Another patch then popped up, farther away.
“Curious and curiouser.”
Alice had followed a white rabbit with a pocket watch. I followed red lilies. Where they led? I had no idea. But I was putting my trust in them—in Lupin.
The pattern continued, wilting as I reached them before another patch appeared, guiding me through the darkness. I walked for what felt like hours. Every muscle in my body screamed at me. Lake outweighed me by a good thirty to forty pounds, most of that being rock-hard muscle. My aching body didn’t matter though. Saving him was all I cared about.
The forest gradually opened up even more, the dense foliage and branches thinning and revealing more of the moon and a sky of glittering stars. We had to have been close to the mountains by now. One rose in the distance, peeking above a gap in the treetops.
The path ended.
As I reached the next cluster of flowers, the glow diminished, leaving nothing but the silvery shimmer of moonlight bleeding through the trees. My legs finally gave out. I collapsed, acting as a cushion for Lake, much like he’d done for me earlier.
I couldn’t move. I’d pushed my body way beyond its limit.
“Please,” I said to any god that may be listening. My eyes closed, exhaustion closing in around me. “Help him.”
A whine filled the air before a cold nose touched my cheek. The pad of paws danced around us, and something tugged on my shirt. I recognized the playful little yips.
“Oreo?” I cracked open my eyes.
He stood in front of me, his black ears straight up. The white patch of fur on his chest stood out in the surrounding night. He lunged forward and nudged Lake’s arm before biting the sleeve of his tunic.
“He’s hurt,” I said, feeling myself slipping deeper into exhaustion. There was a wet crackle in my lungs. “I need to…”
My head dropped back to the ground, and I lost the battle to keep my eyes open. Oreo emitted a grumbling bark before biting at my sleeve and pulling. A howl filled the air. Deeper I slipped into unconsciousness before being snapped back awake by a tug on my arm, then a cold nose against my cheek.
“Be gentle, little one,” came a smooth, male voice.
A rich scent perfumed the air, reminiscent of a cozy fire on a cold winter’s night. Like cedar and woodsmoke.
Oreo licked my cheek as something touched my head. It felt like fingers combing through my hair. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t. Drowsiness hit me like a tidal wave, and I sank deeper. Lake’s scent of peaches mingled with woodsmoke, one familiar and the other strange but somehow just as welcoming.
“Sleep now.”
***
I opened my eyes to a room illuminated by firelight. My body sank into a cloudlike mattress, and the crackling hearth and smell of burning logs reminded me of home. I’d never been more comfortable in all my life. That was my first waking thought. And the second?
Why wasn’t I wearing pants?
My bare legs slid under the silky sheets, the coolness of them offset by the warmth of the pillowy comforter draped over me. Still groggy, I tried to remember where the hell I was. It certainly wasn’t the bed I shared with my men.
I shifted up higher and looked around the room. A cushioned nook sat in front of a tall window to the left, with a stone hearth in the corner and a round table across from it, holding a bowl of red apples. Leather-bound books lined the shelves of a bookcase, not a speck of dust to be seen.
A sense of unease spread through my ribs. The unfamiliar place felt cold despite the warmth radiating from the fire. No signs of my men anywhere.
Wait. Memories stirred, breaking through the sleepy haze of my brain.
“Lake!” I lifted the heavy comforter off.
“Your wolf lives.”
I froze. Hair rose on my nape as I slowly turned toward the direction of the voice.
But no one was there.
Please don’t be a ghost. “Hello?”
