Page 74 of Fated to Her

“Yeah, can dilute mate bonds. It’s also poisonous to demons,” the man answers, and I finally realize why it smells familiar.

“That’s the stuff Sam used,” I gasp.

Eli growls but nods. “Take her,” Eli says, passing me to Cyrus, who quickly grabs me.

Eli sticks his fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly, the men in the fields looking in his direction before they jog over.

“What’s up?” one of them asks.

“Who has a lighter?”

Three of the men produce boxes of matches.

“Now, leave. All of you,” Eli tells them.

“We can’t. We have to have the harvest ready for next week. We have only trimmed half,” the young man says.

“I said, leave,” Eli snaps at them, causing them to dart off.

“I’m going to kill him,” Eli growls, stalking off into the trees. He returns with a stick, coming over to me.

He grips the hem of my shirt and tears a piece off. He wraps it around the stick, pulling a few matches out and striking them on the cardboard box, lighting them.

He then uses them to set the pieces of fabric attached to the stick on fire. I don’t have to wait long to figure out what he’s doing. Cyrus walks off before placing me on a log. Cyrus then tugs his shirt off, tearing it in half. He wraps it around my face making a mask, and uses the other half, walking over to Eli. Eli stops, letting him wrap it around his nose and mouth.

“What about you?” I ask Cyrus as he comes back to me.

“It’s toxic to me but won’t kill me. You two, however, it will.”

Eli strides around the entire perimeter, setting it on fire then comes back to us. He then grabs me and starts trekking back into the trees.

“Won’t it set the forest on fire?” I ask, a little worried.

“Forest is too moist for it to do any real damage. It will put itself out,” Eli says.

“Now what?” I ask him.

Cyrus, stays behind us, looking deep in thought.

“Now, I confront my father. We know how Sam got the herbs. But I want to know who asked him to grow these crops, though I have a funny feeling I already know,” Eli says with a growl. “But that’s the least of our worries. I’m willing to bet Sam has been here and knows my father.”

“I don’t think your father would be working for the hunters, Eli. He hates them,” I tell him as he walks through the forest toward the village.

“You don’t know him like I do, Addie. My father would do anything to gain an advantage.”

I shake my head, not agreeing. I haven’t known Maverick long, but one thing I have seen is that he isn’t the man Eli hates anymore. I can tell he’s trying. For someone who is supposed to be cruel and merciless, he has been standing down to Eli, letting him have his way. He’s shown me nothing but kindness since being here and saved my life back in the city. I just can’t picture him betraying his family when he’s only just got them back; he seems to genuinely want to fix his relationship with his kids.

We’re just stepping into the clearing surrounding the village as people run toward the fire with buckets of water. Eli growls at them, and his father marches toward us in a rage. Eli places me on my feet, and Cyrus comes over, tugging me against him just as Eli shifts.

“Do you have any idea what you have done? You just killed us all!” Maverick yells at Eli, but Eli punches him instead of answering.

Maverick’s head snaps back while Eli continues to rain blow after blow down on him. That does not register with Eli as he continues to hit his father, who is now on the ground. I escape Cyrus, who is too busy watching Eli before he yells, realizing I’ve escaped him and am rushing toward Eli. I shove him, making him fall to his side, before checking Maverick. I need to know what he means. I barely know Maverick, but I don’t believe he is working for Sam, like Eli seems to think. He said I would be safe here, and I now believe he meant it. But what did he mean that Eli had just killed us all?

Eli gets up, blinded by anger, and raising his fist, his clenched hand stopping just centimeters off my face, making me shriek, when Maverick’s hand grips his wrist causing Eli to almost punch me. My hands frantically clutch the front of Maverick’s shirt. Everything happens so quickly; Cyrus gasps loudly before feeling his fear and Eli’s that he’s nearly hit me, not recognizing me in his anger. Eli falls back on his butt in shock and Maverick lets his hand go.

“You okay?” I ask Maverick, staring down at his bleeding face, his wounds already healing.

“I’m fine,” he says, coughing before sitting up.