Dario hoped so. He just wanted his sweet shifter back in his arms. He started to shrink down as he returned to his human form.
Chapter Four
Theo
A loud and terrifying roar echoed around the meadow that they were currently walking beside.
“What was that?” Theo asked, not even embarrassed by the shaking in his voice. This entire realm, while beautiful, was also utterly terrifying.
Steve had been keeping his distance from Theo, Garrett, and Bo, especially Bo but he moved closer, appearing as nervous as Theo must have sounded. “I have no idea.”
“I have not heard this sound before, my friends,” Bo commented. “Something is close by.”
Garrett hummed.
Theo glanced back toward the meadow. The others had insisted they couldn’t walk through. It would be faster, but although the flowers that were gently swaying from side to side were pretty, they were also apparently quite poisonous to many creatures. Including their entire group.
Every look at the meadow made Theo want to enter.
Magic.
Dark magic, Bo had claimed.
The draw to the poisoned flowers was by design. A creature that couldn’t resist the beauty of the meadow would meet their doom. The master of the meadow would then come and collect the bodies to use in rituals.
Since Theo really didn’t want his body used in any rituals, he was doing his best not to even look in the direction of the meadow. His information came from Steve and Bo, both which were extremely excitable about the meadow. Theo wasn’t sure how much was truth and how much was lore. Not that he had any plans to test his theory.
Still, better safe than sorry. Which meant they were avoiding actually entering the meadow. But with that roar, Theo would much rather be out of this area. It had gotten dark and even though Theo had excellent night vision, thanks to his cat’s sight, he didn’t know how much farther they would be able to travel for the night.
Except their next destination was the haunted hill. Theo did not want to guess why it would be called that. Not there in the fae realm where Theo had already seen and heard things that would be giving him nightmares for years at this point.
He shivered inside the big hoodie that he’d stolen from Wylder.
Wylder.
Theo missed his mate. And Dario and Alek and Mitch. He had really expected to be rescued by now. It hadn’t barely been dinner time when he’d been stolen from his world, and now it was dark and very late.
Where were his dang mates?
Of course they were coming for him. Theo believed that with all his heart. But was Theo that hard to find? Should he have stayed in one place? No. Not after hearing the roar that had definitely came from behind them. Where Theo and his little group had previously been.
He didn’t know what had roared like that and wasn’t in a hurry to find out.
Which meant they needed to keep moving.
“Come on.” Theo tugged on Garrett’s arm. “We need to get as far as possible tonight.”
“It would be better to get far away from the meadow so no one is enticed from sleep to enter,” Steve told them.
Theo nodded. Their little group resumed the trek around the meadow toward what Steve had called the haunted hill.
There were so many interesting places inside this realm. And this was supposed to be the dark part. It made Theo wonder about the seelie or light side. How much beauty would Theo see there, if he ever made it?
His feet hurt and his tummy was rumbling with hunger. Not that Theo would accept food or drink from anyone. Even with his limited knowledge, Theo knew better.
The moon dipped low, making it harder to see by the time that they’d left the meadow in the distance. In front of them Steve was practically bouncing as he walked ahead of Theo and Garrett who were still side by side.
Theo was dragging his feet and Garrett didn’t seem to be doing much better although Bo easily kept up the same pace.
