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I cocked my head, an amused smile sneaking onto my face. “If you want some hot food tonight you guys are gonna have to chase down some rabbits. I wouldn’t go for deer, we’ll have to carry the rest of the meat with us.”
I laughed as he wrinkled his nose. “Don’t worry, Linc, you catch them and I’ll do the rest.”
Linc groaned as he licked the last of the meat juices from his fingers.
“Ok, I wasn’t expecting it to taste that good.”
Spencer raised a brow at him as Briar sniggered. “Good job someone managed to catch them then, isn’t it.”
Linc scoffed. “Lucky break, man, I could’ve done it.”
Hawk gave a soft snort, making Linc glare at him. Night had set in now, and a small fire crackled within a circle of rocks between us, the trees above opening up onto a cloudless, starry sky.
“The stars look right again,” I murmured as I leaned back on my hands, gazing upward.
“I didn’t expect this place to feel so… different,” Spencer said, stoking the fire with a long stick before settling back on his elbows and following my gaze.
Briar looked over the flames at him. “Different how? It seemed pretty similar to me.”
He caught her eye and gave her a cool look. “Well my senses are stronger than yours, and you didn’t exactly spend long in my world.”
She gave a shrug and went back to her food, the tension between them obvious. I absolutely wasn’t getting involved though, I had enough to deal with without refereeing whatever they were clashing heads about.
“You came from here,” I said quietly, my eyes back on the constellations. “Originally. Our packs used to be one pack.”
Hawk hummed. “Doesn’t feel like home. Feels like the weirdest fucking vacation ever.”
We all chuckled and settled down for the night, knowing we still had a long way to travel and needed rest. I reached up to feed a little power to the fire, wanting it to burn through the night for both warmth and safety, and gasped in shock as the flames suddenly exploded to life.
The others leapt away as a jet of fire exploded into the air like a geyser, shooting up to the treetops before falling back into the pit again, blazing happy and content like nothing strange had happened.
I glanced in amazement at my hand before looking at the others. “Um, are you all ok?”
“We’re ok, Cor, but what in the hell was that?!” Linc asked.
They settled back around the flames a little warily and I rolled my eyes at them. “For gods’ sakes, guys, it was an accident. I won’t do it again, you’re safe.”
Briar giggled. “What have you been drinking, little sister? That was crazy power.”
I shrugged bashfully. “Sorry. I guess I got used to the elements being so slow and sleepy in the other realm. They’re a lot stronger here.”
“Maybe try and reign it in a bit, yeh?” she snarked, giving me a wink as she lay down to sleep.
“Just a bit,” Hawk murmured as he also settled down, earning himself a glare.
Linc leaned closer to me conspiratorially. “That was epic.”
I laughed as Spencer reached out to cuff him round the head, and we all fell quiet as the night wore on, the sounds of steady breathing finding my ears as they fell into sleep around me.
Instinctively, I reached for my bonds, using them to anchor me and take me closer to a sense of safety than I had felt for a long time. They glimmered deep within me, my mind’s eye showing me thin steel cables that stretched away from me and tried to pull me towards my mates. I tugged on them again, knowing that it would still be days until I saw either of them but wishing I could yank them closer all the same.
Doubts still clawed at me, making unease swirl in my gut at the thought they might not even be happy to see me. The bond would draw us to each other, but I wasn’t sure I could face the idea that they might be disappointed at my reappearance.
I couldn’t stay away, though, even if that were true. I couldn’t leave my pack to face this threat alone, no matter what that meant for me and my guys. As I finally drifted into sleep, I couldn’t help but imagine disgust on their faces when they saw me again, tumbling into dreams of regret and loneliness that left me feeling unrested and anxious.
As the sun rose the next morning, we packed up the camp and continued south, falling into a rhythm of walking, hunting and sleeping that saw two days flit by without us sensing another soul. The guys joked around a little but mainly kept a silent watch on the forest around us as I led us towards the Pack Lands. I was pretty certain that no one knew where we were, there were no signs of anyone following or even travelling this way recently, but it didn’t hurt to be vigilant.
As we ate a simple breakfast on the third morning since coming through the portal, I raised a small issue that had been bugging me.
