Separated.

11.

Evie's POV

For five days after I had that awful encounter with those evil people who tied me up and asked men to fight over me to gain ownership of me, I battled with either staying alive or giving in to the pain and just dying. Perhaps I would have chosen to die since that would just end everything, but I could see the struggle the wolf, I mean man, had to make sure I stayed alive.

The least I could do was not disappoint him. And even though it seemed very hard like something I would not be able to do, I kept pushing through and through with everything that I faced. I didn't know what the man kept feeding me but at least they kept me alive.

Like always, I flicked my eyes open and blinked at how dark the room I was in was. I coughed and coughed when some kind of smoke got into my lungs until I could calm down. I blinked again, trying to adjust my sight to see in the dark. Soon, I looked to the side and saw that there was some kind of fire burning wherever I was in.

I saw the man that saved me from the camp of the enemies sitting pretty by the fire, stirring some kind of things from the pot that was on the fire. I cleared my throat simultaneously and I saw him look up from the fire. When he saw that I was awake, he rushed to my side and rushed to my side when he saw me trying to get up.

Instead of asking me how I was faring, he simply held the side of my neck and nodded to himself, satisfied with what he was feeling.

"I'm fine," I told him when I saw how his brows furrowed into a frown. He nodded to show that he understood what I was saying. That made me think about how the man had continued to act like he was dumb. Curious enough about that fact, I decided to ask him my thoughts.

"Are you dumb?" I asked him. He looked at me like I was crazy. Then, he began to think about how to answer the question.

He was about to answer the question when I heard a loud growling from outside where we were. I opened my mouth and let out a scream when I saw about ten wolves staring right at me. The man shook his head and quickly closed my mouth with his hand. He made some kind of sound and the wolves calmed immediately.

I was bewildered by the fact that the man could communicate with the wolves. What was I even thinking about? The man was one of them himself. He made some kind of signal to me to make me understand that the wolves weren't any kind of threat to me. I knew I had no other choice than to believe. I was still alive even about five days back, so his words were true.

"I-" The words died in my throat as a loud sound banged from outside the cave. The man and I looked at each other in disbelief. The sound cake again and one of the wolves let out an agonized growl and fell, its eyes closed to death that beckoned. I let out the screech I was trying to hold in my throat.

The man rushed out to see what was going on. My stomach was not entirely healed but I could manage to get up, so I went out. I saw the man holding up his hands, snarling at a group of men holding pistols and arrows and bows in each hand, ready for the actions that they were ready to take.

"Father!" I yelled, perplexed at how my father had done the worst that was expected of him. He gave me one look and turned to the man again. "What are you doing?" I asked, feeling very angry at how the man had never ceased to overhype the expectation I had of him.

"Step aside from my daughter. Now!" My father yelled at the man beside me. I looked at the man to see his reaction and his face was so ordinary, I didn't know what to make of his expression. I was afraid that the man would do something drastic. With the way my father and his men were heavily armed, I knew that the man would lose his life if he tried to make a single move.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked my father, my eyes closed to let out the tears. I closed my eyes and the tears finally fell.

The man growled beside me, his anger now visible. He stepped forward and hissed again. Before he could even move a bit, an arrow flew and embedded itself in the upper arm of the man. He flew and hit himself against the man that shit the arrow. Two more arrows flew and the man yelled from the arrow that hit him in the back.

The wolves with him growled and they all began their ferocious attacks on the hunters. The hunters themselves hit them with every form of weapon in their hands.

I cried, knowing that nothing else would solve the problem at hand anymore. I knew that only my leaving with the hunters would be the only solution that we could ever get. If not, both the man and his wolves would all die and I would never be able to stop myself from the guilt that could always resound in my heart.

So, I stepped between my father and the man that saved me. I blinked, sniffing the tears that continued flowing from my throat. By then, the man was already very injured and I feared that he would die before I can solve the problem.

"I'll follow you," I announced to my father, surprising both myself and the man that was fighting toes and nails to save my life from the bondage I knew would come. "But you have to promise that I will go back to school," I asked, stating something I've always wanted.

"Done." My father said immediately.

That said, I moved away with my father, sparing only a glance at the man that seemed like he was breathing fire.