I exhale, conscious of the lifting darkness around me and the continuing streams of light pulsing from my hand into the wooden surface I’m touching.
I push away the trickle of fear I feel before I open my eyes, worried that the peace I’m feeling could simply be because the stinger has done its work. It may have stabbed me and a cruel, euphoric poison is lulling me into a false sense of safety.
Beside me, a new tree has formed.
I find myself kneeling in the snow, my left hand pressed to the threads that are rapidly forming within its trunk. Strong branches grow across the air above me. The apples are gone and in their place are bright, blue leaves, each one glistening with droplets of dew that are quickly freezing into the shape of snowflakes.
A single, black rope remains directly in front of me, wrapped around Milena’s waist, but it lowers her to the snowy ground, placing her so that her head rests in my lap, her body draped to my right.
She’s breathing, but she’s unconscious and horribly pale.
The last black rope retracts, lifting upward, healthy bark building along its length until it forms a new bough.
I take a deep, shuddering breath. I’ll need time to process what I did and figure outhow, but right now, I don’t have that time.
Whatever relief I feel is broken by a nearby shout.
I wrench my palm from the newly formed tree.
Ten paces away, the snow is splattered with blood. The bear rears up on its hind legs again, and Erik rises from a crouch where he must have tumbled across the ground. His back is to me. I can’t see his face or chest to know how badly he might be wounded.
My heart thuds with fear for his life.
I’m preparing to slide Milena to the ground and jump to my feet when Erik’s roar freezes me to the spot.
His voice no longer sounds like his own.
Shivers cascade down my spine as the same guttural wolf’s growl that he used last night echoes through my hearing.
But that’s not all.
Shock fills me when claws as black and solid as titanium extend from the fingertips of both his hands.
He launches himself at the bear, his claws slicing right through its chest. The bear screams as Erik’s fists drive deep into its torso before he wrenches his hands back, tearing the beast’s chest apart.
The bear hits the ground and Erik leaps backward, clear of its flailing legs.
Finally, the creature lies still in the snow.
Silence falls, broken only by Erik’s harsh breathing.
He rises to his feet, his back to me.
Blood and gore drip from his fingers, sliding down the black claws of his left hand, while his right fist is closed.
Slowly, he turns back to me and that’s when I see that both of his eyes are amber. Both shaped like a wolf’s eyes.
His lips are drawn back, revealing sharp teeth.
Gradually, his features change. His canines retract until they appear human again. His eyes shift back to their human shape and color. The hunch in his shoulders eases.
His breathing remains rapid and there’s a new fear in his eyes as he says, “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Chapter34
My heart is in my throat.
It makes sense to me now that I saw a flash of black around Erik’s hand last night when he confronted the wolves. He was facing away from me at the time and for all I know, he’d bared his teeth at those predators as well as showing them his claws.
