“She has died countless times, but you are so stubborn to bring her back again and again.” The centaur’s golden eyes shone brightly under the moonlight. “You should have let her die in the first place, in that case, you don’t need to shatter your soul or be devoured by your dark side.”
Chaos kept silent all this time, as if he had lost his voice, but the hostility that emanated from his body was very strong.
“What else will you give up next if you lose her again?” The centaur took a step forward, but Chaos growled deeply in warning.
He didn’t like the proximity between the two of them.
He didn’t like someone touching her without his permission.
And this dark feeling was only getting stronger now, just like the centaur had said, this dark desire inside of him only grew powerful, pressing down on his conscience, leading him astray and unreasonable, and the worst part of this was... his desire for Zuri.
He didn’t lose her only once and every time it happened, he gave away a part of his soul, then everything, to get her back and now after all that had happened, which dragged him to this condition, he swore to not let that happen again.
“The creatures from hell have been looking for her.” The centaur stopped walking closer. “How can you handle so many of them?”
“I know that you are strong,” another centaur chimed in, she walked gracefully out of the huddled centaurs in front of her and once the light of the moon fell on her body, Zuri couldn’t help but gasp in disbelief at the ethereal beauty in front of her.
.....
This centaur was so beautiful, her horse body and her human body gleamed under the moonlight, while her red hair cascaded down to cover her chest. She wore a red tiara with a red diamond in the middle of it.
Zuri thought she had seen beautiful women before, but this centaur was something else entirely. However, what caught Zuri’s eyes was this centaur’s eyes, they were white, completely white.
Only after the first centaur strode to her and took her hand in his hand that Zuri realized she was blind.
“Aria,” the first centaur said her name very gently, the exact opposite to how he talked to Chaos. He looked cold and distant then. “You are not supposed to be here.”
Yet, the beautiful centaur named Aria stretched out her hand to Zuri and spoke to her instead, as if she knew exactly where she was standing right at this moment. “Give me your hand my dear.”
Zuri glanced at Chaos first before she extended her hand as she didn’t see any bad reaction from him.
Aria smiled softly. She took Zuri’s hand and pulled her closer to her and started chanting something that sounded like a song, but in a different language that Zuri was sure that she had never heard before this.
Her hand felt so cold to the touch and when she brought forward her other hand to cup hers, Zuri could feel shivers running down her spine, as she could see Aria’s eyes glisten. What was that? Was she crying?
It felt like a very long time since Aria enveloped her hands in hers, but in reality, it was only a mere second before she freed her hand then leaned over to kiss her temple.
However, before her lips could touch Zuri’s forehead, Chaos had yanked her back and the air crackled around him, as his wings emerged from the back of his shoulders, they were ink black.
It was so fascinating, but in a dreadful sense, especially when Chaos was not in the right mood like now.
“What do you want to do, Aria?” Chaos’ voice sounded deeper and more frightening than usual, even Zuri didn’t dare to look him right in the eyes. She was still confused about what was actually going on.
Did Aria try to kiss her forehead? Zuri scrunched her brows at the thought of someone else’s lips touching her skin. She felt uncomfortable just by imagining it.
Sometimes, Zuri thought that she was already fine and finally could act normal, but when she was faced with this kind of reality, she knew she was far from being fine.
“Saving you,” Aria said. Her eyes glistened and she looked in pain when Chaos tried to burn her like he had done to the other centaur, but he did it slowly.
“CHAOS! STOP THIS!” Chyre, the centaur, who was standing next to Aria, growled viciously at Chaos. His eyes were filled with rage, while the other centaurs stomped their hooves on the ground, creating a loud, noisy sound that could be equal to war drums, while they took out their bows and arrows, aiming at Zuri, since they knew they wouldn’t be able to hurt Chaos.
“I don’t need to be saved,” Chaos said, gritting his teeth and Aria fell to the ground. Her skin was flushed red and she was writhing in pain.
Seeing that, her fellow centaurs couldn’t hold back their rage, as they released dozens of arrows at Zuri at the same time.
It happened so fast, but from where Zuri was standing, she felt like she was watching a slow motion movie scene the moment the arrows were released and about to strike her, aiming every inch of her body.
But, of course, Chaos wouldn’t allow that. His dark wings covered both of them, cocooned them safely from any harm around, while he held Zuri close to him. He hugged her a little bit tighter and for a moment, Zuri thought he forgot how strong he could be, until she couldn’t help but remind him.
“Chaos, you are holding me too tight,” Zuri whispered into his chest. “You are hurting me.” She could feel his body stiffen at the mention of him hurting her. “Can we please go? No more killing.”
Chaos’ red eyes shifted to the girl in his arms. He seemed to be in a daze and stared at her for a moment.
“Please, I don’t want to see any more deaths, I am tired,” Zuri said softly to him. She then stretched her hand to touch his face and caressed his cheek. She wanted him to solely focus on her and not on the anger and rage that clouded his mind. “Get me out of here, please...”
Chaos said nothing, he only stared at Zuri’s hazel eyes, she looked gentle and shivered a little bit. There was pain and fear in her eyes and this made him frown deeply.
“Can we go?” Zuri could hear the sound of something big, much bigger than the arrows, being hurled at them, followed by a dull sound of something hitting the wings that cocooned them.
Zuri was afraid of Chaos, but she was more scared about him.
“Yes,” Chaos finally replied in his guttural voice and both of them disappeared all of a sudden from being the center of the assault of the centaurs.
One second there was a dark cocoon in the middle of the clearing area, the next second it was empty ground and Aria stopped wailing in pain.
The centaur gasped for air, as her skin was very red. She was burned from the inside, but thankfully, Chaos stopped before something more horrendous happened and she lost her life.
“Are you okay, Aria?” Chyre knelt down beside her, he placed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, this was their gesture of caring for each other.
“I am fine,” Aria said weakly, she was still having a hard time breathing. “But the girl...”
“Let them be,” Chyre said sharply. He didn’t care about those creatures. Chaos just came to mess with his kind and now he hurt his mate. “I don’t care if the girl died.”
But, Aria shook her head. “No,” she said in an even weaker voice. “The girl will be the death of him... she will kill him.”
Aria was blind, but she could see more than any gifted centaur could do. The centaurs could read the stars, but Aria envisioned the future...
===================
Chaos freed Zuri once the wings that protected them disappeared, fading behind the back of his body. There was no wound, not even a scratch, given how brutal the assault that the centaurs had directed at them.
“Where are we?” Zuri tried to look at her surroundings, as she turned around and was about to separate herself from Chaos, but he didn’t think he wanted her to be away from him.
In one swift move, Chaos had her pinned against the wall, he literally slammed her so hard until she shrieked in pain.
Hearing that, Chaos snapped back to his senses and stepped back, letting go of Zuri, who grimaced in pain.
She looked at Chaos in confusion, especially when she saw fear flashing in his red eyes.
It was fear, Zuri recognized it easily, since she was well aware of that feeling, but Chaos and fear had never been in one sentence in her mind before this.
Zuri straightened up her body when the pain finally faded. She healed pretty fast for a shifter.
“Chaos?” She walked over to approach him, but he moved away from her, and when Zuri extended her hand, he stared at it and avoided her again.
This was confusing, but Zuri came to this realization eventually.
“You are not hurting me, I am fine,” Zuri said softly, as if she was trying to coo at a wounded animal in their hesitancy to come over to her. “Chaos... I am fine. You didn’t hurt me.”
Chaos looked at Zuri with the same pained expression.