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His words make sense and bring me some kind of calm as I eye the circle of bodies around us.
Shut down the link, Sweeney. And no spells.
We’ll see you soon, love.
I feel them snap the connection before I even have a chance to. I sag, puffing out a long breath as Kohaku wraps an arm around my waist. He gives them a broad smile. “Oh, thank god. We are so fucking lost right now.” I blink up at my kitsune. His speech is suddenly way less formal, less himself.
But I don’t have time to question him about it. Instead, I give them a wobbly smile. “We’ve been walking forever. Do you know the way to the nearest town?”
The man in the center of the five hunters in front of us lowers his weapon toward the ground, while the others still keep their guns pointed at us. “You got lost, eh?”
I nod emphatically, as if that will make them believe it more. “Oh, yes. We were on a hike, and it was supposed to be just this short little thing, not more than a few miles. Right, honey?” I smile up at the huge man towering over me.
“Right, baby.” His hand tightens on my hip. “But I heard there was this totally awesome view of the ocean off the trail, and well, we found the view, but lost the trail.” He runs his freehand through his copper hair, almost bashfully. “I should have known better. You know you hear about hikers going missing all the fucking time. I just thought it’d be so easy.”
I pat his rock hard abs with my hand, get momentarily distracted by said abs, and then bitch slap my libido because we have guns pointed at us at the moment, and it’s not time to get distracted. At all.Really, Rosalind Juliet?
“There aren’t any hiking trails near here.”
My stomach drops as I blink at the statement, but then let out a giggle, like we’ve been caught doing something naughty.I’m just a silly little girl.I have no clue how to survive in the wilderness. None at all.
“Oh God, we’ve really been walking forever then. Maybe if you could give us a lift into town, we can see about finding our car?”
Kohaku’s fingers tighten on my hip again. This time it’s a clear warning. But what the hell else am I supposed to do? Tell them we’re fine being lost in the woods? No person in their right mind would believe that.
I mean, I don’t want to spend a second longer than I have to with these people, but we need to get out of these woods and we need to get to a place where we can call my guys for help. Where they can come and get us.
He eyes us, taking in our lack of coats, my chucks and Kohaku’s boots. Neither of which are shoes any smart person would wear to a hike, but then if we’re playing dumb city folk, that might work in our favor.
He nods slowly. As soon as he does, the other guns pointed at us lower. “Sure, we can do that.”
I give him my best YouTuber smile. “Oh, thank you so much, I’m Ros-” Kohaku’s hand tightens painfully. I can practically feel the bruises sprouting under his fingertips. “I’m Rose and this is my boyfriend, Jack.”
The girl snorts. “Like fromTitanic?”Oh shit.Yeah, that is exactly where I got his name from.
I laugh, playing it off like I think it’s the most romantic thing to ever happen. “I know, right? It’s like fate or something.”
Kohaku tilts his head toward mine. “It’s totally fate, baby.” Then he looks back at the people around us. “We’re hungry and tired, if you wouldn’t mind leading the way?”
Damn, he sounds pretty damn commanding. Hopefully, they don’t take offense to that. With any luck, they’ll just chalk it up to a dude trying to take care of his girlfriend.
The leader’s eyebrows raise. “Of course.” He motions in a direction with his hand. I think he wants us to precede him, but there is no chance in hell I’ll do that. Kohaku seems to think the same thing, so we all just stand there staring at each other until the woman sighs and starts in the direction the man indicated. Her brother falls into step beside her, and I guess Kohaku thinks that’s safe enough because he urges me after them with a hand on my lower back.
I hear the leader murmuring something to the remaining members of their hunting party and a quick glance behind me shows three of the members melting back into the trees, while the other three follow us.
“We have bottles of water and some protein bars in the car,” the women tells us over her shoulder. “How long have you been out here?”
I glance at my kitsune as he smoothly answers. “Practically all day. We’re camping nearby, got an early start, before the sun even fully came up. And we were hopelessly lost shortly after that.”
The young guy laughs. “Yeah, it’s not as easy as just remembering the way you came. People get turned around all the time.”
“It would have been better if you’d walked south along the ocean. You would have hit Kalaloch, eventually.”
I nod. “Yeah, that’s what I said when we realized we were lost, but you know, by that time we were…lost.Couldn’t find our way back.” I shrug my shoulders. “I really can’t thank you guys enough. You’re life savers, truly.”
The girl looks over her shoulder at me. “Yes, we are.” There’s something in the grin she gives me, something pointed and sharp. Knowing what I know about them, it’s pretty easy to deduce that she thinks by killing witches she’s saving lives. Maybe in some cases she is. But in my case, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I haven’t hurt or killed or maimed anyone with my magic. Or heck, even without my magic.
