After the SSS Beast Slave Bites the Hand That Saved Him, I Choose to Watch Him Bleed Chapter 11
Gideon survived. Audrey didn’t take him with herÂ
when she left.Â
Every day when I went out, he’d perk up his ears.Â
and sweep his tail on the ground.Â
“You’re back?”Â
His voice was soft and sweet. He pushed his headÂ
and ears toward my hand.Â
“Touch them.”Â
“They’re soft.”Â
Theron came out of the house. He saw GideonÂ
holding up his tail like an offering.Â
Then he curled his own tail around my waist.Â
I leaned into him and let him wrap me up.Â
Gideon saw the mark on my neck. His pupils. stretched into slits. He lunged at me like a mad thing.Â
His eyes were bloodshot. “He forced you, didn’t he?”Â
“How could you be with something like him?”Â
“Tell me. Did he force you?”Â
Gideon’s lips were shaking. “You know you loveÂ
- me. How could you be with him…Â
His hands were clenched. He looked ready to tearÂ
into Theron.Â
Theron shielded me, his ears up, watchingÂ
Gideon’s every move.Â
I put my arm around Theron, and he lifted me upÂ
like it was nothing.Â
He was strong. Holding me didn’t cost him a thing.Â
“He’s my bonded servant. What we do is none ofÂ
your business.”Â
“Now we’re going back to our room. Just the twoÂ
of us.”Â
“Do you have anything else to say?”Â
Gideon collapsed to the ground. His ears wentÂ
completely flat.Â
Audrey had handled Gideon’s wounds in theÂ
sloppiest way possible.Â
In a few days, his fingers got infected.Â
Then he started running a fever.Â
When I walked by, he called out to me.Â
“Scarlett.”Â
Those amber eyes looked at me with the last littleÂ
bit of light they had left.Â
Gideon couldn’t believe I’d be this cold. He couldn’tÂ
believe I didn’t care at all.Â
“I remember how good you were to me. Before.”Â
His voice came in pieces.Â
“You used to baby me if I was even a little bitÂ
sore.”Â
“If I wouldn’t eat, you’d make me something else.”Â
“You never… never let me hurt…”Â
He held out his hand wrapped in filthy rags.Â
“I hurt now.”Â
“Baby me, okay?”Â
“Like you used to…”Â
But I wasn’t that Scarlett anymore.Â
“You only want Audrey, don’t you?”Â
“Go find her, then.”Â
“It’s not far. About an hour’s crawl.”Â
I turned around and walked away.Â
Behind me, he called my name.Â
His voice got smaller and smaller until it wasÂ
nothing but a quiet whimper.Â
That night, Gideon dragged himself up from theÂ
pile of straw and crawled to my door.Â
Warm golden light seeped through the crack. AndÂ
sounds. Loud ones.Â
He leaned against the door and remembered theÂ
past life.Â
Me carrying him all the way from the mountains.Â
back to the clinic.Â
Me climbing mountains to get him herbs, comingÂ
back covered in bruises but still holding theÂ
basket.Â
Me staying up all night by his cot after brewing his medicine, not daring to sleep.Â
He remembered how, after his leg healed, he walked away without looking back.Â
Gideon curled up and cried until he couldn’t breathe.Â
He cried until his eyes went wide and his chest stopped moving.Â
Theron came back at dawn.Â
He pushed open the gate and saw someone standing at the door.Â
After eavesdropping for a while, Theron realized it. was a man asking for Scarlett’s hand in marriage.Â
He waited until the man left, then rushed inside.Â
I was organizing the herb cabinet when Theron grabbed me from behind.Â
He held on tight. “What’s wrong?”Â
I patted his hand.Â
His tail curled around my leg.Â
I turned around and looked into his eyes.Â
Those gray–blue eyes were full of panic.Â
“Where’s Gideon?” I asked.Â
He lifted his head. “Taken care of.”Â
“You didn’t like him anyway.”Â
“Besides, he made the yard dirty.”Â
“And that man… the proposal…” He tugged at my shirt. “Did you say yes?”Â
“No.”Â
Theron’s eyes lit up. “My parents left this place to me. I’m not going anywhere.”Â
“Besides, how could I ever let you feel like you’re not enough?”Â
I reached up and pulled his head down to me.Â
He buried his face against my chest.Â
Ever since he got better, Theron had taken over every chore in and around the clinic.Â
Chopping wood. Hauling water. Raking the yard.Â
During the day he never stopped moving. At night he didn’t slow down either.Â
I worried about his health at first, but the guy wasÂ
like steel. Nothing tired him out.Â
“I’ll stay with you forever.”Â
“Yeah.”Â
He rested his chin on my shoulder and wagged hisÂ
tail. His tail wagged so hard the whole room filledÂ
with wind.

