Obviously he was.
The day went by painfully slow. No TV, no social media, and no one to even talk to. I found myself having made-up conversations in my head. A conversation with Sawyer, another with Meredith, with Sage, and even Eugene. I felt like I was going crazy by nightfall. I didn’t stop to eat, just shoved bits of dried berries or nuts in my mouth as Ginny walked, and only took a rest if she seemed like she needed it.
Now that darkness was creeping in the forest, I decided to climb a tree like Marmal said and attempt to sleep. It wasn’t until I looked up that I noticed there were actual little platforms every hundred or so feet. Sitting in the treetops was a wooden bed… it must be a normal fixture in troll society, like a free hotel or something.
Careening Ginny over to one of the platform bed trees, I tied her to the bottom and poured some of my water in a dish, giving it to her. “You did good today.” I patted her as she sucked water through her pursed lips and ate from her food pouch. Next, I shouldered my pack and my shotgun and started the task of climbing the tree.
This is so much easier when you’re five years old.
With my injured shoulder, climbing was near impossible. My foot slipped a few times and I almost dropped the shotgun twice. When I finally made it to the top, my right arm was quaking with fatigue; exhaustion bled from my limbs as I stretched onto the flat, hard wooden sky bed. My thighs and ass were sore from riding the donkey all day and flexing constantly to counterbalance myself. I couldn’t imagine how she must feel carrying my weight all day.
Through the trees, I watched the sky slowly darken above me. How the hell had I gotten to this moment? My brain struggled to comprehend how I was lying in a treetop in Troll Village when two nights ago I’d been getting ready to meet Sawyer and have him announce I was the one he was picking. I sighed, pulling the thin suede blanket over me that Marmal had packed. Fatigue and pain burned in my limbs, and even though it was probably only like 7 p.m., I was ready for sleep.
There was one thing I wanted to do first though. I knew he was probably desperately worried about me and I wasn’t sure if I broke our bond or if we were too far away or what, and even though it would hurt, I had to try.
‘Sawyer…?’I whispered, flinching as the hot wires shot electricity up my barely healing arms. I waited, stilling my thoughts and hoping for anything. A word, a feeling, a sign…
I must have lain there an hour waiting for Sawyer to respond. At some point when the darkness hit, I heard hoof beats and yips and growls. Like a pack of wild hyena’s was down there feeding on something. Now I understood why trolls slept in the trees… I tried to stay awake, incase whatever animals were down there could climb, or if Ginny needed me, but my limbs felt too heavy and finally sleep took me.
A snappingtwig jolted me awake, heart hammering in my chest. The sky was pitch dark and the moon was high in the sky, but that sound… I reached for the shotgun, only to feel it wasn’t there.
Fuck.
When I heard it cock, my heart plunged into my stomach. I sprang up into a crouched position, but before I could turn around, the cold steel barrel pressed into the back of my neck.
“Who are you?” There was a slight accent to the man’s voice, and I swallowed hard, trying to rein in my fear.
“My name is Mara,” I said quickly, taking Marmal’s name and shortening it. If there was a two-million-dollar vampire bounty on my head, I sure as hell wasn’t saying I was Demi.
“Whoare you, wolf?” His voice was scratchy and laced with anger.
“I’m… Mara. A Paladin trader—”
The gun shoved deeper into my neck and I stopped talking.
“You’re no Paladin, Iknowmy people,” he hissed. “They don’t have hair the color of corn silk.”
Oh shit.
What were the odds I would run into anactualPaladin wolf trader out here? Why did the universe hate me?
I chose my next words carefully. “I’m a banished city wolf on the run.”
The butt of the gun eased off the back of my neck and I took that as a good sign. Raising my arms, I showed him my leather wrist cuffs. “These hide my shackles. I’m just trying to get to Light Fey City.”
He pulled the gun completely away from my neck and then the wood creaked as he stepped out in front of me.
Whoa.
Dude, put some pants on. He was nearly naked but for a suede crotch cloth, his muscles as lean and chiseled as a fucking statue. Brown, tanned skin ran the length of his body up to his chocolate brown hair. But it was his eyes that stunned me. His eyes were blue and almond shaped, the same color blue as the man who’d saved me when I fell down the mountain.
“You… look like him,” I breathed, and his whole body flinched.
His grip on the gun tightened and he crouched before me, two streaks of dark blue warpaint on his cheeks.
“Who?”
Shit. I shouldn’t have said anything, but I wondered if he could smell a lie or something, so I decided honesty was best.
