Liam struggled to his feet. “I’ll be fine,” he said. But he wobbled as he rose. “I heal fast. Faster than humans.”
Rose’s heart thudded. She pretended like she didn’t hear him.
“Sheriff Pete,” she stammered. “He says he’ll be here later to pick me up. Is it okay if I stay until then?”
Liam stared at her from under his hood. “You may stay as long as you like,” he said. His voice was quiet now and utterly serious.
“You’ve been so generous,” Rose continued. “I need to pay you back.”
“The books you passed down—that will cover it.”
“Nonsense. Let me do something kind for you, please.”
“What did you have in mind?” Liam asked.
“Do you have a mop here? And a bucket?”
While Liam pulled nails out of his back and went off into the woods to fetch food for the rest of the day, Rose set to work cleaning. She offered to help him, but he shrugged her off. She had the impression that he didn’t want her to see what he looked like under his ragged hood. So with a mop and a broom and a bucket she did the best she could, pushing dirt and leaves and filth out of the back of the house and mopping until the old wooden floors of the house were visible again.
As she cleaned, she could see the house as it once had been. There were signs of the family that had lived there and the love they’d poured into the house. On the door frame in the kitchen there were height marks for Liam and his siblings, with Liam’s final mark taking position well over the door frame.
Rose could live in a house like this. She could be happy. Not with the holes in the walls and the filthy floors—that would all need to be fixed—but just a short drive from town, with nature just outside the door, and with plenty of space to fill with love. Yes, she could be not just content, but happy in such a place.
/>
The cleaning took longer than she’d planned and she’d only conquered the kitchen floor when she noticed the sun setting. Liam wasn’t back yet, and Sheriff Pete’s warning returned to her.
Rose gathered up the last of the bread and honey and hid herself away in the cottage. She ate the bread and flipped through an old mystery novel and considered trying to scrape the dried mud off her clothes. The sun set and the night time chorus of crickets and tree frogs and locusts started up their performance. She felt safe.
Rose hadn’t seen Liam in hours. She wasn’t worried though. If he’d been there by himself for nearly three decades, like she thought, he could handle the night just fine.
But then a beast began growling and howling nearby and Rose felt an icy fear grip her.
The beast had Liam’s voice.
Was this his disease? Or was it madness? Why did he howl and scream and growl in the night?
It was an animal bellow. There were no words contained within it, no message other than fury. If the beast tried the cottage door she knew it would get in. The place was no fortress.
She could run to the road, and make her way to her car. The mud was sure to have dried somewhat and being mobile had to be better than being a sitting duck in the cottage.
But no. She decided to listen to Sheriff Pete’s advice. She stayed in the cottage and listened to the beast scream and thrash just outside her door. His silhouette was looming and monstrous outside the window. The moon was behind him and he was still hidden in shadows, but he looked larger to Rose. More terrible.
She hid under the covers, shaking, while the monster roared and stomped on the floor outside the cottage. But it never touched the door or the windows and it never seemed to look at her. Somehow the cottage was sacrosanct. The beast would not enter. She was safe in the cottage.
Rose didn’t remember falling asleep, but she must have. And when she awoke it was already afternoon.
Liam had left more bread and honey in the kitchen for her, but he was nowhere to be seen. She spent another day cleaning and organizing, retreating to the cottage before night fell. And when darkness came, so did the beast. He raged even fiercer on the second night.
It was on the third morning that Ronald found her.
Chapter 6
The beast wanted her gone. It couldn’t stand how human she made Liam feel and resented her for it. It snapped and roared within him during the day, and at night when it was in control it carried on in a way he’d never seen before.
Liam realized that the beast inside him was scared of Rose—terrified of her. He tried asking it why, but the bear in his soul denied it. Perhaps a little too much.
Why was the beast so scared?