Chapter 46 - Run

She was prepared for a painful blow but instead, she felt him grab her chin roughly and pull her face upwards. He crushed her lips in a kiss then, forcing her mouth open. She tasted the alcohol they'd consumed and felt the now nearly burning heat of his skin on hers.

She fought to get away from him, putting her hands against his chest, she shoved but he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

Delaney felt the heat wash over her and her mind swirled from the alcohol and his kiss as he invaded her mouth, tasting what was to be found there.

At last, she balled her fists and hit him in his chest. She must have struck a target because his mouth was suddenly ripped from hers.

Vincent pressed his hand to his quickly rising and falling chest, teeth clenched. His almost black eyes were wide with fury as he glared down at her.

Delaney looked up at him with rage boiling her blood. Pulling back her own hand, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could manage.

The crack was startlingly loud. What was even more startling was the painful cry that escaped his throat as he stumbled backward, clutching the heavily scarred side of his face in his hands.

He crashed to the couch, his eyes squeezed tightly shut against the pain. Delaney stood there, suddenly almost sober, her chest heaving with panicked breaths.

She should run away. Surely he would kill her after this. She hesitated as a loud, pain-filled moan came from him. His hands were trembling over his face.

She had to run. She couldn't be here anymore. When he recovered he would be so angry she didn't know what he'd do.

Fleeing the room on unsteady legs, Delaney slammed into the butler who was looking on in shock where he had come to see if they were alright. She pushed herself away from him, barely registering that there were actually many servants around now including a terrified Ivy.

She ran to the door and out into the dark, cool night. Tripping on the stairs, she fell to the ground. Pain bloomed in her palms and knees where they landed on the gravel below.

Looking down at her palms in the moonlight, Delaney saw blood seeping out of the cuts. A quiet sob escaped her but she ran on then. She ran until she got to the stables and was relieved to see a man standing watch.

"My lady?" the man looked horrified as she fell into his arms.

"Help me," she begged, taking hold of his shirt, "Please help me!"

"Anything my Lady," he agreed right away, "Anything. Just tell me what you need."

"Get the fastest carriage and the fastest team for it," she cried, "Please I have to get out of here right away!"

"But...but Lord Adair..."

"He will kill me if he finds me! Please you have to help me!"

The man hesitated and looked over his shoulder where a group of bleary-eyed men had been woken at the sound of her and come to see what was going on. The man who looked to be in charge frowned but nodded, and with that, the other men dashed off to do as she'd asked.

"Thank you so much," she whispered, looking fearfully back over her shoulder towards the house, "Please hurry!"

The carriage was rolled out and the horses lashed to it faster than they had ever been before.

The door was wrenched open and Delaney nearly leaped inside. It closed quickly behind her and before she could settle onto her seat, she was thrown backward as the carriage lurched forward at a breakneck speed.

Delaney looked out the windows but could barely see anything in the black of night. Thankfully, it didn't look like anyone was coming after her.

The carriage hit a bump, causing her to fly up in the air off her seat before crashing back down to it. She tried her best to brace herself as the carriage hit bump after bump, lurching her every direction.

She couldn't complain though. She was getting away from him.

They had lasted one day. Just one day. In their time of being married, they had spent more time fighting with each other than anything else.

Delaney felt tears burn in her eyes and a few escaped before she could get them managed. She had never seen Vincent that mad, including the night he'd shown up at the club and seen her extravagant birthday party.

He had been angry with Miles at the hospital, but there was disappointment and confusion there as well.

Now though in his fight with Delaney, he had had a look of pure rage.

Licking her lips against her tears, Delany jumped. She lightly touched her lips and felt they were swollen. Not only that, but her bottom lip had a little cut on it too where Vincent had split it.

The carriage hit something else and sent her launching one direction or another. She wished they could slow down but didn't dare.

All the alcohol she'd consumed sloshed around in her stomach, as the wild ride in the carriage continued. Since her vision was swimming, she closed her eyes tight, trying to focus on not getting sick.

Her eyelids were heavy and she longed for sleep then but would never be able to in the carriage at this rate. It was for the best anyways. It was more important that she got away safely.

Where would she go? She hadn't thought about that when she'd run away. It didn't matter. The men driving the carriage would see her somewhere safe.

They had seen Vincent. They would understand her leaving. If they had seen one of his explosive angry moments they would understand it all the more.

Looking out the window, the moonlight flashed as they passed under the tree branches that hung over the road. It made her dizzy and her stomach lurch so she closed her eyes again.

The memory of Vincent dropped on the couch, gripping his face with his eyes smashed closed in pain, floated back into her mind then.

The crack of her hand hitting his face echoed through her head, as well as the pained cries he made after. Guilt stabbed at her. She shouldn't have done that. She knew the marks hurt him.

But Delaney had never been so angry and her impaired mind had made her react without thinking. How could he have dared to kiss her though!

Vincent had sworn he would never force himself on her. Kissing wasn't the same but she wished he would have ruled out that as well.

From somewhere in the woods came the howls of wolves. Delaney felt a chill crawl up her spine. It was dangerous to be out on an open road like this at night. Dragons did not normally live this far from the mountains but there were plenty of other dangerous things that did.

The picture of Vincent sitting with the flames throwing shadows across his marred face flashed in her mind. The strength of him holding her as he kissed her and not letting her go no matter how hard she shoved at him. The anger that flashed in his eyes when he looked at her.

He was a dangerous thing himself.

Her stomach churned and she swallowed over and over, willing herself to not get sick. They couldn't afford to stop the carriage for her. The howls of the wolves came again, closer this time.

Delaney's heart raced and she looked out the window towards the trees flying by, hoping not to catch sight of anything there. The shadows of the woods looked sinister as if any of them could be hiding something waiting to strike.

The view plus more bumps was finally more than she could handle. She pushed the curtains on the windows and stuck her head out just in time for her dinner to come back up along with a lot of the alcohol.

The men driving must not have heard her because thankfully they did not slow down. Delaney held on to the window ledge and let her head drop down. The cool wind rushing over her face helped to steady her.

Pulling herself back inside she closed her eyes and sank into the carriage seat only to be tossed into the wall again when they hit another bump.

Outside the howling wolves were so loud now she knew they had to be very close. It came into her impaired mind then that perhaps they were following the carriage.

The thought made her stomach twist and her heart race again. The fear seemed to sober her up a bit more and she moved to look out the window again.

The men had said this team was the fastest Vincent owned and the carriage was the lightest. Could the horses outrun wolves?

It was then that Delaney heard another sound starting to grow. The wolves howled along with it. Something was behind them.

Something was about to catch up.