As we reached the base of the mountain, he gathered me in his arms and carried me. It would speed things up… a lot. Besides, I hadn’t exactly been eating much recently, and even if I was fueled on protein bars, there was obviously no way I could climb the mountain.
He followed Brucella’s directions around the edge of the mountain until we reached five oak trees where, after I had shifted to his back, he immediately began to climb. Scaling the side of a mountain was no more difficult for him than scaling trees. He gripped the rocks with ease, lifting us gracefully several feet at a time.
I hadn’t realized how high up this mountain was from the ground. I dared pry my eyes from the back of Bastien’s muscular neck to gaze around. For a few seconds, I lost my breath at the view. We were higher than the mountain I had stayed in briefly in Bastien’s lair. Higher than any treetop he had taken me to. This was the highest vantage point from which I had ever witnessed The Woodlands. Beneath the moonlight, the oceans of swaying trees looked magical. Mystical. A world of exploration. I wondered how large The Woodlands was compared to the United States or some other earthly country. And how much of it I had traversed with Bastien over the last few days.
Bastien continued climbing until we reached the ledge Brucella had described, an overhanging plateau, which was actually much larger than I had expected it to be. Even despite my curiosity about the gate, I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting toward the view again, now more spectacular than ever. I was not sure if I had ever witnessed stars truly glitter, but the stars in this clear sky tonight were like shimmering diamonds. It was a mild night, and even so high up, the breeze was not overbearing. It was almost pleasant.
“Over there.” Bastien spoke behind me in a low voice. I turned to see that he was pointing about fifteen feet away from us. Etched into the ground was a circular hole. An abyss. A gate.
So Brucella was telling the truth. It had really been her lucky day that she had met somebody who knew of a gate and she was legitimately able to get rid of me. She knew that Bastien couldn’t object lest it look like we were more than just friends.
Friends.
That word again.
“I wonder if it really leads to where they say it leads,” I mumbled.
“There would only be one way to find out,” he replied, looking at me pointedly. “And I have no intention of inciting you to disobey your parents.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We will check it out with them.”
As we continued staring down into the portal, the silence of the mountaintop engulfed us. Then I stepped back, and we caught each other’s eye.
“Uh, well,” he said. “We found it.”
“Yeah,” I said faintly.
“I suppose we should return now.” He spoke slowly, like he was wholly unenthusiastic about the suggestion.
My eyes returned to the view. We—or rather, Bastien—had climbed all this way. It seemed a shame to leave so soon…
“We still have some time,” I said, raising a brow. “Why don’t we sit for a while? It’s so beautiful up here.”
“It is,” he replied, his voice a tad croaky.
We moved closer to the edge and lowered ourselves to the ground. Sitting next to each other, I once again felt the urge to be closer to him. To feel his touch. Why do I keep wanting that?
I resisted the urge to rest my head against his shoulder again this time, however, and instead said quietly, “I’m glad I’m not leaving so soon, Bastien.”
His gray irises reflected the starlight as he looked deep into my eyes. He didn’t need to answer for me to see just how glad he was too.
Bastien
A war was raging within me. A war I was losing with each moment that I stayed immersed in Victoria’s blue eyes.
It had crept up on me like a thief in the night, this feeling in my chest. This pull toward her. This desire.
Was this what I should be feeling for Rona?
Was this what my father had felt for my mother?
But this could not be. Not now, not ever. It was wrong on every level. More than wrong. It was fatal.
As eager as I had been to steal some time alone with Victoria this evening, now I was terrified. And yet, as I beheld her beautiful face, it was a terror I could not pull myself away from. I was losing myself to something. And it was swallowing me fast.
I drank in her appearance like a dying man. Her sparkling eyes, her rounded nose, her soft cheeks, her full lips. I had always found her lips beautiful but now… I wanted to touch them. I wanted to feel them. I wanted to know what they tasted like. I wanted to delve my fingers into her dark hair, explore every curve of her body.
An uncontrollable surge of longing coursed through me. I barely even heard her as she spoke to me. Her words were like echoes in my head, distant, far away. It felt like the world around me could disappear and I wouldn’t notice.
“Bastien,” I vaguely heard her whisper. “What are you thinking?”
That was my problem. I was not thinking. I’d lost my mental faculties. All I could do was feel.
But feeling wasn’t enough. I needed to reach out and pluck those cherry lips. I needed to…
The next thing I knew, my hands had moved to her face and my lips were on hers. Her breath hitched, but then her arms were sliding around my neck, closing the gap between our chests. Passion already burned through my veins, and her gesture set me alight. She wanted this, needed this, just as much as I did. All I was aware of was the blood pounding in my ears, Victoria’s soft ivory skin beneath my fingertips, her scent and taste beguiling my senses, the way her bosom heaved with uneven breathing. I wanted to possess her. Every part of her. Kiss every inch of skin that I could reach between her clothes…
I was not sure how we would have ever stopped kissing, or how deep I might have lost myself in her on that mountaintop, had the howling of two wolves not pierced the night.
Victoria
I supposed, deep down, Bastien and I had sensed all along that we were on a collision course. Others like Brucella had just seen the end before we had.
Bastien had known the fatality of that kiss. And yet, as he crushed his lips against mine with hooded eyes, he barely seemed cognizant. He kissed me slowly at first, his lips taking time to explore the contours of mine before his breathing became heavier, his caress more demanding. He claimed my mouth fully, marking his territory.
My mind had gone long past reasoning, too. My vision was still blurry when Bastien’s lips unclasped from mine, my mouth tingling from the force of his kiss.
Was that howling we just heard? I wondered, trying to piece the fragments of my intoxicated mind together. It sounded like it had come from the cluster of boulders above us.
Everything after that was a blur of confusion to me.
For the first time, Bastien swore. He grabbed me and flung me over his shoulder, and then he was heading for the portal.
“Wait!” I gasped. “Bastien!”
What’s he doing? Is he going to drop me through the portal?
If that had been his intention, he never got the chance. Two wolves bounded down from the boulders—a large light brown wolf, Brucella, and a muscular darker brown wolf, Dane. A part of me was hardly even surprised to see them here. We had already had reason to believe Bastien was being stalked at every opportunity. They had just been waiting for us to slip up.
I guessed they had followed him out here from the mountain. Bastien should have noticed, and perhaps he would have, had we not been so wrapped up in each other.
Brucella and Dane positioned themselves directly in front of the portal, blocking our way.
“You have gone too far with this wench, Bastien,” Brucella hissed. “I will not have you make a mockery of my daughter and our family!”
“Time for some fresh human meat,” Dane snarled, a malicious glint in his eye.
They launched at us. Bastien bolted backward and leapt without warning, sending us into a heart-stopping freefall off the cliff. Wind sliced past my e
ars. Then, with a violent jolt, we came to a stop about ten feet above the ground. Bastien had managed to stall us with a single arm, grabbing hold of a sturdy branch. I glanced back up at the mountain. My blood ran cold at the sight of Dane and Brucella thundering down.
“Hurry!” I breathed.
After shifting me to his back, Bastien began leaping from branch to branch. The wolves were almost directly beneath us by now, gnashing their jaws and growling.
“End this chase now, Bastien!” Brucella called up. “I promise, Dane will make it less painful for her if you do.”
Bastien’s gray eyes shone with panic. A sheen of sweat lined his forehead as he swung forward at breakneck speed.
We have to reach my family.
“Mom! Dad! Guys! Help!” I screamed, or at least, tried to scream. My throat had become so hoarse, my cry came out as a rasp.
Then, to my horror, Bastien faltered. Taking a misstep, he slipped from the branch. We both went crashing down to several layers of foliage beneath, where he managed to secure us again. Barely aware of my cuts and bruises, I was in a state of shock. Not from the fall, but from Bastien’s blunder. In all the traveling we’d done together, I had never once seen him falter.
It seemed that this was a night destined—or doomed—for first times.
I could only think that he was in such a state of panic, it was impairing his calculation of distances. But witnessing Bastien’s fallibility shook me. For some reason, it disturbed me even more than the sound that had started beneath us.
The sound of nails clawing up the tree.
By the time my limbs had recovered enough to climb onto his back again, it was too late. With terrifying strength, the wolves had managed to pull themselves up the trunk and onto our level. Bastien leapt upward and swung me to the top of the tree until my head broke out through the roof of leaves, emerging beneath the stars.
“They will only keep chasing us,” he breathed, his eyes boring into mine. “Keep shouting while I head them off.”
Before I could react, his body began to shift into a beast and he left me.
Coughing, I tried desperately to strengthen my voice before bellowing into the night for my family. For my parents, aunt, uncles, anyone to come and help. My insides churned at the sound of struggle beneath me.
As I swiveled about, gazing around the woods and screaming in panic, I caught sight of something in the sky. A sight that made my throat cramp up. The glimmering heavens which, only less than half an hour ago, had been a sight of sheer wonder, now struck me with utter terror. Looming on the horizon and traveling with hair-raising speed was a dark cloud of glinting scales and talons.
A colossal horde of mutants.
“Mutants!” I rasped. “There are mutants! In the sky! Heading this way!” My voice rang out louder this time. Loud enough to arrest the wolves battling beneath me. Branches creaked and Bastien’s silky head emerged through the leaves, Dane and Brucella poking their heads out about fifteen feet away. All eyes fixed on the dark cloud of mutants. They looked harrowingly closer than even just a few seconds ago, and were they wearing saddles? Were those hunters riding on their backs?
Oh, God.
How are they here? How could they have known to head this way?
“I knew it!” Brucella shrieked, her and Dane’s attention shooting back to me. “Bastien, you fool. Tell me at least that you see it now! She was on their side all along! And now she’s led them to us, striking in the dead of night, while most of us are resting and vulnerable.”
“No!” I gasped.
“I had a bad feeling about all of this.” Brucella steamrolled over me. “As soon as we gather the strongest and most influential wolves of our land all in one place—the very backbone of The Woodlands—first comes the magical arrival of her so-called family from The Shade, and now these hunters, barely a few hours apart!” Her harsh eyes drilled holes into mine. “All of this was planned, wasn’t it, you little hussy?”
“No!” I shouted, the blood boiling in my cheeks. “I swear, it’s not true!”
As I locked eyes with Bastien, the expression on his face knocked the breath out of me. Gone was the warmth I was accustomed to seeing in his eyes whenever he looked at me. In its place was doubt. Cold, hard doubt.
“You know it’s not true, Bastien!” I pleaded. My hands were shaking. I wished he were a man right now so I could grip his shoulders and shake him.
How can he think I would betray him? The answer to that question chilled me. I was not blind. I knew what this looked like. I myself could not even offer an explanation as to how these hunters had arrived.
I just needed time to get through to him. But time was the last thing we had.
A chorus of demonic screeching pierced our eardrums. The mutants were too close now. Fire began to billow from their mouths, scorching the trees beneath them and setting them alight as they hurtled forward.
“Cast her aside, Bastien!” Brucella roared, even as she began wading across the tree toward us. “You are meant for more than her.”
I never got the chance to discover whether Bastien would have still fought for me.
As Brucella came within four feet of reaching us, in an aura of pale orange, my cousin Ben arrived at my side. His mouth was grim and set as he wrapped his arms around me. He swiped me away from the tree and lifted me into the air.
“Bastien!” I cried down, even as Ben carried me further.
With snarls of frustration, Brucella and Dane began retreating, scurrying away from the blaze the mutants would soon engulf the tree in.
But Bastien remained perched in that treetop, head turned toward me, eyes dazed and glazed, until Ben swept me out of sight.
Derek
I felt bewildered as to how the hunters had known to come here, but when Ben returned carrying my niece, we had to leave.
Victoria begged our five witches to do something to help, but she was out of her mind in panic. We didn’t have enough time, enough warning. God knew how many hundreds—maybe even thousands— of mutants had flocked in the sky and were but moments from devouring our part of the woods.
“Where is the gate, Vicky?” I asked, gripping her shoulders.
“On the other side of the mountain,” she croaked. “There are five oak trees. Above them is a plateau. But Uncle, please! We have to help Bastien! He was still in the treetops!”
“I’ll go,” Kailyn said. “I’ll join you by the portal.” She lifted into the air and hurtled away toward where Victoria was pointing.
Our witches vanished the rest of us to the other side of the mountain, where we located the gate. My niece was practically trembling as we gazed out from this vantage point. The sea of trees had become a blazing ocean of fire.
Anger coursed through my veins. These hunters have lost their damn minds!
I caught sight of Kailyn shooting toward us, empty-handed.
“There was too much fire for me to see anything,” Kailyn panted, landing. “I’m so sorry, Victoria.”
Victoria looked like she’d been winded as Xavier caught her by her midriff and carried her to the edge of the gate. He leapt through with her, and the rest of us tumbled in after them.
On the other side, we landed in a field of wheat, bordered by low, oblong buildings. We were on the outskirts of some kind of walled human settlement, no doubt. But we had no time to ponder where in the world we might be. I just ordered the witches, “Take us back to The Shade.”
* * *
“How did it happen?” Vicky asked shakily, as we reappeared at the end of the Port’s jetty. “How did the hunters know to come?”
I didn’t have the slightest clue. Neither did anyone else.
But before any of us could start coming up with speculations, Victoria gasped. “Oh my,” she said softly. “Wh-When you visited Bastien’s cousin…” She gulped. “Could he have tagged you in any way?”
“Tagged us?” Vivienne frowned.
“Planted a tracker with you?” Victoria pressed.
“W-We accepted water flasks from them,” Grace blurted.
Oh, God.
So we did.
A chilled silence followed.
“Show them to me,” Victoria demanded.
We retrieved them from our backpacks and laid them on the floor in front of her. She crouched over them and picked them up one by one, examining them closely before discarding them. When she came to Arwen’s flask, however, she pored over it much longer. Her fingers trailed along a tiny ridge that ran the circumference of the flask’s lid, a ridge so small and insignificant, one could hardly notice it. She began twisting the lid forcefully, and to my shock, it pried in half, revealing a small hollow interior, inside of which was… a tiny metal bullet. A metal bullet with a minuscule red-flashing light at either tip.
A tracker.
There was no way in heaven or hell we could have guessed a medieval-looking chieftain would have implanted this kind of technology in one of our water flasks. At the time, we’d had no reason to distrust his offer of something so simple and innocent as water. It was only later that Victoria had informed us that he had been compromised by the hunters. But still, I’d never thought to suspect the water flasks. I’d had far too many other things on my mind.
Now I was cursing myself.
“That snake of a cousin had you tracked the whole time!” Victoria exclaimed.
The thought made me sick to my stomach. It reminded me of a time when Lucas would’ve done such a thing to me. I knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of such deceit. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.
I gathered up the flasks and bundled them into Ibrahim’s arms. “Destroy these,” I told him.
“We have to go back! Now!” Victoria urged.
“Darling,” Vivienne said, catching her hands. “We can’t just return blindly.”
I moved to my niece and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her face and limbs were covered in cuts and bruises. The urgency in her eyes was familiar to me. I’d witnessed the same in my own daughter’s before, when she had been separated from Caleb. Something much deeper than friendship had obviously formed between her and the werewolf. “I need to gather my thoughts,” I said, addressing not just Victoria, but the whole group. “For now, go and recuperate. But be ready for my call.”
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