Page 40 of Alien Charming
No one responded. A woman pulled her child closer. A man turned his back.
“Please,” he tried again, softening his tone. “I need to know she’s safe.”
“Haven’t seen her,” a shopkeeper finally muttered, not meeting his eyes.
He crossed the square, approaching a group of men unloading supplies.
“Excuse me?—”
“We don’t want your kind here,” one man interrupted, his face twisted with disgust. “Not after what you did.”
He stiffened. “WhatIdid?”
“Everyone knows you bewitched that poor girl,” another man joined in. “Mayor Jacobson told us how you lured her into the woods to seduce her, poor simpleminded creature.”
“That’s a lie,” he growled, feeling his control slipping.
“Is it? We all saw how you looked at her. Like she was prey.” The man spat at his feet. “No better than animals, just like they say.”
His beast surged forward, and his vision turned red. The men stumbled backwards, reaching for tools that could serve as weapons.
“Where is Mayor Jacobson?” he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble.
“Town hall,” someone whispered from the crowd that had gathered.
He stalked through the town hall, aware of the fearful glances and whispers that followed him. Margaret Jacobson had been busy, it seemed, spinning her poisonous tales. The knowledge that these people—who had known Elli her entire life—would so readily believe the worst of her made his blood boil.
He found Margaret on the steps of the town hall, surrounded by her usual sycophants. Her eyes widened when she spotted him, but she quickly composed her features into a mask of righteous indignation.
“How dare you show your face here after?—”
“Enough!” His roar silenced the entire square. “You’ve abused your niece for years. Isolated her. Lied about her. Made her believe she was worthless.”
Her face drained of color as heads turned towards her.
“And now you spread lies about her to cover your own cruelty,” he continued, advancing up the steps. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” she sputtered. “She ran off, just like her mother. Just as disgraceful, just as?—”
“She didn’t run off—you threw her out. And her only disgrace is being related to you.”
His claws extended slightly, his fangs pressing against his lower lip. He fought to maintain his normal form even as rage coursed through him.
“You’ve poisoned this entire village against her,” he growled, taking another step towards her. “Made her believe she was nothing when she is everything.”
Her eyes widened as she backed against the town hall doors. “You don’t understand. That girl is?—”
“That girl,” he interrupted, “has more kindness and strength in her little finger than you possess in your entire being.”
A small crowd had gathered, watching the confrontation with a mixture of fear and fascination. He could smell their anxiety, hear their quickened heartbeats. Part of him—the diplomatic leader—knew he should care about the impression he was making. But the male in him, the beast in him, cared only for Elli.
“Where would she go?” he demanded, looming over Margaret. “If not home, where?”
Thin lips pressed together, stubborn even in her fear. “I don’t know and I don’t care. She’s made her choice.”
“You didn’t give her a choice,” he snarled. “But I will find her. And if anyone has harmed a single hair on her head, you will pay. In blood.”
CHAPTER 19
