"Someone help me. Please."
It was the barest, breathless whisper, but Tor heard it, for he was waiting. He shot through earth and stone, surfacing on a street that he neither knew nor recognised, but he cared nothing for the street. No, all his attention was on her, for the clarion call came from her lips, as she flew toward him, as if her feet bore wings.
Tor grinned. Her pursuer, the reason for her panic, approached. How dare he even consider harming her. Tor rose to his fullest height, his widest stance, the better to protect her. He swelled until he filled all the available space between the fence and the shopfront, so the pursuer could not pass.
What did she want him to do?
Tor listened hard, for her voicewas still the softest whisper.
"Please let me get inside," she repeated. Her eyes darted from him to the door and back again.
Tor bowed his head in acquiescence, as she ran straight into his embrace. His arms closed around her, followed by his wings. Never had he held anything more precious than her trembling form, and he would protect her with every part of him.
Her pursuer skidded to a stop, the whites of his eyes wide with satisfying fear.
"Begone!" Tor growled.
The pursuer nearly dropped his guitar in his haste to turn and run away, back the way he'd come.
A strange choice of weapon, to be sure. What manner of man wielded a guitar when attacking a woman? If he was some sort of musician, surely he would not risk the tool of his trade so. Then again, he was a fool for daring to chase her in the first place, when she had such a powerful protector.
Ah, but perhaps he had not known?
The musician, if that's what he was, was no longer in sight.
Only then did Tor remember her second command – she wanted to be inside the building.
He held tight to her as he threw his body at the wall, passing through it as easily as he'd travelled through stone to the street. He felt her slump in his arms – she must be a gentle lady indeed, to swoon. He'd best find her a bed or at least a couch to lie on until she awoke – ah, though there were shops below, on the upper floors were bedchambers.
Only one had books upon the table beside the bed, and clothes laid on the chair in the corner. This must be her bedchamber, where she slept.
Tor unfurled his wings, so that he might carry her to bed. Her scent seemed to fill the very air between them, winding its sweet, floral fragrance about him as securely as any spell. He didn't want to let her go.
She gave a little sigh, as if she shared the sentiment.
But sentiment was all it could ever be.
"I am your protector. It is my duty to keep you safe," he said as he laid her on the bed.
* * *
Catena woke in darkness, but there was enough light coming through the window to see that she was definitely in her bedroom. Perhaps she'd dreamed it all – the trip to the supermarket full of zombies, being chased home, and the hulking monster lurking outside her front door.
Okay, put like that, she'd definitely dreamed it all up. It sounded like a mashup of several Supernatural episodes, with extra zombies thrown in for spice. She should probably watch less TV for a while, if her imagination was conjuring up such craziness when she slept.
She must have come upstairs, decided to lie on the bed for just a moment, and fallen asleep. Wouldn't be the first time.
"It's all right, miss. You're safe."
Catena froze. The voice was male, and definitely in the room with her. If there was a man in her bedroom, then no matter what words he said, she was anything but safe.
There! A shadow in the corner, behind the door. Just as huge as the one she'd seen outside, before he grabbed her.
He lunged forward, then stopped, in a sort of half-crouch that she realised was a bow, before he lifted his head to look right at her.
Moonlight darted through the window and wreathed his face, silvering his dark hair.
Yet when his eyes met hers, dark pools in the shadows of his face, something passed between them. It felt like…understanding.
Understanding that she'd imagined a man in her bedroom. She must be going mad.
Catena closed her eyes. When she opened them, she'd see that there was no one else in her room, and he'd be gone.
Please be gone…
Her eyes popped open, and she flicked on the bedside light. See? The corner was empty, with no shadows to be seen.
She turned the light off, then snuggled back down under the quilt. The most sensible thing to do in this situation was to go back to sleep. She evidently needed it, if she was hallucinating strange men in her bedroom.
"You're safe."
See? Even her hallucinations agreed with her. Catena snuggled under the quilt, mumbling his words over and over to herself as she drifted back to sleep.
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