novelraw Chapter 94: Didn’t Flinch
Chapter 94: Didn’t Flinch
Sera moved just enough so that she could look up at the man holding her in a tight embrace. "And I might end up leading you off a cliff," she warned before ducking her head back down. "And you do know that you are following a purple creature, right?"
Lachlan chuckled softly, leaning forward so that he was able to place a single, gentle kiss on the top of Sera’s head. "Then lead away. I’m thinking that whatever you lead me to will be a lot better than what the rest of the people are going to get."
Sera took in a deep breath before nodding her head. "Okay then," she agreed, straightening up. Lachlan ever so slowly opened his arms and let her take a step back. "Then we are going to need more supplies."
"This coming from a woman that I have yet to see eat?" murmured Lachlan as he took a piece of bright white hair and tucked it behind her ear.
At that moment, Sera’s stomach started growling, letting her know just how long it had been since she had went for a hunt. "I’ll eat tonight," she agreed. "But we need more supplied tomorrow."
"Whatever you say," agreed Lachlan. "I won’t force you to eat, but did you want company? I promise not to try and take any of your food..." His voice trailed off as he looked at her hopefully.
The creature inside of her pushed her forward, wanting to take Lachlan up on his offer. Sera didn’t know if it was going to be another test for him or not, but at the same time, it was easy to speak the words that she wanted to hear.
Now it was time to put his words into action. "Okay," she agreed. "I’ll put the makeup back on, and when everyone else goes to sleep, I’ll take you out to get something for me to eat."
Lachlan looked at her seriously for a moment before nodding his head. "Then you can’t blame me for slipping sleeping pills into their drinks just to make them pass out sooner."
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When everyone went to bed after the movie, Sera looked at Lachlan with a slight smile on her face.
"Ready for some takeout?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in challenge.
There wasn’t even a pause before he answered. "Always."
She stepped past him and opened the back door. The cold slid over her skin like a sheet of ice, but it didn’t bite. Instead, it made her smile, like she could finally breathe. Or maybe that was because she was finally going out hunting for the first time since the guys had arrived at her cabin.
She let the creature inside of her roll forward, the shift moving through her like a muscle stretching after too long. Tendons loosened, jaw clicking forward to make room for teeth that pressed against her lip. Her sight sharpened in the dark, every shadow now threaded with detail.
Lachlan kept pace beside her without question. He didn’t throw on a bunch of layers, he didn’t hesitate when she got up and just left the cabin. His breath misted once before the Reaver in him adjusted, heat rising under his skin until the cold meant nothing.
She didn’t explain what they were doing, and he didn’t ask. That was the first test.
The bear’s scent reached her before the sound did — thick, musky, edged with something almost sweet from a winter diet of berries and fat reserves. Her lips peeled back in an instinctive curl, not quite a smile, but the creature was definitely happy. Lachlan noticed, because he started angling his path to the right, instinctively giving her the lead.
It came into view between the pines, its massive shoulders rolling under a coat matted with snowmelt. Its black eyes fixed on them, its head lowering in that slow, measuring way that predators do when they’ve decided you aren’t prey yet...but might be.
Sera didn’t wait. She wanted to see Lachlan’s reaction when the world turned sharp.
She lunged first, her boots cutting deep into the snow. The bear reared up, a wall of fur and claws, but Lachlan didn’t flinch or shout or hesitate. He moved like he’d been waiting for the moment, circling wide, shoulders loose, eyes locked on the animal’s center mass.
The bear’s roar cracked through the air as Sera slammed into it just under the ribs, forcing it back two stumbling steps before it swung at her head. She ducked under the arc of its claws and came up inside, before locking both of her hands into the thick fur of its neck.
It twisted its body to try and bite her, but Lachlan was already there, his forearm driving under its jaw, forcing the head back, his other hand gripping the scruff so hard the hide bunched.
They worked without speaking, without planning or strategizing or anything along those lines. One held while the other one tore. Her fingers split the belly in a long, decisive stroke, and the heat poured out in a steaming wave.
She reached in without hesitation, her hands sinking into the slick cavity, and closed around the liver.
The first bite was always the same and both Sera and the creature inside of her melted into the food. Starved after going without for so long. The flood of heat down her throat, the pulse still faint inside the flesh as she ripped it apart, the way her whole body seemed to hum like a live wire.
She chewed slow, deliberate, watching him.
Humans flinched. Even soldiers would have looked away, disgusted at the idea of eating raw organs. But Lachlan didn’t. His breathing was steady, his gaze level as he looked at her, a slight smile on his face.
She pulled the lungs free and held them out. The organ was still shivering from the last air it held. He took them without breaking eye contact and bit in, using his own serrated teeth to rip mouthfuls out.
It was at that moment when she knew she wouldn’t have to kill him tonight.
The rest was clean and efficient. They stripped what they needed for themselves and bagged the muscle meat for the others. Alexei liked bear, and there was enough here to keep him happy for a while. The blood stayed where it fell, already sinking into the snow.
Sera led Lachlan past the cabin and into the garage at the back of the house. She placed the carcass on the ground since the concrete was cold enough to keep steam curling off the fresh meat.
They worked in a rhythm that felt older than either of them, dividing up the tasks without speaking. The scrape of her knife across the inner skin matched the solid thump of him setting cuts onto the table.
She was aware of him the whole time — the way he didn’t treat the work as something grotesque, or even something to endure. He handled the carcass like any other task that needed doing. And that, more than anything, made her creature relax.
The hide was salted and stretched; the meat neatly wrapped for freezing. The garage smelled of iron and fat, of winter air and hot blood. Her hands were red to the wrist. His were too.
When it was done, they stood there for a moment in the quiet, the hum of the freezer filling the space between them.
"You didn’t flinch," she said finally.
"I didn’t see a reason to," he replied.
Sera studied him for a long moment. "I would have killed you if you had."
"I know."