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“Easy, boy!” Henry laughed, regaining his feet as Will shook himself human again.
It felt like forever since he’d seen Henry. The tattooed alpha was a tough disciplinarian, but he could also be a good guy when he wasn't being actively pissed off.
“Welcome to the woods.”
Will found himself reluctantly relieved to encounter Lorien and Henry again. Among all the strangeness, they were familiar. They felt like home, though he somewhat wished they didn’t. The time he had spent alone with Maddox was perfect. He’d wished they could have stayed on vacation forever.
Will looked around the deep, dark forest and felt his animal instincts rising as his human stomach sank. He’d been hoping for a cabin, at the very least. Instead, a lone tent greeted him, a sort of battered green structure flapping limply in what little breeze there was.
“Where is everyone?”
“I’m not keeping my pack out here where they might be hunted down. They’re safe at home, raising their pups. Living their lives.”
“So it’s just the three of us out here, clinging to survival?”
“You’re a wolf in the woods,” Henry reminded him. “This is your natural habitat.”
“There’s no toaster here. What am I supposed to eat? Why are you going through my stuff?”
Henry jiggled a plastic bag. “Maddox sent sliced and freeze-dried human jerky for your animal appetites. For everything else, there’s deer.”
“Oh, God. No. I just want some fucking toaster pastry,” Will cursed. “I’m going back to the city.”
“Where a force of insatiable evil wants to kill you?”
“Where there’s toasters. And pastry.”
“Oh, hey,” Lorien said. “It’s you.”
Lorien also looked uncomfortable, Will was glad to note. He didn’t want to be the only one unhappy with the woods. Lorien was filthy. What had probably once been impeccably fashionable clothes were now not only dirty but ripped and torn besides. He looked like he had been pulled through the forest backward. He also looked hungry, Will noticed. There were not a lot of humans to feed on out here. Dark circles were starting to appear under his eyes, a certain hollow look that did not bode well.
It was Lorien, more than anything, that made Will’s heart sink. If the most composed vampire he knew besides Maddox had deteriorated so much out here, then what chance did he have of surviving? Bravado aside, Will knew damn well he was softer than Lorien, and there was no more of a human food supply out here for him than for the vampire. The baggie would run out soon enough, and then his eyes would sink, and his ribs would hollow, and he’d hunt. Hunt the way nobody wanted him to hunt. The way where he lost his mind and his morals and went for anything with human flesh. Again the image of a gas station attendant in pieces flashed through his mind. He’d resisted then, but there was no way he was going to be able to resist now, not now that the hunger was growing in him.
“Yeah,” Will said. “It’s me. I miss having a roof already.”
“Tell me about it,” Lorien agreed ruefully.
“Two of you whining might be too much to handle,” Henry said. “The woods are our natural home, Will. They are part of you. You’ll settle in soon. Lorien’s a little more sensitive.”
“I have to hide myself under leaves to avoid the mid-day sun,” Lorien complained. “The tent lets too much sunlight through. We need to find some kind of actual structure before a strong wind blows my cover and I turn to dust.”
“Leaves? That’s why you look like the thing from the… woods.” Will’s sass did not end as strongly as it had begun. “Why don’t you put a sleeping bag over you? Better than leaves.”
“Vampires also have the instinct to go to ground when threatened,” Henry explained. “It’s not ideal. We need to find a cabin, but one away from people. But not too far away, because Lorien needs to feed. So.”
“Seems like Lorien would be better off back in the city,” Will said.
“I’m staying with Henry,” Lorien insisted.
“Then you’re gonna die with Henry. Or more likely, Henry will come back from a hunt one day, and you’ll be a little pile of ashes.”
Will knew he was being an asshole. He just couldn’t help himself. Saying horrible things to Lorien and Henry made him feel a little better about his own predicament, somehow. He was jealous that they got to be together. And even more jealous that they intended on staying together through their hardships. Maddox had sent him away at the first sign of trouble, and at this distance, in these woods, Will wondered if he hadn’t been looking for a reason to get rid of him.
“That’s enough,” Henry said, glowering at Will.
“Is it? Who fucking says?” Will made the outright challenge.
“I’d really like it if you could be out here for ten minutes without making me whip your ass,” Henry growled. “I’ll do what I have to in order to maintain peace.”
