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“Well, clearly you weren’t, so answer the fucking question.” Storm butts in over my shoulder. I can feel his anger radiating from him, even without turning to look at him. Whether he meant it or not, he started a mating bond with Serena. I can only assume that would heighten his already high urge to keep her safe.
Fuck, I can’t imagine being more worried about her than I already am. I don’t think it’s possible.
“Home,” Garrett says, shaking his head as if that’s a bad thing, and I’m slowly losing the little bit of control I have left. Serena is fond of him, and because of that, I’m trying very hard not to rip his head from his shoulders, but if he doesn’t start making sense soon, I can’t be held responsible for what happens.
My mind whirls, but Blair is beside us before I can voice any of my confusion.
“And where is home exactly?” he asks, his words calm the way they almost always are, even as he speaks nonsense.
“Another realm.”
I watch as Garrett looks up at Blair before I turn to face him as well, careful not to let my grip loosen. He’s clearly lost it, but right now, he might be the only lead we have on Serena, and until we know where she is, he’s not going anywhere.
I’m unsure what Blair is trying to achieve with his questions, but I trust him to be thinking clearer than the rest of us. So when I turn to find him nodding as if in agreement with what Garrett just said, I’m caught off guard.
“Don’t tell me you believe him?” Pike demands from down the hall, and I hadn’t even noticed him join us. I’m still annoyed with him for losing it during our hunt and not handling the whole mess with Harlow before it boiled over and affected Serena, but I can appreciate him being on the same side I am at the moment.
The side I thought we would all be on: logic.
Blair is quiet for too long, but I know better than to rush him. He will say what he has to in his own time. It’s something I usually appreciate because it keeps him from mincing words, but right now, I want to shake him and demand to know if he hit his head at some point tonight. That’s the only logical explanation because he can’t seriously believe Garrett…
Right?
“I do.”
Those two simple words are spoken with so much certainty, and I can see it on his face that he really does.
What the fuck is going on right now?
“Blair,” I warn him, my words little more than a hiss as my anger seeps out of me, but it gets his attention all the same.
“Lyle,” he echoes in the same tone, challenging me. For a moment, my beast rises, pressing hard to be free, but I quickly push it down. I will not fight my brother, not now, not ever. I trust Blair, and as mad as my beast might be about everything else, I do trust him. If he’s going along with this crazy story, there must be a reason, even if I can’t figure it out.
When I don’t respond, Blair turns his attention back to Garrett, and I choose to do the same. He’s the priority right now—well, using him to find Serena is.
“Take us to her.” Yanking him off the wall until we’re almost chest to chest, I meet his eyes as I make my demand. Letting him know I’m not asking.
Garrett surprises me, meeting my stare dead on without so much as flinching. Our beasts aren’t anything to joke about, at least not in this situation. I’ve brought grown men to their knees before, yet he seems completely unaffected.
What is he?
I get the feeling we don’t really know him, and I’m not sure I want to.
He nods after a moment, and as much as I hate to admit it, I feel something in my chest loosen, knowing he’s going to help us find her. No matter how crazy it all might sound, I’d dance naked in the fucking woods if it had a chance to bring her back.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Serena, and when nobody speaks up against the idea, I know it’s because the others feel the same.
Woah.
“You live here?” I can’t help asking as we clear the last of the trees.
Shadow Man pauses at my question, turning back to face me. His lips are set in a hard line, brows drawn together, and for a second, I worry I’ve said something wrong. His anger only lasts a moment before it melts away quickly enough that I’m not sure it was really there to begin with. He says nothing, simply nodding before he turns away again, heading toward the cabin.
He doesn’t invite me to follow him, but I’m past the point of waiting. I’m not sure if he lacks manners or just enjoys being an ass, but he offered to help me, and I’m going to assume that means getting me out of these fucking woods.
All around us, the woods are still dark, the trees mostly dead, but the cabin looks alive. The windows glow with what I assume is candlelight if the flicker is anything to go by. The roof is covered in dark green moss, while the bottom structure is mostly bricks, except for the wooden porch and second-floor arch. Smoke wafts up from the chimney, and I can smell the fresh wood that burns in the air.
The area around the cabin is mostly cleared. Not far from the cabin, a pile of chopped wood is stacked; an ax lodged in a nearby stump tells me it was probably done by hand.
