by Arizona Tape
“Don’t tempt me now,” he warned, his grip on me tightening as he pulled me harder into him. A flutter darted through my tummy as I felt him possessively curl his fingers around the curve of my waist. I should really work on keeping my hands off of him at inappropriate times, like after almost dying and being lost in the notorious Woods of Erald. Not exactly a romantic scene. But then again, with a chest and muscles like Regan, who needs romance.
“Or what?” I teased as I threw my red hair over my shoulder and looked Regan daringly deep in his stormy blue eyes. He wetted his lips as he hungrily stared back at me.
“Or I’ll decorate your back with bark lines,” he growled, his eyes turning a shade darker.
I frowned, not sure what he meant. “What do you mea... Ooooh.”
Regan cocked an eyebrow as I caught on and I could feel my cheeks heat up. Damn him and his suggestions. Now I couldn’t help but wonder how the rough bark would feel against my naked back. Would it hurt too much or just the right amount when he slid into me and drove me to....
Focus!
This is not the time for dirty thoughts about Regan and his delicious... Oops, almost got lost in thought again. I batted my eyes down as I broke the intense staring contest and peeled myself away from Regan’s hard body.
“Not the best timing or place, right?” I ask my men, my cheeks flushing as I stare at my two heroes. JP chuckled and shook his head. “P-Probably not, no. I t-think the sun will set s-soon. Let’s g-get moving?”
“Let’s not get caught here for the night,” Regan agreed, quickly stealing a kiss from my lips as he motioned to the edge of the forest. The same unsettling feeling overcoming me. I was almost sure the trees had come a little bit closer. Even with our map and Regan’s excellent navigation skills, I couldn’t help shake the eerie feeling that the Woods of Erald might not let us leave as easily as we wanted.
Chapter Four - Circles
“I hate the forest, hate it, hate it, hate it,” I grumbled, kicking a stray leaf. If things kept up like this, we’d really be stuck here for the night and somehow, I had a feeling the woods of Erald wouldn’t take kindly to us. No, spending a night in here, was not an option.
“W-We need to break out of the c-circle,” JP mumbled, his head sunken down in his shoulders. He seemed to be having a really tough time. I studied the bark of the tree next to me, checking if this was one of the trees we had already marked or not. The small notch at eye-height letting me know that we had.
“Guys... We’ve been here before. That is the third tree in a row with marks that wound us back in the clearing.
“D-Definitely our mark,” JP stated, his hand running over the carvings in a fallen tree. Carvings I made only an hour ago.
Frustration rose up in me as I kicked a heap of rotten leaves and watched as they hit the ground with a moist splatter. “Damn it!”
“We can figure this out,” Regan tried to calm me, but it was no use. The forest was getting to me. It was dark and creepy. I could feel sets of eyes burning on my back, but every time I turned around, I was just too late to catch who was watching us. But one thing was sure. We were being watched.
“Show me the damn map again?”
With a sigh, Regan unfolded the parchment for the tenth time. We had been over this before and no matter what direction we tried, we kept finding ourselves back in this stupid clearing with the fallen tree.
“Are you sure we’re here?” I asked Regan, for the I don’t know how manieth time, pointing to a spot on the map.
“Yes. We were following this trail when we found you and Chesca,” he pointed out, his finger trailing along thin lines that don’t really mean anything to me. Maps were a mystery to me.
“So what does that mean...?”
Regan looked up into the sky. “Hard to know for sure, but that way.”
“But we already tried that way. We just wound up back here,” JP added, panic clear in his voice. I placed my hand on his arm, hoping to calm him down. I knew how scared he felt being trapped in a forest again and I cursed myself. If I hadn’t got caught by Chesca, none of this would’ve happened.
“I’m g-going crazy,” JP uttered in frustration, throwing his walking stick on the ground as he let himself fall down in defeat. I crouched down next to him and wiped the angry tears from his face.
“Hey, hey, it’s all going to be okay,” I whispered, turning his face toward me so I could look into his eyes. A whiff of honey caught my nostrils and I smiled. I would be okay. Whether that was in the middle of the desert, the crappiest rat-infested ship, or a forest that seemed to be hell bound on keeping us here. It didn’t matter as long as I had JP with me. “What do you think, set up camp and battle this forest when it’s day?” I proposed, looking at Regan. He was always the practical one that knew best what to do in this kind of situations.
“I don’t mind staying,” he mumbled, but I could tell from his voice that he wasn’t exactly pleased with the situation either. He was just being too tough to show it. I grinned as I watched my man. The first time I met him, he was in wolf form and I almost pissed myself from fear. He was intimidating, imposing, magnificent. In his human form, he was still like that, but there was a much gentler and calmer vibe to him. I wasn’t sure which I preferred, but the longer I spend with Regan, the more his wolf and human form started to blur together. He had become a bit less terrifying as a wolf and a bit more playful too. I quite enjoyed running with him in the fields now. Whenever my wolf allowed me to. She and I were getting along much better, but we still had no control over our shift and who came out when.
Usually, extreme emotion seemed to trigger my shift and then it was a tug of war until she had played enough and gave me the reigns back. Nowadays, that was usually after a couple of hours. Especially with Regan around to keep her in check. She adored him, but then again, how could she not. He was our one mate.
I grimaced, remembering the times before Regan. How I’d stray around in my wolf form for days, from town to town, eating trash and chasing hares. Which didn’t sound much different than what we were doing right now. As people. But we had a war that we couldn’t win follow us around. Nobody could blame us for running from it as far as we could.
Ironic. Before the war, had all the money and all the riches in my reach. All I needed was at my beckon. Being the sole heir of the D’Ors family definitely came with perks. But I had been bored, unhappy, lifeless and I would have given anything for an adventure. Hell, I would’ve wished for war just to entertain myself.
And now I was here. Stranded in the middle of the Woods of Erald, with no money, almost no food. I travelled from town to town, fleeing from a war that was started over me, and yet, I had everything I needed. JP and Regan by my side, and my two best friends, waiting for us to get back, hopefully with hot food.
I wondered how things would’ve been, if Regan and I met before my house was in shambles. How our life would have panned out then. Would my parents have been overjoyed that my mate belonged to another prestigious house? Or would they have banned me from seeing him to keep our bloodline pure? A question I would never get an answer to. Our house were in shambles. When none of our so called allies answered my call for help, I finally understood how many enemies my parents had made over the years. Why all the kids in the village treated me this way. We were not loved. Barely tolerated.
I could only imagine how many clans Chesca found who would happily take a shot at overthrowing my parents and their pretentious way of living.
And now I was here. Sitting in the dirt with no possessions apart from the clothes on my back and the handful of utensils I owned. And I was richer than I had ever been before.
“We’ll be alright, won’t we?” I smiled, looking from Regan to JP. They both nodded and I turned to Regan. We could always set up camp, right? A forest was just a forest. If we had a tent to shield us from strangers and a fire to keep out the night, we would manage. I knew Regan always carried those around in his pack, regardless of where we w
ent. It would come in handy now! I turned to him, ready to set up an impromptu campsite, but noticed that Regan wasn’t actually carrying his usual backpack.
“Did you lose your backpack?” I asked him, trying to recall if we left it at the clearing by accident. His eyes fell to the ground as he awkwardly shifted his weight around.
“Didn’t bring it.”
Regan didn’t bring his emergency backpack? But he always, always brought it with him. That was the whole point, no?
JP placed a soft hand on my shoulder. “W-We left in a hurry. We didn’t want to w-waste any time.”
I felt a lump appear in my throat. So that was how worried they had been. Regan left without his trusted backpack. Ironically, this was one of the times that we actually needed it.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to keep going?”
“Or one of us keeps g-guard while the other two s-sleep?”
“Better not stay the night after all,” Regan mumbled, looking around dodgily. That sealed the deal for me. If Erald even gave Regan the heebie jeebies, there was no way camping was a good idea.
“Then we’ll just keep going?”
“A-All good b-by me,” JP nodded.
“This stupid forest is throwing us for a loop. We just need to keep on moving straight ahead,” I muttered, pressing myself against Regan again. “Can I see the map?”
Regan shook the map again and stretched out his arm. “That way. Definitely that way.”
I ran my hand through my hair, racking my brain. “Okay, so now we just need to come up with a system to make sure we’re going in a straight line out of here.”
“How?
“We’ll figure it out.”
I nodded, trusting in Regan and his abilities to get us out of here.
Chapter Five - The Barn
A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I could finally see some light shimmering through the trees. We made it. Our tactic of neurotically marking off every tree and drawing lines using the three of us as points for a straight line paid off.
I had never been happier that I could leave a forest. The open wasteland and the small trails familiar sights as the small town we were staying in unfolded before us.
“A-Ash and Aspen are waiting f-for us,” JP spoke, his voice still a bit shaky. I reached for his hand and intertwined fingers. With two gentle squeezes, I let him know that I was here for him. Our own little way of saying “I love you”. A faint smile appeared on his face as he squeezed back.
There was a hot stew waiting for us in the abandoned barn we had called home for the past three days and I hungrily attacked my bowl. It had little cubes of carrot and potato swimming in a thick gravy. It was utterly delicious and I couldn’t get enough of it.
“Thanks, Ash,” I smiled, thanking my raven-haired best friend. I really couldn’t complain about my life that much. Apart from being chased by a mad woman and having started a war, things weren’t that bad. I was on an endless road trip with my two lovers and was accompanied by my best friend Ashleigh and her twin brother, Aspen, who I got along with just fine.
A girl could do worse.
“How do you know I didn’t make the food?” Aspen grumbled, shovelling the stew greedily in his face.
“B-Because it’s delicious a-and also b-because it’s Ash’s day t-to cook,” JP grinned, pushing his potatoes and carrot cubes around in his bowl. As much as we all tried to cut our vegetables in uniform sizes, JP needed to sort them by shape and size before he could eat them. Just one of his little quirks.
“Oi! I’m a damn fine cook,” Aspen protested, hungrily eyeing the kettle in the hearth. If he had his way, he’d eat the whole damn thing. How he did it, I never understood, but he could devour massive amounts of food. Luckily, he always shared nicely with us. Not that he had much choice. Aspen was lanky and strong and his Alpha wasn’t one to mess with, but I’d fight him for Ash’s food. I’d poke him with a fork if need be.
I spooned out the last of my stew and happily leant against the wall. “Thanks for the food, Ash.”
“You’re welcome,” Ash grinned, looking rather proud of herself. With good reason. There was only so much you could do with the basics and if it wasn’t for her cooking, those watery potatoes and moldy carrots would come out of our ears.
“We’re low on firewood,” Regan mumbled, also leaning back with his hands resting on his stomach. The lazy grin on his face a telltale sign that he ate too much.
“I-I think it’s m-my turn to g-get more,” JP said, looking pleased with his array of cubes. He sighed happily when he took his first bite and shot a grateful glance at Ash.
“I can join you for firewood tomorrow,” I proposed, not liking the idea of one of us going out there alone. Not with Chesca hanging around. Her threats to take my men still echoed through my head. I didn’t want anything happening to my men. No way.
“S-Sounds good, thank you.”
“I’ll join too,” Regan spoke, his stern look clear that he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
I could feel his wolf’s concern in his chest and decided not to protest. I knew how worried he’d been when he couldn’t get to me sooner. I had felt his anxiety and panic pulse through me with every passing second that he couldn’t find me. My poor mate. He loved me so much it almost scared me. But then again, I loved him the same way. Wholly and fully. Inexcusably much.
That night, I happily curled up between JP and Regan and with both their hands protectively resting on my hip, I fell in a dreamless sleep. One of the few not littered with nightmares. No surprise. There are no nightmares when reality was worse.
Chapter Six - Darren
Even though it was still dark, the morning was cold and refreshing against my skin. The fields and the edge of the forest were truly beautiful when you weren’t lost or being chased by a mad woman. JP dropped an armful of twigs on the heap of firewood we were making as Regan dumped another massive pile next to it.
“That should last us for a while,” I admired our bushel, pleased that we collected so much wood. But then again, I was rather good at finding wood.
“Wait...” Regan suddenly said, placing a finger on his lips. His warm hand found my shoulder. “Two o’clock,” he muttered under his breath as he nudged toward a shrubbery.
I peered into the darkness, hoping that my wolf would help me out. Nothing. Great. Why did I get stuck with the near-sighted wolf again? “I-I don’t see anything.” JP stuttered from behind me. Of course, he wouldn’t. His eyesight was even worse than mine.
“I can smell him,” Regan added, his muscles rippling under his tight-fitted shirt. Damn, he was one sexy piece of ... “S-S-Should we do something?” The slender man hid behind the broad-shouldered bear as he nervously pushed up his glasses.
“I got this, boys,” I whispered loudly, deciding I was not in the mood to play hide and seek. I played enough stupid games with Chesca last night. I stepped out into the open field, my arms stretched out as I walked into the unknown. “You got me, I’m here. Now show yourself!” I yelled at the stranger that was apparently following us.
“Damn it.”
I heard Regan curse as he quickly jumped in front of me. Silly man, he was always a tad too overprotective.
“B-B-Be careful,” JP stuttered as he crouched down behind the pile of firewood. At least he was smart.
A low whooshing sound filled the air as both Regan and I ducked towards the ground. With my muscled lover breaking my fall, I didn’t hurt myself nearly as much as I could have.
“S-Shuriken,” my other lover stuttered from behind the pile of wood, only a tad too late. Good thing we had quick reflexes.
I heard Regan angrily inhale as he shielded me with his body from any more incoming projectiles. Another shuriken and a knife made their way towards our little group and I managed to duck both of them. Mostly.
“You bastard! You cut my hair!” I disturbed the calm morning as I tried to grasp strands of my red hair falling through my fingers. Before, I was ann
oyed. Now, I was angry.
Chesca already took a big chunk and now this stranger was aiming at it as well? No. Fucking. Way.
“Danny, don’t.”
I heard Regan warn me, but it was already too late. Fire and ice burst through my veins as an all-consuming pain exploded from within my stomach. The air in my chest suddenly gone as I felt my lungs collapse and my vision blurred as I filled the air with one, endless scream that would terrify the Devil herself.
“Danny.” Regan’s warm hand found my shoulder once more. And all of a sudden, the fire and ice disappeared. Gone like dust in the wind. I could breathe again.
“It’s not worth it.” Regan’s soothing voice was the only thing that ever broke through the excruciating pain that my shifting brought along.
The crescent moons that appeared underneath my fingertips slowly faded away as I caught my breath. It felt like coming up for air after being submerged underwater for far too long.
“W-W-Watch out!” JP yelled, snapping me out of my moment.
I didn’t have the luxury or time to stall after my almost shift. I needed to regain my composure quick and fast. I had no other choice.
Damn wolf. Why couldn’t I control her yet?
Oddly agile for his clumsy demeanor, JP sprinted from behind us, dodged the next incoming dagger, and with the swiftness of a jungle cat, he dove into the bushes. That was JP for you. That guy was just filled with endless surprises.
Another loud scream pierced the morning and judging from the panic in his voice, I knew this could’ve only been due to JP’s expert chokehold.
My hands briefly flinched around my neck as I remembered the one time he demonstrated it on me. He had refused and refused, and I, as the idiot, I had begged and begged him to show it to me. That event definitely counted as one of my big regrets.
In less than five seconds flat, I had gone from a happy, talking and walking person, to pinned on the ground, gasping for air as I found myself slowly suffocating to death. That was the last time I teased JP about his Craft Maga skills. Krav Maga? Whatever it’s called really.