Higgs opened his eyes but he couldn't move. How long had it been since he'd been captured? It felt like weeks but he was pretty sure it was only a few days. Elizabeth was right in her threats and he learned not to mention Merida; trying to be smart about it only made it worse as well. He knew that if he was patient and could wait, Merida would find him. He thought being the werewolf would protect him in some way but somehow Elizabeth knew exactly what to do to him to make him useless even in that form. That whip she used on him wasn't ordinary; hell, nothing was ordinary with this woman. It was as if she knew how to cater to the curse and for some reason there were nights where he was even too weak to even turn into the werewolf plus, the lashes weren't healing like they should.

Elizabeth's face came into view, startling him from his thoughts but he really couldn't move.

"I may have given you too much wolfsbane to weaken you and now you're not turning. My mistake. I'm going to let you rest up and heal before I go any further. You're not really going to be able to move much since it's not only a poison but a muscle relaxer.

Higgs lolled his head away from her to not look at her. Seeing her face just made him want to vomit and he felt like his body wasn't going to accomplish that well in its current condition. Elizabeth moved his face back to look at her.

"Are you trying to piss me off? You look at me when I'm talking to you, do you understand?" He nodded as best as he could. "What do we say?"

"You're... right..." he croaked, the wolfsbane making it hard to talk.

"When?"

"Always..."

"Very good. You learn so fast! I'm going to get you some broth to drink and then I'll let you sleep that wolfsbane off. You're not fun like this."

She left the room as Higgs stared at the ceiling. He didn't remember when he was transferred to a flat surface; all the days were running together and nothing was making any sense. He felt tears running down his face, unable to stop them because he was so weak.

"Merida... please..." Please find me...

******************

There was a knock at the door and Edgar ran to it quickly. He yanked open the door but upon seeing who it was, the small flicker of hope diminished.

"Lord Northumberly..." he said sadly.

"I... just heard..." Jamison said, panting and leaning on his knees.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes."

Edgar let him come in and led him to the living room, finding him some water. He handed a glass to Jami and he drank it in one huge gulp and Edgar poured him some more so he could sip on it as Jamison tried to catch his breath.

"I ran up the hill as fast as I could as soon as I heard. What exactly happened? Getting anything out of Fuchsia was impossible because she was going into hysterics."

"What did she tell you?"

"All I heard from her sobbing was that Higgs wasn't here and that something happened. Fuchsia may seem delicate but she's not like these other women, so seeing her so upset made me realize something was wrong."

"Well, basically, Mr. Higgs left for the night in his werewolf form and hasn't returned."

"How long has he been missing?"

"Two weeks. Merida feels that Elizabeth Hinkley has him but we have no absolute proof to pin her as the culprit. There is other evidence that suggests that she is involved somehow but it's not something that could be used to accuse someone and we really need to get into her house for more verification."

"I see... How's Merida?"

"She's upset and angry and tired. The baby's really sapping her strength."

Jamison looked at him in utter confusion. "Baby?"

Edgar gasped, putting his hand over his mouth. "Oops..."

"What the hell happened while we were gone?! We just went to London for Christ's sake!" he growled.

"Uh..."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs... hanging clothes..."

Jamison headed to the stairs as Edgar just watched him go. He didn't want to be involved in that.

****************

"Merida? Merida, where are you? MERIDA!" Jami yelled.

"What?" she said, peaking her head out of a room and looking really annoyed.

He turned, walking over to her. "Is it true? Are you really..."

"God damn it, Edgar." She said with a frown. "Lad had one job..." She sighed. "Yes, I am."

"What the hell is going on? Margaret and I go on a holiday for a few weeks and in that time frame, we come back to find out that our daughter is pregnant, my son is missing, and his maid is pregnant with said son's child!"

"Weel, it wasnae supposed to be done like this. Higgs and I were going to tell ye all about what happened and what was planned when ye returned but then..."

"Can you elaborate then?"

"Weel (in the course of events and what I gathered from what Higgs told me) the merman basically helped Higgs to clear up his confusion. The boldness and inability to really stop himself seemed to show clearly who he really wanted. Everra time he tried to be with Elizabeth sexually, it was like he had to force himself to try. That's why he was drinking all the time, because he was trying to be inebriated enough to just go for it. But the curse had other ideas and so he ended up always coming to me instead. Once he realized that he was just running away from his own feelings and trying to force himself to like Elizabeth, he decided to just put a stop to it."

"So then what's this about Lady Hinkley maybe having him? Edgar mentioned something about that."

"Higgs didnae let her ken his feelings in the best way possible. Once he figured things out, I had a feeling an he went over to explain himself that somehow he'd come back ready to marry her. So he decided to write her a letter and it didnae exactly go to plan. Earlier this month he ended up somehow wandering onto her territory in his werewolf form and got shot by her in the shoulder. He came back and things were fine, but then a few weeks ago, he never came back home. I have a feeling that he ended up back on her land, and when Edgar and I went to investigate, we found a tree with blood all over it that we are pretty certain is Higgs. Also, when we went to Elizabeth's to ask about it, she came around the corner covered in blood trying to say that it was a deer she had speared but I'm not an idiot."

"Why would Elizabeth be covered in blood?"

"Apparently, Lady Hinkley is a master huntress of high notoriety within her family and other things. Her home is full of stuffings from her kills and I honestly dinnae doubt she's as good as she claims. That forest is hers and she hunts on it all the time."

"I see..." Jamison said, running his fingers through his hair. "How could this have happened? All we did was leave..."

"Tisnae yer fault, Laird Northumberly. I told ye that Lady Hinkley was suspicious."

"It's not that we don't or didn't believe you it's just that, as you said, there isn't enough proof to frame her. Intuition, gut feelings, and odd behavior don't hold up."

"I ken ye."

"But, despite all of this, congratulations. I will have to let Margaret know that we are to be expected two grandchildren." He grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Welcome into the family, Merida."

"We arenae even married yet."

"You've always been welcome into our family, Merida. We were just waiting for him to get his head out of his ass and hear some sort of news like this. It's unconventional and scandalous, but for our family it's kind of normal. I'm sorry it couldn't be the other way around but I know that Higgs wouldn't leave you. He does know, right?"

"Oh yes, he kens it..." They pulled away. "He had just been talking about if he should wait or if he should just go ahead and get things done but he wanted to talk to ye about it... It's eerie how we had spoken about it that night, when he never came back. For the first time in my life, I'm afeart that I willnae be able to get to him like I want. This baby isnae making things easy for me and I cannae do what I want."

"Don't worry about a thing, Merida. We'll do what we can to find him. Despite our fragile mentality, we Northumberlys are actually quite sturdy when it comes to facing certain things. No one has died prematurely as of yet."

"I hope that Higgs willnae be the first."

****************

Higgs jerked awake, his eyes searching the dark room in confusion. Where was he? He sniffed around and could only smell herbs and iron. His body felt heavy but his mind wasn't as foggy as before.

"Merida?" he called out hoarsely.

He was in a bed of sorts, not exactly the most comfortable. He sat up and hissed at the pain in his shoulders. He reached up and felt blood, looking around.

"Hello?"

There was no answer, so he got out of bed and walked along the damp wall to try and find a door. He finally felt wood and fumbled for a handle. He pulled and found the door unlocked. He frowned, not exactly happy. There seemed to be something amiss and things were way too easy... He found some stairs and made his way up, coming to another door. He paused, but opened it, coming into a place he didn't know. Where the heck was he? He suddenly smelled something savory and started to follow it through the dim hallways of the very eerily silent home. Higgs didn't like that.

Eventually, he found the source of the smell wafting from under the door of a room. He opened the door and saw a steaming bowl sitting atop a small table. It was highly suspicious as he smelled the air again. There was something in the soup that made him feel uneasy.

"The soup is for you." He heard behind him in the dark.

He jumped further into the room as he turned around, finding Elizabeth holding a candle in the doorway.

"Elizabeth."

"The soup is for you."

"I uh... I don't really want it."

"Why not?"

"It smells weird and I want to go home."

"You are home. You're with me, aren't you?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Lord Northumberly, you are turning into quite the cad." She said, turning her head a little.

"How's that?"

"You promised me a family, children, a title, and yet just as quickly you renounce it? For a Scotswoman?"

"I am so sorry that this happened in the fashion that it did. I should have never done such a thing to you. I know it was not done in the best way but in the end, we both would have been miserable. It was something I would regret."

"There are many people who are married to others that they do not know and yet they grow to love one another. I wouldn't have regretted anything and you would have come to love me."

"Elizabeth-"

"Just eat your soup, Mr. Higgs... or are you going to deny me that as well?"

Higgs sighed and went over to the soup. The setting was suspicious but the soup seemed to be fine... there was just something in the air that made him feel uneasy.

"Where are we?"

"My home, of course."

"No, I meant room-wise. This room smells very strange."

Elizabeth grinned. "You're so observant! I can show you where you are shortly but I'm sure you're hungry, right? Eat up."

"What's in the soup?"

"What?"

"You keep wanting me to eat this soup. What's in it?"

"Don't you have a heightened sense of smell? Why don't you tell me?"

"I'm not playing games with you, Elizabeth."

She sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have let everything dissipate from you; you've gotten belligerent again. Please don't make this hard, Lord Northumberly."

"Let me go home!" he growled.

"You are home, Higgs. I believe we already had this conversation just a moment ago. I don't like to repeat myself."

"Neither do I. Let me go, Elizabeth."

"Your ability to talk rational to me left when you blew me off to be with Merida. This is my home and when I tell you to eat, dog, you eat."

"Where is everyone?"

"I had Gretchen send them all home on holiday. When I'm done with you, they can come back." Higgs just stared at her. "Well I couldn't really have everyone snooping about while I played with you, right?"

"You are a sick woman."

"Nooooo, I'm a hunter and you are the best prey I've had all year and beyond. You turn into creatures of such strange and varying types. How could I not get a thrill out of it? Hunting deer, boar, and foxes? It's entertaining, but boring. I like the exotics; bears, wolves, wildcats. I've even traveled to a few other countries just to be able to hunt other types of animals but you and your family... You are unique creatures to have thrills with all in one body!"

"That's all you want from me?! To hunt me and hurt me?!"

"There's other stuff too, but mainly that, yes."

Higgs growled, crouching over a little. "Fine. Then if you're going to hunt me, I get to hunt you."

"You're so silly, Mr. Higgs."

"I'm dead serious." She stopped smiling. "Name your bargain."

"Alright..." she said, frowning. "I'll give you three nights to escape the manor. Each night, I will hunt you. If I capture you then you will do what I say and you won't try to escape ever again. You will acquiesce to everything I want, no matter what it is. Deal?"

"What about my terms?"

"Isn't getting away good enough? Now you're just being greedy."

"No. If I am able to keep away from you for three nights then I get to hunt you for three nights."

"Seems like a win-win for me."

"I'm not finished. Just because I get to hunt you doesn't mean I didn't win my freedom. This is just a bonus for me, as a return favor for kidnapping me. Whether or not I get you, after three days of hunting you, I'm walking out that door and I don't want you to ever come near me, my home, or my family ever again."

"Sure. Sounds exciting. I'll go ahead and give you a head start." She said, motioning towards the door. Higgs lifted an eyebrow. "Well it seems pretty dull to start the hunt in here, don't you think? Besides, you'll need time to find places to hide and how to get out. I'm not going to make this easy, and I need to find suitable weapons to take you down. I'm not going to hunt you down with a gun." She said with a giggle. "If I missed, there'd me gunshots in the walls and that's going to be very hard to explain. Oh, and you're completely allowed to fight back, by the way. You're an intelligent creature, so be intelligent."

Higgs made a face but walked to the door. He slid past her and into the hallway, walking backwards into the darkness of the house and finally taking off in a run. Elizabeth grinned. Let the games begin.