Chapter 282 What Are You?

"The crown princess's safety is your priority!"

"Yes, Your Royal Highness!"

Joaquin rushed to his steed to search for his wife, completely forgetting about Abel and everything else. All he could think of was to make sure his wife would be left unharmed. So, as soon as he jumped to his steed, he sped away. Quite commendable of him to be concerned about his wife.

The knights also prepared for the search, scattering around the clearing while some already left to follow the crown prince or to search the other areas. Others cleaned up the bodies Joaquin hunted down.

While everyone was busy with their own assignments, Abel stayed frozen in the same spot. He was looking around, watching everyone take all directions except the east.

"She's there... in the east," he whispered, lowering his gaze as he felt invisible root vines grow underneath his feet and stilling him on the ground.

Just now, he got a whiff of Aries blood. He knew her scent. Whether it was a small scratch or a grave injury, he would know, and the scent that wafted his nose told him she was bleeding... heavily. However, he was so stunned he couldn't move. He couldn't even think.

"She's bleeding..." he murmured, blinking ever so tenderly.

As he repeated that, 'she's bleeding,' in his head, the lush grass underneath his feet withered until it completely turned brown and then burnt black. The dark hue crawled and spread as if an invisible fire was devouring all the life on the surface of the earth, yet no one seemed to have noticed this anomaly.

"Ah..." Abel closed his eyes ever so slowly, stretching his neck from one side to the other. When he reopened his eyes, his mind, which was just on haywire, entered a strange state of calmness. The solitude he was so familiar with.

He raised a thumb, pressing it against his canine until the tang of iron filled his mouth. He licked the blood on his thumb, dropping his hand as he breathed out calmly. Abel slowly turned his head in the east, breathing in, only to inhale her scent mixed in the soft breeze.

"You..." His unreasonably long lashes fluttered ever so tenderly as his pair of crimson eyes fell soft. "... hands..."

As soon as the last syllable fell from his mouth, Abel vanished from his vantage point faster than a blink of an eye.

******

"Abel... I'm dying..."

GROWL!

As the bear bellowed and opened its mouth to take a piece of Aries, a figure suddenly jump from the side. Keeping her in his embrace, the two of them rolled to the side and barely avoided the wild grizzly bear's bite.

"Shit!" Ismael clenched his teeth as he gazed at her, shocked dominated his face seeing that Aries was choking herself! "Hey! Did you finally snap?! Stop! Are you out of your mind!?" he yelled as he tried to unhook her fingers from her neck, wincing as he felt a striking pain in his leg.

GRR...

He froze as all the hair behind his neck raised at the low snarl coming from behind them. His eyes instantly went round, holding her finger still.

Why did Ismael jump in here to help her?

Ismael was galloping beyond the safe zones of the hunting grounds because of the attack. As he was speeding through the forest, he caught this bear in the corner of his eyes. He would've ignored it since it wasn't paying him attention. However, when he saw the trail of blood and then looked back, he saw Aries writhing on the ground.

The sight of her and the bear left his brain in a blank state.

Deep in his heart, Ismael wanted to let her get devoured and just die. But no matter how rational that idea was, he found himself going back and jumping from his steed to save her in the nick of time from getting bitten. As he did so, he got his leg grazed by the sharp teeth of the bear.

Now... he was in the same deep shit.

"Damn!" Ismael gripped her finger and tried to take another finger, trembling in fear and anxiety as he felt the bear's heat coming closer. In his mind, he should forget about her and flee for his life... or face the bear and wrestle with it — maybe kill it.

But Ismael did none of those because Aries... was dying!

She would suffocate, and her lips had already turned purple. She needed air and this... made his heart sink because he wasn't in a situation where he should worry about others. Aries of all people at that. This woman... although she was his ally, Ismael knew he couldn't trust her. But here he was, putting her life over his when the bear was already breathing down his neck.

Ismael trembled in fear as he clenched his teeth while foolishly taking her fingers off her neck. Yet, in his head, he was cursing himself for being stupid and foolish and everything but wise. For Pete's sake! His head would be bitten off any minute, but he was focusing on this crazy woman who was choking herself to death!

"Get a grip…" his voice shook through his gritted teeth, relieved when she finally took a scant breath. "Damn… Manuel… fuck…!"

Ismael instantly froze when he heard a snarl behind him as the shadow of the bear stretched over him. With dilated blank eyes, he knew the bear's mouth stretched wide that his head could fit. Yet, his strength in holding her fingers remained to let her breathe.

His face crumpled as hatred swelled up in his chest. "I… fucking hate my fucking self…!" were his expected last words before he would get beheaded without a fight, hearing another bellow from the bear as it lurched to bite his head off.

BAM!

"Hands... off her."

Ismael couldn't even shut his eyes as he anticipated the quick pain before the swift release from the land of the living. But the pain didn't come. Instead, a strong gust of wind blew from his side and then followed by a heavy thud when the bear crashed against the bolder.

His eyes were wide, twisting his neck to where the bear flew, and to his shock, the bear's head was gone. All was there was its body and the splash of blood. There was no trace of where its head rolled over or if it even rolled or simply got disintegrated into thin air.

His breath hitched when he finally noticed a figure standing behind him. Ismael turned his head, lifting his eyes only to catch a towering man with bright green hair and an unsmiling side profile. But that wasn't what brought terror to his heart.

When Abel cocked his head back and his indifferent eyes fell on Ismael, the latter stared at those pair of bright, deep crimson orbs in dread.

Ismael knew this peculiar man since he met him before the hunt began. However, Abel didn't look like this… his eyes weren't like this. Abel's left eye was the same except for the murderous intent unraveling from it that could make anyone tremble under his gaze; the sclera on his right eye was black while his iris was gold and his pupil was glowing in deep ruby.

"What… what are you…?"