Chapter 5
Soleil
He wants me.
I stopped mid-step to make sure he was still following. He smacked a leaf the size of his body out of the way and stepped over crunchy twigs. I’d been sure to select the easiest path for humans, but even so, it was still difficult for him to navigate.
He slowed, resting his hands on his knees.
We had been walking for a long time, each moment taking us further from my territory, and it was making me want to claw the ground. I’d been sure he remained near because out of my territory, he was bait for any Beast.
I waited patiently until he calmed his quick panting. Fog formed near his mouth. This environment would not be good for Mate. It was clearer and clearer his human form wouldn’t survive, just like the others. I cocked my head at him.
“I’m good,” Griffin grunted and shoved forward.
I continued leading until I broke through the wall of foliage where the tree stretched high. After shifting, I stood on two legs and pressed my fists to my hips. The massive tree stretched into the sky, canopying the surroundings so that none of the moonlight speared through.
“We’re here,” he breathed.
I grunted, and he stopped beside me. Looking me over, the fur strips over his eyes got close again. He began to unbutton his shirt.
“You can’t shift into your panther form,” he ordered, still exposing his chest. I was too busy looking at his strong, smooth flesh, aching to sink my teeth into him. “Soleil.” He grabbed my arms, and I focused on his face. “Don’t shift in front of anyone that isn’t me.”
I huffed.
He let my arms go and pulled off his shirt, then in the same move, he spanned it over my back. I stayed still, my eyes wide, but I was so shocked I didn’t stop him from shoving my hands through the sleeves. It rested against my skin, and my shoulders hiked up. It felt off. I tugged at it.
“You have to wear it,” he chastised.
“I don’t like.” I scowled up at him.
His mouth tipped up at the corner. When he did that, it caused a swooping feeling in my belly. He clasped my face between both palms. “You have to.” His teeth flashed, and a sound left him. The stretch of his mouth that reached inside my chest and caused this bubbling feeling.
I pointed at his mouth. “Do that again.” The fur over his eyes pulled together again. “The sound. Do it again.” I tugged the corners of his mouth up.
“Are you talking about laughing?” he mused.
The corners spread, and the fluttery in my stomach exploded again.
“I like that,” I breathed, and mimicked what I was talking about.
He made a strangled sound. “Ah, you mean smiling.”
I nodded vigorously. And he smiled again.
“Fuck, I can’t wait to have you in our home—” He suddenly stopped talking and blinked. The little fur strip lining his eyes moved rapidly as the corners turned down into the opposite of a smile, making him look confused.
“Let’s get you home,” he murmured gruffly, and tugged at the front of his clothes until it no longer exposed me.
I rubbed the rough clothes between my fingers, yanking to test the strength.
“Stay still,” he ordered and finished closing the front by pushing the little circles through the slits.
He took my hand in his and lifted it. My fingers remained stiff and out while his pressed into mine.
“Do you know anything about getting back?”
I shook my head. “Humans have never reached this tree.” I preened. He’d only reached it because of me.
He exhaled slowly as he nodded, sliding his fingers into mine. “With your other hand, touch the tree.” He hovered his hand over the trunk and waited for me to mimic his motion. “Now.” We touched it together.
A cold chill rippled over my limbs, and my stomach dipped. His hand ripped out of mine. Disorientation wracked my body, and I cried out, my whipping hair getting into my mouth.
“Soleil!” His voice sounded far off. It felt quick and slow simultaneously, like everything stilled. I thudded onto hard ground, hands splaying into foliage.
“My eyes! They burn,” I cried, clasping my palms over my face.
Hands gripped me, and Mate’s scent tickled my nose. I lunged toward his warmth, curling into his chest. His arms wound around me and tucked me closer.
“What is it?” he blurted. “What’s wrong?”
“I-I can’t see . . . ?” This time when I opened my eyes, they didn’t sting, and shapes were slowly starting to come into focus.
“Sol?” Mate repeated instantly.
I straightened in his arms. The outline of the trees came into view, then the leaves. Why was everything different? And I was so hot.
“This is the human world?” I whispered.
Mate gripped my jaw and forced me to look up at him. I blinked and found myself staring into his face. Little starbursts flecked around the middle of his eyes.
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “In your world, there’s no sunlight.”
I could only stare at him. What was that?
“The sun,” he said, pointing up. High up, past the trees, there was a color the same as the bubbling brook, but somehow, it seemed brighter.
“What’s that?” I breathed, pointing at the stuff dotting the sky.
“Clouds,” he murmured. “And that’s the sun.”
I squinted, staring at the sun. It stung my eyes.
“Don’t look at it directly,” he huffed, tugging my chin down.
Dots decorated my vision until he came into focus. “Sunlight?” I wheezed.
It made things much brighter, and it hurt to look at. I was in the human world. I peeked at the tree. The same tree back in my jungle, but this one was vibrant—the curving vines and reaching branches looked alive—because of sunlight.
This is not my jungle.
“We’re not far from my hotel. Let’s get you back.”
I gripped his hand, holding tight. My heart beat in my chest with hard jumps. He stood and pulled me to my feet. The bottom of his shirt tickled my legs.
Mate tucked me close to his side, sweeping his attention over the landscape. Looking down at me, he held out his hand. I hesitantly slipped mine into his, and he tucked my fingers into the band of his pants.
“Stay close,” he grunted, and his momentum forced me to follow him. Hard foliage dug into the bottoms of my human feet. I curled my toes, not liking the texture on the ground.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded hesitantly, curling my toes in the dirt.
He eyed me, then shuffled me forward a bit. His attention snagged on my feet. After his lips tightened, he turned and crouched, the sudden movement making me release his pants. He patted his shoulder.
“Hop on.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I would hold my mate any chance I had.
Only after I tossed my arms around his neck, he stood.
My legs kicked out, and I gasped, but he was quick to grab onto my legs before wrapping them around his hips.
Then he continued forward, his body moving with a rhythmic stride that quickly lulled me until I relaxed against him.
Muscles rippled under my hands, and I closed my eyes, rubbing my fingers against his shoulder as I sniffed him. He smelled perfect—like a mate.
This human world with the sunlight was odd. I’d never neared the tree portal, and I would never have done it if Mate hadn’t found me. Even if many Beasts did cross to this side, I never cared to join them. I closed my eyes, settling in to rest against Mate.
Griffin, my mate.
I liked his name. All Beasts were birthed, and we stay with our progenitors as a cub until we’re able to survive, then we’re left alone.
Mates were revered. It was a fact that drove many Beasts to the human world. Now I understood since mine came to me, because I would follow him wherever he pleased. I pressed my nose against his neck, breathing him in.
I settled into the lulling stride, sniffing and holding him, wrapped up in him. When he slowed, it was a shock. I lifted my head.
“Here we are,” he grunted, releasing the grip on my thighs. My toes settled onto crunchy leaves. Before me was a sprawling ground made of some sort of dirt. I eyed it, hovering at the edge. “The sand won’t be uncomfortable.”
Gingerly, I put my toe in, and it sank inside. I yelped and sprang onto Mate, clawing to get away from the sinking dirt. I clung to his neck and lifted my feet. His arm curled under my legs, and he lifted me.
“It’s sand.” He chuckled. “That’s the ocean.”
I gawked, unable to say a word as he strode through the sand yet not sinking to his death. Their land was like nothing I’d ever seen, and even more confusing? In the distance, there was a large thing made up of smooth lines.
“What is that?” I breathed.
“The hotel,” he answered as if it was a normal thing to see something like that. I swept my attention further down where it was another one of them. It looked tiny from this far away.
He squeezed my thighs where he gripped me to him. Sweat beaded on his temples. Now that my shock abated, I was becoming too warm. I blew a breath out and settled in his arms.
“I don’t like how I feel sticky.”
His mouth, the expressive line of his lips, twitched, and he grunted.
“You’ll be able to bathe in a few minutes.”
Would I bathe in that large water he called ocean?
The edge of the water crashed violently against land.
He relentlessly continued through the sand, not nearing the ocean, and eventually, the sound of chatter neared.
Humans played near the edge of the ocean—even children!
It was odd to see the dynamics humans had with each other.
They were very communal, something I was not used to.
“Here we are,” he grunted, and the ground became a solid slab.
There was so much happening that my brain hurt. Another human structure to the left had humans sitting on one side while someone was on the other. He turned the opposite direction, which didn’t let me continue studying the rest.
The sunlight was suddenly no longer on me, and he strode through a narrow area blocked on one side by iron. He came to a stop, and I wiggled so he could let me go, but he stiffened his grip, hoisting me more on one arm. “Does time move differently in your . . . world?” He cleared his throat.
“What?”