48. Ever Wood Portal
Ever Wood Portal
Rez
Helping everyone change back goes much more smoothly, having Moni’s knowledge on which herbs counter the ailments everyone receives.
Chester needs Eucalyptus oil to counter his respiratory issues once he comes ashore.
JP needs Rosemary to combat the muscle spasms and pain.
Zeke only has an upset stomach, so giving him some ginger helps calm down his stomach and the muscular ache as he slowly shifts back to normal.
Levi’s body ends up with the weirdest skin condition, where the scales want to shift back, curling over itself, and he complains about a headache. So Moni gives him some kind of plant called Ylang-Ylang to eat. It was a yellowish-green seaweed right there in the ocean.
Knox comes out of the water completely confused and disoriented.
If I didn’t know better, I would guess Knox is drunk, so I give him some peppermint leaves to chew, and rub some oil under his nose.
Reaper, my poor baby, just lies there, all energy drained from him, so I give Moni some lemon oil infused with tea tree to rub on him until his energy returns. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long.
In the meantime, Ryker takes frankincense just to numb the pain of all of those legs knitting back together to form my perfect mate. Knots and Lynx receive chamomile to reduce the stress of being torn apart, and once they are separated, I give each of them lavender to ease the burning sensation.
Overall, we spend a good hour helping everyone return to normal, eat something, and make sure everyone is okay and not having a bad reaction to the herbs we gave out.
“Are we ready to go?” JP asks, standing up and stretching, showing off his ink and muscles.
A smorgasbord of yummy goodness surrounds me, and if I didn’t have a fucking time limit, I would lie down and ask to be devoured. But alas, I’m not that fucking lucky, even though all the guys have ended up with board shorts while Moni and I got damn bikinis. I’m just being teased to death.
I frown down at my body and shoot Levi an annoyed look.
“Do you mind helping me out first, before we go?” I ask, indicating my body.
“Don’t you dare, Levi. She looks perfect just how she is.” Ryker steps up, covering my body from Levi’s gaze.
“Hey, I need it for protection, I’m not doing it for aesthetics.” I push him off of me.
“She’s right, we need it just in case,” Levi relents, agreeing with me.
I stick out my tongue as Ryker tries to nip at it.
“If everyone is okay with it, I’ll just put us back in what we were wearing before,” Levi offers.
With no complaint, Levi outfits us, and once I’m in my leathers, JP once again leads us towards our Portal.
This island is much larger than the first one we were on, but there’s still sparse vegetation on this part of the island: a few palm trees, shrubbery, lots of sand, and a large rock formation that looks like a trident.
I can’t do what JP can, but my guess is the portal is on the other side of that rock formation, since I can’t see the portal from here, and there’s nothing else on the damn island from what I can see.
Well, except this weird black image on the sand that looks weird—is that a shadow?
Where is it coming from? I look up to see where the sun is and pause.
“Am I seeing things, or is that our portal?” I point up in the sky.
“Nope.”
“Is the portal on the other side of that rock?” Ryker asks, unknowingly asking what I was thinking a moment ago.
“Yep.”
“Then what is that?” I point to a white portal with vines wrapped around it.
“I do believe that’s the portal we fell out of,” JP answers, and I start laughing and shaking my head. I even bend over trying to keep my balance.
“Okay, it’s official, I think my bestie has lost it,” Moni squeaks, moving over to Lynx. “Do you have a warranty on her?”
I laugh even harder to the point I almost pee myself.
“Oh my God, Dr. Steinbeck is evil,” I holler, gulping down fistfuls of air as I try to calm myself down.
“What do you mean?” Ryker asks, giving me a disbelieving look.
“The book your dad suggested was Tilly Wonders Over. I didn’t think about getting it because it’s not a herbalist book or anything helpful.
It’s a romantic comedy about a girl who takes the long path around when she should have just looked around because the door she needed was right next to her,” I say, pointing to the portal that’s above us, and then to the rock formation.
“Wow, I feel dense,” Lynx comments.
“Better than you feeling empty like normal,” Knots replies, and Lynx hisses.
“Well, at least it’s close,” Chester admits, “I can’t wait for this to be over and sleep in a bed for a week.”
“Is that what we get to do?” I ask, not really knowing what a normal process is with Purgatory Prep. I feel like nothing about my time enrolled has been normal.
“Well, we are practically done with school after this.” Zeke wraps his arm around my neck and smiles as he pulls me into him. “I’m all for spending nights and days in bed.” He winks, and I giggle, knowing where his mind just went.
Continuing, we turn the corner and see the portal embedded into the rock formation.
“Back to the Ever Woods?” Moni groans, looking at the darkened swirls.
“No, we should end up in the woods by the Sanctuary and Gym. It must just be dark there, or there’s a freak storm,” Levi says, eying the portal.
Knox turns to look at me and sends warmth and love down our link.
“Any premonitions lately?” he asks, giving me a small smile.
“No,” I tell him, trying to give him a reassuring smile, but I know it falls flat, especially since he can feel the worry I have. I don’t know what caused those flickers of images or what they mean, but they were there.
Knox
“Here, I’ll go in first,” I tell everyone as Rez’s nerves skyrocket to overdrive. It’s the Alpha in me demanding to protect her and my family. If there’s even a hint of danger, I will make sure that I neutralize it before she faces it.
Before anyone can debate or say anything else, I walk through the portal and immediately turn back to warn the others, only to find it gone.
Shit! Where did it go? I don’t see it. Is this a trick? Is this another way to separate us?
Laughter rings out from the trees as I pull my animals forward.
‘Okay, guys. I’m gonna need your help to get out of this.’
‘Playtime?’ Fluffer’s tongue hangs out of his mouth, but his ears perk up.
‘About time my expertise is needed,’ Barons preens.
‘Another bloodbath. Fun,’ Slayer purrs.
‘I am at your service,’ Dusky yawns.
I can hear people shifting all around me, and I’m deciding which animal to switch into when I’m hit from behind.
“Damnit, Knox, move out of the way,” Ryker hisses. “You know better than to stand in front of a portal when it’s in use.”
It was just an illusion that the portal was gone. Someone is here fucking with us, and that doesn’t bode well. Who’s powerful enough to mess with the portals during The Gauntlet?
I spin around so fast, slamming my hand to his mouth, forcing him off to the side enough that his eyes go wide in fear.
“We’re in a trap,” I whisper, and Ryker immediately grabs for his knives.
I turn back to the portal, and my heart sinks as it flashes with the rest of our party filtering out too fast for me to warn them. Chester and Moni come tumbling out in laughter. Zeke and JP both come out together, but it’s Zeke who notices something is wrong.
He’s always been one to notice the small details, and when he sees Ryker’s daggers, he activates his rings and tries to warn JP, but it’s too late. There’s movement behind the tree that’s less than five feet behind them.
The portal sizzles, blocking out any of the sound I was tracking, and I turn to tell Ryker my senses are blocked to find him with a sword at his neck already, and one pointed at my chest.
“Hello, Knox,” Yarn, one of Father’s pack members, says from the end of the sword centered on my heart. “Fancy meeting you here.” He smiles widely, showing off the gap in his mouth from the tooth I knocked out the last time we fought. “That peppermint oil didn’t help you at all, did it?”
Fuck those hidden cameras broadcasting this Gauntlet. Anger flashes through my body as I barely hold back from shifting.
I don’t have to see when Knots and Lynx come through; their language is enough to tell when they get here.
“See what you did?” Knots growls.
“How is them getting captured by the defected hillbillies, my fucking fault?” Lynx raises his voice.
“Defected?” someone growls out.
“Should I add in dumb and deaf?”
There’s another flash signaling Rez and Reaper coming through behind me.
There’s a break in the commotion as I hear multiple things flying into the air, and I hold my breath, not knowing what to do.
A split second later, I watch as Yarn slaps his neck where there are visible puncture holes, leaving blood pouring out of him and darkening his shirt. Rez’s PMS needles?
“No one fucking threatens my Alpha like that,” Rez growls.
‘I love our fucking mate. Take her, mount her now,’ Slayer urges me.
‘Wish I could, but we’re still surrounded and overmanned,’ I argue with Slayer.
‘Let them watch.’
Someone steps out of the woods, snapping branches, purposely to let me know they are there, so I turn, only to see shadows.
“Your Alpha?” someone asks, hidden in the shadows.
My senses are still muted, and I can’t smell who it is, but since this portal sent us here and it’s my old pack that’s right here, this isn’t spine-chilling at all.
“Yes, he’s my mate, and I will not allow someone to hurt him.” Rez stands firm and tall, her chin held high.
I start to move, to get closer to her and warn her to watch what she says, but—if I’m guessing by his rancid breath—Eddie, a hyena shifter, steps behind me and clucks his tongue.
“Nah ah, Knox,” he whispers as I feel his claws poke into my back.
“You? A lowly human, and you think you can follow the ways of the pack? Think you’ve earned the right to protect your mate?”
Rez, no!