After a few minutes, in which the little sasquatch kids grunted and growled and tore into raw onions and snapped apart carrots, the bigger sasquatch grunted at its mate and then stepped toward Owen. The others disappeared and Owen turned to look back at me.
“She’s going to lead us to the Lofriska that attacked you and be our intermediary if necessary.”
“Well, this will be ridiculous,” I said, digging my finger into my ear to decimate the line of wiggly irritation there. “She’ll be translating for you and you’ll be translating for me.”
Owen smiled, turned back to the bigfoot, and gestured a go ahead. The bigfoot grunted toward me twice and then signed something that seemed to delight Owen. I was pretty sure they were making fun of me.
The bigfoot led us in silence and Owen made no move to get it to chat with him, either in grunts or hand gestures. I just followed along, trying to avoid pulling open scabs or deepening my bruises. I felt it when we came upon the Lofriska and it made me let out a small sound of panic.
Owen stopped and looked to me, still facing the direction we’d been walking. The bigfoot sensed or saw something too and stopped dead, staring at a Douglas fir tree that looked vaguely familiar. I turned to my right a bit, searching to see if I could find the other tree that had chased after Kincade. I spotted the writhing blanket of black and red and let out another sound of panic.
“What is it?” Owen asked.
“That one, the one with the bugs. It—She tried to chase down Kincade, and I’m just a little scared she’ll remember me.”
Abruptly, the bigfoot let out a long grunt that sounded vaguely like a belch. I jumped back, my eyes darting even as the rest of my body settled into a leporine stillness. Moments passed in silence before the fir started bending, creaking, groaning. Still absolutely still, I considered the war going on in my body and mind: half of me wanted to cry and maybe scream, but the other half wanted to stay as silent as possible and perhaps tiptoe away into deep thicket or even wedge myself into a hole in the ground.
When the Lofriska laid amber eyes on me, I felt a slow, oozing confusion in her. She recognized me, but seemed uncertain what I was doing there—or possibly what I was doing there alive. Owen stepped into her field of view, bowed low. Her eyes rolled to him before she pulled away from her trunk, the needles in her hair shaking wildly with the effort. When she was a separate entity, toes once again rooting themselves into the ground, she opened her mouth and a surprisingly civilized voice came out of her.
“Humans.”
The bigfoot grunted four times in rapid succession, turned away, and disappeared as it passed behind a narrow tree.
“He left us,” I whimpered. “He left us!”
“She,” Owen corrected mildly, standing up tall. He held out a hand toward the tree creature and spoke, keeping his voice quiet and respectful. “I’m Owen. How shall I address you?”
The Lofriska tipped her head, her gaze dipping to the ground. I felt the curiosity meet up with confusion, before her eyes went slightly more amber and she looked up toward Owen again.
“You may address me as Evergreen.”
“Evergreen, we humbly ask for your help. We understand that several of our kind have caused you great offense. We would like to know how we can make amends between our peoples.”
Evergreen turned to look at me, the amber in her eyes leaking away once again. I whimpered, remembering what had happened the last time her eyes had gone transparent. Annoyance lashed out of Owen, though he showed no sign of it as he shifted to place himself between us.
“Please,” he said. “My companion means you no harm. When you last met, she was here unwillingly. Any offense she has caused you is the fault of another. She begs your forgiveness.”
“I do!” I agreed, though my voice was barely a whimper. The bigoot had gotten far enough away that I wasn’t itching anymore. My skin felt cold, though, and I couldn’t stop shivering. I didn’t want to be dropped on my head again. “Please forgive me. I will totally beg.”
Owen tipped his head down to hide the amusement that burbled gently out of him and then looked back up to Evergreen.
“Will you help us? Is there anything we may offer you in return?”
“We want only the return of our sister.”
“Your sister?” Owen asked, surprise washing out across us both.
“Your companion walked with the one we wish vengeance upon. Bring her to us, or deliver our sister back to the forest.”
“Kincade?” I asked. “Is that who she means?”
Evergreen turned back to me, took a giant step toward me as malice broiled inside her. I held up my hands, too scared to even cry out, and shrank back.
“The woman who was here with my companion before, is she the one who took your sister? Is that who you mean?” Owen asked, trying to draw her attention away from me again. I felt worry ruffle him a bit as she approached, but to his credit he didn’t back down or piss himself like I would have done if she’d gotten that close to me again. Evergreen stayed in his personal space for a moment before looking down to meet Owen’s gaze, a snarl cracking the bark of her lips.
“Come.” Abruptly, she turned and started plodding through the forest away from us. Her back, like that of the other Lofriska, was concave. Owen stepped close, reached out a hand for me.
“We should follow her,” he said.
“I don’t know if I can move,” I admitted shakily.
“I can’t carry you,” he said grabbing my hand. “So you walk, I drag you, or I leave you here with the other Lofriska.”
“I’m coming!” I said, feeling adrenaline flood through me. Owen nodded and we followed Evergreen through the forest. As we passed by the other creature, I caught a flash of irritation in it, saw the swarm of black and red bugs lift rapidly away from a face that was terrifying in its own right, bugs and scratchy bark aside. Nothing reached out and grabbed me or chased us into the woods, however, so I just hugged close to Owen, did my best to keep my pants dry, and let her lead us.
We came to a stop near a dying tree ravaged by what felt like despair. Before that moment, I hadn’t been aware trees could feel despair, but I couldn’t deny what I was experiencing: this poor creature sent echoes of pain and loss through my ribcage, like someone had set the bell of a tuba next to my chest and then banged it really hard with a hammer.
Without really knowing what I was doing, I closed in, bleeding with empathy for the creature, on the verge of tears. The Lofriska watched me silently as I stepped forward, pressed a hand to the bare bark, and shuttered with a sob.
“What happened to her?” I asked quietly. Evergreen moved up and matched me, pressing her own rough hand to the tree.
“Our sister was taken. She offered aid to one of your own and was betrayed. She is dying.”
“Your sister, or the tree?” I asked, unsure how I could feel something from a creature that was no longer present, but still human in my assumption that a simple tree could feel anything at all. Disgust flashed inside Evergreen, swamping me and filling that hollowness of despair with viscous acidity that burned.
“They are one.”
“Ah,” I said, swallowing to keep from screaming.
“How long do we have to bring your sister back before she dies?” Owen asked, still back where he’d stopped. I wondered if he had any inkling of what I was experiencing, or if he was curious about my perception of things. Unlikely, I realized, considering that he was not only just a human, but not prone to emotional flights of fancy, regardless of the grimness of any given situation.
“Not long,” the Lofriska said, shifting her stance. She looked upon Owen with her chin up, confidence filling her, brimming out like sunshine and warming me a little. It wasn’t enough to fill the pit the missing Lofriska had carved in me, but I liked the distraction, either way. After a moment, bark crackled as she smiled. “You have been infected.”
“Yes,” he said. “This is not exactly a selfless endeavor.”
&nbs
p; Evergreen turned to me, looked me over. “You are not infected.”
“Just lucky I guess.”
“No,” Evergreen said, lifted a hollow brow. “You are fae spawn; our sickness does not touch your kind.”
There was that phrase again, leveled my way like I should find it somewhat insulting, even though I could only just guess at the meaning of it. I had powers, Owen didn’t: seemed to me that Evergreen seemed to think my abilities had come from some sort of fae creature in my lineage, but I didn’t see how that could have been possible. I’d met grandparents on both sides of my family and none of them had sported horns or a tail, so I could assume we were all just human.
Evergreen smiled again, warmth glowing out of her, before she turned to address Owen as if they were behind schedule.
“You agree to bring us what we seek before the second sunrise?”
“We do,” Owen said, casually, as if finding the missing tree creature—or Kincade—would be as easy as typing them into a search engine.
“The contagion will halt until you have proven yourself one way or the other. In revenge or restoration, the sickness will dissipate. Your failure, however, will result in dire consequences for your kind.”
“Agreed.” Owen gave a steep bow making me think I should do the same. Evergreen found my clumsy act of respect amusing, which relieved me rather than insulted me because, honestly, fae spawn or not, she could still kick my ass without even trying too hard.
“Come on Gwen,” Owen said, reaching out a hand to lead me back the way we’d come.
Chapter Eighteen
“I hope we’re headed to the car,” I said after enough time had passed that I was tired, and starting to worry we were lost.
“We're almost there.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked. Owen shrugged.
“Still okay. It’s gone from full on flu to feeling like I’m about to get full on flu.”
“I thought she said the—uh, the thing would, what’d she say? Halt? Shouldn’t you be feeling right as rain?”
“My guess is she put the kibosh on it spreading any further, rather than ending the symptoms all together. It would be pretty suspicious if every person who felt like shit felt better in the blink of an eye—only to drop dead in two days if we fail. You?”
“Uhhhh,” I said in lieu of answering, picturing everyone in town collapsing to the ground, still and dead like in the climactic scene of Surrogates.
“Still bruised and sore?”
“Yeah, though I didn’t pee myself in terror back there, so I’m better than I expected to be once we found Evergreen and her pissy pal.” Snorting softly at my assessment of my own bravery, Owen pulled out his cell phone, annoyance spiking within when the screen lit up. “What’s wrong?”
“No signal out here.”
“Were you gonna call the psychic hotline, ask for advice?”
“Do those even still exist?” Owen asked, thoughtfully, putting away his phone. “I thought they went the way of brick-sized cell phones and Ginsu knives.”
“Maybe they did,” I admitted. “This is probably the first time I’ve even thought about them in, I don’t know, ten years?”
“Well, way to be topical. Very contemporary references you’ve got there,” Owen teased as the car seemed to appear out of nowhere past a line of trees that looked familiar in that way that all trees generally do. I’d had no idea we’d made it back to the clearing, but it pleased me that we didn’t have to walk anymore.
“You think Kincade actually got away?” I asked as he unlocked the car, grabbing his arm gently.
“From the Lofriska? Most likely. They would know if one of them took her out.”
“Any one of them?” I asked, hand still on his jacket.
“Perhaps not one in another forest or another state, but they wouldn’t know she was an enemy to them in the first place. It’s unlikely she’d be in any danger from a creature who couldn’t communicate to these that she’d been nabbed. Besides, you said that your car and phone showed up back at your parents’ house. That didn’t happen by magic.”
“Oh yeah,” I agreed, having forgotten about that little tidbit.
“She’s out there; we just need to find her. I was going to call around, see if I can find anyone willing to help me locate her, but it’ll have to wait until we’re closer to some cell phone towers.”
“Yeah, Balanis isn’t exactly known for high-speed in any capacity. I think the speed limit on the nearby highway is still forty.” Owen smiled softly, reaching for the passenger door handle. A thought occurred to me in the silence, as my gaze dropped to the rectangular bulge of his phone in his pocket. Barely holding back a happy dance, I tugged at his jacket until he looked my way.
“So here we are, alone in the woods and you with no cell phone?”
“Are you threatening me?” he asked, favoring me with a snarl as if trying to scare me off from attacking him. Still grinning like an idiot, I admired the lines of his lean face. The man even had good teeth, my god.
I slid my hand up his arm, tucked my fingers around the back of his neck.
“I had considered jumping you,” I said before pulling him down into a kiss. Delight and surprise puffed out of him to crackle against my skin like PopRocks. Lust followed shortly after, warm along my skin. His hands came around my waist to slide up my back and press me close. I hissed into his lips as the motion irritated the bruises along my spine, but he didn’t stop. Moving my hands up into his hair, I gripped, forcefully turned his head away so I could kiss along his jaw, nibble his ear.
He made a small sound when I bit his neck and it riled me up.
“Thank god for painkillers,” I mumbled, scrabbling with my free hand for the door handle. Apparently my technique or focus suffered, however, because Owen pulled away, watching me as lust curled delicately through him.
“How’re we doing this?” he asked, his voice enticingly deep and drunk on desire. I didn’t have an answer; I hadn’t really considered the logistics past, Take Pants Off, Enjoy Self.
“Ah,” I said, unsure. “I hadn’t really thought that deeply about it.”
“Which is often what I enjoy about you, actually,” he said, before leaning in to kiss me. His hands moved to my waist as he guided me to press my back against the car. He was gentle, but I could feel that he didn’t want to be. There was a tension along his body, a restraint that I knew was related to my injuries.
I wrapped both arms around his neck, moaned when his palms slid up the front of my body to cradle my neck. I could barely feel his fingers through the thick jacket when they slowed on my breasts and it was frustrating. Despite his chilly hands on my neck making me tingle, it wasn’t what I wanted; my brain was too fuzzy to pinpoint exactly where I needed his fingers to move, but I did know we were wearing too many clothes.
“Not enough,” I mumbled against this mouth as I attempted to shove up his coat and pull his shirt out of his pants. “Touch me—I want more.”
Abruptly, his grip slid back down my body, mirroring my actions, though more aggressively as he yanked my undershirt out of my jeans. I yelped against his tongue when his cold fingers touched my bruised, heated skin, but he ignored the distress and pressed on. I felt him scrape teeth along my neck and then bite hard just behind my ear. When I cried out at the pressure, he dropped down in front of me, his lips surprisingly gentle as they moved along my exposed belly. Feeling a little drunk, I blinked down at him, realized he was unbuttoning my jeans. He kept up the kissing, breath hot against my skin as we fogged in the chilly air.
“Come,” he ordered and my brows shot up.
“You’re good, but not that good,” I murmured, relishing the cocktail of slightly frustrated need and raw anticipation splashing out of him to sting my wounded skin. He rolled his gaze up to me and I felt his teeth against my skin as he smiled.
“No,” he said, delight at my joke warming my skin. Grabbing my hips roughly, he ordered, “Come.”
Yanking me
upright and away from the car, he switched his grip to hook his thumbs over both my pants and underwear and strip them down. The chill that hit my legs was a shock and, even though I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a thrilled little squeal, Owen stayed crouched, his gaze catching mine when I opened my eyes again. My heart started pounding against my ribcage when his warm palms gripped my hips again.
Every one of my erogenous zones lit up to say, “yes, please!”
Sliding one hand behind me to lay it against my butt, he nudged me back to lean against the car, keeping his hand between my exposed skin and the cold metal. He met my eyes again through his pale lashes, lips pressing gently just below my belly.
“Smart boy,” I purred. Without answering, he tucked his other hand between my legs, hooked it under my thigh and lifted my knee over his shoulder. His eyes drooped shut as he leaned in and I felt the warmth of his tongue in a quick tease. As he pressed harder, angling his face slightly upward, I felt his free hand slide up my body. His fingers tucked under my jacket, moved gently over my bruises to find my left nipple through my bra.
Suddenly the cold air didn’t matter so much. I could feel his arousal, his lust and his excitement pulsing against me, adding to the motions of his fingers and his tongue. I dropped my head back, my legs fighting a brutal war between tensing up and going boneless. My breath was coming quicker and, when I felt his fingertips dig in to grip my ass, I let out a high moan. One hand trying frantically to grip the car, as if I could squeeze the metal between my fingers like silk sheets, I reached my other hand down to the top of his head. I felt his pain when my fingers fisted, pulling his hair and then lost myself in the rush of his excitement and my own as I came.
He leaned away slightly, but my hand was still gripping pretty tightly, so he couldn’t go far. He was patient, giving me a moment to revel as he slid his hand free of my jacket.
“Brace yourself,” he murmured, before tugging his hand out from between me and the car, leaving me to suffer the frozen metal as he righted me back to both feet. I didn’t squeal this time, my shivering mainly the result of the orgasm, rather than the cold. Still somewhat brainless, a total mess of stupidity and affection really, I considered him. He stood there, hair tousled, one brow up, watching me as if I was a masterpiece he’d just created. Finally, sensing I wasn’t in any shape to make decisions or, really, do more than stand there pantsless, he chuckled.
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