Not on my watch.
Leaping to my feet, I lunged forward. It was time to put the thing down. Permanently. My ears were probably bleeding, but I found a way to ignore the pain as I latched on to its already wounded arm and thrashed around as hard as I could, shaking it back and forth. I clenched harder as the vomit-inducing rotting sap spilled into my mouth once more. I was close. Just a little bit more and I would have it.
Snap.
The arm came free, separating from the thing entirely. I spat it aside. The tree-thing stared at its wound. Then at me. I bared my teeth and went in for more. That was my mistake.
Twisting at the torso faster than any human could, the tree-thing brought its other arm around like a whip, the branches soft and pliable. They connected with my side, and I screamed as it sawed right through my pelt, the force of the blow smashing me into the ground as well.
Warmth spread across my side. Too much warmth. Each breath was the stabbing of dozens of spikes into my side. But the effort cost the tree-thing, too, as it staggered off balance and went down. Somehow, despite it, I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the blood dripping down onto the forest floor with incredible regularity.
Baring my teeth, I growled a challenge at the tree-thing. Wordless though it was, I knew it understood me.
You want her. You go through me.
It had had enough. Turning, it ran off in a straight line that would take it directly into the heart of the forest. In seconds, the sounds of the forest returned. Insects buzzing. Animals in the distance. The life seemed to return around us. That exact lack of sound had attracted me as I made my way toward Sylvie’s place to apologize for breaking my promise.
I would have a chance now. I commanded my wolf to turn. So I could see her.
Two of four paws responded as I crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs and didn’t get back up. I couldn’t. Pain crashed over me in waves, bullying my eyes closed. I had done it. She was safe.
I had protected her.
Turning my head ever so slightly, I was able to find her. She was on her butt, back against a thick tree trunk, staring right back at me with wide, fear-filled eyes.
Get to her. Comfort her. Keep her safe.
The call was scary strong. Even in my current state, I somehow managed to crawl a few inches closer. But that was as close as I got. Seeing my wolf coming toward her caused Sylvie to backpedal around the tree until only her head was sticking out, watching me.
I could smell her fear, hear the pounding of her heart against her ribcage. She was afraid. Afraid of me. Understandable. But I could not let her go. Could not let her out of my sight. Not now. I had to protect her. She was all that mattered. She was what I needed. I had to show her that it was okay. That I had done my job.
Focus
, I told myself, trying to gather my thoughts and summon the energy to do the one thing I never thought I would do with her. The thing Icouldn’tdo. But I had to. It was the only choice left to me.
One more time. You can do it. One more time. Just one more. One … more …
Behind the tree, Sylvie turned and ran.
Sylvie
“Vee!”
I came to a screeching halt, nearly tripping over my feet in the race to focus on what I’d just heard. Or thought I heard. There was no way it was possible. Only person recently called me that name, and he was ignoring me. A long, long way away.
Unmoving, I waited for something else to change. For someone to pinch me or shake my leg and tell me to wake up and stop sleeping the day away. That’s what this had to be, a dream, all of it. No way was it real. I was going crazy.
You must believe it fully and completely. If I told you, you would think I was crazy.
The line from my grandmother’s last journal entry leaped off the page and slapped me across the face. It was absurd, of course, to the point I wanted to laugh. No way could she have known that the ancient tree in her backyard would explode and then come back to life and try to kill me, only to be stopped be an equally outsized wolf.
A wolf I’d seen before.
Muscles in my legs twitched, urging me to run. To dart back to the house and reality, where trees didn’t come alive and try to eat me.
“
Vee …”
I closed my eyes, my limbs trembling with fear, trying to shut out the voice and the pain that accompanied it. Leaves rustled in the trees around me as branches swayed and rubbed against one another. The light was fading. I was running out of time.
Did I really want to be stuck in this damned forest with that thing? I needed torun. To get out of there. Go somewhere safe. That’s what I needed.
This is impossible. It’s not real! It can’t be!
The thoughts spun in my forebrain like a carousel, rotating between them over, and over, and over. I couldn’t latch on to a thing. My breathing was shaky, uneven. My feet rooted to the ground.
What if itis him?
There it was. The question I’d been trying to avoid. Tying the voice I’d heard calling my name out here to the only person to say it in recent memory.
Screwing my face up tight, I slowly inched my way back around the direction I’d come. The forest itself seemed to sigh, though in relief or anticipation I couldn’t be sure. Branches drooped. The wind died off. But there was no silence. Birds called in the distance. The soft buzz of forest life was still there, still present. I hadn’t realized it before, but when the tree-thing was attacking, everything was silent. It, the forest, the world around me.
Until it screamed. Well, that and the voice I’d heard in my head. But that was also impossible, not real. Wasn’t it?
There was only one way to find out.
Adding my courage to the list of things being screwed up, I took a step back toward the clearing where I’d narrowly escaped death, or perhaps worse. Then another. Of course, I was still hiding behind the big tree trunk, using it to block me from view as I approached. But cowardice kept people alive. Right?
What felt like an eternity later, but was probably no more than a minute, I was out of room. The thick, rough bark of the tree was inches from my face. On the far side, the clearing. It was either look or turn back the way I’d come. But that option had already been discarded. I was too curious not to look, I needed to know too badly. The last thing I could handle was another mystery, another unknown.
Cautiously, I leaned to the side, peering out around the tree and bracing myself. Anything could be there. Anything
You already know what you’re going to find.
I still gasped as I saw the prone form in the middle of the clearing, right near where the wolf had fallen. There was no mistaking that sandy-brown hair, if the gold and black flannel shirt wasn’t already a dead giveaway, rolled up over forearms that I knew perfectly well could do a great many things …
What made me gasp were the blood stains across his body, matting his hair into giant clumps, as well as the limp sprawl on the ground. The man I knew, the man this body belonged to, who was always soalive to the point that power seemed to constantly struggle to escape his body. To see him this way was the shattering of an illusion.
He was no god. He was mortal. And his mortality was on full display because ofme. He’d suffered those wounds protectingme. In return, what did he get? Me, cowering in the woods, when he desperately needed help.
Adrenaline spurred me into action. I raced across the clearing, skinning my knees as I slid onto them next to him. “Linc? Linc, what are you doing here? Are you okay? Oh my god!”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply