The Blessed And The Beast
Chapter 182

Chapter 182

Six: Charlie

Charlie’s P.O.V.

It was like I was doomed to make the same mistakes repeatedly.

Twice. Twice in two weeks, I had returned to camp covered in another creature’s bodily fluids. Only thistime, it wasn’t because of my carelessness.

I had gone savage.

All of my pent-up anger and emotions were set free, and I unleashed a fury on the Oread that I hadn’tknown I had in me. My parents, brother, and every tutor I ever had would have been appalled by mybehavior today.

It thoroughly impressed the men, and they sat back and watched as I dropped my sword and took thewoodland nymph on in hand-to-hand combat.

I knew my team wouldn’t let anything happen to me. They would have jumped in if I were about to getseriously injured. But they didn’t have to.

Typically, I made executions quick.

But one thing Roman insisted on was training to be better when unarmed. I could take almost anythingdown with a blade, whether a sword or a dagger. But going into one of those fights without a weaponwas a suicide mission.

The Oread was unstable and weak enough that I knew she would be an excellent creature to start with,and she was. Her disease-ridden body and manic state made her attacks sloppy and easy to predict.

I had maintained the upper hand during our scuffle until she collapsed and fell onto me.

Woodland Nymphs were known for being one with the woods. Their skin had spots of growth withmoss, mushrooms, and flowers. If one were to touch it, the growth tended to leave a thick greenresidue behind, staining anything it came into contact with.

Similar to a tree, and probably the one she was bound to, she was diseased. Her body had beenrotting, stinking to the high heavens.

When she collapsed into me, her rotten moss-covered body pressed against my front with a squishingsound that would be burned into my memory forever. But the smell, oh Goddess, the smell washorrendous.

There was no way I could go to sleep without rinsing off first. Even having my dirty clothes near thecamp would keep everyone awake from the putrid smell.

I knew the river was safe during the day, but I had never had a reason to inspect it at night. Severalcreatures only came out when the sun had gone down, and the water couldn’t be seen through. But itwas a risk I had to take.

The night vision my wolf granted me allowed me to see several feet into the running water, and afterdetermining the coast was clear, I waded in. It was the first time that the cool water had beenunwelcome. It felt unreasonably cold without the sun, and I knew getting out to sleep with wet hairwould be horrendous.

Still, I walked forward until I was able to submerge myself completely. Grabbing fistfuls of sand, I beganscrubbing at my clothes. The faster I could get this over with, the better.

I wanted to be as far away from my mate’s side of the river as possible. Today had been a nicedistraction, but Roman had been right.

I hadn’t even been officially rejected. Yet, the pain of what had happened hadn’t lessened at all. Evenwhen I was mid-fight, the bear with the black hair and eyes was on my mind.

A disruption in the water made my eyes open. I squinted as I tried to see what creature had joined meand what fight I was in for, but the bubbles from their movement obscured my vision. Just as I pushedoff the bottom, a large arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me against him.

I hadn’t been deep. The deepest part of the water was only six feet. But I had been completelysubmerged to clean myself and my clothes with the sand as quickly as possible.

Sparks erupted along my skin, and I melted into the touch even though I knew better.

My hair washed away from my face as I tilted my head back upon breaking the surface.

‘What the hell are you doing?” The deep, familiar voice made me gasp, not out of shock but from thewave of desire it sent rushing through me as our bodies pressed together beneath the surface.

My hands grabbed the back of his neck, holding him closer. I blinked several times as the water randown my face.

He was here.

“Why are you here?” I gasped, feeling him moving us closer to the shore until the water only went up toour shoulders.

“I… I came to return your dagger. I wasn’t expecting to replace you trying to drown yourself!” He soundedfurious, but with his arms wrapped around my back, I could feel his fingers digging deeper into mysides.

“What?” I shook my head, thoroughly confused and trying to hide my amusement.

“Do you know how terrifying that was to see? I walked up, and you were under the water, struggling! Ithought something had dragged you down!” I figured his yelling would have alerted the men from camp,but the world was silent beyond our heavy breathing.

‘I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” My voice came out in a whisper as understanding dawned on me.Whether he understood it or not, he felt the mate bond too. It was why he came back to the river at all.He could have turned around and walked away when he saw me here, whether I was underwater ornot. He could have either kept or gotten rid of my dagger. It would have fetched him a reasonable pricein town. He also didn’t need to jump into the water to fight an unknown, nonexistent creature for myfreedom.

His eyes scanned over my face, looking concerned and confused. When they landed on my lips, Icouldn’t help but lick them, even though they were already wet from being in the water.

“You weren’t?” His question made me smile, and as he watched my lips curve up, he relaxed. But hedidn’t let go, and I didn’t want him to.

“No, I was cleaning Nymph slime from my clothes.” I wanted to tell him he hadn’t hurt me that badwhen he said he didn’t want me. Not bad enough to make me suicidal. I would never let a man bringme to that point. But with how tight he was holding me and how close his face was to mine, I couldn’treplace it in me to bring it up.

Going back to the subject of being mates, before I had a chance to win him over would just be askingfor him to reject me.

I knew he would just shut down on me again once I mentioned it. He nodded slowly, forcing his eyesaway from my lips but not letting me go.’ Oh.”

The flow of the river pushed my legs further against his, one slipping between his. I pulled them backand then wrapped them around his waist. His eyelids lowered, and he made a low noise in the back of

his throat, making my core heat.

There was a moment when I thought he would push me off him, pull us out of the water, and leave mehere to return to his den. But he didn’t. Once again, surprising me with his actions.

I had no idea what to expect from this man, which was terrifying.

How was I supposed to make him happy when I didn’t know what he wanted?

“Tell me your name.” My face moved closer to his, and I wanted so badly to steal a kiss but knew Icouldn’t. He had made it clear that he didn’t want me.

Now, just because he was confusing me with mixed signals, it didn’t give me the right to kiss himwithout knowing it was what he wanted first.

“Damien.”

My eyes closed, and I felt the tip of my nose brushing against his from our proximity, but neither of uswas pulling away.

Damien. It suited him.

It was a strong name, one that matched the man, and as I repeated it in a soft and unintentional sigh ofhappiness, he shivered. “Damien.”

I opened my eyes as his hands slid from my hips to hold me up by my butt. Damien didn’t lookembarrassed as he gripped me firmly, pressing my hips into his. Instead, he let out a low growl when Iadjusted my legs and locked my ankles behind him, unintentionally rubbing my core against hishardness.

I could feel how large he was, and a shiver went down my spine in anticipation, even though I knewnothing more would happen. I couldn’t let it, not when he didn’t want me.

Even touching him now would make it harder to walk away later when he rejected me. Having sex withhim would completely destroy me.

Not just mentally. I knew if I let things go too far, Damien would ruin every other man out there for me.No one would make me feel or satisfy me the way I knew he would.

“Charlotte.” He groaned as one of his hands slid up my back and laced through the hair on the back ofmy head. When he pulled my head back, I looked up at the stars, practically panting when he ran hisnose up my neck.

“Yes,” I moaned, unsure if I was responding to him groaning my name or encouraging him to continueand take what he wanted from me. He was so close to where my mate’s mark would lay, and my handspulled his head closer to me until his lips gently brushed against my skin.

“Why?”

I knew exactly what he was asking. He wanted to understand why the Goddess had paired us and whyhe felt this way toward me when he didn’t know me. But I wanted to hear him say it.

“Why what, Damien?”

“Why does it feel like this?” His hand pulled on my hair harder, and a cry of pleasure escaped my lips. Ipressed them together, not wanting any of the men in camp to hear me and come down to ensure mysafety.

I almost sobbed with happiness when he ran the tip of his tongue over my neck. It was the smallest yetmost erotic thing I had ever experienced.

“Because we are soulmates.” My thighs tightened on his hips, knowing I had said the wrong thing assoon as the words left my lips. It wasn’t what he had wanted to hear. Damien had made it clear the lasttime we had spoken that he didn’t believe in the mate bond for his kind.

As I expected, he dropped his hand from my hair, placed it back on my butt, and slowly walked throughthe water. When we were standing on my side of the river, he rubbed his hands from my butt along theunderside of my thighs until he had reached my knees and gently pulled.

My legs loosened, and as I lowered them to the ground, Damien grabbed my wrists and untangled myhands from his hair.

I felt like a puppet, unable to move on my own and using all of my strength to keep my heart frombreaking once more.

“I will take my dagger back now.” As the breeze hit my soaked body, I crossed my arms over my chestto stay warm. My goal of distracting him from a possible rejection again seemed to work as he lookedback to the other side of the river.

Between the pale moonlight and my night vision, I watched as his cheeks and the tips of his earsdarkened. His hand went down as he adjusted himself, making me blush too. I was proud that I hadthat effect on him.

“I’ll return it to you later.”

Later. I tried not to hum in excitement that Damien was volunteering to see me again.

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” I whispered, stepping back.

He nodded before turning and walking down the rocky beach, up the bank, and to the fallen tree. Iwaited for him to make it across before even considering returning to camp to change my clothes.

Damien glanced at me one last time, and I felt victorious when one corner of his mouth moved up as Iwaved.

He didn’t reciprocate, and before I hit the tree line, I looked over my shoulder to see him running hishand over his mouth and jaw. He shook his head and walked away from me as giddiness swarmed inmy stomach. His hands were empty, as was the band of his shorts.

My dagger was nowhere in sight