Cabin of Axes - Bea Paige Page 0,44

off.

I turn on my heels and run.

Chapter Fourteen

I run blindly through the workshop bumping into the statues as I pass them by. Behind me I can hear an argument taking place. It sounds like Berrin is trying to stop Mathieson from chasing after me. Fear spikes at the sound of fists hitting flesh, spurring me on.

I skirt around the edges of the muddy drive, trying to avoid the worst of the mud and plough through the forest that runs alongside the road leading up to the Cabin of Axes. My feet are covered in a layer of mud, but I pay it no mind, barely registering the broken twigs, stones, and roots beneath my feet. There’s sudden sharp pain as the soul of my foot is punctured by a rock, but I don’t stop. I keep running.

“Goldie!” Franklin roars and the sound has my heart pumping faster as I jump over a fallen log and stumble through bracken and bushes. Branches scratch my skin as I push my way through, tears spilling from my eyes.

I can’t even stop to think, to try and understand why Mathieson asked me to run, why Franklin told me to leave. The letter I’d written had said I’d loved these men. If that’s the case, why am I running?

“Because of what they did when you first met…” a tiny voice inside my head softly says.

My heart races at the sudden intrusion, recognising what my conscious mind doesn’t, that she’s telling the truth. The lust might be real, I might want to fuck these men, but there was fear first and there is fear now and until my memories return completely I can’t trust that they won’t hurt me, especially since they’ve forgotten they loved me too.

So I keep running.

My arms pump faster and my legs harder until my muscles burn and my lungs scream for breath. I don’t look back. I don’t stop to see if anyone is following me. I keep going.

The further I sprint into the forest, the darker it gets despite it only being early afternoon. The canopy is so thick, the trees so dense that I get turned around, and it isn’t until I physically can’t run any more that I’m forced to stop. Ducking behind the thick trunk of a tree, I lean against it, breathing heavily. My chest rises and falls, my body shaking with adrenaline that rushes through my veins. I’m covered in cuts from the twigs and branches I’ve caught myself on, and my clothes have tears in them. Now that I’m still, my feet are throbbing. I know without looking that they’re shredded.

“Fuck!” I murmur, trying to get a hold of myself. I need to think.

I hear a twig snap nearby and my head snaps to the side as I listen intently for oncoming footsteps. Holding my breath, I strain to listen over the rushing and pulsing of blood in my ears.

“I remember you, Goldie. I remember how you turned up out of the blue one day, seeking out our bees. I remember you’d been researching the healing qualities of honey and someone in the village had tipped you off about our hive and the honey they produced. You took my breath away. You floored me with your intelligence, your beauty, your fucking curves and sinful mouth,” Franklin says, from somewhere to my left. I stiffen, my heart pounding at the tone of his voice.

“You came into our lives like the sun parting rainclouds. You made everything brighter, but we weren’t used to the light, having lived in the dark for so long. We did things…” Mathieson says, the sharpness in his voice makes me stifle a sob. “Bad, bad things, Goldie. But despite that, you loved us anyway and in turn we loved you…” Franklin adds, his voice closer now. “Love is what kept you safe before, Goldie. Our love for you, only none of us remember that part. Despite my memories returning, Goldie, I still don’t remember that part because right now all I want is to taste you, fuck you, hold you down until you’re screaming either in fear or in lust. It doesn’t matter which and that’s why you should’ve kept running.”

I jump as Franklin appears to my left. He reaches for me, but I manage to duck out of his way as a scream rips from my throat and I run as fast as I can.

Dashing past trees on shredded feet with sweat pouring from my skin and my lungs desperate