- FOUR #2
Jolting awake to her blood-curdling scream had my stomach dropping to my feet as I closed the space between us before I was even fully awake.
But it was just a nightmare. Fucking banshees getting to her.
And perhaps I was an even bigger dick because while it was true that I needed to touch her to ease her nightmares, there was no fucking reason I needed to have her plastered across my body to do so.
The fact of the matter was, I was curious.
Through the worry for Jade, the bone-deep urge to not go anywhere near my parents ever again, and the tiredness and frustration, it hadn't exactly escaped me that Cece was a real fucking looker.
As in gorgeous. As in, the second she walked through Jade's door looking quite a bit like a drowned rat, I'd wanted to fuck her.
She had that tall, lean, dark-haired, golden-eyed, bookish look to her.
It was hot. I wasn't unaffected. So when I got the chance to haul her pretty ass onto me, I took it.
And by taking it, I felt a rush of unexpected desire from her.
I hadn't anticipated that. Everything about her seemed to suggest she hated my fucking guts.
But maybe it was a defense mechanism. Because there was no mistaking the vibrations moving through her body.
Then, not being a complete asshole, I washed that and the embarrassment she felt about it away so she could sleep. It was an invasion. But I figured she'd have preferred it to feeling all hot and bothered and knowing I felt it.
Behind me, I heard Doyle and Cece carrying on easy conversation, Cece's frequent laugh carrying on the wind.
It shouldn't have bothered me.
It was none of my business.
But Cece was Jade's friend.
Doyle was Jade's ex.
That, as far as most people were concerned, was wrong.
And the swirling sensation in my stomach, yeah that had fuck-all to do with jealousy.
--
Cece
I was determined not to complain. The yarrow and leather were helping, but a couple hours in, each step was starting to feel like stepping on nails again.
I took deep breaths, trying to breathe through the pain like Jade had once tried to convince me to do when I'd been having some particularly bad cramps one month.
I ended up taking aspirin.
I sucked at meditation.
Doyle was a constant companion, keeping easy, mindless conversation as we went. He noticed - I was sure - when I started walking on my tiptoes to avoid any more unnecessary pain.
Several yards ahead of us, Jasper was soldiering on tirelessly, and I realized that the chances were that I was holding him and Doyle back. They would probably be twice as far without me.
"Not gonna happen, sweetheart," Doyle's voice said, as if reading my mind.
"Do all of you read emotions?" I asked, a little snippy at feeling like I had absolutely no private thoughts or feelings.
"That's Jasper's thing," Doyle said, shaking his head.
"It's just the logical thing for you to be thinking with your busted feet and granny pace.
" As if to soothe the effects of the harsh words, he reached down and took my hand in his.
"But that isn't going to happen. I won't have it, and believe it or not, neither would Jasp. "
Doyle's hand tightened on mine, and he started swinging our entwined hands between us as we walked. "Hey Doyle," I called a minute later, feeling awkward at asking, but feeling close enough to him to do so. "What is Beltane?"
He stopped suddenly, thereby stopping me with him, and watched me like I had asked why it rained sometimes. "It's the festival of fertility."
That was why Jade hadn't been as livid as I thought she should have. Maybe it was a normal way to celebrate by sleeping around. It made a sick kind of sense in a way. Maybe it wasn't technically considered cheating.
"Doesn't make it okay," Jasper's voice called from ahead.
And, well, I kind of agreed with him.
"Doesn't make what okay?" Doyle asked, looking between us.
"Nothing," I said, shaking my head, wondering why Jasper had remained friends with Doyle after he cheated on his sister, but knowing it wasn't my place to go there.
By midday, Doyle's hand was around my waist, holding up a fair amount of my weight, his brow furrowed in concern. "Hey, man," Doyle called unexpectedly.
"No," I hissed at him, having every intention of toughing it out.
But it was too late. Jasper stopped suddenly and turned, brows furrowed, like maybe he had forgotten we were even there. His gaze went to Doyle, then Doyle's arm around me, then to my face. His own features contorted in concern as, I imagined, he registered the pain.
"Fuck," he growled, shaking his head. I could see the battle there.
"Go," Doyle said. "We're more than halfway there. Go get her. We can wait here. You bring Jade. I'll run with Jade back out of The Green. Your folks don't want you. They won't chase you. You can take your time coming back with Cece."
Jasper looked at me again then dropped his gaze to the forest floor. "We'll rest a while," he decided in a tone that left no opening for a debate as he turned to sit down beside the stream.
I pulled free of Doyle's hold and tiptoed away a few yards to find the largest tree, shielding me from their gazes as I slid down the bark, feeling it scrape over my skin.
I took all the pressure off my feet, stretching them out in front of me and taking a couple deep breaths to keep my emotions under control.
It was unexpectedly exhausting to be in pain.
The feeling made every inch of me feel tight and tense and uncomfortable.
I wasn't sure I could get back up again.
Even if they let me rest for the rest of the day, short of being hoisted up on their backs like a toddler, I didn't think I could do it.
I also wasn't exactly sure I could swallow my pride enough to tell them that.
I brought my hands up to my face, swiping at my eyes. I just had to suck it up and deal. Really, I wasn't sure it was even possible to hurt any more than I already was so there was nothing to worry about.
Then, against my hands, I felt heat.
And, well, I might not have known much about The Green, but I knew to be scared of things that didn't feel right. And something breathing onto my hands, yeah, that sure as hell didn't feel right. I stiffened, the giant tree behind me preventing any kind of escape.
Not exactly thinking right, my hands dropped, and I came face-to-face with the biggest freaking wolf I had ever seen in my life. Really, like a wolf on steroids, midnight black and about the size of a small horse. It leaned forward, nudging me with its wet nose.
I scrambled up quickly, keeping my eyes lowered, knowing eye-contact was a threat to wild animals. And, also, maybe worrying it had some kind of sex-enslaving power too.
There was a loud crash and, unable to know what caused it, I flew.
Pain was a foreign concept as genuine fear ripped its way through my body as I tore across the woods.
My arm was tagged from behind roughly, almost pulling it out of its socket and then I finally found my voice, and I was screaming.
Without realizing it was my intention, I was screaming Jasper's name.
"It's me. Hey, Cece, it's me," Jasper's voice said as his hand loosened on my arm. I swung back around. "What is it? Why are you..."
But then the wolf was back, bounding into the area with its snout scrunched up, revealing an abundance of razor-sharp teeth. Before I could even warn him, it charged forward, taking down Jasper in a leap.
I heard myself screaming, telling it to stop, the sound loud and hysterical.
And then I was charging the beast myself, slamming my hands into its flank, grabbing handfuls of hair and yanking viciously upward.
But it made no notice of me whatsoever as it snarled down at Jasper who was almost alarmingly calm.
"Cece, go," he demanded.
Now, I was no one's hero. But that being said, I couldn't just leave a man to be mauled by a freaking giant wolf in the woods.
No way. Adrenaline making me either brave or stupid or both, I brought both my hands up above my head, clamped together tight, then slammed the force of them down on the beast's head.
It whined loudly, taking a step back and turning to look at me. And, I swear to God, the damn thing looked confused. And then... offended.
I took the short reprieve to throw myself down in front of Jasper, feeling his hands grab at me, trying to push me off. "What the fuck are you doing?" he snapped at me when I wouldn't budge.
But then the growling stopped. The beast's teeth disappeared back inside its mouth.
Too distracted by the change, I stopped holding myself in place, and Jasper pushed me to the side and made a move forward, making the beast begin to snarl again.
"Oh, for God's sake," Doyle's voice broke in leisurely as if we weren't all at risk for being body parts across the forest floor. "It's a barguest, Jasp."
"What?" Jasper hissed, taking his feet in a squatted position, looking very much like he was foolishly considering charging the damn thing.
"A barguest," Doyle said again, striding over to me and tossing me roughly back toward the ground.
"What the fuck..." Jasper yelled as the beast turned toward Doyle and started growling at him instead.
Doyle shrugged, unaffected. "It wants to protect her," he said, giving me an apologetic smile and extending a hand to help me onto my feet that suddenly hurt all the more from having to run from the damn creature.
"They bring fair maidens to safety," he told us, watching the wolf thing curiously. "I've never seen one before."
Jasper took his full height, watching it too. "But she's not in danger."
"We don't know that for sure," Doyle said, uncharacteristically serious. "Who knows what might be lurking around for her."
As he spoke, the barguest crossed over to me, its weirdly expressive eyes calm, appraising. It dropped down in front of me, licking at the leaves on my feet.
"Oh," Jasper said.