34 – Foes in the Forest

Troy sprinted after his female, desperation lodged in his chest like a sword, but before he got close to her, he scented fucked-up, covered-up bear smell, but he knew what, and who, it was.

Zane. One of Grey’s lackeys, and now possibly one of Khains’. He’d been sprung from jail by the demon himself and they’d all been on the lookout for him, ever since. Oh no, this shit was not allowed.

Troy zeroed in on him quickly, a too-thick man lump doing his best impression of a rock inside a thicket of stickers. Troy ran right on by like he didn’t see him, twisting at the last moment, coming in on a running leap, catching Zane around the neck in the air. Zane was hauled backwards by Troy’s momentum. Zane grunted and tried to get his hands up but Troy twisted his thick bear neck until he dropped.

Troy had no time to check pulses. He was up and after his female immediately.

Trevor, bad bears in the forest! he yelled in his mind. I need backup.

Where are you? came the instant reply.

Behind Remingtons! Down the trail across from the purple door, but heading northeast on foot!

He ran down the path, but his female hadn’t gone this way. He tracked her, peeling off to the right, through the underbrush, catching her scent again.

The forest did something no forest should ever be able to do. An impenetrable row of slim trees like a fence sprung from the ground like a freaky-fast time-lapse video, pushing out of the dirt in front of him, blocking his way, making a sound like ripping the actual earth in half. A trick of Khain’s to keep him from his female? His wolf told him, no. Troy put on a burst of speed and cut to the left, all out, trying to get around the trees. They moved between him and what he wanted in an eerie, should-not-be-happening way. If not Khain, then who or what? Troy launched himself at them, shimmying up one like an islander up a coconut tree, getting no answer from his wolf. A branch grew above him so fast he conked his head into it, making him woozy, making him lose his grip and fall to the ground, but he never hit it. Branches grew instantly beneath him, catching him before he could go splat. In his mind, all he could hear was Rizzoli saying, “don’t get her flowers.” For some reason, the contents of her fridge played back in front of him like a movie.

Troy twisted, grabbing the traitorous tree branches like parallel bars and trying to swing off of them. They impeded his every movement. His thoughts were a mess, distracted by the words of Trevor, assembling a team in his head, and the ground ripping all around him in a sound that was too much like fingers on a chalkboard for Troy’s liking. Troy levered his body forward and let go of the tree, sailing for the ground. He couldn’t go over the trees, so around was his only choice.

“Reeeeed!” he shouted. “Please,” he whispered.

He could see no way around, either, but he took off at a run to the left anyway, looking for any hole he could squeeze through. Slim tree after slim tree blocked his way, making him growl and gnash his teeth. He had to get to his female.

His female.

She was causing this.

She was so powerful.

The thought slowed him a little, but not much. “Reed,” he called again. “Please, I’ll stop chasing you, just please don’t run from me.” He slowed to a walk, hoping the trees would retract. They didn’t, instead, their line curved him farther to the west, even farther away from Reed. He growled and turned around, but the trees had ripped through the ground behind him, blocking him in, herding him the way they wanted him to go.

Away from her.

Troy held onto himself with a strength of will he did not know he had. He jogged down the line of trees, calling his female again, and again.

Until he reached a tree that caught his eye and stopped him short.

It was easily the biggest tree in the forest, one he’d never seen before, somehow hidden out here in the woods. Something told him it was just like these fresh, new, slim trees that should not be ripping from the ground, that should not be able to corral him like they were. Which meant it was one of her trees. One that Reed had touched, but a long time ago.

This tree was massive, so big around it would have taken four or five men to encircle it, arms stretched wide, and near the bottom, at chest level with Troy, the upper and lower trunk were divided in a way that could not have been natural. The opening in the trunk looked like a cage, only about four feet high, but cut six feet into the trunk, easy. It looked like it had actually grown into or as part of the tree, the “floor” of it, which was actually several feet off the ground, covered with a thick layer of dirt. Troy examined the crazy-looking tree, his heart with his mate, but his wolf telling him this was where he needed to be. He walked toward it warily, eyes and ears and senses completely open and ready.

When Troy got close enough, he reached his hand out and touched one of the ‘bars’ of the cage, which was really just a tree root, thick and twisted and placed in a row with other roots, all stronger than they had any right to be. His wolf leaned in close, directing his gaze to an opening, and through that, to a portion of dirt in the far corner of the cage. Troy pulled himself into the hole, crawling his way across the dirt floor, staring at that spot. When he reached it, he dug with his bare hands, moving mounds of dirt out of the way, and in only a few moments, he had a hole almost a foot deep. The forest was silent around him, no more sounds of ripping and groaning and growing, but no birds either. No small animals were moving in the brush, not even any insects droned on and on about nothing. The stillness was unnatural, and it ate at Troy’s composure. Something was coming.

Troy’s fingers struck something hard. He dug around the object and lifted it out, wiping dirt from it, knowing from the feel of it what it was.

A pendant, with an angel on one side, and a wolf on the other.

His mate’s pendant, and he instinctively knew that when he found out how it had gotten out in the forest, he was going to have to kill someone.

Troy held it up to catch the light, then pulled himself out of the hole. The forest was normal, the line of trees that had corralled him, gone, but the forest floor was still pushed around and spewed open in unnatural ways, proving to him he had imagined nothing. Troy started back the way he had come from, back in the direction his mate had gone, questioning his senses, anyway.

A tree branch came out of nowhere and hit him right smack in the face, right between the eyes.

“Ouch,” Troy snarled. “Lay off.”

Another branch, from a sapling barely waist high, poked him in the side. Troy jumped away from it staring it down. “Don’t make me want to see what your roots look like.”

Another tree smacked him. Another branch poked him. Troy backed up, his mate’s pendant wrapped loosely in his fist by its sturdy chain, trying to reason out what was going on. He backed up farther. The trees let him be. He walked forward. The trees rippled, and one even leaned his way menacingly.

“Shit,” he whispered. Trees playing security guard was too crazy for him to process. He stared at the forest for a long time, his mind whirring over the problem too fast for him to spell out. After a few moments, he spoke. He had to do something. “Ok,” he said out loud. “What do you want?”

A tree branch bent down from the tree above him. Troy watched it warily but didn’t move away. It snaked it’s way around, so fucking unnaturally, until it could press against his lips, just like a finger telling him, ‘quiet.’

Got it, he said in ruhi to the forest, a private line, just him and the forest, feeling silly but not letting it stop him. Why didn’t you just say so? Now what?

The branches rippled, but in the opposite direction of the way he wanted to go. Troy checked with his wolf. His wolf was silent. Ok then, trees, I’m trusting you.

The leaves around him shook, vibrating the leaves once, in what could have meant anything at all, including absolutely nothing. Troy waited.

Nothing happened. He turned in a circle, then smacked the top of a sapling next to him. On with it, or I’m out.

The sapling smacked him back but nothing else happened. Had he been imagining things?

The ruhi from his brother and the rest of the KSRT amped up, people talking all over themselves in each other’s minds, trying to figure out what was going on.

Troy where are you? Trevor said over the melee.

Not sure. Near the north border of the forest, standing still right now.

Harlan broke in with a brain-piercing whistle, silencing everyone. Troy held his hand to his head, needing to move, needing to do something.

Harlan’s voice came in loud and clear. Ok everyone, Plan Divided Focus is in force. This is not a drill. Graeme, Eventine, Heather, Ella, Jaggar, Leilani, and I are with Prince, Princess, and Wildfire. Assemble at location A. Everyone else, and I do mean everyone else, designated bearen and felen included, meet at Remington’s. We’ve got Zane captured but injured, he won’t be talking for a while, and a foxhole has been found with caches of clothing and weapons. We have to assume Khain and team are after Blake, and we aren’t letting them have him. We need a full clearing of the forest behind Remington’s place and the bluff, too. As soon as you have a team of four, start a sweep. Leave markers so the team behind you knows not to cover your ground. All ruhi channels must be kept clear for sightings of Troy, Khain, Rex, Soren, or even Grey.

A few males growled in everyone’s head. They were all hoping Grey was dead, that Khain had taken his head. Grey hadn’t been seen in months, not since his plan to summon Khain had worked well enough to end up with him pulled into the Pravus by an angry demon.

And my mate, Troy said, She’s out here, too, somewhere.

Describe her, Harlan said.

Ah, Mac? Troy knew his description would only include words like perfect, beautiful, stunning, amazing, and really, how helpful was that?

Mac broke in. She’s 5’5’’, caramel-colored skin, black curly hair, shoulder length, with a curvy figure.

Troy would maim him later for noticing his mate had curves. Now he got it. “Sorry, Mac,” he whispered under his breath. He would never wink at anyone else’s mate again.

You know her name yet, Troy?

Reed. Her name is Reed and I love her.

No one said anything for a moment. A few males yipped in ruhi, while others whuffed, like mic clicks on the radio.

Reed and you love her, got it. Harlan said, his voice thick, then it went operational. Repeating one time for clarity, then I’m shutting up and so are the rest of you.

Harlan spilled it all again, but Troy had already tuned him out, turning in a great circle.

Every single leaf on every single tree was pointing in the same direction: due north.

Troy took off at a run, following the forest.