*Long Chapter*

-Keegan-

Keegan knelt down, best he could, beside the girl. The thicket and foliage surrounding her making it difficult to simply lift her. When he couldn't manage to pick her up where she was, he carefully pulled her out of the bushes with his hands under her knees. Ever so gently he pulled her out until everything but her shoulders were out in the open. 

"Look away, Flynn." He muttered, not moving until he heard his brother's feet move in the sodden ground. Listening to the shite turning around. He then proceeded to lift her into his arms. All the while Orla helped by holding branches and leaves at bay so they wouldn't scratch the girl's face. What surprised him was how little she weighed. Keegan wasn't the strongest in the village, nor the weakest, but she felt so light in his arms.

After managing to get a decent grip with his right arm under her legs, the left one around her back, he hauled her out of the sodden dirt. If he hadn't been soaking wet already, she would've drenched him. 

As he fumbled to adjust his grip, he realized that it was unreasonably hard not to touch her delicate areas. It was as if she spilled into his hands on purpose! He tried his very best not to touch anything below her bellybutton. He succeeded fairly well but his fingertips of his left hand constantly grazed the sides of her breast. With a nervous gaze, he threw a look at his siblings - no reaction. Or more importantly; Orla hadn't noticed. She was busy keeping a close eye on where Flynn's gaze was, now that he had turned around again. Keegan's tense shoulders sunk a bit with relief.

His siblings stood motionless before him with their eyes fixed on the girl in his arms as he rose to his feet. He noticed his brother's eyes quickly finding their way to the girl's breasts the second Orla turned her scrutinizing gaze towards Keegan, and the whereabouts of his hands, instead of her twin's greedy eyes. 

Strangely, the way his little brother eyed the girl caused Keegan to feel protective over her. His mood darkened considerably and instantly. Why, he couldn't understand. He didn't even know her... but he didn't like the way his brother was looking at her.

"Avert your eyes, you dirty arse." Keegan growled at Flynn when he noticed how the green eyes had been resting a little too long on the girl's chest. He tried angling her inwards, against his chest, to obstruct his brother's view. However, Flynn still managed to sneak a peak. "Orla." Keegan felt as if he betrayed his little brother by telling on him like this, but he really didn't like how he was staring at the girl.

Their sister turned swiftly towards Flynn, donning a disgusted frown on her face, the corners of her lips pointing downwards. A third slap was distributed but this time it was Flynn who was at the receiving end of their sister's brutality. Despite her young age, she slapped almost as hard as their mother. "Prick!" She hissed. 

Flynn finally averted his eyes but there was a hint of a content smirk on his lips. He had clearly gotten more than a mere glimpse. Keegan felt his body tense up again, irked by his brother's lewd behavior.

"Orla, cover her with something." Keegan grunted out the order while carefully nodding at the girl without looking down. He wasn't going to be the receiver of a fourth slap. Besides, one was more than enough for him. "And lower your voice. We shouldn't wake her up..."

If she can wake up... 

"I ought to hit you in the balls, Flynn!" Orla hissed as she slid out of her coat and put it over the girl. "Disgusting!"

Keegan studied the girl's face as soon as her body was hidden from Flynn's, and his own, gaze. Raindrops splattered across her face and then ran down her cheeks and forehead. Occasionally, a drop would hit her ample lips as he watched her. They looked almost delicious. Almost. 

"She doesn't got a single scar on her." He mumbled to himself as his eyes curiously flew across her. His sister mumbled out a 'So?', mistakenly thinking he was speaking to her. A frown surfaced in his face as he couldn't remember seeing any scars on her body either. To be fair, he hadn't gotten that good of a look. Although, many would argue it 'good enough'.

The girl seemed untouched by life with her smooth skin. A life of a peasant at least. Orla, on the other hand, had lots of scars she had gotten from work and other activities or accidents. None spoiling her looks though. Many of the village's boys yearned for his little sister, but she wasn't interested in any of them, which she made perfectly clear at every occasion someone dared to send flattery her way. Orla preferred her own company. It suited her perfectly, and their father as well. He loved the little fox's fiery temper and independence.

Orla had two visible scars; one on the right side of her upper lip which she had gotten as a child. Flynn, its creator, had thrown a rock at her in a fit of childish rage. It happened after Orla had caught a fish by the creek near their house while Flynn hadn't caught any and decided to take it out on her. Orla's second scar one found on her left hand and came from one of their hunts. She had, in an attempt to show off in front of her idiot brothers, cut herself with her hunting knife when she had sprinted into some bushes to kill a rabbit. After that, she became less inclined to show off.  In many ways, she was a better hunter than both Keegan and Flynn. But they weren't going to tell her that. 

Yet you have none. He thought, studying the unconscious girl in his arms. The lack of scars made her even stranger. Keegan's eyes rested on the smoothness of her skin for a second before continuing to her closed eyes. The eyebrows were perfectly shaped and matched her hair in color. The eyelashes were dark and full. A part of him almost wished she would wake up so he could see the color of her eyes as well.

"Hey!" Flynn cried out, causing Keegan to flinch awake from his trance. "If I can't stare, neither can you!" He objected childishly.

"Shut. Your. Hole, Flynn." Keegan growled through gritted teeth while furiously lifting his gaze from the girl. Hiding the embarrassment over that he had lost himself in the girl's face. He was also afraid his idiot brother would wake her up.

"If the two of you are done ogling, can we go? It doesn't look like the rain will stop any time soon and the poor lass is already cold as it is." Orla muttered as she looked up, then back at the girl. Orla's normally strawberry kissed red hair was as soaking wet as Keegan's, now a much darker shade of red. "Let's go."

Keegan took a sturdier grip around the girl and nodded for the twins to start walking. He had a bad feeling about all of this. Not the girl herself, but the whole situation... What was she doing out here in the woods? Naked and alone? Had she been left here or was someone looking for her? More importantly; what would his parents say when their children came back from a hunt with a naked girl? Not the animals they were supposed to have for supper.

I guess mother's potatoes will have to do... He thought, his eyes glancing down at the girl momentarily. 

Questions filled Keegan's mind as he walked carefully over roots and rocks. He tried to lift the girl higher when they had to cross a dense growth of vegetation. Thorns seemed to appear out of nowhere. Evilly and hungrily reaching for them both they clawed their way through Keegan's trousers like it was their sole reason for existing. Unable to look down because the girl blocked his view of his own feet, he couldn't watch his steps closer in the sea of thorns. He simply had to endure those who ferociously dug themselves into his skin and trousers. 

Mother will kill me if I tear this pair right after she mended them. Keegan thought and bit his cheek as thorns came through the fabric and tore his skin raw. He ignored the pain, hoisted the girl higher so she didn't to have wake up in pain. Her head hung over his left arm and as he lifted her higher, it fell closely into the little space between his neck and shoulder. He stopped, scared that it would disturb her slumber. He stood completely still in the ocean of thorns, waiting for her to wake up. Without saying a word he watched as his siblings kept on walking. 

"Why are you stopping?" Orla asked quietly but annoyed, having just stepped out of the thicket herself.  Her whole face grimaced as she realized that he was still in the middle of the thorny sea of bushes. 

"I-" Keegan abruptly fell silent, because the body in his arms started moving. Every part of his own body froze. Orla's eyes widened as she saw what he felt. The girl squirmed in his arms in her sleep, and from what Keegan could sense, she nuzzled in against his neck and went still again. Sound asleep. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question to his sister. Asking if he could move again. Orla studied the girl for a couple of seconds and then nodded affirmatively for him to move.

Keegan finally exited the waist high thicket. He let out a heavy sigh in relief that the girl hadn't woken up in the middle of it. He kept her at the same height, still angled in against him, afraid to wake her if he lowered her or readjusted his grip. So, he held her like he was. 

Orla waited two meters away from the thicket, with a relieved look on her face that matched the one within him. Flynn was nowhere in sight, but that didn't bother Keegan. Flynn was probably running home, wanting to dry off more than anything else, or to make sure that he could get the best seat in the house for when Orla was going to have to explain why they were returning with an unconscious girl instead of rabbits. 

"Where is that idiot?" Orla muttered, looking around for her twin. There was nothing around except the greenness of the woods; bushes, trees and the ground beneath their feet. 

Keegan shrugged his shoulders. "He must have-"

"Keegan!" A loud call roared through the trees. Orla turned in the direction from where the voice came from. Panic growing in her eyes. Behind her Flynn appeared, but it wasn't he who had caused the commotion. It was Keegan's best friend; Jared. Flynn had terror written on his face, it dripped with nervousness as he approached. "Keegan!" Jared called out again, causing the three siblings to flinch and look at the girl at the same time. 

"Get him to shut up!" Keegan hissed at his siblings, and backed away a couple of steps. Stopping when he was reminded by a sharp thorn that he had nowhere to go. "The idiot will wake her up!" He nodded at Orla to go. She set off to where Jared's voice was coming from and waved her hands in the air to catch his attention faster.

"Orla!" Jared exclaimed the second she entered his line of sight. "Are you that happy to see me?" He asked teasingly. He knew all to well this was not the actual case. "I knew you loved me!"

When Keegan could no longer see his sister, he slowly lowered the girl a bit to see if she was waking up because of Jared. Nothing on her face signaled that she was. The expression on her face was still serene and her part of her seemed to be resting.

The sound of Orla and Jared starting to argue echoed through the woods. 'Argue' quickly turned into 'scolding' when Orla gave him a piece of her mind for not shutting up when told to, all the while they were heading in Keegan's direction. 

"There you are!" Jared called out when he saw his best friend, blatantly ignoring Orla's instructions. He came sauntering out between some trees with the same crooked smile he always had on his lips after seeing Keegan's little sister. Orla, however, looked like she wanted to make use of her knife very much... She raised her eyebrows at Keegan, asking permission to use it. Keegan blinked slowly while shaking his head, telling her no. 

"Will you shut your hole?!" She hissed at Jared as loudly she could without waking the girl.

What the fuck is he doing here? Keegan thought and quickly glanced down at the girl for the thousandth time. It was as if he'd looked down at her a thousand times by now, and they hadn't even gotten out of the woods yet. Still sleeping... Thank the Gods. 

"Why didn't you stop him?" Keegan snapped at his little brother. Flynn rubbed his cheeks anxiously, blew his cheeks up before exhaling slowly. 

"I thought that it was better to warn you." Flynn said. "She doesn't look like-"

"What's this then?" Jared interrupted. "Did-" Jared turned deadly silent, stopping in front of Keegan. His eyes widened in shock as he realized what his friend was holding. "What in-" Orla's hand quickly covered Jared's mouth to keep him from uttering another word. Keegan blinked, he hadn't even seen her until now. She must've run over, knowing Jared would wake the girl. 

"Yes, we know." She hissed in his ear. "No, she's not dead, and yes, we checked." She answered all of his unspoken questions. Jared's eyes flickered from the girl to Orla with a questioning and very confused expression in them. Then they landed on the girl again. Orla sighed. "Don't wake her." She told him sternly, keeping her hand over his mouth until he reassured her he wouldn't. 

Jared nodded and raised his palms as a promise. Orla removed her hand with a revolted grimace on her face. Keegan noticed how the disgusted look on her face didn't fade as she withdrew her hand. She walked off and eagerly started to wipe it against a tree. Looking like she was removing pig's shit and not the mere presence of his friend's face from her hand. 

Orla really wasn't fond of Jared, while he seemed to be quite taken by her. He was known in their village for being a sweet-talker among the girls. Keegan's best friend actually considered himself as a master of knowing what girls wanted, mostly in bed. Although, Keegan wasn't sure of how many of Jared's stories were actually true because he had never once gotten an honest answer out of him when trying to ask for specific details, snaring him in his own lies. The only thing he did get was wild tales which always seemed too good to be true... or too wild. Jared had somehow convinced himself that he was someone every girl in Tranmere coveted. It just happened to be so that Orla wasn't one of those girls, and it bothered Jared immensely. The more she turned him down, the more he coveted her and his yearning for her grew.

Keegan smirked at the sight of them. He knew just how much his friend sickened his sister to her core. He also knew just how little of a chance Jared had when it came to Orla... Keegan wouldn't be able to beat the living life out of Jared if he ever touched her, because Orla would have done it herself before Keegan would have reached Jared..

"I thought you came out here to hunt..." Jared chuckled and nodded at the girl in Keegan's arms. "I didn't expect you to come back with actual game for once."

The fourth slap was distributed. This one sounded like the hardest one yet. Keegan's eyes narrowed pleasantly and he smirked by the sight of Jared holding the back of his head with both hands. All because of the generosity of Orla. His friend hissed through his teeth from the pain.

"Fuck! That one really hurt." Orla cursed, visibly in pain and shook her hand swiftly.

"Serves you right." Jared grunted and shot her a dark look. "What the fuck, Orla?" Her name rolled off his tongue and it made Keegan want to punch him. 

"It hurt more to slap you because you're such a blockhead!" Orla snarled in response.

"Are you done?" Keegan asked impatiently and adjusted his grip. His fingertips accidentally grazing the side of the girl's left breast again. Luckily for him, Orla's cloak hid it from the others. 

"Why? Growing tired?" Jared teased. "I can take her off your-" Keegan's eyes scorched Jared before he could finish his sentence. Darkness and anger tainting his mood again. His friend's eyes widened in shock at the look he received and quickly asked another question. "Would you care to explain what the hell you're doing with a girl in your arms?" Jared gestured towards Keegan with one hand, the other one still pressed against the back of his head.

"Orla's the one who found her." Keegan blurted out the words. Almost like a child blaming its sibling for a mess. He didn't want the credit. None of it. Neither did he want to be held responsible for the girl in any way.

Jared studied her. His head slightly tilting as his gaze continued to wander her face. Keegan wondered if his friend was contemplating over the smoothness of her skin like he had. But he didn't say anything. What is he looking at? Jared rubbed his face with his hand slowly.

"What are you planning on doing with her?" He asked Keegan, even though he had just explained that all credit belonged to Orla. 

"I'm not planning on doing anything with her." He muttered. "Orla's the one who wanted to bring her  home."

"Home?" Jared exclaimed loudly. His eyes almost came out of his skull. "You're bringing her back to your mother?" 

Before anyone could tell him to shut up, Keegan could feel how it was too late. The girl started to squirm in his arms. At first, she moved slowly, drowsy. But as she came to it, her motions became sudden and quick. 

Keegan gave Orla a worried look and she walked up to him. The girl whimpered and then her voice turned into a long moan, almost as if she was in pain. Keegan was almost about to ask his sister to look for an injury, but then he remembered that he hadn't seen any major wounds or blood. So, whatever pain she was in, it had to be internal.

The next second, a pair of blue eyes stared up at him. Irises a lighter blue and with darker edges, giving her eyes a unique look he hadn't seen before. Keegan noticed how the others were talking to him, but he couldn't hear them. All of his focus was on the girl. She looked absolutely terrified as he watched her.

"Hey..." He whispered out of nowhere, incapable of taking his eyes off her. She inhaled sharply at the sound of his voice.

What happened next made him loose his grip and regain his hearing, only to lose it immediately again; the girl used all of the air she had in her to scream from the top of her lungs. It hurt his ears something terribly. She started thrashing her limbs violently in all directions to be free of him and no matter how much he tried; he couldn't hold her any longer.

"CAREFUL!" Orla screamed, watching the girl fall to the ground. Keegan's heart sunk when he heard how she hit the ground hard. A loud grunt escaped her, and they all watched as she managed to get her upper body of the ground, using her arms as support. Orla's coat, which had shielded her body, had fallen to the ground and she was stark-naked again. The blue eyes studied them all, one by one, slowly.

"Nobody move." Orla whispered and held her arms out to her sides in almost in a crouch. Looking like she was trying to sneak up on a terrified fawn. The girl flinched from the sound of her voice as well.

"There's not a mark on her." Jared whispered, his eyes taking the girl in more closely now that she was naked. 

Look away. Keegan growled internally at him. 

"I swear to all the gods, Jared. I will kill you if you don't get that filthy mind from where it is right now." Keegan growled, his thought coming out immensely more aggressive than he'd planned. "She is terrified and you are gawking at her when she's completely naked?!"

To everyone's surprise the girl got on her feet, too frightened to even acknowledge that she was naked. Flynn immediately averted his eyes and stared on the ground. Probably fearing another slap from either of his siblings if he was caught looking. Keegan reached out for Orla's coat so he could offer it to the girl. A scream slipped out of the girl and she fell. 

He had barely reached the coat when his sister warned him; "I wouldn't do that-" Orla was interrupted when Keegan suddenly received a swift kick to his chest. It knocked  the air out of him and he fell over. When he sat up again, the girl was gone. 

The others looked like they had seen a ghost or something. "Where is she?" He exclaimed and looked around. "Why didn't you stop her from taking off?!" 

Orla stood with a pale face and pointed towards the thicket he had just carried the girl through a moment ago. "She ran through it." She breathed. "She just ran right fucking through them... All of those thorns..." 

Keegan rose to his feet and turned around. The girl was nowhere in sight, but he could see some foliage swaying from her recent passing.

"She couldn't have." He whispered and walked up to the thicket. The thorns where larger than those on a rose. If she had run through, she would be badly torn...

--------------------------------

Updated: 27th of November 2022

I hoped you liked this chapter even though it was a long one as well!

Leave a vote or comment, it makes my day!

Much love,

Jenny