Chapter 9

9

KOVI

“Ooh, getting ready for another date with your human boyfriend,” Seth says in a high-pitched, mocking tone. He claims he was a benevolent pharaoh in his past life, but right now, I’d like to mummify his tongue. I’m momentarily tempted to shift my arm and strangle him with vines.

But I’m busy scrubbing my face in the suite bathroom. I’m freshly showered, wearing only my tightest green boxer briefs, staring at the mirror above the sink. “It’s not a date,” I mutter. I rinse my cheeks then check my teeth. So I want to look good for my study sesh, so what?

“It looks like a date.” Seth smirks with his head through the open bathroom doorway.

“Leave Kovi alone,” Blake says, head popping up on the opposite side.

“Thank you.” I sniff my pits then decide on more body spray.

“He hasn’t gotten laid in so long it’s illegal. He needs to do whatever it takes to seduce this Tanner guy,” Blake says.

“Agreed,” Seth adds with a solemn nod. They’re barely holding back their laughter. This is what I get for not locking the door. Being three college bros, we rarely close the bathroom when we shave or groom. At the moment, though, privacy is needed.

“Okay, you can leave now,” I deadpan. I spray myself, hoping I smell attractive, if that’s even a thing.

“Why? Watching you primp yourself is hilarious,” Seth adds through a giggle.

“Yeah, and it’s taking forever,” Blake adds.

I turn around and swiftly spray them both in the face until they’re coughing and running off.

Thirty minutes later, I’m leaning on the west gate when Tanner appears. He’s wearing a gray hoodie, tight blue jeans, and a nervous smile. Despite his obvious discomfort―from me or monsters in general, I’m not sure―I’m so happy to see him. He’s hardworking, charming, interesting, and not to mention handsome. In short, Tanner is a treasure. I’ve known since I was a child that every moment with him is precious.

Sure he makes my inner dryad hungry enough to drag him into the woods and wrap him in vines, but I need to keep my branches to myself. Unless he wants me to. Then I’d be more than willing to feast on his body.

My monstrous thoughts are kept at bay as we walk to the woods. We chat about nothing heavy. Tanner tells me about how he’s finding his way around campus. I regale him the trials and tribulations of living with Seth. It’s a light-hearted conversation, and I can’t help the deep desire to interpret tonight as a date. But it’s not, and I need that bud of a misconception to stay deep underground.

When we get to the edge of the forest, Tanner stops walking, so I turn around. The concern in his eyes is unmistakable as he gazes at the canopy of trees. In retrospect, maybe meandering with him in the forest during twilight wasn’t the best idea. His fear is likely heightened by the fact that I’m the shifter who hurt him years ago.

I bite my lip and bounce on my heels, unsure of what my next step is. “Hey,” I say in my most sympathetic voice. “We don’t have to, you know? We can just head back to the library to―”

“No.” He nods his head vigorously, as if to psyche himself up. “I need to do this.”

I think he’s referring to the mere act of approaching the forest. To him, it’s probably not an easy feat. I nod and slowly say, “Alright well, where would you like to start?”

We walk a few yards more while he finagles with his backpack. “Got my notes and everything.” The crunch of stray twigs is our only soundtrack as we approach the first majestic tree. “I need to know the anatomy of trees here in Pennsylvania,” he mumbles.

I snicker as he digs through his bag for a pencil, then drops the backpack altogether.

“Alright.” I lean my hand on the bark of this beauty. “This is Fraxinus americana, known colloquially as the white ash tree. Say hello to this gorgeous beauty.”

“Oh.” His back straightens. “Hello, um, mister tree?” He bows, and I snicker.

“That was an expression.”

We laugh and Tanner shakes his head. “Dude, how am I supposed to know? You’re the one who can talk to trees!”

“I can commune with them because I am one of them.” I shake my head, and Tanner gives me a funny look. “Sorry, I’m monster-splaining. Let’s start at the top.” I point up to where the white ash towers above us. This beauty is at least twenty feet tall, and it’s one of the smaller ones.

“That right there is the canopy. And these first few branches are scaffolding branches.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” He jots down notes and looks back up. “What else you got?”

I spend the next twenty minutes showing him all the different parts of the white ash. Tanner takes a keen interest, writing down notes and cross-referencing with his textbook. I’m honored I get to share such an integral part of my world with him.

“It says here there’s a crown?” He looks down at his text then back up at the canopy. “What crown?”

“White ashes are among the many that have broader canopies, contrasting with their narrow trunks.”

“A lengthy wood to a large crown, huh? This is my kind of tree.” His voice is rumbly with humorous intrigue while he takes notes. While I don’t miss the playful double-entendre, I had never noticed that before. I guess I’m so accustomed to forestry that I don’t regard it in a pseudo-sexual way. How could I? I barely have a libido in my tree form, and that’s just to hook up with fellow monsters.

But I’m not in my tree form right now. I’m in my twenty-one-year-old human form, and hearing Tanner recite notes while playfully making dick jokes has my pulse racing. I bet he’d handle my wood just right…

I clear my throat. “Um, so that’s what’s important about scaffolding branches.” I anxiously look around the ground for anything that can capture my attention. I need to stop thinking about Tanner handling wood or shafts. I spot something on the ground near the next tree’s roots. “And as you can see, this branch on the ground unfortunately didn’t get the support. The last storm must have knocked it down.”

I pick up the fallen branch and Tanner follows. I wield the hefty thing that resembles a crooked yardstick. It’s thick too, but I know the rest of this white ash remains stalwart like the rest of the forest.

“Huh. Can I see it?” Tanner looks on with interest, having dropped his books. I hand it to him, and he wobbles it up and down.

“Wow. I never realized how beautiful it could be,” he mutters. He grasps it and trails his fingers down reverently. Oh crap. I didn’t realize how phallic this branch would be, too. As he wraps his fingers around it, naughty images of Tanner handling my branches comes to mind. “I can barely get my hands around it. Thick thing…”

I gulp and recall Blake’s comment about me sprouting wood. Seeing him here at the edge of the forest invokes something primal in me. Rarely have I ever craved sexual activity in my tree form, but that was the old me. My mouth is dry as I imagine being intimate with Tanner in the forest.

As he studies the massive branch in his hand, I can’t even blink. He scrutinizes the wood, then trails his huge fingers down the side, seemingly unaware of what he’s doing to me. My mind is flooded with visions of Tanner handling me all the same, in my tree form, and in my human form. I want his fingers to caress my bark, and my vines to do the same to his porcelain skin. I want to feel his soft lips with my branches. I didn’t think interacting with wood was a kink, but seeing the way he handles it like a shaft… damn , I could get into that.

Do not sprout wood, Kovi.

Before I can run away or jump his bones, he’s shaken by a buzzing noise in his pockets. He drops the branch and digs out his phone. “Hello? Yes, this is he.” His already-fair skin goes pale.

“Tanner, what—?”

“Oh my God, is she okay? Yes…Yes, I’ll be right there. This is what I can tell you, she has a history of illness with…” He turns to me, fear and shock written all over his face. “I’m sorry, Kovi, I gotta run.”

“But—”

“My aunt had to call an ambulance and now she’s in the emergency department.”

My jaw drops. “Oh, shit, Tanner.”

“I gotta go. I promise I’ll call you later.” He runs off before I can say more. The last thing I hear is him telling the person on the phone a list of medical conditions.

Damn . Tanner’s really going through it. With him gone, I take a deep breath in and out, then shift. Letting my vines and branches out is relaxing after bottling it up all evening. In my taller dryad form, I gaze off in the distance at Creelin’s walls. I pray everything is alright with Tanner’s family. Yeah, I’m crazy attracted to him and want us to get nasty in a pile of fallen leaves. But more than that, I want everything to be okay for him. I’m compelled to make sure Tanner’s life works out, however I can.