The grass beneath my feet was like velvet. There were no bugs in it either. No fleas to make my skin crawl, or fire ants to sting me. The blades were gentle, soft against my flesh to the point where it almost tickled, and I even felt bad for standing on it and maybe crumpling the fronds. But the scent that came when I did more than made up for the guilt.
It was fresh and clean, rich with a vibrancy that was like the best perfume in the world. The second morning, I’d rolled in it before I’d dived into the pool, and I’d scented of it all day.
Yum.
The trees here weren’t losing their leaves like they had back home. They were heavy with them, but they came in a thousand different shades. Not just greens, but a shade of blue that was close to green on the color palette. They had rich red veins that made them look like blood, and some were amber, some had metallic tints, and freckles of color here and there.
I had to admit, just staring at this place made me want to bring out my pen and pad, but Kali Sara, I hadn’t drawn in a long time because of the fibromyalgia.
Just getting out of bed in the morning had taken most of my energy, and then doing what I had to survive? There’d been nothing left over for fun stuff like drawing. Cooking and baking were tasks I’d had to force myself to undertake, simply because I couldn’t afford to waste food, but drawing? Nope. That had definitely fallen on the unimportant list of things to do on a daily basis.
It was on the tip of my tongue to wish for a pad and pen from the totem who seemed quite willing to grant me any and every wish I wanted, because the sight of the pool up ahead was a breathtaking one. It belonged in a National Geographic magazine, that was for sure. With the gold streaked, rusty-colored rocks behind it, the gentle roar—paradox, I knew—from the falls, then the way the water cascaded and rippled as still met flowing…
Truly, the sight was magnificent.
But I didn’t make my wish. Instead, I decided to use the bathroom, then think about finding Austin, and then maybe I’d wish for the drawing materials. In that order. It felt wrong to sully this place, but shit, a girl had needs!
Assuming that was where Austin had gone too, I shifted, and rather than try to find him, I sniffed him out—in this form, his scent was like a neon light. I knew exactly where he was now, and it was just beyond the pond. The water marred his essence some, but I could hear he was doing something.
To a tree, I thought.
Concerned he was defacing one, even though it made no sense for him to do that, I hurried about my business and began to sprint toward him.
I heard the snarl before I saw them, and it had me wondering how on Earth I’d failed to discern that I wasn’t alone.
I froze in the middle of a clearing, totally open and exposed, totally unable to defend myself in this form because I’d never had to fight, was literally a puppy in comparison to a grown wolf, and that noise?
From a wolf.
From the scent? Pungent and strong, rich with earth tones.
A natural one. Not a shifter who, beneath it all, had the faint smell of soap. These creatures had never seen a bar of soap in their lives.
When I froze, the snarl turned into a growl, long and low. It sent fear into my heart, and made my fur stand on edge.
I wanted to shift back to call on Austin for help, but I was frozen. Frozen to the point where I couldn’t even howl.
I didn’t even have the ability to whimper or mewl. And mentally? I could feel the block between us. I had no idea where it had come from or why, but whatever the wolf did to me, it was like he’d thrown water on me, then turned me to ice.
I’d never felt anything like it before.
In my own way, I was scrappy.
The only reason I’d run and hadn’t fought my father when I was a girl was because I was like a wounded bear in the aftermath of a hunter’s attack.
Here, now, I felt sure I was stronger. Hadn’t I told Austin that I’d take on my father in this form if he came after me now?
What the hell was wrong with me?
Why couldn’t I move?
As irritated as I was, I almost pissed myself when I felt the wolf approach me.
Only this time, I heard them.
It wasn’t just him, it was them. All male, all alpha. I sensed that like I sensed that they were natural. I also discerned they were big. Their padding noises were heavy, indicating a large weight, and that just—
Fuck.
Why would I hold any interest to them?
I was a shifter.
When one of them sniffed my butt, that had me instantly defrosting.
I was not about to be fucking mounted by a goddamn wolf!
Whipping around so fast I knew I surprised them, I snarled at them, my head dropping to the ground, fangs bared as I declared my outrage at their behavior.
They weren’t cowed, not by any means. And Kali Sara help me, there were eight of them.
Eight big bastards who were so much larger than me.
Terror filled me at what their intent might be, and then, when I feared I might die, or be wolf raped if that was even a thing, he was there.
I heard him, his pounding gait, his swift run. He was racing toward me, flat out, and I felt his energy in the air.
God, it made me want to sing.
But the naturals? They took my relief as a weakness. The leader, the nastiest with scars on his face, his thick silver fur looking charred at the ends with how black it was, his eyes a watery green that were loaded with hunger, went to pounce.
I flinched, waiting on his attack, but before I could, Austin sailed into the clearing.
He wasn’t there one minute, and the next, he was.
The naturals were smaller than him, and I only just registered how big he was, but there were eight of them and only one Austin. I was useless in this situation, like an ice sculpture, but I wanted to help, even though I knew, more than likely, if I did, I’d only get in the way.
So I watched on in horror as Austin took them all on at once.
I’d never seen anything like it outside of a documentary, and even then, I’d changed the channel because I didn’t want to watch wolves tear each other to shreds.
My God, that was what they did too.
This was unlike Ethan’s challenge. Nor was there any of that choreographed shit like you saw in movies where they fought one on one.
The pack attacked him en masse, and he was only one goddamn wolf.
He was going to die.
My mate was going to die.
Blind panic had the ice in my veins dissolving in an instant and, shifting back, I wished, “I need a gun!”
It was there, in my hands after a split second, and thanking my father for the one thing he’d done right in my childhood—taught me how to shoot—I took aim.
I had to be careful because Austin was in the fray, and the wolves were a blurring, snarling pile of fur and growls and blood—Kali Sara, some of which belonged to my mate. Aiming at the back, at where I figured the weakest would be, I made a shot.
The second the gun exploded in my hands, the bullet snarling its way through the atmosphere to hit its target, the beast’s yelp sounded. It was high-pitched and loaded with pain, so unlike the snarl of rage of seconds before, that it was like night and day.
The creatures froze, and I had no choice but to pick off a few more, leveling the fight, even if I only injured them enough to back out of the match. Some I missed entirely, wasting precious ammunition.
When I pulled the trigger and the slide locked back, empty, I snarled, “I need a gun!”
And for the first time, I didn’t get what I asked for.
I stared down at the weapon, clicking the trigger uselessly and wishing, “I need bullets! Please!”
By this point, there were four wolves against my man, but the odds were more in his favor than before.
My heart was in my throat, and my stomach was in knots as I watched them tear strips out of his hide, ripping into bone and muscle like a knife
through paper.
Fist against my mouth, terror in my veins, I watched as Austin released a howl so high and loud that it made my ears ring.
I knew what it meant.
He was sick of being attacked. This was the end.
Because I knew that, my heart slowed down a little, letting me breathe without feeling like I was going to choke.
I watched as his maw snapped around one of the wolf’s throats and he tore it out, and he treated the others to the same reward. Slicing through them as he pounced and nipped, leaped and fought for both our lives.
How had this place gone from paradise to hell?
When the alpha was the only one standing, I saw with relief they were both injured.
Because of the way they’d fought, I knew the beasts had to have been hurting each other to get to him.
A little like Ethan and Brandon had earlier, they circled around one another, trying to find a way in, trying to find a weakness, a means of survival.
The thought that Austin might die made me flop forward, my hands falling to my knees as the sheer notion gutted me like he’d been gutting some of those wolves.
I couldn’t live without him.
I couldn’t.
God, I loved him.
I loved him.
I needed him.
And I hurled that at him, mentally demanding he listen and hear me through his focus on besting the other wolf, as I cried, “I love you!”
Maybe that was all he needed to hear. Maybe it was like Ali goddamn Baba, but he pounced through the air and leaped onto the alpha. They tumbled and rolled, but within a minute, it was over.
Austin fell back as the alpha took his final breath, and I rushed over to him, watching as the other animals in the pack retreated to lick their wounds.
When I dropped to my knees at his side, I whimpered when I saw just how much damage there was.
“Shift back?” I pleaded, hoping that would heal him like in the books, but he just lay there, looking at me, and…
Fuck.
Was he going to die?
He couldn’t!
He just couldn’t.
No!
“I need you to save my mate,” I pleaded.
Nothing happened.
Again.
The blood stayed on his coat, he continued panting like he was winded, his eyes flickered like he wanted to drift to sleep, and I watched as he bled out onto the ground around us, staining the grass with the precious ruby liquid.
“Please,” I rasped, stroking my hand over his head before I shoved myself against him, coating myself in his blood just to get close.
“I’ll do anything!” I screamed. “Please!” I roared when I felt his breathing start to slow even more.
Terror flooded me in a way I hadn’t experienced since I was younger. Since I’d lost my baby.
I held him tight in my arms, as much as I could when he was a wolf and not a man, and I ground out, “Whatever you want of me, I offer it freely. Just don’t let him leave me.”
I knew the instant it happened—when my offering was granted.
I shuddered, hearing his heart against my ear, hearing his breathing strengthen. His body began to twitch, and he started to move and shuffle around like he was coming out of unconsciousness.
Within seconds, he was back to being a man, and he was in my arms and I could hold him with ease.
“Thank you,” I murmured to no one, to the air, to the spirit, Lidai, or the totem, whoever was fucking listening and in charge of this place.
My throat grew tight with tears, and I fought them, struggling before I let them fall.
As they brushed his skin, he rasped, “What happened?”
Didn’t he remember?
“We were attacked by a pack of natural wolves,” I rasped uncertainly. “I-I froze. You saved me.”
That was an incredibly simplistic answer, but it was all I was capable of.
He lay there, his heartbeat stronger but still weak, and I knew that even if she was healing him, it wasn’t like she was clicking her fingers and returning him to normal.
We lay there in silence, and I let him recuperate, let her work her magic on him, and only when I felt certain he was strong enough to get onto his feet, did I whisper, “Come on, let’s get you into the water. Clean you up some.”
He hummed under his breath, prompting me to look at him. He was covered in blood, his flesh torn a thousand different ways from teeth and claw marks, and his skin was ashen from what he’d endured, but he was alive.
My mouth trembled as I saw he was half dozing, and I decided to let him rest. The water would clean him up, but if he needed to sleep, then he needed to sleep.
He’d saved me. Saved us. And in turn, I’d saved him.
I got the lesson.
I did.
But I knew I’d just given a supposedly benevolent being leverage over us, and that filled me with dread.
Sabina
When I next awoke, it wasn’t on the forest floor. I wasn’t in the middle of a circle stained with blood, and it wasn’t with a slain wolf a few feet away.
It was in the clearing of the totem circle.
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when my eyes drifted open, I felt the magic resettle into me, and when I peered up at the bright blue sky through the canopies, I saw Eli and Ethan staring at me, studying me like I was a specimen in need of evaluation.
I reared up, almost smacking into them. Their speed saved me from a headache as I gazed around, looking for Austin.
When I found him?
He was naked.
His skin was just as torn as it had been earlier.
His body reflected the fight he’d been in.
Me?
I was naked, covered in his blood, and…
Releasing a shaky sigh, I covered my face with my hands and rasped, “How long were we gone?”
“A handful of minutes,” Eli replied softly, his focus on me absolute.
“You knew we weren’t here?”
“You were here, but you were unconscious. We couldn’t wake you up.” Ethan grunted. “Scared about a thousand lives off me.”
I gulped. “We just appeared naked and bloody in the blink of an eye?”
“Pretty much,” Eli grumbled. “It happened slowly, like it was blurred, but you were half undressed one second, and then like this the next.”
His leather shoes creaked as he rocked forward, and I peeked at him, the way he was so composed when I felt anything but.
Fuck, I needed that composure.
I hurled myself at him, uncaring that I was going to soil him, unconcerned that I was covered in all kinds of crap I needed to wash off, and that I was getting him stained with all the funk. I just needed his arms around me, I needed to know that everything was going to be all right.
When he embraced me, when I was tucked in his hold, I took a deep breath and let his scent fill me.
“You scent of him. He claimed you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?” Ethan questioned, and I saw he was kneeling beside Austin who was as still as a…
I couldn’t think it.
But fuck, he looked like he was dead!
Tears beckoned as my fear for him grew, even though I could hear his heartbeat like it was on a loudspeaker echoing in my head.
When I closed my eyes, I saw his light there, the bright orange still bouncing around, just not as much as before, like his energy was seriously depleted.
The fact that I could see him here when I hadn’t in that other place told me this was the status quo, and I hated that what had been a joyful experience was suddenly a nightmare.
And I had to go through it two more times.
Fear hit me hard, and I shuddered in Eli’s arms, whispering, “I’m scared.”
“You don’t have to be,” he said instantly, and though his strength reassured me, also, it didn’t.
He didn’t know what we’d just gone through in that plac
e where I’d thought we were safe.
I trembled, then muttered, “You can’t keep me safe there.”
“Where?” Ethan asked, his brow furrowed as he bowed over his brother.
“To—”
“I’ll always keep you safe,” Eli insisted as he reached up, grabbed my chin, and tipped it so I was staring up at him. When his mouth connected with mine?
I moaned into his kiss because I felt it happening again.
Before the fear could overwhelm me, I was there, back in that clearing where the wolf’s corpse lay on the ground, except, at my side, Austin wasn’t injured and broken, Eli was there.
My mouth quivered as I stared around, and unlike before, I was nervous where I’d been calm.
This place had its own snakes of Eden, and I felt the loss of my innocence as much as if I’d bitten into the apple of knowledge itself.
“Where the hell are we?”
I gulped, looked at him, and muttered, “When you kissed me, you brought us here.”
“I did?” He blinked. “This isn’t a dream. I thought I was hallucinating.”
I almost wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t. Didn’t. Instead, I shuddered and pressed my hands to my face.
He was there, just like he’d been before. Almost in an instant. I shivered when his arm came around me, holding me tighter, and I let him move us away from the dead wolf, away from the place of carnage, and toward the pool.
I scented it so strongly that it was like the water was in my nose. Like I’d snorted it down by accident.
“I need to get clean,” I told him, raising my arm so I could point at the pool. “That’s where we wash up.”
I felt his confusion, his outright bewilderment, and as much as I felt bad about it, I genuinely didn’t have it in me to explain anything at the moment.
Only knowing Austin was with Ethan, knowing he’d keep him safe and that my bargain had been accepted, that by the time I returned, maybe he’d be feeling better in those few moments, stopped me from breaking down entirely.
We made it to the pool with me tucked into Eli’s embrace like I was an old woman and he needed to guide me to a chair—an analogy that reminded me far too much of how I’d felt when I had fibromyalgia and couldn’t get up out of bed without a lot of help and a lot of energy.
WOLF CHILD: A PNR RH Romance (The Year of the Wolf Book 1) Page 20
