“Yes.” She sat up straight, at full attention.
She looked concentrated and poised as if she was about to center herself into another ritual. I patiently waited to see what she would do next. At least I wasn’t alone. Anything was better than waiting for the guys to return by myself.
I refused to collapse in on myself like a dying star.
The woman sat with her legs crossed in front of me. She was so close to me, invading my personal space. I didn’t care. I just needed to be with someone, anyone, right now. If I was alone with my thoughts, they would turn dangerously destructive. Things would escalate quickly, and I knew I would begin to tailspin. I didn’t care if the guys wouldn’t approve of me spending time with the mysterious woman.
To me, she was a token and representation of peace and comfort, something that I was desperate to attain right now until they came back and briefed me on what was happening out there in the midst of the camp.
The woman scooted a few inches closer to me so that now our knees were touching. She took my hands and began inspecting them as if she were a palm reader.
Then she began chanting incantations that I couldn’t understand. The language was unfamiliar to me.
Láttu myrkrið vera kastað út af ljósinu.
There was one chant in particular, that she began to say over and over, droning it louder and louder each time. Her eyes were closed, but I wanted to know what she was saying. I cleared my throat, hoping that it would jolt her out of her trance.
It worked. She stared at me with curious, piercing green eyes, just like mine. Gazing at her was like looking into the window of my own soul. I felt the penetrating depth of her hawk-like fixation on me.
“Pardon me for the interruption,“ I said and cleared my throat again. “But, do you mind sharing with me what you are saying?“
The woman let go of my hands. I let them hang limply in my lap for a few seconds as I studied her every move.
She reached over to her crystals and plucked one off of the makeshift shelf she had placed neatly into a tucked away little corner.
“This one in particular...“ she trailed off as she tapped on it with a red-painted index nail, “is my favorite.“
“It is?“ I asked, still feeling a little frustrated that she hadn’t explained the meaning of the words she had been chanting before.
The woman lovingly stroked the one smooth surface on the side of the roseate stone. “This is pink tourmaline,“ she said. “There are healing powers within us all.“
She held the crystal up above her head.
Láttu myrkrið vera kastað út af ljósinu, she stated again.
“Forgive me again," I said. "What does that mean? What you are saying?"
The woman continued to scrutinize the crystal, rolling it over and over again in her fingers, stroking it as if it was her child.
“The darkness will be cast out by the light," she said, still not looking at me.
I didn't know if she was translating what she had just stated in the foreign language, but I still didn't comprehend what she was trying to tell me as it applied to our current situation. She was ethereal as she stared off into space. I wanted to pick her brain. I wanted to submerge myself in her thoughts.
Why was I so compellingly drawn to her and everything she did? Was it perhaps because I spent most of my life without a mother and my subconscious wanted a maternal force of nature who could protect and guide me? I didn’t have any of the answers I wanted and it was making me feel melancholy.
“How do you remain stoic when so much madness keeps swirling around us?” I asked after watching her not so much as flinch as more shouting erupted our campsite.
“They are worried,” she stated abstractly.
“Who is worried?” I asked with a frown.
A strong gust of wind began to rattle our tent from the outside. A prickly, tingly sensation sent the hairs on the back of my neck perking up at attention.
“The leaders of the camp,” she said as if it should have been obvious. She placed the rose stone back in its designated spot on the shelf.
“Why?” My heart pounded.
The woman’s pupils dilated. Her eyes searched the room, scanning it as if she were looking for something meaningful.
“The prisoner,” she said. “He has escaped.”
I sat up. “Are you serious? How do you know that?”
The woman locked eyes with me. “He was a Master,” she said. “And now he has escaped right under their noses.”
“Are you a psychic too?” I asked, not knowing why I felt it necessary to add the ‘too’ to the sentence.
I wasn’t really sure what to call her, but she was certainly different from the rest of us. I couldn’t judge her for that, and I wouldn’t. In fact, it made me respect her even more.
“That is what is causing all this disruptive chaos and yelling,” she said. “The men feel vulnerable and threatened.”
I felt a terrifying tremble rush through my bones and into my center. If what the woman was stating was true, then it meant the Master would know where to find us. We were no longer going to be safe here.
25
Cameron
The Master had escaped from the rebellion camp, seemingly right in front of our eyes. And now it had been almost twenty-four hours later with no leads.
Ralph had sent some of his soldiers into the woods looking for the elusive and repulsive Master magician, but as they began to trudge back to the camp with their metaphorical tails tucked between their legs, lashing tempers began to flare.
I was becoming increasingly agitated myself, because the time for me to shift was rapidly approaching. I was pacing around in a little patch of green space while Otto, Leo, and Ralph argued amongst each other, trying to point fingers and place blame for how this incident could have occurred in the first place.
“I know it was that other werewolf,” Ayden said and clenched his fists by his sides. “That werewolf and the shifter slave. They’re the ones who let him go in the middle of the night when no one was watching.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Leo said. “It doesn’t make sense. The guard swears he was watching the Master the whole time. He swears that the rotation of rounds didn’t affect anyone keeping an eye on the Master at the post.”
“Well, obviously someone isn’t telling the truth,” Ralph said gruffly and slammed his hat onto the ground in a raging fit.
The last of the soldiers warily approached Ralph with his head tucked down and his hands clamped behind his back.
“We were unable to…” he trailed off as if he couldn’t stomach telling the rebellion camp leaders the terrible news, “discover the whereabout of the Master at this time.”
The soldier was young and lanky, a newbie at being on the road, clearly.
“Damn it!” Otto shouted and threw his arms up in the air with exasperation in his voice. “Now what? We have to find him, or else he will find us.”
“He knows where we are now.” Leo nodded, glancing around the group with a flicker of apprehension in his eyes.
“So what?” Ayden shrugged. “There are more of us than there are of them.”
“We don’t know that,” I said and met Ayden’s gaze.
He grumbled something inaudible under his breath in response.
“I still think that we need to figure out where the werewolf and the other slave shifter ran off to,” I said, trying to approach that subject once again.
“We don’t have proof of their involvement,” James said with chagrin. “They’re probably long gone.”
“Or are they?” There was hostility in Ayden’s tone, but it wasn’t directed at James, or any of us. He looked like he wanted to start spitting venom. “From the looks of it, when we were fighting the Master and the guards in the woods, they were actively helping them.”
“Well, we aren’t going to make any progress just sitting and talking about it forever,” Blaze said with a fatigued sigh.
“
I agree.” I nodded and met his gaze.
The minutes were going by at warp speed from my perspective. It was nearing time for me to shift. Midnight was going to make its presence known in the blink of an eye.
“We can send more soldiers into the woods in shifts,” Ralph suggested, looking like he was nearing the end of his rope.
There were dark bags under his eyes and his hair was askew, pointing out in all different directions.
“I’ll do it,” I said. I worked better alone anyway. They could do what they wanted. Ralph could run his base camp in any way he saw fit, but I didn’t mind volunteering. “I have to go out there anyway.”
Everyone turned their gazes toward me and stared at me expectantly.
“Oh, that’s right.” Leo nodded in recognition and pointed a finger at me. “You’re the werewolf guy.”
“Not the one who caused all the trouble in the first place.” I chuckled anxiously.
My little dose of lightheartedness didn’t really work with this tough crowd. Everyone just continued to give me a blank stare.
I didn’t mind being the representative for the whole. I had to wander the woods anyway. I might as well do something productive.
“I have to shift at midnight,” I explained to those who were unfamiliar with both the concept and my schedule. “I can hunt down the Master. I can sniff him out.” I grinned as if nothing would thrill me more. “And if I catch him, I’ll make sure that this time, he doesn’t get away again.”
Ayden appreciated my twisted sense of humor. He matched my grin with one of his own. “Hell, yeah!” He began nodding vigorously in agreement.
The others seemed to be inspired.
“All right.” Ralph nodded. “You can go and search for him while you do your…werewolf shift.”
“Great.” I nodded.
I was used to feeling like the odd man out. Curious looks and intrigued whispers no longer bothered me. It had been my life for years, and it was something that I had learned to endure.
“Good luck.” James cupped his hand over my shoulder and squeezed, right before giving me a brotherly slap on the back.
I smiled. “Thanks.”
I glanced over my shoulder and contemplated whether I should say goodbye to Sophia. As much as I yearned to be by her side, kissing her, touching her, and hugging her close to my body, I knew I didn’t have time for that right now.
I knew that if I went to her, I would get sucked into the sexual aura that she radiated on a constant basis. It was like a magnet being attracted to its opposite. I craved her in ways that I couldn’t explain.
I felt the zesty energy she had to offer. Arousal sprung from my gut and blood rushed into the cock hanging between my legs. I took a deep breath. It was time to go. The fantasies would motivate me to succeed and drive me to pursue my goals.
I wanted to be the hero for her, for everyone, really. I was the outcast, but not for long. I would come back with that damn Master’s head on a spike if that’s what I had to do.
Everyone mumbled their good luck wishes to me, giving me handshakes and pumping me full of adrenaline. After a few minutes, I charged into the woods without looking back. I had a quest to complete.
Werewolf shifting was imminent, but it wasn’t time just yet. I stopped to sniff the air. I would be able to follow the Master’s trail better once I shifted, but then I caught a lucky break.
It was as if the universe was trying to throw me a bone, to give us all a god-wink of assistance. While I was standing there quietly attempting to listen to the mystery of the darkness, I heard a shuffling on the ground nearby.
I stayed as still as I could, tuning into my surroundings as acutely as possible. The rustling continued. I heard a soft grunt and then someone sucked in a deep breath as if they were wincing in pain.
The sound was coming from beside me, to the east. I took one step forward and waited, determining whether the motion was going to make a crackling sound on the crunchy leaves below my feet.
One step at a time, I slowly lumbered toward the quiet grunts and scuffling leaves that faintly trickled through my ears.
I still couldn’t see the movement, but I heard it, and I knew it had to be a person and not an animal because the sound of the movement was slow.
Little by little, I inched my way along as if I was trying to skirt across a narrow ledge. I couldn’t afford to slip up and reveal myself. Whoever was in the woods with me wasn’t necessarily worried about being quiet and reserved.
“Ouch,” I heard a male voice hiss. Then another grunt, and then a squalling sound.
I didn’t know who I was going to confront, but I moved fluidly toward the sound. I was like a hawk beelining in on my target. It was time to go in for the kill. Whoever was out in these woods didn’t belong here and I was going to expose them, ripping them right from the darkness.
I swooped around a tree, turning corner at what felt like a hundred miles an hour, and then skidded to a stop in front of a large lump in front of my feet.
At first, the figure didn’t move. It trembled, but it didn’t lunge at me — or away from me either, for that matter.
“Who are you?” I asked in a grizzly tone.
“Pl—please…pl—ease don’t hurt me.”
The man tucked his arms protectively around his face and began to violently shake from head to toe, still curved in a little defensive ball on a bed of leaves.
I lifted him up, yanking him by his dress coat. He was fancy, that much was certain.
“What’s a man like you doing out here all alone in the woods?” I asked as I jerked him to a standing position and then pushed on him a little. He tumbled backward but didn’t fall.
“I…” the man sputtered and trailed off, looking terrified. His eyes were wild and alarmed as if he were a trapped animal with no escape route.
“You’re a Master,” I said, more as a statement than a question.
The man gulped hard and blinked, flickering his gaze down to his boots.
“So?” I asked, raising my voice a notch or two in order to rattle his cage a little further. “Where is your protection?”
“My…protection?” he asked, taking a step back from me as I continued to slowly creep closer to him.
Each time he attempted to widen the gap between us, I narrowed it a little more. I squared my shoulders and stood proud and tall. Even if he hadn’t been hunched over in fear, I would have still towered over him.
He was not the superior, alpha male here. He never had been, and he knew it. That was why he felt the need to control other shifters and make them his slaves. He needed that control, because the interwoven fabric of everything else in his life was fraying and falling apart by the second.
“Tell me where your guards are,” I demanded.
“I don’t…have any guards,” the man said, trembling as he worked himself up for a good sob. His eyes shimmered with tears of dread. His hands were so shaky that he had to place them in his pockets, thus rendering him defenseless if I decided to come out of nowhere and attack him.
“You’re lying,” I said. “Just like the rest of them.”
“The rest of who?” the man protested. “I told you. I am alone here in the woods.”
“Why?” I asked. “Is it because you just escaped the rebellion base camp and you can’t find your guards? Is it because you were interrupted by some shifters you came across in the woods, some of which whom to control your guards and make them act in ways you weren’t expecting?”
I stood over the man, screaming in his face.
He refused to look directly at me, but the truth was hiding behind his eyes and giving him away. He was caving emotionally.
“I know your type,” I said, attempting to keep my dominating position over him. “You think you’re so much better than us. You think you can just be skeevy and weasel your way out of trouble. That’s not going to happen tonight. Not for you. You aren’t one of the lucky ones.”
“Please…” the man begge
d again. His features wrinkled and his face twisted in mental anguish.
“There’s no one out here to hear you pleading for mercy,” I told him with a mocking laugh. “Now, tell me. Who freed you from the rebellion camp? Because they are next on my list.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The man attempted to puff out his chest in makeshift pride, but I saw behind his exterior walls. He was crumbling. He was caught and he knew it. He was like a mouse in a maze, just bumping into walls, or in this case, trees. I was the mad scientist who had control over his life, but even I knew my time to get him back to the rebellion camp was coming to an end.
I glanced at my watch. It was only a few minutes to midnight. I tried to remain calm. I couldn’t reveal my hand to him just yet. If he saw even the slightest hint of weakness in my demeanor then it would be like a rubber band snapping. I couldn’t give him an easy outlet.
But wait…
There might be another way to get the man to conform. He was a Master, which meant that he was savvy at manipulation. Could I turn the tables on him instead? I wasn’t necessarily a natural when it came to bartering in a threatening way, but I didn’t exactly have many options at the moment. It was now or never, do or die.
“Look, asshole,” I said and shoved him, then picked him up again by the collar of his pretentious white shirt. “There’s a new sheriff in town. And it ain’t you, pretty boy. I know your type. You think you’re so high and mighty, the best in the world. You think that we are the scum, and that you are the supreme. I’m here to tell you that the opposite is the real truth.”
I kept a firm grip on his shirt as we both glowered into each other’s eyes, each waiting for the other to make a move.
I wanted to spit in his face. I had to resist the temptation. I leaned in closer, so that I could smell his foul, hot breath stinking on my cheek.
“I’m a werewolf shifter, and I hate to break it to you, man,” I began with a menacing chuckle, “but I’m not the kind of werewolf shifter that you were torturing back there. I’m the big dog type. I’m talking adrenaline and aggression and the whole works.”
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