“What? No, I didn’t.”
He stayed poised on the balls of his feet, facing away from her. “You roared.”
“Ilaughed, you ridiculous man. To myself. Believe me, if I’d roared, you would have known it.”
Shan straightened at last, rather sheepishly. “Oh.”
“You are far too jumpy.” He still hadn’t turned round. She peered round him, trying to figure out what had captured his attention. “Shan? Have you seen something?”
“No.” He cleared his throat, staring fixedly in the opposite direction. “And it would be best to keep it that way. Perhaps you could shift back to lion form?”
“What?” she said blankly, and then realized his mistake. “Oh! It’s okay, Shan. I’m not naked.”
He cast a brief, wary glance over his shoulder. Finding that she was indeed dressed, he turned around, brow furrowing. “I have never heard of anyone who wasn’t a mythic shifter being able to transform with their clothes.”
She shrugged. “Well, most of my family are griffins. I guess I just picked up the knack. My sister Lola can do it too, and she’s not a mythic shifter.”
It was true, yet Shan ran his tongue over his upper lip, the crease between his eyebrows deepening. “You said you had no special talents.”
“It’s hardly a talent. I bet most shifters could do it if they never got the idea that they couldn’t.” This was getting too close to things she preferred not to talk about with anyone outside her own family. “Have you seen any sign of Hetta’s tree?”
Shan looked like he still had questions, but he let her change the subject. “Not for certain. But this is the center of the area Alder-in-Winter seemed to want us to avoid. And I noticed a slight break in the tree canopy a little way ahead.”
“That could be it.” A dead tree often left a gap in the forest that took some time to fill. “Let’s check it out together.”
“In that case, I will stay in human form,” Shan said. He added, as though anticipating an objection, “So we can talk.”
As far as she was concerned, it made more sense to take advantage of their animals’ heightened senses, despite the communication barrier. But she’d noticed Shan avoided shifting if at all possible. Maybe taking his qiongqi’s shape made it more difficult for him to resist its hunger.
“Okay.” She gestured for him to go first. “You know where we’re going. Lead the way.”
It rapidly became apparent that this was not going to work.
She sighed, stopping. “Shan, you really need to take off your sunglasses.”
He pulled his shirt free from the clutches of a bramble bush. “I can manage.”
“No, you can’t. I don’t see why you’re still wearing them. It’s not like there’s anyone else out here.”
“I can manage,” he said again, more shortly. As if to prove it, he strode away—and promptly ran into a tree.
“Shan, I’m not going to scream and run away at the sight of your eyes. Just take them off.”
She was about to do it for him when something caught her attention. Her night sight wasn’t nearly as good as it was in lion form, but she could still make out the faintest glow between the trees ahead, beams of moonlight shafting through the darkness.
“Wait, I think I see where we’re going.” She took his hand, lacing her fingers through his much larger ones. “Come on, I’ll guide you. Can’t have you concussing your way through the forest.”
Shan huffed, but let her lead him toward the light. It proved to be a small clearing, though one that would be difficult to spot from the air. Trees overhung the space on every side, only letting a thin shaft of moonlight through their leaves.
And there, unmistakably, was Hetta’s tree.
The girl’s description had been absolutely accurate. Even dead and broken off, it was still a monster of a tree. It squatted like a toad in the center of the clearing, two twisted branches clawing at the sky.
And itwascreepy. It looked like it had been drawn by a kid for Halloween. All it needed was a couple of yellow eyes and a grinning mouth.
Shan’s fingers tightened on hers. By unspoken agreement, they both paused at the edge of the clearing, waiting for... well, Leonie wasn’t quite sure what.
If the tree was indeed haunted, there was no sign of it at the moment. Floating balls of spectral light were noticeable by their absence. The warm breeze carried the mundane scents of earth and leaves rather than demonic sulfur. Night insects chirred in the leaves, undisturbed by evil forces from beyond the grave.
