come from?” I ask, twisting my head around to face him. Even in this moment of pure panic and uncertainty, this Alpha is dead sexy, and with me pressed against him, the earlier heat now swallows me.
“You really think Ragnar would let you go alone?” he muses. “Now, look down in front of you.”
When I follow his gaze, my attention falls upon a fissure in the earth, split open and wide enough to inhale me if I blindly stepped into it. Only blackness yawns back at us from within it.
“Shit. How could I not have seen that?”
My eyes have been high up on the net and not on what lay at my feet. How deep was it really? It’s like the ground opened up to devour any unsuspecting visitors. Or was this just another addition to the witches’ scheme to ensure no one passed through their lands? While I’m still trembling from having almost become a victim, part of me can’t help but hold a sense of admiration for the witches in thinking so thoroughly about their spells. It seems there is so much more to casting, which is information I tuck into my mind for later.
“It looks like a pit trap to me,” he whispers.
“How did you see it when I didn’t?” I ask him, my back still cradled against his chest.
“Observation,” he answers, but when he steps back with me still in his arms, I break from his hold and turn around. A glint of blue catches my attention from just under his collar. It’s the edge of what looks like a circular tattoo, except it’s glowing.
“Maybe it makes more sense if we both take the lead together.” He adjusts his shirt to cover the marking, clearly noticing I’ve been staring.
“What is that?” I ask, because I was under the impression these wolves were just that… wolves. Is Stone a Cursed like me? Is it strange that excitement rises through me at sharing something with him that I have feared my whole life?
“Nothing for you to worry about,” he answers. “Now, I suggest we head back toward the path as you said earlier.” He gives me an easy smile, which must be a code for leaving this topic of conversation alone.
Of course, my mind is now racing with what this all means. If he wants to keep it to himself, that’s fine for now. But later, he needs to come clean.
We trample over the bushes and squeeze between two trees to emerge back to where the other three wait for us.
“Well?” Crius asks, pacing like a trapped wolf. “I don’t know how much longer I can walk in a place that looks like we’re going in circles.”
“It’s a dead end,” I respond, half expecting Stone to tell them how I almost died, but he doesn’t. “We’ll need to take our chance on the path to pass this spell. We’ll have to move slowly, because I can only suspect there’ll be something waiting for us there.”
My entire body is shaking just thinking back to how I almost fell into the gaping hole. The reality hits me harder now that I’ve settled down.
Stone is at my side, his hand on my back. “Let’s go.” He nudges me to move, and I do just that before I freak out.
“You’ll be okay,” he reassures me.
I nod. I want to take a moment to catch my breath and slow my beating heart, but that will make me seem weak, and I can’t fall apart. I’ve faced danger my whole life, so I can do this too. I swallow back the thickness in my throat. One step in front of the other, we keep going.
When we reach the section with the river, my gaze traces its blue surface. It’s like somehow the sun has made its way to this part of the forest.
“It really does look inviting,” Stone says.
I look over to him and whisper, “Thank you for before.”
His hand runs along his short, golden beard, and his eyes soften. “You can trust me, Narah.”
But do they trust me?
We wander forward, and soon the harsh ground softens beneath our shoes, and the dull, lifeless land blossoms with life. A cool breeze swishes past, and I moan with the satisfaction of finally finding some comfort.
The men groan with their own relief, but the closer we get to the dirt track, the more my skin crawls. Around us, branches rustle like out-of-tune songs.
Then I pause right beside the dirt path. I flick my gaze to the