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And just for a moment, his eyes flashed bright orange.
A dart fell from my neck, dropping to the forest floor far below. The world blurred in front of me, turning into a smear of greenery that descended into shadows and wrapped me like a smothering blanket. My body became thick and numb. I couldn’t feel nature or even the net around me anymore.
From far away, the first man’s voice reached my ears. “Let’s finish with this one quick. We’ve got a busy day.”
32
GWYNEIRA
“Niko!” I shouted, scanning the forest desperately. Everywhere I looked, there was no sign of him. Not a broken branch. Not a footprint in the dirt.
Nothing.
Exhaling roughly, I turned a circle, wishing I had his ability to speak to nature or Ozias’s power to hear the earth telling him which way to go. I could feel my mate to the south of me, and I could tell enough to know he was okay—albeit angry at how this all had gone. Of all the ways for his friends to find out what he was, this had to be near the bottom of his list. But he wanted space right now. I felt that too. Which left me chasing Niko, even though, yes, given Niko’s abilities, he was probably fine too.
But he’d been so furious. I’d never seen him like that before, and it hurt my heart to think he blamed me for part of this mess—especially when I knew he had a point.
I had learned what Ozias was, but I hadn’t said anything. True, I’d wanted to help Ozias find a way to tell his friends himself, but Niko didn’t know that.
To him, it probably looked like I’d been lying to them all.
Just like I feared.
“Niko!” I shouted again.
Gods, where the hell was he? Surely I should have come across him by now. Unless he was ignoring me, which maybe he?—
Something rustled softly in the distance to my right.
I froze, my attention snapping toward the sound. It was far away. Barely audible above the ordinary noises of the forest, even to my vampire hearing. The woods appeared unchanged, though, and I couldn’t see anyone walking toward me. Didn’t see much of anything, in point of fact, besides bushes and trees and patches of sunlight that pushed past the thick covering of leaves overhead.
“Niko?” I called warily.
Nothing.
Fear rose, making my heart race with visions of predators creeping closer and all the things humans knew to dread about the forest. But then, I wasn’t human anymore. If anything tried to attack me, it would regret it. And for all I knew, this was nothing more than a rabbit hopping innocently around in the?—
A shadow moved to my right.
I gasped, only to sag with relief when the shadow rose from the undergrowth to become a swirling cloud of darkness in the form of a wolf.
“Ruhl.” I petted his massive head, more to calm myself than anything. “You scared me.”
I swore his glowing eyes took on a wry cast.
Giving him a tired look in return, I said, “What are you?—”
“Princess?”
I jumped a mile.
Roan held up his hands as he walked closer. “Sorry.”
I shook my head dismissively, attempting to calm down again. Gods, I was on edge, and I could only assume the argument earlier was to blame. “No, it’s fine. Just nerves.”
Roan made an understanding noise, though a heartbeat later, his eyes flicked to the forest. His brow knit for a moment as if something bothered him, but then he looked back at me with a tiny shake of his head like he was dispelling a distracting thought. “About that. I came to see if you were all right?” His hand took mine, our fingers lacing together.
“I’m fine. I was just looking for Niko.”
