“Get a grip on yourself,” Krall says, demonstrating all the sympathy of a rock as Thorn thrashes around with the urge to sacrifice himself to the wilds.
“You were taken over,” I explain. “It happens when people come out here unshielded thinking that the worst thing that can happen to them is a vampire sinking its fangs in. We would be lucky to encounter vampires out here.”
“This place is haunted,” Krall says. “It’s cursed. It’s the worst place I have ever been.”
“And yet I call it home.” I smile sweetly, trying not to giggle.
“Tomorrow, we will leave,” Krall says. “I am taking you from these wilds, these hills, these places where shades and shadows come alive with malevolent force. You are going to come with us to a place where civilized people live. You are going to leave all this darkness behind.”
“I can’t,” I say.
“Of course you can. You are our mate, and you will do as we say. As I say,” he corrects himself.
He’s extra gruff and dominant when he’s scared. I thought he might be learning some respect for me, but all that is really happening is he is thinking he has the right to boss me about and tell me how to behave. Nothing changes the base, brute nature of a man, I realize.
“Drop the sigils and let me consume them.” The rattle comes from the darkness. Medusa is still out there, ready to do her dark work. She would claim their souls and turn their bodies to rock and there would be peace in these hills for a time until my father’s lure of pure shifter flesh to breed bought in new foolhardy brave wolves ready to sacrifice themselves for so much as a chance to breed.
“No,” I whisper to the evil.
“Foolish girl,” the voice returns, thin and harsh and full of warning. “You will suffer for your tenderness.”
CHAPTER 4
Krall
Morning comes, and I have never been so grateful to see daylight creeping over the horizon. It comes from the plains, sending beautiful rays spearing into the crevices of the mountains, and I feel its cleansing influence in my fucking soul.
That was the longest night of my life.
Tabby stayed awake for the duration. Only as the sun rises does she allow her heavy lids to close.
She is brave, she is protective, and I know we have done nothing to deserve her loyalty, but I am glad she gave it to us nonetheless because I have no doubt we would have perished otherwise.
“Get some sleep, baby,” I murmur, drawing her into my arms. She doesn’t resist, though I know she is not my biggest fan. What kept us together in the dark night was nothing like love, or even lust. I feel as though she kept watch over the three of us the way a she-wolf might do over three strange cubs that were not hers.She took pity on us, in other words, and we owe our lives to that pity.
Thorn is fast asleep already. I do not think he became brave in the night, I think he was exhausted by the possession and the paralysis and took refuge in sleep to stop seeing what he could not handle seeing. Skor is quiet by my side. He is alert still, and I see his eyes slide over Tabby as she curls up in my lap and lets the morning rays warm her back. It is a matter of seconds before she is snoring softly in my arms.
I did not want a young mate. I certainly did not want a witch, and yet here I am, tenderly cradling someone who is both those things, and who can only possibly represent trouble for me and my brothers for a long time to come.
Tabby is not a civilized thing. She is a wild creature raised in a wild place. Those shades and shadows, evil things that crawled and hungered and hunted us—none of them seemed to frighten her. She was at home around them and among them. She spoke to them as if they were friends, or even family. This place has dark tendrils, and they run through her.
Skor says nothing, but I feel the expectation in his gaze as he looks to me for the plan.
“We will rest long enough to eat,” I tell him. “And then we are getting her out of here.”
He nods, a quick, sharp snap of his head that indicates total agreement.
Tabby
I wake up to the feeling of being rocked. At first I don’t know what the hell is happening. I can’t seem to move my limbs. They are pressed tight to my body. The motion is constant, and quite soothing, but very disorienting. When I open my eyes, I see the landscape dancing in front of me, bouncing up and down in a repetitive rhythm.
I realize after a few very confusing seconds that I am being carried down the mountain. In fact, I am so far down that we are now on shallow slopes that I don’t think I have ever set foot on in my life. Their flatness invites a great many plants and things to root and blossom, so there are flowers around us when I open my eyes. A cacophony of orange and purple greets me, along with the buzzing of bees that travel between the blooms, working industriously at their cores. It’s quite a fascinating sight, and for a few long seconds I am distracted by watching a new strange world unfold around me.
Then I realize my own predicament a little more clearly. I have been wrapped in a blanket, effectively swaddled, and tied to my mate. Krall has me snugged against his back, my head on his left shoulder. I draw in his scent with every breath. There’s rough musk and a sort of piquant tang that makes my pussy tingle. Attraction to males is a thing that does not require any coherent or conscious thought. In fact, it might even run contrary to good sense.
“She’s awake,” Thorn says.
“She is,” I agree.
