by Bonnie Vanak
Never had she seen such swift speed.
Too stunned by what had happened, she backed off as Grayson killed the remaining Rider. Then he raced after the burning Fae, killed him as well, and caught up with the centaur.
She closed her eyes, trembling badly. When she opened them, she was back in Skin. Katy conjured clothing, too stricken to think straight.
Muzzle bloodied, Grayson loped into the clearing, his blue eyes scanning the carnage. The centaur she had killed lay on the sand, black blood pooling by his head. Grayson went to the corpse, sniffed it, and then lifted his hind leg.
It would have been funny had she not been so terrified.
He loped over to her and regarded her with those cool blue eyes. In Lupine form, Grayson was large as a small pony. Black as ink, the wolf outweighed her alpha by at least a hundred pounds. She stepped back, afraid of the terrible power radiating from her friend.
Crimson dripping from its jaws, the wolf turned to her. Sorrow swam in the ice blue eyes. “Katy, you fear me.”
This was the man/Lupine who would never hurt her, who risked his own life to find entrance into the Dark Kingdom and find her, bring her safely home.
“I don’t fear you, Grayson.” She stared at her hands, which had grown talons that had ripped out the throat of the centaur. “I fear what I am. What am I?”
“Don’t.” His voice thickened. “There is nothing to fear, Katy. You’re different. And here, those differences are lifesavers.”
“What am I? I’ve never attacked another living being before, except to hunt prey. And yet the rage within me, seeing them attack you, I felt nothing but bloodlust. And you…”
This wasn’t like killing prey to eat. She had downed a creature twice her size, and ripped him apart like a feral wolf. Katy knew what happened to feral wolves. In the end, the Silver Wizard, the judge and guardian of Lupines, usually had to dispose of them quickly. It was a merciful death. Wolves without the discipline of pack, Lupines that did as they pleased and killed viciously, were dangerous in the Skin world. Feral Lupines didn’t care about the rules governing them. They risked exposure, and letting out the secret that Others roamed the earth alongside the human race.
Humans must never know that werewolves existed.
Grayson shifted back to Skin and clothed himself in jeans, and a black T-shirt. Familiar clothing. She’d seen him wear this several times around the ranch when he helped wranglers round up stray cattle or fix a fencepost bordering his ranch and her pack’s.
The clothing grounded her. Perhaps he meant it to do exactly that.
Grayson held out his hands. Strong, calloused, the palms of a rancher. Not a feral wolf, a creature that could bring down two nightmarish Fae and a centaur that made a Clydesdale look like a pony.
“Katy, come here.”
Immobilized, she could not move. This place was too strange, too frightening. She had become frightening as well.
His voice softened to a husky plea. “Please. It’s me, Grayson. Your friend.”
He kept speaking in a soothing tone, as if she were a wild animal to tame to his hand. Katy didn’t want to approach him. Her heart pounded like a drum, and sweat dampened her hands. The fear became a live, writhing beast inside her.
And then she looked into his eyes and saw the haunted shadows there.
Whatever this thing had become, this thing that was her, he suffered from it as well.
She went to him and he did not move. Only when she flattened her palm against his deep chest, to feel the steady rhythm of his heart and know it was Grayson, did his arms wrap around her.
For a minute they remained motionless, the stench of blood and death and evil swirling around them. Grayson finally rested his chin atop her head.
“Katy. My Katy. You are not a monster. I will explain everything, but right now is not the place. At dusk, creatures of the night roam the Blasted Zone to search for easy prey. The blood will draw them close.”
But he had changed. No longer Grayson, the guarded but approachable cowboy. Even his manner of speaking had changed and become more formal, less folksy. Less Grayson.
What was he?
She pulled away and stared at her hands, her now-normal hands. And what did that make her?
He brushed a lock of damp hair from her face. “We have to go, sweetheart. I have to get you someplace safe.”
Taking her hand, he picked up the pack and tugged her toward the narrow passage cutting through the thick mountains. It looked nearly impassable. She had no choice but to follow. In this foreign, dangerous land, she was lost.
Grayson nodded. “Go first. It looks as if it will close in on you, but that’s an illusion created to keep out other species.”
I hope so. I don’t relish the idea of being trapped in here if more of those things chase us.
He pulled her close and kissed her cheek, a mere brush of his lips, but the contact made her toes curl. “Remember, if you get scared, I am behind you all the way. You are Lupine. Strong. You can do this.”
They walked through the passage, Katy in front of Grayson. A chill raced down her spine as the thick, tall rock seemed to compress her. I am Lupine. I am strong. I can do this.
Finally the strip of daylight became wider, and the passage opened. She saw nothing but a thick covering of greenery.
“Touch it. It will recognize your DNA as Lupine and it’ll let you through,” Grayson told her.
Katy touched the hedge, marveling as the bushes rustled, and then parted. She stepped onto a pathway strewn with thick pine needles and branches. Trees flanked the pathway, thick, dark and menacing. It was a forest, and her wolf normally adored forests.
But at this forest, her wolf whined, cringed and wanted to turn back. Run the other way. The scent of danger tainted the air like old blood.
Grayson stepped through the hedges. Adjusting the pack on his broad shoulders, he jerked his head toward a ribbon-like path snaking through the woods. “Stay close behind me and do not look back. Stay on the path.”
Behind her, she heard the hedges close. Too late to run in the other direction. She had to push forward.
They walked only for a few minutes, but her stomach clenched in knots and gooseflesh sprang out on her bare arms.
Go back, her mind screamed.
This was not the forest of her beloved Montana ranch. The trees were tall and thick, their roots snaking across the floor, ready to trip the unwary. Rocks pebbled the floor, and the ground was riddled with undergrowth that held no sounds of wildlife, or even insects. The trees were so thick, insufficient sunshine spilled downward, making the woods spooky.
Decaying vegetation and pieces of fallen tree branches littered the forest floor like old bones. Wind whipped through the treetops, moaning like a banshee. And then it stopped. The silence became so jarring, it felt as if she stood in a valley of emptiness. There was no sound but for her own frantic breaths.
Katy scanned her surroundings, alarmed at how her skin crawled with apprehension. The trees seemed menacing, with long branches stretching out like malevolent hands. Purple circles ringed the trees, like a thick, ugly fungus.
Grayson headed forward until reaching a small stream. She trudged behind Grayson as a sense of foreboding filled her. This land of darkness presented unknown threats. Something deep inside her nudged her to go faster, get out of these woods.
They were dangerous.
And Grayson, her handsome cowboy friend, had changed into a Lupine equally as dangerous.
Suddenly Grayson turned right, stepping away from the path. He headed into the bank of ferns, farther from the stream. Katy hesitated. He’d been so insistent on following the path…
“Where are you going?” she called out.
“Shortcut. We’re losing daylight.”
Silence draped the woods but for the sound of their footsteps and her own increasing breaths. Dusk had started to fall, the purple, pink and bright pink shadows creeping across the forest floor like living things.
“It’s getting dark and it’s faster to hike by the stream,” Grayson told her. “We need to reach sanctuary before full dark.”
“What sanctuary?”
“Wolf Haven.”
“What is this place?” She felt a chill rush down her spine, as if a ghost finger stroked an icy finger down her bare back. This did not seem like any type of sanctuary.
“I told you before. The Feral Forest.”
The pathway narrowed and she picked her way over rocks. Charcoal-colored tree roots snaked over the path, stretching out like fingers as they trudged forward. Green moss-coated rocks provided little traction as she followed Grayson alongside the gurgling water.
Her wolf whined, wanting to go home now. Why, now that Grayson found her, did he insist on taking her to this awful place?
“Can we go back? I need to get home.” Goddess, she sounded whiny, but Katy didn’t care. All her nerves were jangled and she couldn’t help feeling she’d been here before.
Ancient cries of pain and anguish echoed in her mind, like memories. Katy rubbed her temples. She knew this place and it wasn’t her imagination.
She had been here before, and had no memory of it, until now.
Grayson glanced upward. A thin fog crept over the stream, droplets of mist creeping toward them like smoke. “Stay with me,” he repeated. “Don’t think about anything, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.”
“Why can’t we shift? We’ll get there faster.”
Grayson stopped, looked at her, his blue eyes cold as ice. “Whatever you do, never shift into wolf in the Feral Forest. Do as I say.”
He turned back and kept going. She followed, fear coagulating in her stomach with worry. Grayson had turned into an arrogant Lupine, no consideration for her feelings or that she might be…
A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. Katy jumped.
“Don’t look back,” Grayson ordered.
He couldn’t tell her what to do all the time. She could not resist. Maybe someone was in trouble.
Katy turned her head.
A bone-white skeleton, flesh rotting on its slender frame, hung from the limb of a tree about five feet from the water’s edge. The mouth opened.
“Kaaaaty,” it sang out. “Turn back.”
Screaming, she stumbled forward, almost falling into the stream. Grayson caught her, helped her straighten.
“The skeleton…” she gasped, shaking badly.
“It was your imagination. There’s nothing there.”
“But…”
“I warned you, do not look back,” he snapped. “Now follow me and do as I say! We have to get through here before nightfall.”
Since twilight had already started to fill the forest with grayish light, his words filled her with more anxiety.
He picked up the pace, and she struggled to follow. The rocks were perilous and slick as oil. One misstep and she’d topple.
You can do this, a voice whispered in her mind.
The voice sounded like Grayson. She could not be certain. Katy pushed back the fear and focused on Grayson, feeling her wolf rise to the surface. Watching him, she let the beast go, let instinct guide her, not logic.
To her surprise, the slippery, moss-coated rocks seemed less hazardous. She leapt from one to the other as he did. It almost seemed as if her wolf knew this way. But how?
After fifteen minutes, Grayson stopped. The stream diverted to the west. He headed back in the direction of the path. Confused, she followed.
“Where are you going? You said to follow the stream.”
“Shortcut.”
He seemed to know where he was going, she had to trust him. Katy followed, and then the ground became more rocky and treacherous.
Grayson stopped. Before them yawned a rocky slope that seemed to drop straight into the ground. Green and purple fungus sprouted on the boulders before them. The descent led straight into an ink-black cave. Wind rustled the treetops. Something whispered in the air in a deep voice.
Don’t go in there. You will never get out.
Katy balked. No way was she going in there.
“Forget it. I’m going back to the stream.”
If she had to get stuck in the dark, she wanted the safety of water at least, and a place to wait until morning.
Grayson shook his head. “It will save us thirty minutes. It’s a shortcut, Katy. Just a few minutes and you’ll be in the clear.”
Right. In the clear…for what? For him to strangle her in that suffocating space? Hide her body so no one would ever find it? Horrific images danced in her mind…dead bodies piled up like firewood. This cave was Grayson’s hiding place where he liked to store all his victims…
Don’t go, Katy, the whispers in the air warned.
Katy backed away. “No.”
His expression softened. “I’ve pushed you hard until now. Please, do as I say.”
“I’ll take my chances with the stream.”
“I would never hurt you. You’re safe with me, sweetheart.” Grayson came close. Closer still. And then he had his fingers on her upper arms, his touch light.
“I don’t know who you are,” she whispered. “How do I know you’re not the one who ordered Charles to kidnap me and bring me here? You could be a demon, Grayson. I saw what you turned into when you fought those Riders.”
His fingers tightened around her arms. “Because if I were a demon, I would have already killed you and feasted on your flesh. I’m not a demon, Katy. I’m not a banshee or a ghost of a Lupine who never made it out of these woods. I’m Grayson. Your Grayson.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, not knowing if she could believe him, or if she was better off on her own.
“This forest is filled with tricks and lies to trip you up, Katy. Every sadness, fear and doubt you’ve held becomes larger, more haunting. It will kill you faster than any other creature in the Dark Kingdom. It’s a test of stamina, to see if you are strong enough to survive life here. You must conqueror the darkness inside yourself.” His mouth flattened. “Or you become as lost as the demons and spirits haunting this place, the spirits of Lupines who surrendered to total darkness and turned evil.”
The nagging question that kept poking at her like a sore tooth prodded her to finally voice her deepest concern. “Did my birth parents die here?”
Grayson turned away, his jawline taut. “We need to push on.”
Oh goddess, that wasn’t good, so not good. Don’t think, don’t even think about them, just follow him, get out of here…
Shadows draped the ground, making it difficult to see. Looking up, she saw the darkness begin to descend like fog.
Before them was the cave. Behind her, the stream.
Grayson stepped back and held out his hand. “Trust me. Please.”
Don’t do it, the whispers pleaded. Don’t trust him, he’s the dangerous one.
But she remembered Grayson—all those times they’d been riding together, how he’d always made her smile and laugh, and how protective he’d been of her.
He was the only one who came here to the Dark Kingdom to save her butt. No one else had.
Katy put her hand into his. A great, shuddering sigh of relief fled him.
The way down was even more treacherous than the slippery rocks by the stream. They were barely a third of the way down when he turned and swung her into his arms. It felt so familiar, though he’d never done this. A distant thought nagged her.
The shadow of a faint memory pulsed—feeling warm and safe in his arms.
They reached the cave and he set her down, then looked at her in the gathering purple shadows of dark. “Don’t be scared. Trust me. Don’t listen to the voices, either. They will taunt you, try to make you hurt yourself, or me.”
Then he stretched out his arm, and his hand glowed with an eerie white light, as if he held a lantern.
“What magick is that?” she asked, fascinated more than fearful.
She followed him through the inky darkness of the cave, a constant drip, drip, drip of water softly pinging onto the cavern floor to her right. She felt something slimy poke the bare skin of her arm. She shuddered.
Voices whispered at her. They killed themselves. Your parents wanted to kill you. They wanted to strangle you and eat your flesh while you slowly died…
Katy screamed and clapped her hands over her ears. “They did not kill themselves, stop it, stop it!”
And then Grayson was there, big, comforting Grayson, holding her tight, rocking her back and forth, the light from his hands illuminating the blackness. “It’s an illusion, sweetheart. All in your mind. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
“They’re dead. They died here.” Warm tears streamed down her face.
“I’ll tell you later. Not here. Come on.” Two warm hands cupped her cheeks, and the light from his hands felt as comforting as a down blanket. “We’re almost there, I promise.”
He was an anchor in a stormy sea. Katy laced her hands around his wrists. “Don’t leave me.”
She kissed him, and he flinched in surprise. His mouth was warm, firm and felt like heaven in this little part of hell. Needing more, she leaned against him, kissing him harder, and heard him sigh, felt him respond as his heart rate increased. Sensing the restraint within him, she tried to deepen the kiss.
He broke it off gently. “Not now, Katy.” Voice hoarse in the darkness, he quivered beneath her touch, as if he didn’t dare touch her further. As if he could lose control.
That realization pushed aside the darkness, the nasty voices and the fear. Grayson would not hurt her. He was different, something “other,” but he was not going to hurt her.
He took her hand and led her forward.
And then there was a pinprick of light ahead, wonderful, beautiful light. He quickened his pace and then they were outside the cavern.
Moonlight.
The moon was nearly as bright as the sun, filling the air with lovely silver light. She found herself in a verdant forest, with a crystal clear stream rippling through a field ripe with lavender wildflowers. A waterfall sparkled with blue, red, and green colors as it spilled down a hillside.
