Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

The pounding in my head woke me up. Sunlight felt piercing as I opened my eyes to find my face directly in front of a window with broken blinds. Groaning, I stretched my arms above my head and turned over to see Wilder sleeping quietly in the bed next to me. Now that it was light out, I could see what the room looked like. It was definitely a bedroom decorated by a guy—sparce furniture with a couple of random band posters on the wall.

I sighed. My body wasn’t sore in places where I should have felt that delicious ache from a good night with a hot man. Last night Wilder had not lived up to his wild name. Disappointing, for sure.

BAM! BAM! BAM! The pounding returned, and it took me a couple of seconds to realize it wasn’t in my head. Wilder roused and rolled out of bed. He pulled on his boxers before answering the door to his bedroom, mumbling something about roommates. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, my feet immediately hitting the floor. His bed was just a mattress. He didn’t have a bedframe. Grabbing my sweatshirt and leggings, I tried to get dressed before Wilder opened the door. My shirt was barely on and my leggings pulled to my thighs when he swung the door open.

“ What? ”

“You were supposed to be at Camp forty-five fucking minutes ago!”

“I was a little busy.” Wilder looked behind his shoulder at me. The large man in front of him took a glance at me and sighed loudly. I quickly pulled my leggings up to my waist, hoping he hadn’t seen something he wasn’t supposed to.

“What the fuck, Wilder. You knew you had to be at Camp this morning. It’s mandatory. You don’t have a choice. And now you drag a girl into this?” The man rubbed his hands over his face. “What were you thinking? Get dressed. I don’t have time to drop her anywhere.” He took a few steps backward. “Hope you have enough food for her in this shit hole for the next three days because that’s where she’s staying.”

“Umm, I would like to go home,” I said. Adjusting my leggings, I grabbed my purse and made my way to the doorway. What kind of mess had I gotten myself into? This was the trouble Robinson had warned us about yesterday. Never again. I was stuck here without a car or a phone, with Wilder as my only way home. Great.

Glancing at his watch, the man looked at me and then back at Wilder. “No time. Your boyfriend was supposed to be at Camp an hour ago now. As much as I would love to drive you home after your date night, I can’t. I need to get this idiot to Camp right now.”

Smacking Wilder on the arm, I made him look at me as he pulled on his clothing. “You’re not leaving me here for three days. I don’t know where the hell I am, and I don’t have a car to get back to my house.”

Wilder pushed his hair back from his face as if I was now a problem that he didn’t want to solve. I looked at the man for help, but he just shook his head.

“Trouble follows this kid wherever he goes.”

I did a double take at his face. It was a little fuzzy, but I was almost certain this was the same guy from the bar last night that had been staring. He had the same golden eyes, the same beard—if not a little longer today, the same shaggy hair, and I flushed as I remembered the wayward thought I’d had about running my fingers through it.

The man’s biceps bulged as he grabbed Wilder’s arm and pulled him through the house to the front door. Looping my purse across my body, I followed them, dodging empty cans and food boxes that the man knocked over, dragging Wilder through the house. This had been such a mistake. What had I been thinking last night? Now I could be stuck here for days with a couple half-eaten leftover burgers for sustenance.

Wilder struggled to stay on his feet as he stumbled down the stairs of the house. I tried to be as careful as I could, stepping down the loose stair treads, trying not to fall too far behind. How I hadn’t broken my neck last night was a miracle.

Parked at the end of the drive was a black SUV with tinted windows. The man opened the back door and all but threw Wilder into the back seat. He turned around and faced me. I tried to stand up tall and look commanding, but I was sure my wrinkled sweatshirt and uncombed hair made me look ridiculous.

“I’m not staying here,” I said, trying to make my voice big, but I detected a shake in my vocal cords as I spoke.

“Sure, you are. There’s nowhere else to go. Get back in the house.”

The man climbed into the driver’s side and slammed the door closed. The window slowly rolled down, revealing his face, staring at me, daring me to defy him. I looked around outside the cabin. My memory was fuzzy about the car ride home from the bar. It had been about a ten-minute car ride with no defining road markers. If I knew what direction the cabin was in, I could get home, maybe by lunchtime.

I looked up at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun while still reading its position in the sky. It was probably early morning, the sun not yet risen to its highest point. If I assumed the sun was facing east, I would just need to head south the eleven miles back to the cabin. I could do it. I’d run far distances in the past. My toes disagreed, wiggling in Jenny’s borrowed wedges. Shit. Maybe I could make them work.

I took one look back at the SUV carrying the serious man and my flop of a one-night stand, and I decided to run. Expletives rose from my wake as I heard a car door slam behind me. I tried for speed. My purse hit the side of my body in a rhythm that matched my footsteps. The muscles in my legs had woken up not ten minutes ago, and I profusely apologized to them as they strained to warm up to support my speed.

I tried to keep an eye on the placement of the sun, but there wasn’t time between dodging rocks and navigating the uneven ground. I leaped, dodging a tree root that had briefly escaped the dirt before diving back down into the worms. Midair, an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled out of the air. My back hit a warm wall of muscle before my feet found the dirt. I didn’t make it very far.

“You’re fast.” I recognized the man’s voice. He was breathing heavy. “Even in those ridiculous shoes.” He swung my body so he had me in a suitcase carry on his side, his arm still holding me around my waist.

“Put me down!” I yelled and kicked, but he held me securely against him, not seeming to notice my struggle. I stopped struggling, trying to catch my breath. It was hard to breathe with the pressure of his arm against me.

It took several minutes to get me back to the car that he had left running. He set me down on my feet, loosening his grip on me, and I immediately took the opportunity to get away from him. A few feet away, I bent over, my hands on my knees, finally able to take a deep breath.

“Fuck.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as if I was yet another headache in this migraine of a day. “Get in the car. You’re coming with.”

“I’m not getting into the car with you,” I said, my hands still on my knees.

“You have three choices,” the man said. “One, you go back into the house and stay there for the weekend. Two, you keep running and I keep catching you. Or three, you get in the car.”

I lifted my head to look at him. He looked larger standing next to the car than he had in the house.

“Maybe I’ll go back in the house just until you leave. I think my odds of finding my way home are pretty good.” The man looked at me, glancing down at my shoes and up my body. I felt the heat of his gaze even through my clothing. His eyes looked yellow from where I was standing, but maybe it was just the reflection of the sunlight.

“I think the odds of you running into something unsavory in these woods on your way is quite high.” Okay, so he’d read my bluff. I didn’t know where I was. But I thought running still might be the better choice…

Turning my head, I looked back at the house. Did it even have running water? I glanced down the trail the man had just brought me back from. Maybe if I tried again, I could lose him. Who was I kidding? I was fast, but he was much faster. And in these shoes?

The man was still standing there when I rotated back to the car. Damnit. The choice to get into a car with ultimately two strangers seemed like the only option. I took a step toward the man, who smirked at my choice, happy he had won.

I quickly climbed into the back seat next to Wilder. He wouldn’t even look at me. The man closed the door and climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. This car was much nicer than the car Wilder had taken me home in. The cool leather seats grounded me as I let out a breath.

The man glanced at me in the rearview mirror before accelerating quickly down the road. He turned up the music as he drove well over the speed limit. Gravel flew up, creating a tan cloud around our car.

I looked at Wilder again. He looked straight ahead, obviously angry that someone had awakened him and forced him out of his house. Where was the guy that I’d been with last night who couldn’t break eye contact with me? Now he wouldn’t even glance my way.

“Where are we going, Wilder?” I kept my voice low enough that the driver couldn’t hear. Wilder continued to stare forward as if I wasn’t in the car. “Wilder!” I said, a little louder. This caught the driver’s attention, and he glanced at us through the mirror. He shook his head as if he expected nothing less.

Wilder jerked his body toward mine, nothing but annoyance on his face. “You should’ve gone home last night.”

“How? I don’t have a car. You fell asleep right after…” My voice trailed off as the man’s eyes glanced at me again in the rearview mirror. He’d obviously heard that. Wilder shook his head and turned to face forward.

“There will be people looking for me,” I said, turning to the man in front. At least I hoped Jenny and Leo would be concerned if I didn’t show up today.

“I’ll have someone alleviate their concerns. Once we enter Camp, we won’t be leaving until Sunday,” the man said.

What had Jenny been thinking, pumping me up like that last night? Her pep talk had been the worst advice ever. These were the locals we’d been told not to interact with, and now here I was in an unknown black car with an unknown driver headed to an unknown location. I was powerless as we barreled down the road at what anyone but a race-car driver would consider a frightening speed. All that time spent studying, not going out often with my friends had built up, and the one time I was a little wild, this happened.

Spending the summer in a research cabin that was cut off from the world with no service had seemed like a dream opportunity—a chance to immerse myself in the natural world and not have to worry about any other distractions. But right now, I desperately missed the security a phone gave me.

“My parents! My professor! They’ll all be expecting to hear from me,” I yelled, trying to entice the driver to stop, let me out, make him see that letting me go would be to his advantage.

“You live with roommates, right? Not your parents?” he asked, although he already knew the answer. I nodded. “And a professor? So you’re a student, probably a good one?” I nodded again. “Then you weren’t listening. It’s the weekend. No professor is going to come check on you on the weekend. I’ll take care of the roommates. Come Sunday, you’ll be back home, safe back in your world. They won’t even notice you’re gone.”

I looked away from Wilder and the rearview mirror, slumping over in my seat with my head in my hands. Last night had been such a mistake. I should have stayed in my lane and focused on doing what I’d come here to do. I was here to study and research the forest, not the local men. When they found my body buried in the woods in a couple of months, I was sure Professor Robinson would be nothing but disappointed.

“Wilder!” I whisper-yelled at him, trying to get his attention from my bent-over position so he could give me any clues about where I was going.

“Don’t bother with him—you’ll be nothing but disappointed,” the driver said. There seemed to be a lot of disappointment going around. “I hope you have nowhere to be for the rest of the weekend. You’re going to be stuck at Camp.”

“What’s Camp?” I asked. I was fine sleeping in a tent if my tent was far away from Wilder’s.

“If you’re expecting s’mores and campfire stories, don’t.”

“So, I’m your prisoner until Sunday?” This one-night stand had turned into an unwanted weekend affair.

“If I remember correctly, I gave you three choices. You chose the car. That hardly makes you a prisoner.”

The car sped up even more. The man’s white knuckles gripping the steering wheel were the only sign that he felt flustered. A sharp buzz sounded behind the car, and I whipped my head around to see what the noise was. Out the back window was nothing but the gravel road we had just driven over.

As I turned to face forward once again, we slowed down considerably to dodge the tents and people that had appeared in front of our car. My eyes must have bulged out of my head as I looked out the windshield.

“Welcome to Camp.” The driver chuckled at my disbelief.

Wilder looked unimpressed next to me. He was acting like a teenage boy, unwillingly dragged along on a family road trip.

Large canvas tents lined the road we drove on. People were walking, laughing, and having conversations with one another outside the tents and along the road. Flags flew high above the crest of each tent’s entrance. They were all different colors and had different symbols on them. We pulled next to the last tent on the road. The flag was black with a green cedar tree surrounded by a white moon like a halo.

Hopping out of the car, the driver opened my door and made a hand motion for me to follow him. Wilder got out of his side of the car and followed us to the entrance of the tent. The man pulled back the flap of the tent and let me see inside before I entered. The tent was large and lit with natural light from the plastic covered windows on each of its sides. In the middle of the tent, there was a large table with five chairs on each side and a chair at the head and foot of the table. Several couches lined the sides of the tent. The mismatched fabric on them gave the impression that they had been bought from different garage sales.

A small group of people sat together on a couch near the back. Deep in conversation, they didn’t seem to notice us entering. It wasn’t until Wilder threw his body loudly onto the nearest couch that they turned around to look at us.

“You got him, Everett. Where the hell was he?” A man similar in size to the driver, apparently named Everett, stood up and walked over to where Wilder was lying on the couch.

Wilder looked undeterred by the large man coming at him. The man kicked the couch, rattling him. He sat up, glaring at everyone in the room like a boy receiving a lecture from his parents after they’d caught him sneaking out of the house.

“At his house, sleeping.” Everett crossed his arms.

The large man walked over to where Everett and I were standing, keeping his eyes directly on me. “And who’s this?”

He came up close to me, and I tried not to cower in front of his imposing size. Broad, muscular shoulders dominated his frame. He was wearing some sort of leather vest over his black T-shirt, accentuating his large pectoral muscles. Every one of these men was uncommonly large. I had to tilt my head back to see his face as he towered over me with a frown on his cleanly shaven chin. A thin white scar ran across his forehead. His hair was cut so short, you could see his scalp through the tiny brown hairs.

I clenched my hands together tightly to disguise that I was shaking.

“Don’t scare the girl, Kostas,” a feminine voice said from behind who I assumed was Kostas.

Everett sighed. “I found her with that idiot.” He gestured with his head to Wilder. “The same girl we saw him with at the bar last night. I didn’t have time to drop her anywhere with the wards closing.”

“The side of the road would’ve sufficed,” Kostas said.

“Like I said, there wasn’t time. I was speeding to get here before the wards closed.”

“We can’t have a…girl here. This place is full of…us,” Kostas said. His hands curled into tight fists.

“You’re getting angry with the wrong person, Kostas.” Everett kicked the couch Wilder had draped himself over. My joy of a date last night grunted before crossing his arms across his chest closing his eyes. “Wilder brought her home last night when he knew he had to be here early this morning. He should’ve taken her back last night like a decent philanderer.” Everett kicked the couch again, and Wilder opened one eye before quickly closing it again.

“You should’ve left her where you found her. She doesn’t belong here,” Kostas said.

Everett grumbled, turning his glare onto me. I sucked in a quick breath and held it. “Believe me, I tried. She’s a runner. Even in those shoes.” Everyone turned to look at my feet.

A small woman with strawberry blonde hair pushed her way around Kostas’s large frame. “Kostas! Everett! You’re scaring the poor girl. Everett couldn’t just leave her at that junkyard.”

Moving around Kostas, the woman put her arm around my back and guided me away from the two menacing men. “Everett, let me take care of her this weekend. I’ll handle the…introductions.” She gave me a closed-lip smile. Her expression was warm. “We could use some more feminine energy in the tent.”

Everett nodded at her suggestion. “Fine. She’s your problem for the weekend.”

The woman brought me to one of the smaller couches and sat down next to me. Taking my hands in hers, she looked at my face, which I was sure looked terrified. “Hi, I’m Kleio. That brute that drove you here is Everett, and the other hulk is Kostas.”

Gesturing to the table in the middle of the room, Kleio also introduced me to Jack and Gavrill. The two men got up from the table and walked over to where we were sitting. Although smaller than the other males in the room, Jack was covered in lean muscle. His blond hair stuck out in sharp contrast to his tan skin. Gavrill stood a little behind Jack. He had black hair and a closely trimmed beard. When he got close enough to the others, I could see why he had made Jack look small. I was glad I was sitting down, or I was sure my knees would have given out.

“Back up, you guys,” Kleio urged. “You forget how big you are around humans.”

My mind started racing. Humans? Weren’t we all…humans here? These guys might’ve seemed more like Greek gods than humans, but they sure looked to be the same species as me.

With a huff, Jack planted a kiss on Kleio’s lips and dipped his head to her shoulders to nuzzle her neck. I was sitting close enough, my hands still clasped in Kleio’s, that I could hear a low growl coming from Jack as he pulled away. Then he walked to the table in the middle of the tent, Kleio’s eyes following him with a hungry stare. Kostas and Gavrill also made their way to the table, shaking their heads in amusement at the couple.

Everett stayed behind for a moment, looking at me. His yellow eyes connected with mine. I involuntarily squeezed Kleio’s hands.

“Everett! Get back over here—we need to strategize,” Kostas said.

He blinked quickly three or four times, shaking his head before turning around and heading to the table where Jack, Kostas, and Gavrill stood over large pieces of paper that looked like maps.

Kleio pulled her hands from mine, shaking me from my stupor, and I sent her an apologetic smile. Delicate strawberry blonde eyebrows arched over blue eyes. Her features were soft, and she had tiny orange freckles that dusted her nose. When she smiled back at me, her pink lips slowly opened to reveal white teeth framed by two large, pointed canines. Those were not human teeth.

Seeing that I’d noticed, she said, “You’re safe here. No one’s going to hurt you.” Then she added, “Are you from around here?”

I quickly shook my head, my hands still covering my mouth.

“I didn’t think so. Most girls around here know to stay away from that one.” She nodded her head toward Wilder, who was still slouched on the couch but had shifted his head so he was staring at us. “But don’t worry about that. We all make mistakes. What’s your name?” Her hands reached up, and she slowly pulled my hands away from my face so I could answer her.

“Elise.”

“Well, Elise, we’re stuck here for the weekend. Might as well get to know one another,” she said. “Let’s go for a walk and let the insensitive men debate over their maps.”

A scoff from Jack was the acknowledgment we got as Kleio pulled me up from the couch and brought me through the tent flaps. We walked down the makeshift street lined with similar tents. People bustled around, chatting with one another. The overall mood was cheerful, and it seemed like everyone buzzed with a level of excitement. Kleio nodded, greeting people who gave us curious looks as we walked by.

“You didn’t catch feelings for Wilder, did you?” she asked bluntly as we walked by two men playing some sort of lawn game with wooden blocks.

I didn’t know how much I should divulge to Kleio. Wilder hadn’t been pleasant to me this morning, but he was the only person I kind of knew here. I decided I should just be honest. “No, he was just a guy I met last night at the bar.”

“Oh, good. I couldn’t tell. You both seemed familiar at the bar last night.” She raised her eyebrows at me.

I could feel the red embarrassment travel up my neck and onto my cheeks. “You were there?” Of course this would happen on the one night I let loose. I couldn’t have an anonymous one-night stand. That would have been too easy.

Kleio laughed. “Oh, I was right there. I’m surprised your tongue didn’t accidentally make its way down my throat.”

I was sure I looked like a tomato as I groaned, covering my face with my hands. If a sinkhole could just open in the ground, I would gladly fall into it.

She grabbed my hands, pulling them away from my face for the second time today. “Don’t feel embarrassed! We’ve all been there. Well, I haven’t been there for a while, but I have definitely been there. I remember when Jack and I got together, there were more than a couple of nights that I humiliated myself at the bar. I don’t think they ever fully fixed the sink in the girl’s bathroom.” She tilted her head, reminiscing. “It’s possible that it became detached from the wall at some point.” I almost laughed out loud.

“You and Jack?” I didn’t know why I was suddenly interested in Kleio’s love life, but her candor was amusing and I was desperate to talk about something besides my night with Wilder.

“Yeah, Jack and I are together. Don’t go getting any ideas.” She smirked at me in a teasing manner as we walked. Toward the end of the road of tents, there was an open field full of tall grasses and wildflowers, which rolled into dense woods that looked impossible to traverse.

“Where are we?” I didn’t remember seeing this road or encampment on any of the maps Robinson had given us. If he knew that this many people were gathering this close to our cabin for some sort of event like this, I was sure he would have warned us.

Kleio stopped and turned toward me. “So, this is going to be hard to explain. You aren’t from this area and aren’t familiar with our customs.” I looked at her with confusion on my face. “You’re at Camp— Oh shit, move—quick!”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me forward as I felt the air whoosh behind me. I turned my head in time to see two enormous wolves run past us and into the field.

“We should probably stand somewhere else,” Kleio said.

The two wolves chased each other in the fields, tackling and nipping at each other playfully. My feet cemented to the ground as I stood there watching them. I had never been that close to a wolf before. Their fur had brushed against my skin as they’d run by.

“Come over here.” Kleio pulled me away from the road and sat down in the grass with her legs underneath her. I followed her, keeping my eyes on the wolves in the field. “Let’s start simply. I’m actually a little nervous,” she said with a laugh. “This is Camp. We are…” She took a minute to pick her words. “The technical term is Lycans . We can shift our forms if we want to—into a wolf. Most humans call us shifters.”

I blinked at her. Wolf shifters? Like the wolves from myths?

“Am I doing okay so far? This is the first time I’ve personally given ‘the talk’ to a human before,” she said, using air quotes.

I nodded at her. I didn’t know how it could be going better or worse.

“Okay, good. I’ve heard it can be quite shocking for humans to learn about us.” Kleio looked out into the field before continuing. “We’ve had humans in our pack before. Occasionally a shifter falls in love with one and brings them around.” She tilted her head, looking up at the sky, then snapped her head back to look at me. “But you’re not in love with Wilder.”

“Definitely not,” I said.

“Then it’s just a happy mistake that you’re here. Welcome to the world of Lycans.” Kleio opened her arms in a sign of welcome, but I didn’t know how to react. I must have been staring at her mouth with my own mouth gaping open in shock.

“I know you saw my fangs. Don’t worry—we don’t bite. Hard.” Her lighthearted smile flashed her sharp canines, and she pushed me playfully on the arm. “Okay, that was a corny joke. We don’t eat humans. We enjoy the same foods as you humans do.”

I had so many questions. “Shouldn’t you be, like, in hiding or something? How do people not know about this?”

Kleio laughed. “Hiding? I think I can pull off a pretty good human.” Then she smiled at me with closed lips, hiding her teeth, but when I didn’t say anything in response, she shrugged. “Everyone around here knows who we are, and we don’t get many visitors. When we do, our good looks can distract even the most curious of humans. You were sure distracted enough last night.”

I couldn’t help myself from snorting. “Seriously?” Staring her down, I gave her the nastiest look I could muster.

“Fine, fine! I won’t bring it up again. I just always like to tease the girls that get caught in Wilder’s web.”

Great—so I was one of many. “Finding girls at bars and taking them home is a common occurrence for him?” I asked.

“Only the girls who are desperate enough to follow him home.” It was my turn to push Kleio in the arm. She held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m really done this time.”

It hit me then that I had just slept with a shifter. Sex with Wilder hadn’t seemed any different from any other encounter I’d had. Except for my lack of enjoyment. And I definitely didn’t remember any fangs. But all the same, last night I’d shared a bed with a mythical creature. I could feel the blood drain from my face.

“I know this is probably a shock to you, but you’re safe with us here,” Kleio said. “We need to get through the next couple of days, and then you can go home and have the wonderful memory of living with wolves for the weekend.”

She laughed as I looked at her unbelievingly. Kleio seemed so normal and so human. How could it be that Lycans were a real thing? Did this mean that vampires and witches and dragons and Bigfoot were also real? Were they all just living under our noses?

“I can see your mind spiraling,” she said. “I promise we’re very normal. We just have fangs and can turn into wolves…maybe that isn’t the most normal, but other than those abilities we’re just like you!”

I had to laugh out loud at that. There wasn’t anything ordinary about these shifters. The two wolves that had almost run me over earlier were still bounding around in the grass, playing and chasing one another. Other than their size, they looked like regular wolves. There was something majestic about seeing wolves so close. Their fur looked shiny and soft, flowing through the breeze their bodies made while running.

“So, you can turn into one of those?” I gestured out to the field.

“My wolf isn’t as big as theirs, but yes, I can.” My eyes must have bugged out at her because she quickly added, “Don’t worry—I’m not going to shift! I wouldn’t scare you like that.”

Shift , yet another word to add to my Lycan vocabulary. I nodded, trying to process everything.

Kleio’s face shifted from teasing to something softer. “I know this is a lot to take in. Since you’re going to be here a couple of nights, let me ask Everett where he wants you to sleep. You can have some time to yourself before we eat.”

The tent town behind us was large and organized, but I couldn’t imagine they lived here. I had seen no sleeping areas. We got up and walked back to the tent with the cedar-tree flag.

The map-studying session seemed to be over. Everett, Jack, Gavrill, and Kostas lounged on the couches, talking and joking with one another. They were clearly close friends. Wilder sat sulking in a chair at the table in the center of the room. I still didn’t know why he was acting like that. The other people, or should I say shifters, in the group didn’t pay any mind to him, as if this was normal behavior. They obviously weren’t fans of him. His dejected face was such a contrast from last night that I almost felt sorry for him. Why had Everett retrieved Wilder this morning only for everyone to ignore him?

“Does she know?” Kostas asked as he saw us enter the tent. Everyone’s conversation stopped, waiting.

“She knows enough for now,” Kleio answered. “Where’s she going to sleep, Everett? I’m sure she wants some time to herself to process everything. It’s kind of been a whirlwind for her.”

I appreciated her looking out for me. I really did need some time to get my bearings and consider everything I had just seen and heard.

“We only have enough tents set up for us right now,” Kostas said.

“Oh, maybe you can bunk with us, Elise!” Kleio said. “That’d be fun, right, Jack?” She looked at Jack, who threw his hands up as if he was fine with the idea.

My eyes got big at the thought of having to share a tent with a couple, especially one that was as affectionate as Kleio and Jack. Gavrill seemed to sense my apprehension and quickly mentioned that there was an extra tent available but it needed to be set up. Everett nodded at Gavrill and looked to where Wilder was sitting.

“Go with Gavrill to grab the tent and set it up for Elise,” he ordered. “That is the least you can do after dragging her into this mess.” Everett’s voice was authoritative and deep. Wilder didn’t hesitate to stand up and follow Gavrill to retrieve the tent.

“Let’s go sit in my tent until Wilder is done,” Kleio said. She grabbed my hand and walked me to the back of the tent. There was another set of flaps, and she pulled me through them.

Behind the main tent was an entire city of smaller tents. Many of them placed in a circle around a firepit, like what I had seen camping with my family when I’d been younger. There were even more people around these tents, milling about and conversing. A couple hundred people relaxed, stoked the fires, and laughed with one another. It almost seemed like a family reunion.

Kleio led me to a tent that was farther away from the others and wasn’t next to a campfire. I could only assume why her tent with Jack wasn’t close to any of the others. It was small, but it had a bed and a chair in the corner.

“Sorry for the mess. We didn’t clean up this morning,” Kleio said. She quickly made the bed, finding the sheets on the ground and the blanket draped over the chair. My mind went wild imagining how the bed had gotten in such a state of disarray. I hesitated to sit on the bed, but it seemed clean enough.

She plopped next to me onto the bed. “I need to go see the guys, but you can stay in here and rest,” she said. “You’ll be fine. No one will bother you. Everyone stays away from our tent. Never know what you’re going to find inside,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows at me and laughing. It was nice to have someone provide some comedic relief in a situation that was anything but funny.

I nodded my head and thanked her for letting me borrow her tent for a bit. Being up late last night was catching up to me, and the ambient noise of people’s muffled conversations made my eyes feel heavy.

Lying down, I made sure my shoes were off the bed. I wasn’t comfortable enough to remove them, and I wanted the ability to run if I needed to. My eyes closed. I meant to just rest them, but I fell into a heavy sleep.