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The creature swung itself forward a bit, its large, wet eyes drinking in my features. It cocked its head to the side and sniffed the air around me.
"Are you a wolf?" it snapped, asking again. A high-pitched chirp pushed from its chest. It sounded like the chatter of a squirrel, but it made the hair on my arms stand on end.
I hesitated to speak. While this small creature looked completely harmless, I had thought the same thing of Lex when I first saw him. The creature narrowed its eyes, and its face pinched when I didn't speak.
"Yes," I finally forced myself to say. "I'm an Omega were."
"You're not like those big, angry wolves that rip up the forest floor, are you?"
"No." I tried to keep my voice from shaking as a vine squeezed and coiled down my legs. "I'm not like them at all."
"Why did you touch my tree?" Its pointy teeth flashed momentarily as it spoke.
"It was so beautiful, and I was sad. I like touching the trees and rocks when I'm sad." It was the truth. I just hoped it wasn't offensive.
The creature hung there, swinging slightly, its eyes unblinking.
"Your tree is lovely," I mumbled.
The creature looked around, scanning the area in the distance, before returning its gaze to me. My breath caught as the vines slowly uncoiled themselves from my body. I didn't move, staying completely still.
"Don't touch my tree again!" the creature hissed, teeth bared and eyes blazing.
It leaned forward and grabbed a chunk of my hair and swiped at it, cutting a length of it off with its sharp claws. Then it shot back up into the branches.
I jumped up and pushed myself as far from the tree as possible, slamming my back against the white rocks we had slept on the night before. My heart was pounding, and the skin on my arm stung. The exposed flesh where the vines had slid was now purple and seeping droplets of blood.
"Are you harassing the ashmores?" Lex teased, strolling toward me, his white hair tousled and dripping.
"Ashmores?"
"The tree dwellers," he said as he held out a hand to help me up. "They get very pissy when you touch them."
I rubbed my arm and nodded. "Yes, they do," I said, looking up cautiously at the trees around us.
"Just wait," Lex smiled, wrapping his finger around the end of my snipped chunk of hair. "The trees get even weirder the deeper you go. Just be thankful this one only wanted a locket of hair as penance and not a limb."
"Great," I mumbled as we pressed on, gripping my throbbing arm.
The forest changedseveral times as we walked through. Shifting from lush greens with angry trees to crystal clear streams where the sun cast rainbow shadows, to a span of trees pressed so firmly together with branches so thick they practically blocked out the sun.
I was worried we'd have to extend our journey by walking around this part of the forest, but Lex insisted it was okay to step on these trees, just not to sit or stand near one for too long. The roots liked to suck sleeping travelers into the hollows of the earth and digest them for weeks.
"Why do all the trees here want to kill everyone?" I groaned as we walked further into the dark, crowded woods. My body begged for a break. "I miss the trees back home. They didn't threaten to kill me or try to strangle me because I stepped on it or touched its branches."
"Well, maybe they would love to kill you." Lex stared at me pointedly. His usual cheerful demeanor was completely gone. "Have you ever bothered to ask them?"
"No," I mumbled, not wanting to upset him further. We had been traveling together for a while now, and he had been so pleasant. His sharp tone caught me off guard.
"The attitude of wolves.” He shook his head. "So ungrateful."
I opened my mouth to argue, but I was worried he'd abandon me in the gloomy thicket of trees. Plus, I was sure his feet hurt as badly as mine, and I hadn't seen him eat since that Alpha. I didn't know how frequently sirens needed food, but I would have been long dead if I had to wait as long as he had.
"You're right," I sighed. "I'm sorry."
Lex stopped in his tracks and spun around to face me. "What?"
"I'm sorry," I repeated, eyeing the trees around me for any movement as we stood in the center of several coiled roots. "It was rude of me to assume that just because something can't complain doesn't mean it doesn't want to."
