Chapter 14 - Poppy
Pushing at Damian’s chest and breaking the kiss abruptly, I’m flooded with guilt as I stare at him, wide-eyed and disoriented.
I gulp hard as I lift a trembling hand to my mouth, my fingers squeamish as I touch my bottom lip.
My body shudders from the taste of his tongue still heavily present in my mouth, and I mentally upbraid myself for allowing myself to get swept up in the whirlwind of passion when I need to be out there, searching for Daniel.
Damian doesn’t understand.
No one does.
For ten years, it has always been Daniel and me. Every morning. Every scraped knee. Every nightmare. Every fever. Every birthday. Every tiny victory that no one else saw.
I carried him beneath my heart before I ever held him in my arms, and ever since the day he was born, every decision I’ve made has been for him.
My whole life revolves around my son. I can’t breathe knowing he’s out there. I won’t stop until he’s back in my arms.
“Leave me alone!” I yell out at Damian, wrapping my arms around myself and feeling the void of Daniel’s absence. I spin around when it becomes unbearable to look at his face anymore. Daniel looks just like him, and I can’t stand being around him when my son isn’t here.
And I hate myself for being swept up in the moment.
There’s a moment of awkward silence before Damian clears his throat. “I’m gonna go back and hear what’s going on. If a search party is put together, I will be the one leading. I take it you’ll want to go, too.”
“Yes,” is all I say without turning to him, staring into the woods forlornly, a cloud as gray as the surroundings hanging over my head.
“Promise me you won’t do anything reckless. Don’t go—”
“I told you to leave me alone, Damian,” I grate out through gritted teeth.
“Promise me, Poppy.”
“I promise. Now, leave.”
Damian’s footsteps finally fading into the distance allow me to let out the breath I was holding.
I promised Damian that I wouldn’t do anything reckless.
This isn’t reckless. Reckless would be standing here while Daniel is taken farther away with every passing minute. Wasting time and searching for comfort in Damian’s arms is betrayal while Daniel is out there.
Every second I’ve spent arguing with Damian. Every second I spent crying. Every second I’ve spent in his arms, Daniel is being taken farther away from me.
If he’s frightened… If he’s calling for me…
I’m not there.
I should have never let him out of my sight.
I should have never let him leave the cabin that first night.
If he didn’t stay over at Ingrid’s, he would have been there when Damian came to our cabin, sleeping beside me.
Maybe if Damian saw him that first night, he wouldn’t have gone as far as kidnapping me and tearing me away from my son.
I should have fought Damian harder. Found another way. I should have protected my son.
But all this guilt means nothing if I’m still here, doing…nothing. My wolf claws against the inside of my ribs, pacing, snarling, desperate to tear through the forest until she finds Daniel.
She doesn’t care about witches. She doesn’t care about death. She only cares that my child is missing.
I don’t need a blanket to track my son’s scent. I can pick out his scent from miles away, because I’m his mother. And without thinking twice, I let the shift take over, bones and sinew snapping into place as white fur spreads across my limbs until I’m in wolf form.
Standing on four cushioned paws, I don’t waste another second, and I propel myself into the woods, following the trail of corruption that scars the earth like an open wound. Every patch of blackened grass, every shriveled fern and dying flower only fuels the desperation burning inside me.
My nose stays low to the ground, desperately searching for Daniel’s scent amongst the overpowering stench of decay, my ears pricked forward for the slightest sound that might tell me where my pup has been taken.
The deeper I run into the forest, the quieter it becomes.
No birds sing from the trees overhead. No insects hum through the undergrowth.
It is as though every living creature abandoned this place long before today, leaving behind nothing but silence and death.
A shiver skitters along my elongated spine, but I keep pushing forward, determination outweighing any slight flicker of fear that would keep me back.
My paws pound against the forest floor as I weave between towering pines, leaping over fallen logs and pushing through thick shrubs that claw at my fur. Every heartbeat drums the same plea through my body.
Daniel.
Please… Please let me find him.
It’s a prayer to the Moon Goddess, a last, desperate plea from a mother who feels like she failed her child. And no matter how much warning everyone back in Fort Smit gave, I know what I’m doing is the right thing to do to get my son back.
Even if walking through the woods feels like traveling through a dilapidated corner of the world that doesn’t belong here, a place so dark and eerie it’s like walking through another plane of existence, where the air alone feels demented and deranged.
A faint rustle echoes somewhere behind me, and I freeze so abruptly that loose dry leaves scatter beneath my paws.
My ears swivel backward as I listen to every little sound that follows, but there’s nothing, only the whisper of branches swaying high above me.
I bare my teeth and release a low, warning growl, the sound vibrating deep within my chest as my eyes sweep over the surrounding trees. Every shadow suddenly feels darker. Every trunk looks capable of hiding something that could be watching me.
But I push on, determined to find Daniel because if his scent is so rich out here, it means he passed through this corrupted earth, and my eyes water when I imagine how afraid he must be.
Another rustle sounds closer this time, and my hackles rise instinctively, white fur standing on end as my wolf slowly pivots toward the sound. My heart begins hammering against my ribs, every instinct screaming that I am no longer alone.
Who’s there? The question resounds in my skull, but of course, the forest doesn’t answer. It doesn’t share a mind link with me.
It simply watches, silence stretching out again, leaving me in suspense as I remain rooted on the spot.
Daniel’s scent doesn’t disappear, but it grows fainter, as if the eerie silence takes on a smell. The smell of rot and death hangs heavy like a dark cloud over my head.
A cold shiver races beneath my fur as the crack of a twig breaks the suffocating silence, followed by the unmistakable sound of leaves being disturbed. Whatever is following me isn’t trying to hide anymore.
Fear grips me harder than the first time it hit me since Daniel disappeared. Not really for myself, but for him.
If whatever is stalking me managed to overpower my ten-year-old son and snatch him in a heartbeat from the pack, then I don’t stand a chance alone.
My wolf whines softly as instinct takes over.
Run.
My wolf doesn’t need to tell me twice.
I spin around, muscles coiling beneath my fur as I prepare to sprint back toward Nightclaw and warn the others that something is out here, that they were right, that Damian was right. This is an ambush, Daniel’s kidnapping a trap.
But before I can take one step toward the pack, agony explodes through my ribs.
A sharp, blinding surge tears through my body like a bolt of lightning, striking my side with such force that every muscle seizes.
A pained yelp rips from my throat as I collapse onto the forest floor, my legs refusing to obey me while violent tremors race beneath my skin.
Every nerve feels as though it’s on fire, the strange current continuing to course through me until my jaws chatter uncontrollably and my vision blurs around the edges.
Whimpering helplessly, I try to force the shift back, to become human again, but nothing happens.
My wolf won’t answer me, and I’m stuck in wolf form.
Panic surges through every fiber of my being as I struggle to move, claws scraping uselessly through the dirt while my limbs remain heavy and unresponsive. It’s as though my own body has betrayed me, trapping me inside my wolf with no way to escape.
The undergrowth rustles again.
This time, I can’t even lift my head properly to look up at what’s coming. All I can see are shadows whispering across the ground, growing larger as they spread out and surround me.
I’m finally able to lift my head enough to see the dark figures emerging between the trees, their faces hidden beneath deep hoods as they glide silently across the dead forest floor.
My breathing grows ragged, terror flooding every corner of my mind as I attempt another desperate growl, a last-ditch attempt for someone from Nightclaw to hear my call for help, but it comes out as nothing more than a pitiful whine.
No...
Daniel…
My mind spins from the treacherous pain in my ribs, thoughts as blurred as my vision.
Damian…
One of the figures kneels beside me, a pale, gloved hand smoothing over the fur at the back of my neck with unnerving gentleness. My entire body trembles beneath the touch, my instincts screaming at me to bite, to fight, to run.
But I can’t.
Something cold presses against the side of my neck, and a sharp prick follows.
Pain blooms beneath my fur as whatever pierced my skin sinks deeper and courses through my veins, and within seconds, an unbearable heaviness washes over me.
My eyelids droop despite every frantic attempt to keep them open, the towering trees above me melting into a blur of black branches and gray sky.
The last thing I hear before darkness swallows me whole is the faint, haunting voice of a woman.
“Take this one.”
Then everything turns black and consumes me.