Chapter 7: I'm Guarded

The forest is tranquil and calm as it sleeps in the night. All the forest dwellers are also having a deep slumber, enjoying the peacefulness of the night.

Somewhere in the forest, an ear-piercing scream disrupted the peaceful atmosphere of the forest.

Becca's breathing quickens as she kept running. The wide tranquil forest was like a prison labyrinth that she cannot escape from.

Behind her, the sound of some trees falling to the ground and crashing could be heard. The sound of loud growling now and then came closer and closer to her at an abnormal speed that no human can match.

Not knowing what else she could do, Becca desperately ran through the forest. She kept bumping into some tree branches while running, leaving scratches, bruises, and some deep wounds all over her body.

After running for hours with wounds bleeding, her running slowed down. Noticing that she saw that there was an intersection ahead of her. She made a decision to suddenly turn hard left to at least give herself a bit of time to take a rest.

This was her biggest mistake because while she was concentrating on picking where she was going to turn, the one following her smirked and slowed down its pace.

Nearing the intersection, she suddenly put all of her energy and ran faster and made a hard left. Once she turned left, she stepped into a trap and something clamped on her foot. Blood started to ooze out of her clamped foot. When she looked down, she saw that it was a golden shackle with a phoenix and a dragon engraved on it.

She tried to remove the shackle slowly because of the little spikes that were attached to it when she heard footsteps slowly coming to her. As her panic and fear suddenly grew, she began to shake it with greater force. Enduring the pain caused by the spikes, she tried hard to pry open the shackles as the footsteps drew closer and closer.

Suddenly, she heard a low growl behind her. Frozen in fear, she dare not move. As she trembled from horror and panic, she felt "it" lean closer and closer to her.

She closed her eyes as she felt a hot breath near her ears. The next second, she realized that "it" was... hugging her?

Shock and confusion rushed to her mind while "it" slowly crept its hand down from her shoulders down to her arms. She couldn't help shivering once "its" hands touched her thighs and from there it soon reached her ankle which was bleeding because of the golden shackle.

"It" gently started to remove the shackles. The way "it moved is so gentle as if "it" was touching a precious treasure, afraid that it would get dirty or broken. After the shackle was removed, "it" slowly lowered its head and started to lick the bloody wound on her ankle.

As its wet tongue touched her ankle, she trembled slightly. "It" didn't mind and just continued licking while its right hand was on her back to support her and the other was holding her right foot which was bleeding. Becca kept trembling under "its" embrace and a light moan escaped from her mouth.

Hearing that, "it" stopped what it was doing for a bit. Realizing what happened, she hurriedly covered her mouth. "It" slowly raised its head to look at her and the first thing she saw was its deep blue eyes that glows brilliantly in the dark.

Becca opened her eyes abruptly and the first thing she saw a deep blue eyes staring at her worriedly. Startled, she suddenly pushed the one in front of her as she sat down. She pulled the blanket to cover herself as she stared menacingly at the one she pushed.

"My lord, are you alright?"

Janus rushed to the man on the ground worriedly. Once Becca heard the way Janus called the man, she realized who it was that she pushed.

"U-uhm... M-my lord... I'm sorry... I-i had a nightmare and then I s-saw someone in front of me s-so i... i just p-pushed whoever it was. I'm sorry."

Cold sweat ran down her back, Becca hurriedly tried to get up from the bed but Zeke that just stood up was faster than her. He flashed in front of her to keep her from standing up.

"It's alright. I didn't get hurt. It was my bad that I leaned too much on you. I got worried when I heard you groaning so I thought you were in pain. Are you alright now? Janus, get her some water. Now."

"Yes, my lord."

Zeke sat beside her as he slowly rubs her back to comfort her.

"It's alright now. No one can harm you while you're here."

Becca was still trembling as she looked at him. The pitiful and scared look on her face made him both angry and delighted. He's angry. He doesn't know who made her so scared in her dream and delighted because he saw another expression on her face. As much as possible, he wants to be the only one who could see her. If only he could torture and kill anyone who touches his possession. You see, he was never fond of sharing what is his.

After a few minutes, Janus came back with Sabrina, another one of Becca's maids, with a whole pitcher of water.

Zeke personally poured her some water and sent it to her lips. Still shaken from her dream, she didn't notice that Zeke's hand was still on the glass. She directly held his hand that has the glass of water and drank it.

Everyone in the room had their eyes widened, wishing that Becca would survive. Every one of them knew how much their lord hates other people touching him and all of his possessions.

Zeke looked at her hand that was touching his. Under everyone's eyes, instead of getting mad or disgusted, their master gave a very sweet and gentle eye. Everyone was stunned and didn't know what to do.

Their master just smiled!

"It's alright now. Drink slowly or you might choke."

Zeke reminded Becca with a gentle and caring tone.

"Do you want some more?"

He asked after Becca finished drinking.

"That's enough. Thank you, my lord."

"Huh? Who's your lord? I told you to call me Zeke"

"Alright, Zeke"

Becca answered with a chuckle which immediately melted the heart of Zeke. He stroked her hair gently as he looked at her with affection written all over his eyes.

"That's much better, isn't it?"

As he asked the question, Becca just smiled in response.