Chapter 58: An Unexpected Battle

There is a lot on my mind as I walk back to the camp. Aurora, her mother, the price of her gift. Porter's face when he talked about the possibility of losing his little girl to an early grave. The way her skin shone in the moonlight – smooth and silken.

I touch a finger to my lips. I can still feel the warmth of her forehead there. My lips burn to taste her kiss again, but first–

Something stops me in my tracks, the hair on the nape of my neck rising. I sniff the air, but can't detect anything untoward. But someone or something is closing in.

Every instinct I have is screaming for me to fight, to tear the menace to shreds.

I move as quickly as I dare through the woods and back to the campsite. I hear the battle before I see it, the snarls and clashes of steel. Gunpowder now reaches my nose along with singed wood and copper blood.

Using every bit of stealth I possess, I sneak up on one of the attackers and break his neck from behind. He drops to the ground without a sound.

In the moonl