Page 27 of Bred By the Beast

Except his parents weren’t a match for the human weapons.

His hate for man bubbled up, but it faded away again when he looked in her eyes.

She was nothing like them. And he’d stop at nothing to protect his little human mate.

Chapter Ten

Everything was perfect.

Poppy couldn’t have asked for a better experience. She felt absolutely blissful. Wilder was amazing, and there were times she could even forget why they’d been brought together. It was like the poachers who were intent to kill her were part of a whole other life. A life she didn’t need to think about or acknowledge.

She didn’t want to remember her lonely old apartment where she was always alone. The constant hustle and bustle of the city. The need to make money. Working. She loved living off the land, being with Wilder, filling her days with everything he’d made of his life. It was perfection.

She felt at peace. For a long time, she didn’t think she was ever going to feel at peace, and yet here she did. If only that little nagging suspicion would leave well enough alone. She didn’t want to think about what it meant. She didn’t want to think why the animals listened to Wilder, nor the fact he seemed to hear things that were not there.

Over the last few days, she’d noticed little oddities about his behavior. Moments certain wildlife would come close to him, and he’d twitch his head toward the sound, but then he’d give a shake and pretend it was some kind of bug that whizzed past his ear. Even when wasps got close, he didn’t flinch, and in fact, wasps stayed away from him as well. She couldn’t forget the bees either.

Each time he brought back more honey, there was not a single sting on him. There were times he left and told her to wait inside, and she would listen. The last thing she wanted to do was annoy him or to run the risk of getting hurt.

Wilder protected her.

Yet, there was still that niggling doubt, and then the other night with the damn coyotes. They were dangerous and it wasn’t like anyone told a story of coyotes being friendly. They hunted as a damn pack. They didn’t leave humans alone just to share their heat. It was a kill-or-be-killed world, yet they didn’t attack Wilder. They did look at her as if she could be the potential next meal, but then they took the warmth of the fire and in the next breath were gone. She tried not to think about what that meant, but it sucked.

There was something about Wilder she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Like that giant bear, the one that had gotten her into all this trouble in the first place, as she was determined to capture a single image of it. Wilder being so confident it wasn’t going to hurt her, but he wasn’t even there to see it. He wouldn’t tell her where he had wandered off to.

There were a lot of secrets in his world, like now, he was gone again, and she was inside his home. Maybe it was a result of living your life in the wilderness. He was almost more animal than human in some ways. That had to be the explanation.

She moved toward the window, overlooking the main front garden, but all she saw ahead was forest. She quickly pulled away, because the truth was, the view reminded her of so many points in horror movies. She was not a horror movie lover.

Wandering into his kitchen, she opened up the fridge to see the meat in a bowl defrosting for tonight’s dinner. There were vegetables they’d gathered together from the garden. She closed the fridge and sighed.

Wilder did venture out into the real world, as he had shelf-stable milk and a pantry full of long-life staples. He promised to take her with him the next time he ventured to town. Apparently it was quite the hike, especially lugging the stuff back.

It wasn’t that she wanted to go into town or talk to anyone. She just wanted to help support him, to do couples’ things. She actually loved this life of living off the grid, relying on the land. She would never be good at hunting, but she certainly loved to tend the vegetables.

There were still so many questions without answers, and she didn’t want to keep prying.

All of a sudden, she was pulled out of her thoughts as Wilder stepped through the front door, and the first thing she noticed was the big beaming smile on his face.

“Well, you’re the prettiest sight to see,” he said.

He brought the freshness of the outdoors with him. She couldn’t help but laugh. Poppy moved toward him, throwing her arms around his neck.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He pressed his face against her neck.

“Why do you keep going out and leaving me like this?” she asked. Then, she gasped. “Did you see that bear? Did you see the poachers? Are they still hunting us?”

He cupped her face and tilted her head back and he had this beautiful smile on his face. “Everything is all right. The bear makes its appearance from time to time.”

“And you’re still not frightened? It was a giant bear.”

“Nothing frightens me. I told you, I respect the land, and the animals know I’m here to care for them.”

She sighed. “Do you think there is ever a chance I won’t be afraid? I hate that you’re so kind and so open and I’m afraid all the time.” She pressed her head against his chest. “I don’t want to scare them away.”

“You won’t.”