Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) by Machelle Hanleigh (interesting novels to read txt) 📕

She continued shaking her head. "no, no, no, no , no." Her words became a mantra within her own mind.

He felt her mind closing off to him as she struggled to pull out of his arms. He let her go only to keep her from hurting herself with her efforts. He kept trying to reach her mind, but with each moment that passed, more of her mind closed off to him. There was panic and something else in her mind that he couldn't quite name. He couldn't see what was going through her mind but caught glimpses of vague images passing through her mind before it slammed shut to him. He opened the entrance and pushed back his own panic. He watched as she stood stock still in the middle of the room. Although she faced the now open doorway, he didn't think it registered within her mind that the door was opened.

He reached out to touch her but stopped midair. There was something in the back of his mind that said not to touch her. "Kaily!" He called her name. She turned towards his voice, but her eyes were unfocused as if she turned inward. "The door is open, Kaily." He moved closer to her but didn't touch her. "Look, its open." She was looking at him, but he knew she didn't see him.

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "no, no, no, no, no." She said again.

Moto cursed and grabbed Kaily, despite the warning in the back of his mind not to touch her. He shook her. "Open your eyes!" He said. "Look at me!"

She shook her head and kept her eyes closed. She would have dropped to the floor if he didn't hold her so close to him.

"Kaily, please, look at me." He let her slip to the floor with the intention to have her sit while he tried to figure out what to do. When he let go of her, she curled into a ball and covered her head.

"No, please don't hurt me." She said.

Moto's heart broke at the anguish in her voice. He cursed again. He knelt and picked her up which was surprisingly difficult, even for him. "Kaily, please," he said, "open your eyes." He carried her out of the room. She was still stiff in his arms and curled in as tight a ball as she could get. He looked at the pallets and then thought better of laying her there. He needed something that could shock her out of her own mind. He hurried outside the cave. "Kaily!" He yelled again. "Open your eyes!" He ordered. "You're safe, I promise, you're safe." Moto felt helpless.

She stirred in his arms.

"That's it, little one. Look around. You're outside." Moto said in as gentle a voice as he could manage. He found it difficult to control his own wave of panic and fear, which made his tone harsher than she needed at that moment.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She let out a sob, turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and wept.

Moto slid to the ground outside the cave with her in his arms. He held and rocked her while her sobs wracked her body. He never heard and felt so much pain come from anyone before in his life. Her pain brought tears to his eyes. He let them fall unchecked and rocked her.

Finally, her tears lessened and became hiccups. He wiped his tears away, and then lifted her face from where she buried it in his neck so that his eyes could look into hers. "I would never hurt you, Kaily."

She tried to look away.

Moto shook his head. "Don't, please, don't pull away from me. What happened?"

She shrugged and tried to smile. "I don't like closed in places."

He shook his head. "That was not just about closed in places, Kaily. What happened?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I just," she shrugged again; "I don't know what happened."

Moto sighed and let her lay her head back on his shoulder. "It's alright." He soothed by rubbing her back. "The room is the best place for training,"

She lifted her head and adamantly shook it back and forth.

"Peace, little one," Moto said. "We won't start there." He felt the relief sweep through her. He knew that they would need to get back there at some point, because it was the best place to train her to use her abilities, but he also knew at that moment she couldn't handle the thought of going back in that room. "We will use the clearing by the pool for training. Maybe starting with defense training first will help by teaching you control through learning hand to hand defensive training." He nodded as he thought it over. If he could get her to trust him with her physical well-being, then maybe he could get her to trust him enough to overcome her fears of the training room.

Kaily nodded her agreement. She was reluctant but forced herself to trust him.

He caressed her arm as he thought it over and decided they would start tomorrow.

***

Moto muttered curses as he stood in the middle of the clearing. "Get up!" He said for the third time. Kaily lay on her back at the edge of the clearing. She plopped herself there not long after the training session started that morning. It had been a week and she still was responding to his advances as if she learned nothing from the previous sessions. She had no control over her emotional outbursts, and he could not quite reach her mind. The cloud that descended in the training room hung on and he couldn't get through to her. "GET UP!" He said as he advanced on her.

He reached down to pull her once again to her feet.

She pushed her hands out in front of her.

He felt his feet leave the ground as he was flung backwards away