studying their surroundings distrustfully. His wolf snarled, uneasy, as well.
The others looked at him curiously. They didn’t seem to notice the swirling landscape.
“Did none of you see that?” he finally asked. “The horizon keeps changing. One minute I see mountains, the next a great distance of flat plains. There are trees now but if I look away and then back, I will see rock cliffs.”
Chad laughed. “I forgot you were mortal. It’s only magic. Don’t worry about it.”
Ruben eyed him in disbelief. “Don’t worry about it? How will we know where we’re going, never mind if we’ll ever arrive there?”
“Because,” Eric broke in, using the exceedingly patient voice one might use to explain to a child. “We can see through the magic.”
“I can’t.” Though he might be stating the obvious, Ruben didn’t understand how they could hope to reach a particular destination when everything kept shifting. “We’ve been riding an hour and I see no signs of any town or village. How far is this place anyway?”
This time Chad and Eric exchanged glances, making Ruben uneasy. Had the two of them hatched up some sort of plan to get rid of him? If so, what did they plan to do with Willow and Tatiana?
Since the others all had magic to help them, he realized he and Willow were severely outnumbered. Still, at this point, there was nothing he could do about it.
When had he become so paranoid? Was this yet another sign of approaching insanity?
They continued to ride, Ruben doing his best to concentrate only on the path directly in front of them.
As darkness settled over the treetops, Willow brought up the subject of finding a place to camp for the night. Tatiana agreed with her, surprising everyone, Willow most of all, judging by the startled look on her face.
Riding slightly off the path, Chad returned a few minutes later. “I’ve found a level clearing that would be a good place to camp.”
And so it was decided. They began to make camp. As they pitched tents and dug a fire pit, he saw the way Willow kept watching him, as though she expected him to grow claws and fur at any moment. His skin crawled with energy, and he knew his beast lurked just below the surface, ready at any moment, to wrest control and break free.
This had become his daily existence. As often happened these days, he wasn’t sure which was his true nature—man or beast.
Later, after a completely unsatisfying meal of nuts and dried berries—again, Ruben had managed to forget that the Brights did not eat meat—they allowed the fire to smolder into embers and prepared to bunk down.
Letting the women share one tent and the two brothers share another, Ruben had staked his bedroll near a group of sturdy trees, ensuring he had some kind of protection at his back.
The others retired to their tents, the horses tied nearby. Quiet stole over the clearing, though out in the forest the night animals had begun to stir.
Ruben’s stomach growled as he thought of roasting a plump rabbit. But when he imagined the horrified looks on his companion’s faces, he knew if he was to eat the meat necessary to sustain him, he’d have to do it as wolf.
And there, he’d have to be very, very careful. Closing his eyes, he settled down to rest.
Though the Pack scoffed at the human legends about werewolves, sleeping outside under a velvet sky and a full moon always made Ruben feel a bit...odd. Out of sorts, uncomfortable in his own skin. He supposed there had to be some shred of truth in the old legends; most fables were born this way, from a long-ago occurrence combined with centuries of embellishment.
That night, Ruben’s wolf came to him in a dream, trying yet another method to win dominance over his corporal body. Though he had prepared himself for just this eventuality, this time he’d been so involved in a pleasant dream involving Willow and kisses, he nearly missed the danger when it presented itself.
Where before his inner beast had fought him using traditional means, this night the wolf snuck up quietly, not making him aware of its presence until the last possible moment. Then—ambush! The beast attacked.
Half asleep, still in the throes of an absolutely wonderful dream, at first, Ruben couldn’t muster the wits to fight back.
Then, as his bones began to lengthen and change, he lost. There, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by slumbering Sidhe, he became wolf.