Chapter 16 #3
My heart began to beat slower, everything turning hazy around me, the sound of drums growing louder as my body began to feel almost as if I was trying to walk through quicksand.
My pulse began to move in tune with the heavy beat that vibrated through my core.
I was at a stop and looked towards my boys, only to realize they didn’t seem to have heard at all. Where the hell was that coming from?
Better question, why was I feeling flushed because of it? I inhaled sharply as I tried to get the attention of my men. “Do you guys hear that?”
They walked right past me, and I frowned. It was like they didn’t see me, none of them stopping to see why I had stopped. When I called out for them again, they continued walking.
This wasn’t good.
“Guys?” I called out, but they kept walking…before disappearing into thin air.
The music grew louder, causing me to snap my head in the direction it originated from and look down at where I stood. Just a toe off the path.
Oh. Oh no. I drew it back, but the trees rustled and drew my attention to the creature that now stood on the path before me. I didn’t have time to call out for any level of help before I was yanked up into the air, a surprised sound escaping my throat.
Underneath me, tree bark and vines circled my body and tore through my clothes, running against my skin in an oddly caressing way.
My breathing hitched as two wrapped around my upper thighs and the others around my waist, holding me suspended stories off the ground, looking at what I could only describe as a large… wolf?
I mean, it wasn’t like any wolf I had ever seen, though.
First of all, he was massive. I had no idea how I knew it was a he, but instinct told me that was the case.
He was nearly as tall as the top of the trees while sitting, staring at me from as I hung in the hold of these rather touchy trees.
I struggled to move, but he just moved closer, bending his giant snout and coming eye level with me.
Somehow, despite being absolutely vicious, I found the wolf sort of adorable, and it may have had to do with how unique he was.
His black fur seemed to float off him like shadows, and his snout had glowing lights down either side that matched his moonlit eyes. He was actually gorgeous, and the moon behind him seemed to cause his fur to almost glow silver.
Wait, when the hell had it become nighttime?
Oh man, this was all messed up. I had a feeling I wasn’t even in the normal span of time that I’d been in before stepping off the path.
I knew that some nightmares had the ability to open up pocket dimensions or draw others into their magic to experience an illusion, and I was curious which one this happened to be.
The trees tightened on me again, and I tried to repress a shiver that almost took over my body. Something about the air around me was charged and dangerous. I nibbled my lip as I tried to consider how to communicate with this nightmare. Was it possible for him to shift?
“Hi there,” I offered as the wolf let out a low rumble.
When he dipped his nose further towards me and sniffed along my body, his magic that wrapped around me caused my body to light up dangerously.
Desire smacked into me as I inhaled sharply, not understanding my reaction.
I mean, he wasn’t one of my men, my mates, so why did I feel this way? I literally had no idea who this was.
Suddenly, he pressed his nose right at the apex of my thighs where the trees parted them, and I let out a squeak.
“Hey! Do not do that!” I scowled.
He pulled back, and his eyes seemed to glow brighter.
“No, I am serious.” I frowned. “That really wasn’t cool.”
It wasn’t because I really didn’t understand the reaction my body was having to him.
The wolf let out an almost whimper after a moment and pressed its nose against my stomach instead, causing me to let out a surprised sound, my fingers running over his snout. I was almost positive he was attempting to apologize.
“Were you the one who took me off the path?” I demanded softly.
A rumble came from the wolf as he nudged me hard, the trees loosening as I yelped and nearly fell. Clearly he didn’t know his own strength.
“If you keep doing that, you’re going to knock me down and kill me.”
He pulled back and offered me another head tilt.
I inhaled. “You need to return me back to the ground and with my—”
A vicious snarl ripped from his throat that had me narrowing my eyes. “I am not arguing about this. You can’t just kidnap people off of the path. Besides, you can’t even tell me why, unless you can shift back.”
The wolf suddenly went completely quiet, his head dropping as a soft, sad noise left his throat. I felt a surge of concern and instinctively tapped the branches in a request for them to loosen their hold. Oddly enough, they did, and I used my foot on one of them to jump towards him.
His eyes snapped up as he stood, allowing me to land on his snout.
I scrambled to sit up, his shadows wrapping around me and keeping me from falling off.
I sat on the very edge of his nose and faced him so we could talk properly.
He stayed perfectly still and stared at me, admittedly a bit cross-eyed in an adorable fashion, as I offered a small smile.
“Can you shift back?” I ran my hand across his nose as more spots lit up on his snout, but his eyes darkened, and I could practically see the sadness radiating from him. After a moment, the lights went off completely, leaving us in just darkness, emotion clouding my throat.
On a spontaneous move, I decided to wrap my arms around his nose and lay on his snout, giving him the best hug I could.
My eyes watered a bit, almost feeling the pain seeping off of him, clearly upset about being able to not shift.
Or maybe he could shift but it was too painful?
Maybe he hadn’t in far too long? I wanted to know who this nightmare was, and I couldn’t help but feel every emotion that radiated off of him.
Eventually, he let out a soft rumble, and I made a happy sound at the way his energy seemed to lighten.
“It’s okay if you can’t,” I expressed in understanding. “I just figured it would be—”
Suddenly, a thunderous crash filled the space like a tidal wave, darkness crashing over us as I felt myself falling through the air.
No scream came from my throat, but I did flail my arms out, trying to grasp onto something.
When I was ripped out of the darkness, I landed hard on the ground, everything around me turning dizzy as my head pulsed with pain.
It didn’t last long as a large nose pressed against me, and despite the danger coming towards us, he was making sure I was okay.
I stumbled to standing and thrust my hands into his thick fur for balance.
He sat behind me as the tree in front of us crashed to reveal…
“Cy?” I asked happily, realizing that it was just my men. Why hadn’t I felt their energy like normal? The wolf above me let out a deep, vicious growl as all of my men appeared, staring at me wide-eyed.
Almost immediately, Amun shifted and my mouth fell open, watching the way he seemed to just grow larger and larger. This time, his mummy wraps were far tighter, and the wolf bent down to grab the back of my hoodie with his teeth as he moved me behind him.
Shit.
Next I heard Cy shift as a hiss filled the air, and my breathing quickened. Actually, most of my men shifted, none giving me a moment to resolve this peacefully. In fact, I had to run forward just to stop them from clashing with the wolf.
It didn’t work very well though.
The wolf put his paw in front of my path, completely stopping me.
“You have to let me through.” I peeked up at him as he brushed his nose into me and knocked me back.
“Hand her over, now.” Saint’s voice was cold and hard, filled with almost a bit of…concern? Saint was concerned? Oh no, that wasn’t good at all.
The wind grew violent around us in response, and I briefly saw Blackwell and Damian both moving forward easily, nearly reaching us before the earth itself cracked open. I let out a call of warning as I tried to break away again, not wanting them to get hurt.
“Guys, stop! Please.”
“Can’t do that. You have no idea how much danger you are in,” Zain insisted, somehow maintaining his human form despite shaking.
“Trust me, he’s fine— Cy, no!”
Cy lunged and snapped his teeth, the wolf roaring out as a bit of venom hit his paw.
No. We were not doing this. I strode forward and looked up towards the wolf. “Stop.” Then, looking towards the others. “Everyone just stop—”
My scream cut off my words as I was suddenly in Cy’s arms, who’d somehow managed to shift back into human form and pin me against a tree.
I could feel how worked up he was, and when I pulled back, his eyes were a hypnotic spiral of black, silver, and mint green that took away everything but him.
There were loud, violent noises in the background, but all I could focus on right now was Cy.
“Pixie.” His voice had my knees breaking as I gripped his forearms. His mint scent was so familiar, yet there was a far more dangerous edge to the air, one that should have worried me.
Instead, when his fingers ran over my jaw and tilted my head to the side, I just felt completely focused on him. His fangs drew out, impossibly longer and sharper, and I knew he was going slower so I could stop him…but I had no intention of doing so.
“Do it,” I insisted.
He didn’t hesitate. When Cy’s teeth sliced through my skin and he gripped me possessively, everything seemed to explode behind my eyes. I almost immediately blacked out, and the darkness had complete dominance over me.
The last thing that came out of my mouth was something about the wolf. I couldn’t remember exactly what I said, but I was left with the distinct impression that I didn’t want him hurt. I didn’t want him to have a reason to leave.