He controlled himself, but he wouldn't let her out of arms reach. He wouldn't claim her, not now, but he would keep her safe.
All this time he'd thought moving to this tiny mountain town had been an escape, been a way to avoid caring for anyone ever again. Only if that had been true, he wouldn't be out here. He wouldn't be following a witch blindly. The numbing pain that had made his lungs burn as if a plastic bag were over his head and the next breath would never come, wouldn't have slowly crept back into his world at the sound of Ed's words.
All this time he'd lied to himself. He cared for these people; he already had people to lose. Marci had simply woken him up to his existence, regardless of what he'd wanted for himself.
Caleb watched Marci. Her eyes were open, but he didn't think she saw anything. Snow fell in thick waves, blankets starting to form. He looked ahead of her. Roots underfoot tripped her, and a large branch hung just below her eye-line. She didn't blink, didn't waver from the invisible path only she could see. He raced ahead and grabbed the branch within his jaws and pulled it back as she passed.
She gasped in surprise, the purples of her eyes moving and she finally blinked. "Thank you."
His bear walked a bit taller after that, his tongue lulling for a split second before Caleb shook them to their senses.
"She's close, and she's alive. I can't feel anything else though. This is one of the more strange signatures I've seen. I don't think she's exactly human."
Caleb faltered, smacking himself in the face with the branch as it released.
His bear grumbled and wiggled his tender snout. Not human? That didn't sound right. He tried to think of memories and moments around her. She'd always been smaller, always a little different. Her scent had always been more sugar-sweet than most humans he'd met. Of course, until now he hadn't exactly been all there.
He loathed his selfishness. The last few years he'd failed to let anyone in. Failed to notice the people around him that gave him the strength to heal.
The bubbling of water grew louder with each step.
He stepped closer and felt the waves of energy. He hadn't noticed where they were until just now. Marci better know what she was doing, because this was too close to the pixie forest for his taste.
She moved slower, her actions purposeful now. He stepped forward a little more cautious than before.
He found it odd how easily his bear fell into stride with her as they crept along. With each passing mile, she seemed more a part of him, which was ridiculous. His bear snickered at him, and he stopped thinking at all. He wouldn't win this fight.
"There. Evelyn's there."
Sliding to a halt, he stopped and looked around -- tree, tree, and then there on the bank, a small delicate frame near the water.
Marci hesitated as he started towards the frail fame. He shifted mid-stride and knelt near her.
"Evelyn? Ms. Emerson, can you hear me?"
Her eyelids fluttered, but there was no other movement behind her lids.
"Is she okay?" Marci asked.
Marci caught up, winded, but staying close by.
"I don't know. I'm not used to this kind of wound."
He didn't bother to look up. He was used to limbs missing, gunshots that left messy exit wounds, things that gushed out and all you could do was tie off the injury.
Instead their blood flowing down the rocks. She'd cut her head and he couldn't be certain why she was unresponsive. Shock? Concussion?
Sniffing the air, he could smell the blood, and he could catch her scent. For the first time since he'd been here, Caleb noticed the difference in her scent versus a human. She wasn't a shifter, and her scent wasn't the same as Marci or Annie, so not a witch.
"What kind of wound are you used to?"
He shrugged and then leaned down to listen to her chest. She was alive for now.
"The bullet kind that heals or the kind you die from. I'm a shifter, I just heal."
He wasn't a medic in the military or anything close to it in life. Now, he fixed pipes, walls, faucets, and other things that couldn't die. What did one do with a head wound? He needed to go back to his training. He needed to dig deep past the pain that came with memories of then.
He glanced up and noticed Marci staring off towards the pixie forest.
"Do you see something out there?"
She shook her head. "No. But you're, uh, very naked."
He glanced down. "Oh, right. Well, hold on." A glance back at Evelyn to make sure that hadn't perked her up. This was one of those moments he hoped she was faking to get a peek at him. Evelyn always refused to grow up, and right now he hoped that was in her favor. She wasn't shy though, and silence couldn't have been a good sign.
"She's breathing. Watch her for a second."
As quickly as possible he grabbed the pants off his ankle and turned around. At this point, he didn't know why this mattered.
"Okay. Is that better?" he asked.
She pulled her hands away from her eyes. "Yup." Her footsteps crunched against the winter-dry forest floor.
"She hit her head, and I'm afraid to move her. The blood isn't pooling, but I can smell it."
Marci knelt. "Why was she even out here alone?"
He shrugged. "It's Evelyn. She always collects things from the forest. Always giving berries to Annie for muffins and bread."
"Why is she so close to the pixie forest?"
Caleb couldn't answer that. There should have been elderberries
