by Romi Hart
“I won’t go,” Twi said.
“I’m glad he’s not going anywhere,” I whispered out loud, though I only meant to say it in my head.
“Would you shut the hell up, Valentine?” Zoe glared at me. “For the love of Pete, I’m trying to hear what they’re talking about and you’re making it impossible.”
“Fine. Damn. I didn’t even mean to say that out loud anyway. Sorry.”
“It’s a complicated process,” the other man with them said. “You know, your cousin isn’t going to have time for you anyway, Mist. I happened to have been flying over this forest all day and saw him with his female – mating. He’ll be busy with that. I overheard him saying something about spending eternity with her. That will leave you out, Mist. I don’t mean to bring you down, but you will be left out in the cold. I also saw you dealing with a female who spurned you.”
The blood in my veins froze as Zoe’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Mating?”
“I don’t think that guy knows what he’s talking about.”
Before I could say another thing, she pushed past me and took off, heading back toward the trail. “You’re a liar, Valentine Martin! A no-good, disgusting, whore and a liar!”
I couldn’t even see the men through the thick brush that separated us. If I could’ve, I would’ve run right to them and strangled Twilight for not rebuking what the man had said.
Give him a chance, Val.
Waiting, I wanted to see what Twi would say to that. I couldn’t fault him for something someone else – who’d obviously been flying overhead while we were doing the deed – had said.
“Zoe isn’t the only fish in the sea,” Twi said.
Okay, he didn’t even say a thing about what we did.
“You’re right,” Mist said. “So, I was right about what you and Val were doing then.”
But Mist definitely heard that part about us.
“I assumed you knew that you were right when I told you that I’d made promises,” I heard Twi say before I turned and ran after Zoe.
That rat-bastard told Mist the truth! He is so dead!
My heart pounded as fury built inside me. I had asked him to do one thing. Not tell anyone what we did. And he went and admitted to it right off the bat.
How some man flew over us close enough to see what we were doing was perplexing. And the thing that really pissed me off was that Twilight could’ve just told him he’d seen things wrong.
With no idea what the man was flying over the forest in, I still knew that whatever it was, it was above the canopy of trees, so he couldn’t have possibly been able to see that much of us.
My body pricked with heat as fire ripped through me. I can’t believe we were spied on in the middle of nowhere!
Just as I got back onto the trail, I didn’t see Zoe and knew she was far ahead of me since I’d waited to hear what Two would say. And how glad I was that I’d done that.
If I hadn’t heard him with my own ears, I would’ve assumed that he’d told the other man that he was wrong about what he’d thought he’d seen. And then I would be quick to forgive the man for breaking his promise to me.
But I had heard it and the anger that swelled inside of me was quickly turning into a stone that shielded my heart from him.
How could I have been so quick to think he was special? How could I have been so quick to have sex with him?
But it had been something spectacular.
I shook my head to rid it of the thought. He told the secret, Val. He can’t be trusted.
And a man who couldn’t be trusted wasn’t a man I wanted in my life.
As I stepped out of the forest and onto the paved road, I saw Zoe standing there with her hands on her hips. “Fucking a stranger in the woods is horrible. But what’s even worse if you lying to me about it.”
“I know.” I felt ashamed. She didn’t even have to rub it in.
“Do you know what kind of danger you put yourself in by going off alone with some man you don’t know? Do you know what he could’ve done to you, Val? Terrible things. Ghastly things. Ungodly things.”
“Well, he didn’t.” I started walking, not wanting to hear her at all. The voices of my parents crashed around in my head as it was. He could’ve raped you! He could’ve killed you!
But he didn’t hurt me at all. He made me feel things I never knew possible is what he did to me.
He’d also brought me to a place where I had never felt so much anger in my life. One promise was all I had asked for and he couldn’t even give me that.
We had no future. I couldn’t imagine why I’d thought any other way. Foolish, moronic, just plain stupid is how I felt. Zoe couldn’t say anything to make me feel anything worse.
She came up beside me. “You know, Mist came on to me too and I didn’t give in to him. I know those men are hot and have muscles galore. I know how charming they seem to be. But something isn’t right about them and you know it. What men act that way? Last night, they thought us just about the stupidest females on the planet. And this morning they thought us to be the sexiest females on the planet.”
“I know.” I didn’t want to rehash things that had already been stumbling about in my head.
“Something’s wrong with them. And for you to go off alone and actually have sex with that guy was the dumbest shit you’ve ever done. You can’t be doing things like that.”
“I know.” My feet pounded the pavement as I stomped my way back to our campsite.
“We should leave as soon as we get back.” She shook her head as she stayed right by my side. “I can’t trust you not to fall for his act again. And this time he might do whatever crazy thing they’ve planned for us. I can’t let that happen to you.”
Stopping in my tracks, I wasn’t about to let her make me think I was that fucking stupid. “I don’t need your help. I am a grown woman. And I do have a brain. Did I make a bad decision? Well, I guess that I did. But I will say this. What we did wasn’t just sex. And I know you won’t believe me, but it was much more than that. I have never known it could be that way. It was like an out of body experience. Only, my body felt things beyond merely pleasurable. It was magical.”
“You’re delusional.” She started walking again. “It was hot sex and nothing more than that. The animal attraction got to you, Val.”
“It didn’t feel like animal attraction. It felt more like soulmate attraction.” I followed her as I analyzed things. “But soulmates keep the promises they make to each other, so I know he’s not mine.”
“There’re no such things as soulmates,” she said with a laugh. “You wanted to think of things that way to make it less disgusting.”
“There was nothing disgusting about it.” I wasn’t going to let her ruin that memory for me. Even if it was a mistake – it was the best mistake I’d ever made.
“Letting a strange man, with strange behavior fuck you is completely disgusting.” Zoe walked straight up to the van. “We’re not staying here.”
“You’re not in charge.” I didn’t want to be alone, stuck in a vehicle with her while she told me how stupid and disgusting I was. “I want to talk to Twi before we go. I want him to know that he hurt me.”
Her hands flew around her head as she shouted, “Who cares? Who the hell cares if he knows he hurt your feelings or not? It doesn’t matter at all. All that will accomplish is him sweet-talking you into giving him another chance and some more of your pussy.”
“God, you’ve got one filthy mouth, Zoe.” I’d heard enough out of her.
“Arghwowl,” came a shriek from the forest. We both got quiet. Our eyes scanned the tree line as the sound echoed.
Zoe eased toward the back of the van. “The Wendigo.”
Nodding as sweat beaded on my forehead and a different kind of adrenaline flowed through me. “It’s being chased.”
“Twi and Mist?” she asked as she pulled out the camera.
The sound of thunder made us both jump and it rumbled on for a long time. “Mayb
e it’s running from bad weather that it felt coming,” I offered.
“Maybe.” Digging in the back, she pulled out our rain gear. “We’ll need this.”
Quickly, we put the rubber coats and boots on as another strange growl came from the forest. “I don’t know if we should go in there, Zoe. It sounds like we might run into trouble.”
“I hope so.” She held up the camera. “Let’s just stay quiet and video without anyone being aware that we’re there.”
“Great idea.”
Just as we headed toward the sounds, the sky filled with lightning that shot right into the place we were heading. It stopped us both. “Back in the van until this storm is over. We can’t fight Mother Nature,” Zoe cautioned me.
Running back to the van, the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. “Yeah, let’s wait out the storm first.”
Sliding into the passenger seat, I closed the door and looked up at the sky that was filled with brilliant oranges and yellows. It looked more like a firestorm was going on than a normal thunderstorm.
Something seems wrong here.
13
Twilight
With the crazy shenanigans Codut had going on while trying to herd the Wendigo into the portal he’d opened for it, I thought Val must be freaking out. “I’m going to see if Val’s okay. You coming?”
Mist shook his head. “I’m going to go to fox form and sleep in the den until this is over. That’s what all the other animals are doing. Seems like the right thing to do to me too.”
“I’ve gotta make sure Val’s okay.” I worried that she and Zoe would leave with all the oddities going on with what they would perceive as the weather. “I won’t know how to get in touch with her if she leaves.”
“Give her your cell number, Twi. It’s what people do,” Mist directed me.
“It’s at home where I left it before we started walking out here in our fox forms.” Maybe taking our adventure so seriously had been a mistake. “I think we should bring some things with us next year when we do this. And maybe drive out here so we’ll have transportation.”
“It’s all about getting back to nature, Twi.” He huffed then looked up as another crackling sound came from above. “I’m going inside now. You should get going before you find yourself on fire.”
With a nod, I began running toward the camp where I hoped to find Valentine still waiting for me. Being the type of man I had been, it had never occurred to me to make sure I could find any certain female again after having sex with her. But Valentine was different.
Hurrying along as the sky turned shades of orange and yellow as Codut used his dragon’s fire to move the Wendigo, I found it beautiful. I knew Val would find it frightening though and sped up to get to her, worrying about her being afraid.
Just as I came out of the woods, I saw the driver’s side door of the van open and out came a figure wearing a long yellow raincoat and black rubber boots. “Get the hell out of here!” Zoe screamed at me.
“Why?” I stopped as she came at me with her gun drawn. “Zoe, what the hell are you doing?”
“What are you doing is the real question here, Twilight?” She pointed the pistol at me. “You and your cousin mist think yourselves very smart. You got to Val, but you won’t be doing that again. I don’t know what you two are up to, but you’re not getting it from us.”
Holding my hands up, I asked, “What do you think we’re up to? Because I can assure you that we’re not up to anything.” I inhaled deeply and noticed that she smelled exactly like Val. The scent aroused me. And that made me nervous. “Did you and Val use some sort of a lotion or something to attract the Wendigo to you?”
Her eyes went wide. “Of course not. That’s sick. See, your mind is warped. You and Mist aren’t right in your heads.”
“We are too.” I wasn’t sure about her though. “Let me talk to Valentine. I don’t know what she told you and I’d like to know that very much.”
“I’m not going to let you talk to her, Twi. She’s weaker than I am. She’s susceptible to your charms or whatever it is you guys are using on us.” Using the gun, she gestured to the woods behind me. “Go back to where you came from and forget you ever knew her.”
“As if I could do that. I can’t stop thinking about her. I came here to make sure she’s okay and not afraid of this wicked storm. And I will do so, Zoe.” I could easily overpower the female, whether she knew that or not. But I didn’t want things to go that route unless they had to.
“What will you gain by using her?” Her upper lip curved into a snarl. “Another notch in your bedpost? A boost to your already inflated ego?”
“Hey! My ego is not inflated.” I was many things – an egomaniac was not one of them. “Did she put you up to this or is this your doing?” I began to worry that Val was tied up inside the van. “How come she’s not getting out of the van, Zoe? What did you do to her?”
“She didn’t see you come up. I caught that in the rearview mirror. I told her I was getting out to survey the storm and she should stay inside the van. I don’t want her to see you. I don’t want her to hear your voice. You’ve got some kind of hold over her and it’s not natural.”
“I don’t have any sort of hold over her at all.” Maybe I did, perhaps something akin to love, but Zoe didn’t know that. “If she’s talking about me, missing me, wanting to see me again, you can’t fault her for that or think it’s anything more than what comes along when two people connect.”
“Why would you two connect? You’ve got nothing in common at all. She’s a scientist and you’re a – well, I have no idea what you are. Because I don’t know you!” She shook the gun at me. “Now leave! You’re not getting another piece of ass from my friend!”
Another piece of ass? Val told Zoe what we did?
Suddenly, the passenger side door of the van opened, and Val got out, standing there in the same attire Zoe had on. Her expression hard, she shouted, “You broke your promise, Twilight Foxworthy!”
“It sounds more like you told her about what we did. I didn’t do it.” Things felt so wrong as I could smell Val now too and the females both smelled exactly the same.
Females’ scents were never exactly the same. They had to have bathed in something or put on the same perfume. But I knew of no perfume that could generate the response the scents on them did.
Val stormed up to me, shaking her finger at me. “We heard you in the woods, Twilight. We heard you talking to some other man.”
“Oh, that.” Fuck! How much did they hear? “Exactly what did you hear us saying?”
Anger riddled Val’s beautiful face. “That other guy said he’d seen us mating. And you didn’t tell him that he was wrong. You should’ve told him that he was wrong, Twi!”
Thank God that was all!
“Well, everyone knows now, so the cat’s out of the bag, baby. No reason to be so pissed off about it. It’s not like what we did was nasty in any way. And it’s not like I used you. I’m here, aren’t I. I came to make sure you’re okay with this wicked storm.” Reaching out for her hand, I hated how she recoiled from my touch. “Valentine?”
“Do not touch me! Something isn’t right here, Twilight. Zoe and I talked about it. You both didn’t act like you cared much for us last night and then this morning you two were all over us.”
“Well, you both smelt different this morning,” burst right out of my mouth without me meaning to let that slip.
The women looked at one another then Zoe asked, “What does the way we smell have to do with anything?”
“It doesn’t.” I didn’t know what to say. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here either. I feel as if my cousin and I might’ve gotten lured in by something you two are using to lure in the Wendigo. It would be very nice if one of you would tell me what you’ve put on that is making you both smell so amazing.”
Val looked ill as she shook her head. “Twi, we’re not using anything to lure anything to us. We don’t even have on perfume. We was
hed our faces and that’s all we’d done before you two came upon us. And you’re telling me that you were following out smells? That’s not right.”
“And it made you both horny for us?” Zoe asked as she looked sick. “That’s messed up.”
“But it’s not exactly like that.” It was exactly like that, but I wasn’t about to admit it. Looking back at Val, I wasn’t sure if we’d made a real connection or not. Maybe she didn’t do it on purpose, but the two smelled the same and that is what drew us to them.
“Just go, Twi,” Val said as her lower lip began to quiver. “This isn’t easy for me. I thought we had something special.”
“So did I.” I couldn’t help but feel confused. “I will go. I need to think.” It fate wanted Valentine and me together, then it would intervene in another way. For now, I had no idea if it was fate or trickery that had me feeling the way I did about the woman.”
“We’ll be staying since the Wendigo is back. But don’t come here again, Twi,” Val said as her body shook, and she wrapped her arms around herself. It was plain to see that she was upset.
So was I. “You shouldn’t stay for that. The man you heard us talking to is taking it away from here. He’s a conservationist of sorts and he came to capture and remove the beast before it could be photographed and brought to light.”
“He what?” Zoe looked angry. “Who is this man to think he can do such a thing?”
“I really don’t know. But I know he can do it.” Explaining that a dragon-shifter had come for their quarry wasn’t a thing I could do.
Val shuddered as she looked me up and down. “Whatever we do, it’s none of your concern, Twilight. Leave me alone – forever.”
“Will do.” I wasn’t going to let her get away with thinking that I was the one who was trying to trick anyone into mating. “And just so you know, I don’t want anything to do with you either. There’s some reason you girls smell the same damn way. And there’s some reason it attracted us and made us want to have sex with you. So, I don’t trust you just as much as you don’t trust me.”
“You’re an idiot,” Zoe said as she grabbed Val by the arm, heading back to the van.