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“A deadly one,” Jorik added, undeniable appreciation in his gaze as he slid it down my body for a moment. “Angel of Death.”
Zane snorted again, not entirely believing that sentiment himself.
“Just because those claws have never drawn blood doesn’t mean they can’t,” Rix said, the corners of his mouth kicking up into a smile as he cast me a sideways glance. “Right, Wildcat?”
A strange and not altogether unpleasant feeling began coiling inside of me.
Zane’s scowl only deepened, and he scoffed a laugh, which smothered that warm feeling in my belly like a fire being snuffed out with a blanket.
What was his problem?
Ignoring his glare, I bent down when something blue on the ground caught my eye. It was a small flower. Beautiful and delicate and in the shape of a bell. I picked it, holding it gently in my palm.
“That’s a bluebell,” Jorik said with gentle authority. “They grow in the spring.” My eyes met his in the dark, and he smiled shyly, his green eyes crinkling at the sides. “You’ve never seen a flower, have you?”
“Only in books,” I whispered. I picked a few more and held them in my hand, marveling at their delicacy and the silkiness of the petals.
Jorik bent down and picked a different flower. This one was a soft pink on the outside, and a darker pink on the inside. There were two flowers splitting from one step into two, and each were shaped like a bell. Such delicate things looked funny in his enormous paw. “This is a Linnea borealis, or Twin Flower,” he said. “Smell it.” Holding the stem in his big fingers, he held the flowers up so I could lean forward and inhale.
They smelled wonderful. Fragrant and floral, fresh and sweet. Happiness filled me at getting to smell something so beautiful for the first time.
“Take it,” he said, lifting his hand a little higher.
“Thank you.” I accepted the stem and brought the flowers back up to my nose, smiling when the delicious scent filled my nostrils.
Jorik’s smile was shy and made him seem a little less like big blond bear.
“We need to keep moving,” Zane said gruffly, continuing on.
We fell in line behind him.
Thankfully, the night was quiet. I heard our footsteps, all four sets of them, felt each individual heartbeat, and could sense the presence and heartbeats of various woodland creatures. The smells around me were overwhelming, too. Acidic and salty, sweet and sour. Piney and bitter. The smell of at least three different kinds of feces wafted on the air, along with pungent urine against a tree—bear? Wolf?
I smelled it all, heard it all, felt it all.
And it was more than my brain had ever experienced. What started out as a small frisson of unease creeping through me at just how much I was feeling quickly snowballed into a quiet panic attack.
“You okay?” Rix asked, his voice a deep rumble behind me, causing my breath to catch as the sound seemed to reverberate through me. “Your heart is beating pretty fast.”
I swallowed and nodded. “I’m fine. Just excited to be free. I still can’t believe it.”
Zane snorted ahead of us, and I watched his head shake.
It wasn’t long before we came to the small lake.
“How much farther?” Zane asked.
I hesitated and glanced up at all three of them. The pressure in my brain from all the sounds and smells around me was starting to mess with my head, and I struggled to think clearly. My palms were slick with sweat, and bile coated the back of my tongue, making saliva pool in my mouth. I was going to vomit. I brought the flowers back up to my nose and took a deep breath, but it didn’t work the way I hoped. It just added to the chaos building inside of me.
“You sure you’re okay?” Jorik asked, resting an enormous hand to my shoulder.
Relief flooded me instantly, and for the brief moment our bodies were connected, even just like that, the tension in my head subsided.
“We’re not going to kill you once we get the pack, if that’s what you think,” Zane said dryly. “We still need directions to the boat.”
If that was his attempt at humor, he failed.
I lifted my gaze to his, keeping my expression deadpan. In a somewhat subconscious gesture, my hand traveled to the butt of my gun sitting on my thigh holster. His eyes flicked to it, and a small smile curled up on one side of his mouth.
