Page 20 of Unravel Me

The forest smells incredible. I take a deep breath, savoring its rich, earthy scent, which stirs a strange longing in me. I've spent my whole life in the heart of the concrete jungle, even though I'd always dreamed of living somewhere far away from the crowd. But with a modeling career, that just wasn't possible.

Now I let myself enjoy nature without guilt. Occasionally I glance at the map and realize I'm slowly closing in on the central point Storm marked. I'm about a hundred yards away.

A strange excitement starts creeping over me, a tingling sensation spreading up my spine. At first I'm convinced it's just the preheat. Then I think maybe I've simply worked myself up over finally reaching the place I'd come all this way to find. But after a while, it hits me that something else is probably behind it.

The forest feels different, denser, older. I don't even know how to describe it… more primal, maybe? Moss carpets the ground, and ferns spread in every direction. It's breathtakingly beautiful, but also absolutely wild.

My heart starts pounding, and I have no idea why. Unfortunately, there's another problem. As an omega, my hearing is far sharper than a beta's, close to what I'd compare to a hunting dog's.

And I'm pretty sure I'm starting to hear something, like… soft rustling. At first it sounds like nothing more than the wind moving through distant bushes, but then it develops a pattern. It shifts, circling around me. It's incredibly hard to pinpoint, faint enough that I could almost dismiss it, yet there's something… deliberate about it. Whatever's making those sounds doesn't seem interested in hiding. It just keeps circling closer and closer.

At first I make a real effort to push it out of my mind, coming up with every possible explanation, but eventually I realize I'm only lying to myself. I draw my gun, flip off the safety, and grip it tightly.

If it wants to come after me, it'll have to deal with a steel bullet. I’d hate to use it, but after spending so many years living under constant threat, I finally gave in. I'd been strongly against carrying a gun before, but life turned out to be far less peaceful than the ideals I'd believed in.

The farther I push through the forest and the closer I get to the marked point, the more impenetrable everything seems to become.

Sometimes I have to force my way through walls of tangled undergrowth, desperately searching for any opening that might pass for a decent path.

My heart pounds faster and faster. I start seriously wondering if I should turn back and try again another day, especially since it's already past 2:30 in the afternoon, and I really don't want to get caught out here after dark.

But no. Clenching my jaw, I keep moving. I have to be close now, maybe fifty yards from the center, though it's almost impossible to judge distance in terrain like this. The ground rises and falls in ridges and hollows, making it hard to get my bearings.

Eventually I reach the edge of a steep slope leading down into thick brush. Hmm. Climbing down will take time, and with the incline this sharp, one bad step could send me sliding.

As I stand there, I hear branches snapping behind me, growing louder. Then I'm absolutely certain I hear something that sounds like careful footsteps on the forest floor. I can't take it anymore. Gripping the gun, I spin around.

What stands behind me is beyond anything I've ever seen.

It isn't human.

It's, umm… green.

Incredibly… forest-like. Its light green skin is laced with delicate golden-russet veins. The entire figure is surrounded by what looks like countless tiny flecks of glitter drifting through the air, a truly magical glow. From within a face wreathed in a golden mist, radiant, blazing eyes lock onto mine. I take all of that in within the span of a heartbeat.

Fear shoots straight through me, and the next second my foot slips back an inch too far.

Then I'm falling down the slope.

The world spins!

Panic knocks the breath out of my lungs.

The hillside isn't insanely steep, but once you pick up speed, you just keep going, swallowed by a thick cloud of dead leaves.

And down I tumble…

Thankfully, there aren't any tree trunks in my path for me to smash into. It's mostly low, soft brush, and my body plows through it like a wrecking ball.

I keep falling.

Rolling and rolling, damn it, for at least sixty yards.

I finally crash at the bottom into another pile of leaves, so aside from a few scrapes across the backs of my hands, I'm surprisingly intact.

But I immediately realize my biggest problem.

The gun I'd been holding…