Page 39 of Hexy Beast

I’m on my feet in an instant, a possessive heat burning its way through me.

“No one else gets to see you like this.” The words are out of my mouth before I even have time to think them, and my wolf howls in agreement while the rustle of my wildness blows through me.

“As if that’s up to you.” Effie rolls her eyes, obviously completely unimpressed by my declaration. “I’ll walk out into the woods like this if you don’t tell me what’s going on. I know you said the woods would move, but you never said we wouldn’t move with them.”

The idea of her walking through the woods naked is both the hottest thing I ever heard and—for practical purposes—the worst idea ever all at the same time. “The bugs will eat you up if you do.”

The scent of honeysuckle fills the air around us, and I swear I can see sparks arcing out from her fingertips, and suddenly a pork chop seems like one of the nicer things she could turn me into.

“The woods shifted, that’s why the waterfall’s gone, but we stayed in the same place,” I say before Effie turns me into an entrée.

Her eyebrows disappear behind her bangs, but she doesn’t look away from me even as she bends over, bypasses my extra hoodie she wore last night, and grabs her own now-dry clothes from the cupboard. “Why?”

“It’s like I told you. There isn’t really a reason beyond the moon’s impulses. The Arcadia woods aren’t static, but my cave is,” I tell her as she slips on her bra and reaches behind herself to fasten it—an action that makes my wolf groan in disappointment. “That’s what makes a gauntlet race so difficult: There’s no straight path or marked trail. It’s all instinct and skill, and you never know where you’re going to wake up.”

“So that means the people we got ahead of last night might be camped right outside the entrance?” she asks, her voice muffled because she’s tugging on her sweater.

I nod, even though she can’t see me at the moment. “Yep.”

“Great,” she says, as if it’s my fault the woods are like this, as she puts on her underwear and jeans, which makes me sigh out loud while my wolf is full-on cry howling. “At least my clothes won’t get wet when we leave.”

“Shocking, you’re a silver-lining kind of witch,” I tease, not moving a millimeter toward my clothes.

“Not all of us can be bossy grumps for a living,” she scoffs. All business, she scoops up my now-dry clothes and drops them on my lap before crossing her arms and staring down at me expectantly. “So, what’s the plan?”

I’m tempted to ignore the clothes, but she’s right. It’s time to get moving. So I ignore my wolf’s protests and stand up so I can start to get dressed. “We follow my instincts and make as much progress as possible toward Arcadia before the moon rises and the shift starts again.”

She glances out at the bright blue sky visible between the long branches of the pine trees. “How does this not make you lose it?”

My only answer is a shrug. The woods do what the woods want to do when the woods want to. Nature isn’t interested in a werewolf’s or a witch’s preference.

“And, um,” she says, her tone distracted, “how do you know that’s happening? Like, what if it’s raining or overcast or something?”

She watches me do up the button on my jeans and then tug on my T-shirt. Do I go a little slower because she’s biting down on her bottom lip as she watches? I absolutely do. Last night might have been the exception, not the rule, but I have to admit it’s fun to unsettle the wild Sherwood sister. I have a feeling she’s really not used to that.

Ego?

Me?

I am the alpha, of course I have a fucking ego.

“My cave appears,” I tell her.

That snaps her attention off my now-covered chest and to my face. Her gaze is sharply curious. “I’m going to need you to explain about that, and in more depth than last night—and don’t try to distract me with your dick again.”

Fuck. Where to start? It’s hard to pick words when she’s so focused on me. The pack’s future is on the line, yet all I want to do is reverse the last few minutes so we’re both naked again. I want it so bad, I’m already taking steps toward Effie before I realize it and bring myself in check. There’s too much at stake for that. Yeah, giving in to my wildness is what my dad would have done and his mother before him, but I can’t do that. If I do, the pack won’t survive.

“The Arcadia woods are both a protective barrier and training grounds,” I say, my voice gruff with the effort not to reach for her. Instead, I grab the hoodies and joggers from last night and cross over to the wooden chest at the back of the cave. “Since the woods rotate most nights, our enemies have a hard time getting through to the village if they make it through the mountains. However, every member of the pack has a moonstone that acts as a talisman to provide shelter and safety if they’re out when the rotation occurs. This is mine.” I open the rough-hewn box with a milky stone set into the middle of the lid.

She lets out an aha of understanding. “That’s why there was a change of clothes in there. This cave is yours and only yours.”

I drop the joggers and hoodies into the chest and flip the lid closed. “It always pays to be prepared.”

If only I felt the slightest bit prepared to go through the woods with Effie. An unpredictable witch in an unpredictable location. What could go wrong?

I’m predicting a lot.

Chapter Fifteen