Free Web NovelChapter 14: The Clearing
River does not explain the tail.
Which, personally, I think is wildly unfair considering I just watched Corrian tackle three furries who were talking shit about me into the forest like a divorced dad at a rugby match.
Instead, he waits patiently while I finish dragging my jeans on the correct way around, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest like this is a completely normal Tuesday morning and not the beginning of my psychological collapse.
"You gonna murder me?" I ask finally.
River blinks once. "No."
"Kidnap me into your weird woodland mascot cult?"
"No."
"Gaslight me about the ears?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"At least you’re honest."
That almost-smile appears again. Tiny and barely there unless you’re looking for it.
I hate that I’m already learning his expressions.
He pushes off the wall then and crosses the room toward me with that same unnerving silence that clings to him like smoke. The others fill space naturally, River somehow moves through the world without disturbing it at all.
He stops in front of me and holds out his hand.
"Come on, baby."
The nickname lands directly in the center of my chest. I should probably be more concerned about that. Instead, I stare at his hand for a second too long before taking it.
His warm, calloused fingers close around mine carefully.
He leads me downstairs keeping a firm grip in case I keep my internal promise and launchmyself through a window.
The house is quiet this morning. Sunlight spills through the massive windows across polished wooden floors, turning everything gold and soft. Somewhere deeper I can hear faint movement. A cupboard closing, low voices, coffee brewing.
Normal sounds. Except nothing about this place feels normal anymore. Not after Corrian roared loud enough to shake the damn trees.
River pauses in the kitchen long enough to grab a dark backpack from the counter.
I eye it suspiciously. "What’s in there?"
"Food."
"That’s exactly what serial killers say."
"Just fruit and yoghurt."
"Oh. Less threatening."
His thumb brushes once over the back of my hand absentmindedly as he leads me outside again, and my entire nervous system immediately betrays me. Honestly, at this point I deserve financial compensation for emotional distress.
The forest air is cool enough to bite this early in the morning. Mist still clings low between the trees, silver threads drifting through shafts of sunlight while birds chatter somewhere overhead. The path beneath our feet winds deeper into the woods, narrow and uneven, scattered with roots and damp leaves.
River never lets go of my hand. Not once.
And weirdly, I realise after a few minutes, that I’m calming down.
Not completely. My brain is still chewing aggressively on the fact I may be employed by aggressively hot kink connoisseurs. But the full-body panic from earlier starts loosening little by little the farther we walk from the cabin. freeweɓnøvel.com
River has a different energy out here. Softer.
I’d thought he was cold when we first met. Sharp edges and silence and eyes that looked through people instead of at them. But walking beside him now feels less like being escorted by a threat and more like being guided by something ancient and tired and oddly gentle.
Like a wolf pretending to be a shadow.
The thought appears in my head so suddenly I nearly trip over a root.
Definitely not unpacking that.
"You know," I say after a while, "I’m probably very late for work."
"You’re not working today."
"Pretty sure capitalism disagrees." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"You need grounding first."
I snort. "That sounded deeply culty."
"You say that a lot."
"Well, you all behave like men who own ceremonial robes."
Another almost-smile.
God, those things are addictive.
We walk in silence for another few minutes, his hand warm around mine while the forest slowly changes around us. The trees thin slightly, more sunlight breaks through overhead, somewhere nearby I hear running water.
"You’re softer out here," I murmur before I can stop myself.
River glances down at me. "So are you."
Rude.
Accurate.
Still rude.
The path finally opens into a clearing so beautiful it steals the breath clean out of my lungs.
"Oh."
Wildflowers spill across the meadow in soft waves of purple and gold. Tall grass bends gently in the morning breeze, surrounding a sparkling pond so still it mirrors the sky perfectly. Dragonflies skim low over the water while sunlight glitters across the surface like scattered glass.
It doesn’t feel real, it’s untouched and sacred.
River watches my face instead of the view.
"You like it."
I laugh softly under my breath. "If woodland fairies ask me to join their union, I’m blaming you personally."
He walks toward the pond, releasing my hand only long enough to spread a massive blanket beneath an old oak tree.
Then he straightens and looks at me properly for the first time since we left the cabin.
