthew of the Band asked, his eyes on the hands which held Clara in place.
Clara should not have looked into Matthew's face as the discomfort mayhap showed in the tightness about her eyes.
“Let her go, you fool,” he said to Charles with soft menace.
Charles did and noticed Clara rubbing the spot where his hands had been as she stepped away.
As if he were filthy.
He looked at her, then shifted his gaze to Matthew. “You are no longer of any importance. She has chosen neither you or Bracus. What makes you believe you can command me?” he scoffed.
Instead of answering he turned to Clara. “Were his hands welcome on your body?”
Clara looked up at his eyes and was drawn to him immediately. She had to physically restrain herself not to move into his arms. She had been avoiding him and Bracus as much as possible of late. The memory of those lips on the most tender spot of her breast burned behind her eyelids. She knew she should lie to allow Charles to save face but when held by Matthew's gaze she could not. His presence had forced Charles to back away from her and she was grateful.
And his nearness was most welcome.
She shook her head in answer to his question.
“Clara, tell him,” he said.
Clara did not need to wonder what he asked of her.
She turned to Charles. “You know that I love you?” Her eyes pleading that he understand her intent.
Charles nodded, alarmed and thrilled. Of course she loved him!
“Please do not touch me again. I do not like the feeling of being restrained.”
Charles looked at her in soft horror. She lumped him in with the serpents who had tried to ravage her? Prince Frederic? That cad! How dare she think of him in that category?
He took a step toward her in anger and Matthew came in front of her. “Do not, you arrogant fool. It is not you that she holds in low esteem, it is the things she has experienced that make her uncomfortable with contact that is ambiguous.”
Charles looked around Matthew's solid form, meeting Clara's eyes. “I do not mean harm to you, Clara. You of all people should understand that.”
“Your tongue says that you do not but your body tells a different tale. You are controlling her. Trying to control her. She cannot be a true Queen when you disallow her will.”
Charles looked up at Matthew. “I have stated already where you lie with her. Nowhere.”
Clara felt Matthew tense and moved to his side. She had to stop his assumptions now. “You do not speak for me, Charles. I love Matthew and I love Bracus. Do not speak to him in this manner. Or I will, I swear it, find another adviser.”
Matth
ew tried to contain his shock. Clara had just said she loved him! Him!
The next moment he remembered she had also said she loved Bracus. That had been the entire reason for the discontinuing of the courtship. She must still choose one or the other. She was predestined to mate with someone of the Band.
It would be him. If it was the last breath in his body, it would be him.
Rowenna sidled up to the group. Immediately sensing the tension she asked, “What say you? It appears to be a very intense interchange.”
Charles glared at her. Clara's mother or no, she was interfering in something private. Rowenna held his gaze with one of her own. He finally dropped his eyes from the penetrating stare she gave him.
“Daughter, I have something I wish to discuss with you.”
Clara looked at her gratefully. “Excellent, I could stand a moment's repose.”
They walked away as the two men stared after them. “What is that about?” Rowenna asked, giving Clara a sidelong glance.
Clara wondered how much she should say. Finally she decided a measure of truth was in order. “The Clan of Ohio had a Rite of the Select and there were two that I was most drawn to.”
“Let me guess?” Rowenna smiled. “Bracus and Matthew?”
Clara nodded.
“It is the savage blood that runs in your veins, Dear Heart. If it were not so, it would not call to the men of the Band. Even now it causes problems with your brother and that wisp of a girl, Evelyn.”
Clara raised her brow in question.
Rowenna nodded. “My son entered into a ruckus with his bandmate, Lee, over the girl. How many years is she?”
Clara told her.
“She appears older...” Rowenna allowed that to trail off.
“That has been a most recent development. It was but one or two months past that she had the figure of a boy.”
Rowenna looked at Evelyn, surrounded by all the younger Band and shook her head, trying to reconcile the curved female that she saw with the one that Clara said looked like a boy but recently.
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 42