Chapter 8

Eight

WESLEY

I gathered an armful of sticks to burn, thankfully found the cabin easily enough and left several loads near the door. I filled a basket with elderberries, blueberries, though I ate more than I collected of those, wild onions and carrots, and even some dandelion greens. It wouldn’t be a filling meal, but after searching the trees for nuts and bushes for any beans, I’d given up in favor of the ground cherries and salad options.

The wind picked up, adding a biting chill to the air as the sun slipped low.

My mortal friend vanished. Had the realm spit him out? I hoped so, and felt guilty for leaving him behind. But I couldn’t help myself, how was I supposed to help a complete stranger? Why had the realm taken him anyway? I hadn’t seen any other fae or mortals. Only the shadow wolf thing, the kitten, and myself.

“Don’t suppose you have a lighter?” I asked the kitten as I stuffed the wood stove full of sticks. It stared back at me with nothing but cute wide eyes and kitten fluff. “Why do you have to be so damn cute? I’m used to being the cutest thing in the room. I don’t like competition.”

It tilted its little head at me. I sighed. “I guess I need to find stones to click together for a spark or something. Fire magic is not really my strength.” I scooped up the kitten, stuffed it in my pocket and headed for the door.

Night had fallen, full dark hours away, but the woods eerie quiet and cast in a million shadows. The chill slid bone deep, and I wished for a coat heavier than the hoodie, but started searching the ground for rocks. Did it have to be special rocks?

The kitten pawed its way out of my pocket and leapt down, giving me a tiny mew.

“Rocks. For fire,” I told it. “Unless you can do fire?”

It waddled a few feet away to examine a rock that was easily four times its size. “Not the brightest bulb are you?” I sighed. “Flint. I think it’s supposed to be flint. What the fuck does flint look like?”

I picked up a few rocks examining them as though I knew what I was looking for, even tried clicking them together. Nothing. “Fuck,” I cursed. The kitten gave me a tiny meow. “I won’t freeze to death, but I’d like to be warm for a change. Maybe roast some onions and carrots. Warm food. You could give me some coffee or a nice cup of hot tea with milk.”

It stared at me.

“Not your day with the brain cell?” I asked.

A masculine scream echoed through the woods followed by a growling snarl that made my stomach sink. I was running before I could comprehend what I was doing. Why was I running toward the sound?

Fuck. Stupid human. Had he gotten himself killed?

I raced through the trees, guided by instinct rather than the sound. Magic drawn to magic. The shadow wolf found the human male, that much I understood. Had it pulled him into the world just to devour him? I half flew through the vegetation, speed reminiscent of my other form though I still wore human skin. I wove around trees and bushes, racing as though pulled by a string.

The ground dropped out beneath me, brush and darkness hiding a ravine. I slid, cursing the twigs and sharp edges that scratched me on the way down. I landed in a puddle of mud next to my human friend. His heartbeat racing and audible to my sensitive ears. The terror on his face made me fear looking up.

The shadow wolf eclipsed the entire other side of the ravine. A spread of darkness oozing from it to drip death and rot down over the land. We stood ankle deep in a pool of rising dark turds. The snarling snout of the beast easily as big as my entire body. Was this some Hunt beast left to corruption in this abandoned world?

I shoved the mortal behind me and bowed my head, giving in to a partial change. Not to my natural form, or even the full majesty of the Stag, but to a part human mix, with added bulk of muscle, and a giant rack of deadly horns. I’d never win an actual fight against a monster like this, but rarely had to in this form.

The display made my head ache, the weight of the horns warning of a headache to come. This form solely for intimidation rather than function, I prayed it worked as the horns dripped with poison, sharper than a sword, deadly and more useful than any magic shield. My bowed head presented not deference, but defense. A warning: advance and die.

The human hid behind me, his touch warm and light on my back, as if afraid to startle me. I paid him no mind as I waited for the shadow wolf to decide. The snarls stopped. Oozing darkness slipping backward into the swell of the forest. I continued to wait, fearing movement would trigger the hunt instinct. Was it gone, or watching? In this magic realm, I always felt watched.

I counted to a hundred, and focused my breathing on slowing my heart rate. The human male mimicked me, his forehead pressed to my back between my shoulder blades. Careful, though still using me as a shield. Maybe he wasn’t completely stupid.

We waited in silence another handful of minutes before I opened my eyes and swept my gaze across the opposite ravine. No movement. No sign of shadows, and no wolf, only trees and the impossible stillness of an abandoned fae realm. Gone for now then, but who knew how far.

I shifted back to my mortal form, irritated by the ooze soaking my feet and turned to the human, ready to rage, but startled silent by his wide eyes.

“You had horns,” he whispered.

“I’m fae, dumbass. I told you you’re in a fae forest.”