28. Ash
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ash
I stood on the porch, hands balled into fists, my magic searching further and further than the vale went. My magic could only reach so far. Druses were protectors of the forest, and Lorraine was beyond that now.
My head spun. Where the fuck was she? I could feel her, which meant she was still alive, but I couldn’t feel where she was.
Panic had taken over. I struggled to breathe. My chest was tight, and my breath came too fast.
“Someone sold her out,” I said when Philotes appeared on the porch behind me.
“How do you know?” Philotes asked.
“They came back looking for her. There’s no fucking way they knew where to find her unless someone told them. They weren’t close. They were getting further and further away, and for some reason, they doubled back.”
Philotes shook her head, her lips pursed. “No one in the vale would do something like that, Ash. Who would do something like that?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “But I’ll be damned if I let this go.”
I stepped off the porch and marched toward the trees.
“Rowan!” I shouted as soon as I stepped between the trees where the druses made their homes. “Come out, come out, wherever you are, fucker!”
I walked through the trees, my magic turned to the vale again to find Rowan. Finally, I found him. He leaned against the tree, talking to a dryad. She was naked, her green skin shimmering, her long green hair only partially covering her up.
Right. Rowan had told me he was interested in Clea. Usually, she was at the lake with her friends, but clearly, she and Rowan were starting to spend alone time together.
“Hey, man,” Rowan said when he saw me. He frowned when he saw my face. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you bring them here?” I demanded.
“Who?” Rowan asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” I growled, ignoring Clea completely and getting right up in Rowan’s face. We’d been friends for a fuck-long time, but lately, he’d been a total ass. And he was the only one who knew about Lorraine.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Rowan asked, scowling. “You’re being a complete jackass. I’m busy, man.”
I turned to Clea, trying my best to stay calm. “Will you excuse us? It won’t be long.”
“I’ll be at the lake,” Clea said to Rowan, ignoring me as I’d ignored her. Whatever.
She left, and Rowan and I were alone.
“You can have some manners, asshole,” Rowan said. “You didn’t even say hi to her, and I’ve been nice to Lorraine every time you were so eager to get rid of me. What’s your deal?”
“Lorraine was taken this morning,” I growled. “Did you tell them where to find her?”
Rowan’s face changed from shock to incredulity to anger.
“You think I would do something like that!?” he demanded. “Fuck, Ash, how long have we been friends?”
I shook my head. “No one knew where she was except you.”
“Don’t kid yourself, Ash,” Rowan said, taking a step back so that I wasn’t right up in his grill. “Everyone around here knew about her. We all saw what happened that night when you grabbed her and put her in your cabin. Anyone could have snitched, and your first reaction is that it was me. Fine fucking friend you are.”
I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. A headache throbbed dully between my temples.
“She can’t leave the vale.”
“Why the fuck not? I would have gotten rid of her ages ago for all the hell she’s causing you.” He held his hands up in defense. “Which doesn’t mean I actually told someone. I’m just saying.”
“I slept with her. We’re bound.”
“How?” Rowan asked with a frown before it dawned on him. “Oh. All Hallows’ Eve. The magic in the vale… she belongs to you until it’s all over.”
I nodded. Rowan was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t disloyal, either. I knew I’d been an ass to suggest he’d been the one to hand her over. I just didn’t know what to think.
“I have to get her back,” I said. “They took her out of the vale, so she’ll be fading fast. If I don’t get her back, she’ll die.”
Rowan shook his head. “You were an idiot getting involved in all of this. You never learn, do you?”
“This isn’t the same as before. Ava had nothing to do with All Hallows’ Eve and bonds and all the shit that comes with it.”
“No, but she might as well have for all the complications she brought into your life. When are you going to avoid the humans and play in your own playpen? Seriously, we have enough women for you to choose from without anyone’s life being in danger because of it.”
I sighed. He wasn’t wrong. It just hadn’t worked that way for me, and looking back now was pointless. The facts were that Lorraine had ended up in the vale, I’d saved her life, I’d fucked her and bound her to me so that she couldn’t leave, and now she’d been taken. Outside of those facts, nothing mattered.
“I have to leave the vale to find her,” I said.
Rowan shook his head. “Is it really worth it? What if she dies? Without you getting involved, it would have happened anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at my friend. “Are you even listening to yourself? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Look, it’s horrible, and I get it. The human world is a twisted place. There’s a reason we don’t get involved. They kill each other and hurt each other all the time. If we had to get emotionally attached to every single one of them, we wouldn’t survive the hell their antics would put us through. Just let nature take its course and let it go, Ash. It will be better for you.”
I shook my head and turned my back on Rowan. He didn’t get it. Lorraine wasn’t just any woman, and she wouldn’t have been bound to me if I’d been able to keep my cock in my pants, but she was in danger now because of me. Not only because the guys had found her and fuck knew what they were going to do to her, but because thanks to her bond with me, no matter if they planned on letting her live, she would die.
I couldn’t let that happen. I hated the humans, and Ava had ripped apart everything that had once defined me, but Lorraine didn’t deserve to suffer for someone else’s mistakes.
While I walked through the trees, I sent my magic out again, trying to find her. She was fading. Fast. I struggled to get a read on where she was. Before, I hadn’t been able to pinpoint her exactly, but at least I’d known the direction she was in. Now, with her life draining slowly out of her the further and longer she was away from the vale, I could barely detect where she was.
I had to get out there and go after her. If I could get closer, I would be able to track her down.
I had to bring her back.
“Look at you, all worked up,” Dolus said, leaning against a tree in front of me. He wore his usual black shirt and pants. His thick, muscular arms were folded over his chest. His attitude was casual, but the vibe rolling off him was everything but relaxed.
“I can’t talk right now,” I said gruffly.
“Yeah, the human girl. Missing. The forest is buzzing with the news.”
Was it? I hadn’t noticed.
“I have to get to her before it’s too late,” I said.
“Why do you care so much?” Dolus asked.
I stopped and frowned at Dolus. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters,” Dolus said. “You keep telling me she’s not a distraction, she’s not holding you back from wanting to give it all up, to change it all, but all I see is you focused on someone who can expire so quickly.”
I shook my head. “It’s my fault, so I have to bring her back.”
“You could just let her die.”
“I’m not letting her die,” I bit out. “I forced her into the vale with me, binding her here by sleeping with her. The least I can do is get her back.”
Dolus shook his head and sneered. “You’re a very noble creature, you know that?”
“Something tells me that’s not a compliment.”
“Oh, it’s not,” Dolus said. “I thought you were serious about leaving it all behind.”
“I am,” I said. Gods, let him not take that away from me because of this. Me fucking Lorraine had already gotten me into too much shit. If it screwed up my way out of here…
“Loyalty and nobility… they don’t fit into a picture where you’re willing to betray your own kind.”
“I’m not betraying anyone!” I cried out.
“Of course you are. You want to turn your back on who you are, on your duties as a protector of the forest, for personal reasons. It’s selfish.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Dolus held up his hand to stop me.
“I never said being selfish is a bad thing,” he said. “I get it—you deserve to think of yourself for a change, and I’m here to help you figure your shit out so you can get out of here. This thing with this girl… it doesn’t add up.”
“It will be fine,” I said. “I’m just getting her back so her death isn’t on me, and then I’ll move on with my life.”
“Will you, though?” Dolus asked.
“You keep challenging me like you don’t believe me,” I said through gritted teeth. I was getting pissed off. I had to get out there to save Lorraine, and Dolus was wasting my time, but I couldn’t tell him to fuck off and come back when I had time for him. He was a god, after all, and deserved some modicum of respect. He was also my only ticket out of the life I’d come to hate.
I hated to say it, but I needed him.
“You’re right, you’re right, no need to get testy,” Dolus said, offering me a broad grin. “I’m just here to remind you what your priorities are. I’m sticking my neck out for you, arranging this transfer. It’s in my best interest to know if you’re serious.”
“I’m serious,” I said. “I’m trying to make things right so that my end is clean and I can go without something holding me back.”
Dolus studied my face, his expression impossible to read.
“Don’t disappoint me, Ash,” he said.
He disappeared before I could answer him.
Dolus was becoming a colossal pain in my ass. I needed him to get me the hell out of the life I had, to get to a place where things were better for me, but that didn’t mean I liked him. He was a dick. He blew hot and cold, and I never knew what mood he would be in.
But at least it looked like he was still willing to help me, and that was all that mattered.
I just had to get Lorraine back and make sure she was safe until All Hallows’ Eve was over. Then she could go home, and I could move on with the rest of my life.
I knew I should never have slept with her. I should have exercised more control—I’d known what was going to happen if I did. The problem was I hadn’t expected Lorraine to draw me in the way she had. I usually did that to women, not the other way around.
I scolded myself all the way to the end of the vale for being such an idiot.
When I reached the road, I looked both ways as if checking for cars. I wasn’t. I had my senses out, and I barely saw what was in front of me.
I could only find the general direction she was in now. I couldn’t tell where she was anymore. The magic that pulsed from her had faded too much. After my short conversation with Dolus, I seemed to have nearly lost track of her already.
When I was sure the coast was clear, I brought my magic to the surface and took my true form as a drus, slipping into the tree closest to me. This was not my tree, but I wasn’t going to be here long. I slipped from one tree to the next, moving faster and faster, until the forest passed by in a blur and the magical pulse that was left in Lorraine grew stronger again as I closed the distance between us.