I moved my gaze to his face. Even though he was pale, pallid and sickly-looking, he was still a rugged kind of handsome. Dark stubble peeking out on his cheeks and jaw, his nose perfectly straight. He’d never had to fight to keep his position as alpha, because every wolf in the pack respected him. He was a good man, and I wasn’t going to let him die. Life could squeeze a few more years out of him yet.
Landon and Dylan stood near me, though they each took a large step away the moment Maze and Arthur appeared. Maze joined his brothers, while Arthur flicked his gaze between Forest and me.
I wanted to roll my eyes and tell him to get over it, but since he was the high warlock of power and could squish me like a bug with a jerk of his pinky, I stopped myself.
“I told you,” Arthur spoke, “I can’t heal him.”
“I’m not asking you to. Guys, can you give us a minute?” I waited until my mates left the room. Dylan glanced back at me, closing the door behind him, shutting me in with my absentee father and the alpha whom I had feelings for that I could not deny. Once we were alone, I said, “When I was born, when my mom sensed what I was, the shifter part, you did something.”
Arthur gave a single nod. “I locked away your wolf, which now I see you’ve found a way to break through the spell anyway. What’s your point?”
“When it comes to my wolf, I’m able to do things that I can’t do out here. Maybe I could help Forest’s wolf, make him stronger from the inside or something—but to even try, I need to go in.” Just like how Clay was in my head, I had to go into Forest’s.
It was possible. It was a long-shot of epic proportions, but maybe it could work. Honestly, what other plans did we have to try?
The man heaved a sigh. “Addie, it’s not the same. You were a baby, not yet one with your wolf. Forest has been shifting since he was a teenager. He’s one with his wolf. The two of you are not comparable.”
I understood his logic, but I was desperate. Desperate to save Forest, desperate to prove to myself that, yes, my father was the high warlock of power, but it did not define who I was or what I was capable of.
“Let him go,” Arthur spoke gently.
Now was the time to be stubborn. “No. You’re going to at least try.”
A look of disdain crossed his face, and he moved beside me, staring down at Forest’s unconscious form. “I don’t know how his mind will take it,” he warned. “Assuming you can even do something while you’re in there, it might not be pretty. His wolf might not recognize you. It could very well be a fight, and if you’re hurt—”
“I know.” I knew all too well what would happen then.
“If I see any struggling, I’m going to pull you out. Everything your mother and I did was to protect you. I won’t lose you for the alpha.” There was a pause as a heaviness encompassed the room, his green eyes—eyes that were almost identical to mine, I realized—watching me. “You’re headstrong. Your mother was like that, once.”
I bit back a comeback, because I really didn’t care what my mom used to be like, not right now. The only thing on my mind was Forest and the arrow in his gut. “Send me in,” I said.
He grabbed my hand, shortly after reaching for Forest’s. He closed his eyes, and I felt a wave of invisible energy pour over me, coating my body, its power strong. Poking and prodding the powers that be, magic seeping into my mind as my eyelids fluttered shut. I surrendered myself to the spell, letting it pull my consciousness out from under me like a rug. The next thing I knew was pure blackness.
Chapter Seven – Addie
Arthur was right. His mind was nothing like mine. Or, maybe he was right in the sense that it was years too late to create a nice, imaginary forest for his wolf to live in. Probably because unlike me, Forest and his wolf were one.
I stood in a world of blackness. I was surprised I could even stand, both fearful of falling down into a pit of nothingness and falling up because there was no sky, nothing to ground me to reality. This, I supposed, wasn’t exactly reality in the strictest of sense. This was Forest’s mind, and somewhere in this vast, empty void, I had to find his wolf.
I wore the same clothes I did in the real world, so at least I wouldn’t be wandering his mind while naked. That wouldn’t be fun. My fingers ran through my hair, and I spun in a circle, wondering which way I should go. Was it an endless space? If I chose the wrong direction, would I keep walking until enough time passed in the real world that Arthur would decide to pull me out?
No pressure.
Having absolutely no clue which way to start walking, for every inch of the black expanse around me looked the same, I breathed in and shut my eyes. I didn’t move, didn’t make a single sound as I held in my breath. Forest, where are you? I thought, focusing on the world around me. He was here, somewhere, and I would find him if it was the last thing I’d do.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be, because there were a lot of other things I wanted to do still.
Just when I was about to give up and start walking in a random direction, I heard it. A sound, faint and far-off, but it was there. A little howl, a wolfish whimper. I barely heard it, but it was enough.
My eyes snapped open and I spun to my right, heading further into the nothingness. Though, I would argue, how could I head deeper into nothingness when I started in nothing? This place might expand infinitely in every direction; one might never be able to truly go deeper.
I walked.
I walked and I walked and I walked.
Basically, a hell of a lot of walking, and with everything so pitch-black around me, it felt like I wasn’t moving. I knew I was, though, because I felt my feet walking, could see my legs moving when I glanced down. It was the most peculiar feeling I’d ever had, like I was trapped, or walking on an invisible treadmill. I had to find Forest as soon as I could, for the longer I remained here, the more freaked out I became.
“Forest,” I called out, no longer hearing the whimpering. What would happen to me if Forest died while I was in his mind? Would I be stuck here forever? Hmm…maybe I didn’t think this one through. I didn’t have time to think it through, not when Forest was on death’s door.
This had to work.
Minutes passed, and I kept walking. Time was a blur in a world of sheer blackness, so maybe it was longer than a few minutes before my eyes spotted something in the distance. Far ahead of me, no more than a dot on the horizon, something a little less black than its surroundings struggled to stand.
I took off running.
Forest’s wolf, or was it Forest himself? I wasn’t sure the specifics of it, since they were one in ways I was not yet with mine, but either way, my chest ached as I reached him.
The wolf, a strong and powerful beast with shiny black fur, looked as awful as Forest had in the real world. The animal’s coat was stringy and thin, coarse, and its eyes, normally a more metallic hue of Forest’s deep blue, were watered down and weary, filled with pain. And that said nothing about the hole in its abdomen, blood oozing out of it freely, right where the arrow was in Forest’s stomach.
My legs slowed to a halt as I met the wolf’s eyes. The animal breathed heavily, though slowly, and I wasn’t sure if it recognized me or not. If I was scratched in his mind, would that be enough to unleash my inner wolf fully? I had to be careful.
I slowly lowered to my knees, tentatively asking, “Forest, do you know who I am?” It was so strange calling the wolf Forest, for it was not the Forest I knew, but it was one and the same. Shifters were all alike in that way. When the wolf did nothing but stare at me, blinking slowly, I added, “I’m here to help you.”
Try to, anyway, but I kept the doubt to myself.
The wolf struggled to stand, its hind legs limping as it moved near me. I felt myself tense, for I wasn’t sure how Forest would react, but my worries were for nothing. The wolf pressed its muzzle against my cheek, holding it there for a few seconds before collapsing, its head in my lap.
I brought my hands to its head, running my fingers through the dark ha
ir. If the wolf had been healthy, I knew it would blend in with the nothingness around us, save for its cerulean stare, but Forest wasn’t healthy. The fur was in rough shape, almost gross to touch, hard and prickly, more gray than black.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” I whispered soothingly. “But I’m going to make it right.” I glanced at the hole in the wolf’s side, my heart hurting to look at him. “I’m going to heal you.”
Okay, it sounded kind of ridiculous when I said it out loud, like I thought I was the next great messiah who could do anything I set my mind to. I knew I wasn’t, but with Arthur as the high warlock of power, I had magic in my blood, just like I had shifter blood. Arthur had devoted himself to power, but that did not mean I had to. Magic’s possibilities were endless.
And, really, I was the only hope Forest had. Again, no pressure.
The wolf let out a low whine, as if it too was telling me, let me go. Such a sad, depressing sound, and I felt my will harden as I wondered just what was with these guys. They called me self-sacrificing, but what was this? Was this not the same freaking thing? No, I’d show them, and maybe I’d earn a little respect from Arthur once I did.
I gently moved from beneath Forest’s head, laying the wolf’s head down carefully before crawling to his back. I sat behind him, legs sprawled out on the wolf’s other side. Should I touch it? I wondered this, as I had no clue how magic worked. It’d always come to me when I needed it most, and though I questioned it, I never got answers.
“This might hurt,” I said, setting my palm over the wound in the wolf’s side. Forest let out another whimper, this one softer than the previous one. He was losing energy, his life dimming. I would not let him or his wolf die, even if it meant doing the impossible and healing him.
I closed my eyes, trying to find that thread of magic, that same un-seeable force I’d felt in Clay’s cabin, when I’d gotten myself and Landon out. It had to be around me constantly, and I just couldn’t grasp it when I wanted to—only when I needed to.
When I’d practiced with my mom, when I’d practically destroyed the guys’ living room with Dylan’s books, I had to focus on my emotions. My magic didn’t work well when I wasn’t feeling some kind of emotion, which seemed to be quite the opposite of Arthur. Maybe it was my shifter side affecting my magical ability, maybe I was a new breed of sorts. Not only a hybrid but something new entirely.
Whatever it was, whatever I was, I knew I had to focus on an emotion, intensify it and pray to all the gods humanity believed in that it would work. Fortunately for me, there were plenty of emotions running through me; I had to pick one.
Desperation. Disbelief. Hope.
Probably that last one.
Hope seemed to go hand in hand with healing in a general sense. I exhaled, breathing out evenly. Hope filled me, a bottled-up, pent-up emotion I supposed I hadn’t felt much of lately. It was almost a stranger to me, but it was a warm, good feeling. I blocked out every other emotion, all of my memories, the torture I’d gone through under Clay’s red, watchful eyes. I let it all out, keeping only the yearning desire, the burning need to save the wolf, the man, the alpha beneath my palm.
Forest couldn’t die today, not for me, not when I explicitly told him I wanted no one to sacrifice themselves for me. I wanted no deaths on my shoulders, except maybe Clay’s. Clay’s was one I could handle. No, the alpha had more life in him, more years to spend watching over Crystal Lake and its pack.
But beyond that, Forest deserved to be happy. Whether it was with me or someone else, I didn’t care. He had closure with Hannah now, as much closure as one could get, and he would be happy again. I would see him smile—that tiny, elusive thing.
Had I ever seen him truly smile? I couldn’t remember. He’d always been so serious, so stern.
Be happy. Smile. Live his life. Those were the three things I willed to him. Those were the three things I wanted for him. No matter what happened here, no matter what happened in the real world, I desperately wanted Forest to live, to smile, to feel true happiness again. It wasn’t too much to ask.
Time crawled to a stop, and I felt a pressure building beneath my palm, a heat that seemed to spiral and spin, working its way to Forest’s wound. I could feel it, as if it was an extension of myself, digging inside the wolf’s body, finding the root of the problem—the wolfsbane, the poison running through him.
A sharp pain spread through me as the invisible force drew the wolfsbane out of the wound, hovering it in the air. Up and up it went until it disappeared into the black expanse above.
Would this heal him in real life? Would this give him the strength to fight to live? I’d find out—and if not, I supposed I could always try to do the same thing to his human body, even though my magic was a pain in the ass in the real world. It was easier to use in my head…and apparently in someone else’s head.
I felt the hole under my palm close, and I waited a few moments before lifting it. Not a single blemish remained where the injury had been, and I felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders. I could ignore the pain that spread through me, tingling my every nerve as I turned my head and watched Forest get to his feet. He shook out his body, his black fur already looking healthier. A laugh escaped me when he spun in a circle, trying to get a look at his backend. Hard to do, for a wolf.
My laughter caught in my throat as a wave of exhaustion took hold. My field of view spun, like I suddenly had a bad case of vertigo, and I felt the urge to sleep for days. Something thick and gooey ran from my nose, and I reached up, seeing double of my hand, touching the liquid. When I drew back, I saw dark red staining my fingertips.
Blood.
This had happened in Clay’s cabin, too. After I’d gotten us all out, I’d collapsed with a bloody nose—something I never had before coming to Crystal Lake.
Forest’s wolf stood before me, his snout inches from my face. I tried to smile, to tell him I was okay, but honestly, with the way I felt, I wasn’t sure I was.
I wanted to be sick. My body began to convulse, shaking uncontrollably. The pain intensified, becoming so strong I could not deny it, and within a minute, I was pulled from the eternal world of black that was Forest’s mind.
Chapter Eight – Addie
I groaned. Soft sheets surrounded me, cueing me in to the fact I was no longer sitting on the edge of Forest’s bed. With Arthur there, I knew he’d never let me sleep in his bed, so odds were I was in the other bedroom of his house. My body still ached, but it hurt less than it had before, while I was in Forest’s mind. It was more like a soreness now, like I’d exercised too much the day before and was paying for it now.
Was that what magic was? Like exercising? Someone who never did a timed run before, someone who spent all their extra time before a TV screen could not run as fast or as long as someone who’d trained for it. Were witches and warlocks the same? Maybe the spell I’d done was too high of a level, just like in Clay’s cabin. I wasn’t quite there yet, having not even known I was part witch until recently.
When I opened my eyes to a white, speckled ceiling, I was immediately engulfed in a hug of epic proportions from my mom. Sarah pulled me close. “Honey, you are so stupid. Stop putting yourself in danger—”
“Mom,” I muttered, “I’m fine. Just a nosebleed.” As I talked, I could feel the dried blood on my face. Gross.
“Your father pulled you from Forest” was all she could say before my eyes widened.
“What? No—why? Did it work?” I pushed her away, trying to get to my feet. We weren’t alone in the room, though. Dylan and Maze rushed to me, stopping me from getting up with two pairs of strong hands. I swatted them away. I wasn’t in the mood for their concern right now.
“Why don’t you rest first?” Sarah suggested.
“Addie,” Dylan spoke, “Landon is with him. Everything is okay.”
My heart slowed down a bit. If everything was okay, that meant it worked, right? I shot a glare Sarah’s way. Why did everyone give me the runaround when it cam
e to Forest? A simple he’s fine would’ve sufficed. “Where’s Arthur?”
Sarah’s lips thinned. “Your father is meeting with the assembly of high warlocks.”
I didn’t want to dig into that can of worms right now, not when I felt disgusting and dirty, and not until I saw Forest for myself. I swayed on my feet, my legs shaking only a bit, stiff as they moved.
“Maybe you should shower, yeah?” Maze shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the way you smell, but right now you are a little ripe. Like you’ve been left in the sun too long.” His nose scrunched in mock disgust as dimples appeared on his cheeks.
I touched my upper lip, feeling the dried, crusty blood. Yeah, I probably shouldn’t look like such a mess. Plus, being gone for three days, stuck inside Clay’s murder cabin, had done wonders for my body hair. A shower was not all I needed. Soap, handfuls of shampoo, and a razor, among other things. Toilet paper would be nice, too.
Then again, these were wolves. They probably didn’t give a crap about a little extra body hair.
“I’ll be downstairs,” Sarah said, moving to the door. “Just…be smart, Addie.” She threw a knowing look at me, to which I stared at her, mouth agape.
Be smart about what?
I didn’t get the chance to ask, for she was gone the next instant, leaving me alone with the twins. I looked at Maze and then at Dylan. Maze wore a goofy smile that sent my insides for a tumble while Dylan’s cheeks were pink and flushed in the most adorable way. Surely these guys didn’t think…
Of course they did. They might’ve been muscular, manly shifters with looks to die for, but underneath it all, they were nothing more than horny boys.
I gave each twin a hard stare. As if anyone should be thinking about sex in this moment anyway. Granted, now I was too, but I wasn’t before. Both my wolf and I had been a bit preoccupied with the whole torture bit for the last few days. Sex had not crossed my mind once, unless one counted my nightmares. I wasn’t sure those counted at all.
Crystal Lake Pack: The Complete Series: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance Page 42