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As for me, I tried to memorise every detail as he was leading us off the beaten path, so I could trace my way back if I needed to. But there were no markers, and I’m not great on tree species.
Good thing I brought my broom to fly home on. Sorry, I couldn't resist!
A very faint sound of feet padding in the distance didn’t escape me or my heart. My fingers gripped my athame tighter, my muscles tensed.
Suddenly he turned, rushing me, his arms on either side of mine as he pinned me against a tree.
“You are full of fear, Elsa. Your heart is making me edgy. You should know-”
Tilting my head, I raised my knee slowly to his groin, then drew my arms in together, pushing him back.
“I get it, my fear is exciting you. Deal with it. I don’t kneel to any man, Marrock. If anyone kneels, it would be you.”
His shoulders rose as he laughed hard from his belly. “You what now? Really? You want an alpha, me, to submit?To you, a woman?”
Shaking my head, I responded, “Come on, caveman. Enough of your last century games. The twenty-first century really is lost on your kind, isn’t it?”
Becca muttered, “And soap by the smell of them.”
His stare didn’t break as his lips drew tight together. Then his face softened into a smile. “I like you. You’re kind of hot. I’ve never met a woman who stood up to me. And lived.”
“What, most women melt under your lupine gaze? You don’t get out much.”
He shrugged. “Yes, they do. And you’re right, I don’t get out much. I have a pack to run. Come on, love. Nathan lives this way.”
Becca whined quietly. “She’d better be here. I could be eating shrimp and tacos instead of being in this wet, stinking place!”
I got it. It was wet, it hadn’t stopped raining for days. Now my boots were damp. Cold bit under my scarf, travelling down my neck. But aside from that, I loved the forest. Being out in nature, with comforts, it was my favourite place. And oddly, I liked most shifters. Not this one though. A fact that Becca and Josey chided me on constantly.
He strode quicker. We had to double our pace to keep up with him.
Swallowing hard, I could hardly believe I just said that to him, that I had stood up to Marrock. I could fight him for sure, and maybe I’d win. But his pack, all of them? I cursed in my head. I needed to be more careful. Act a little less brazen. I was in his den after all. Without an invitation.
The scent of wood and the sweetness of rotten leaves changed. Iron, copper, blood. Marrock stopped dead still, his head tilted back as he inhaled deeply. Peeking through the thick oaks and maples, an orange glow dappled, reflecting through the dense branches and as my sight adjusted, I saw the outline of a snug lodge. Perhaps Nathan had been hunting?
Without speaking, Marrock broke into a run, weaving in and out of the coarse shrubs and tightly packed trees. He didn’t flinch as branches tore his skin. I gripped my athame tighter as we followed him at a distance, unable to pick our way through as fast.
Whining, Becca stopped. “Bloody hell, Elsa! Remind me to ignore you forever. Look, my jacket has torn on these bloody brambles. What’s the mangy alpha up to now?”
Ignoring her, I struggled through the almost waist high undergrowth to catch up to him. My legs were sore, like Becca, as brambles had snagged at them.
Panting, he stood outside the home, wide eyed, hands limp by his side as he stared up at the open front door. Sweat glistened on his forehead and his chest. He went to leap forward, I snatched at his arm and missed, instead grabbing his hand. His gaze fell to my fingers, wrapped around his, then he locked my stare, slack-jawed.
“Marrock, what’s wrong? Surely the smell is blood from a hunt. I can't detect human blood.”
His lips twisted into a growl, he tugged his hand free and bounded away, frantically looking up at the branches above.
Before I could catch up, he ran into the lodge.
Trees had been cleared for the home, a log cabin, two-storeys high, and glimmering from the roof were solar panels. The sound of flapping as a windmill chugged on top. I’d heard about the werewolves, and other shifters moving to use off grid power. Most witches were sceptical, but I thought it was apt. After all, they were part-animal and most animals live in harmony with nature.So why wouldn’t shifters, werewolves? Even this vicious pack seemed to want that. After all, whoever heard of werewolves getting an electric bill?
We ran up the wooden steps and I managed to squeeze through the front door that this alpha was blocking.
On the wall opposite the door, a huge pentagram trickled, smeared in blood.
My breath hitched, andI could feel his anger burning like heat, now he laid it on me.
Grabbing me by the neck so fast, I dropped the athame which his eyes followed as it tumbled out of my grip. Then pressing himself against me he snarled, “Bloody witches! What have you done? This is a trick. You’re here to distract me, whilst your stinky coven destroys my pack? Huh, is that it?”
