I shook my head. “Humans have never reached this tree.” I preened. He’d only reached it because of me.
He exhaled slowly as he nodded, sliding his fingers into mine. “With your other hand, touch the tree.” He hovered his hand over the trunk and waited for me to mimic his motion. “Now.” We touched it together.
A cold chill rippled over my limbs, and my stomach dipped. His hand ripped out of mine. Disorientation wracked my body, and I cried out, my whipping hair getting into my mouth.
“Soleil!” His voice sounded far off. It felt quick and slow simultaneously, like everything stilled. I thudded onto hard ground, hands splaying into foliage.
“My eyes! They burn,” I cried, clasping my palms over my face.
Hands gripped me, and Mate’s scent tickled my nose. I lunged toward his warmth, curling into his chest. His arms wound around me and tucked me closer.
“What is it?” he blurted. “What’s wrong?”
“I-I can’t see . . . ?” This time when I opened my eyes, they didn’t sting, and shapes were slowly starting to come into focus.
“Sol?” Mate repeated instantly.
I straightened in his arms. The outline of the trees came into view, then the leaves. Why was everything different? And I wasso hot.
“This is the human world?” I whispered.
Mate gripped my jaw and forced me to look up at him. I blinked and found myself staring into his face. Little starbursts flecked around the middle of his eyes.
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “In your world, there’s no sunlight.”
I could only stare at him.What was that?
“The sun,” he said, pointing up. High up, past the trees, there was a color the same as the bubbling brook, but somehow, it seemed brighter.
“What’s that?” I breathed, pointing at thestuffdotting the sky.
“Clouds,” he murmured. “And that’s the sun.”
I squinted, staring at thesun. It stung my eyes.
“Don’t look at it directly,” he huffed, tugging my chin down.
Dots decorated my vision until he came into focus. “Sunlight?” I wheezed.
It made things much brighter, and it hurt to look at. I was in the human world. I peeked at the tree. The same tree back in my jungle, but this one was vibrant—the curving vines and reaching branches looked alive—because ofsunlight.
This is not my jungle.
“We’re not far from my hotel. Let’s get you back.”
I gripped his hand, holding tight. My heart beat in my chest with hard jumps. He stood and pulled me to my feet. The bottom of his shirt tickled my legs.
Mate tucked me close to his side, sweeping his attention over the landscape. Looking down at me, he held out his hand. I hesitantly slipped mine into his, and he tucked my fingers into the band of his pants.
“Stay close,” he grunted, and his momentum forced me to follow him. Hard foliage dug into the bottoms of my human feet. I curled my toes, not liking the texture on the ground.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded hesitantly, curling my toes in the dirt.
He eyed me, then shuffled me forward a bit. His attention snagged on my feet. After his lips tightened, he turned and crouched, the sudden movement making me release his pants. He patted his shoulder.
“Hop on.”
