Page 38 of Earth-Bound

I’d forgotten the way Mulgrave had pawed at me, of his gnarled hands scrabbling at my shirt as I backed away. I’d forgotten the feel of his power, the tainted magic he used that squeezed power from the reluctant earth instead of drawing it out naturally. Those dead animals in that basement had been sacrificed to bring him control.

I shuddered.

Mulgrave took. He hoarded things to use for himself. He’d even plucked an apple from my tree when I’d burrowed inside it to escape him. He’d thought he could use it, that the fruit from a tree with an earth spirit inside would be more potent.

Then he’d wrapped his cruel spells around us, me and the tree both, and left us.

I shivered again.

Joe startled me by draping a coat around my shoulders. It was an old thing, worn and faded, and had mud streaked up the sides. But it was warm and it smelled of him. I didn’t smell things like a shifter did but I could still enjoy the particular scent of my mate and snuggle down into his coat.

He didn’t say anything, just got back to work.

It was only then that I realised I’d been following him around all morning.

I cleared my throat, a bit worried about asking. “Is it alright for me to be here?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No. I’m going over to the woods soon, though. Do you want to come?”

I nodded and he smiled, turning back to his work.

It wasn’t really what I’d call a wood, more a small wooded area. There were perhaps twenty trees there in total, and a lot of shrubs, a few blackberry bushes and a badger’s set.

When we got there, I walked straight over to a large oak tree and placed my hand upon its trunk. It felt familiar. Long ago, before I had been imprisoned, this tree and I had been friends.

As I thought it, I felt the amusement radiate out from the oak. I smiled to myself. The oak was right. It was not that long ago, not to an oak, and not to an earth spirit.

I spent a long time communing with the trees, going from one to another to another, re-learning them, letting them feel me nearby. The longer I was here, the more I felt their spirits reach out to me. It had been a while since they’d felt the energy of an earth spirit and they were tentatively hoping I’d stay.

At last, I had touched each of them and I turned to look at Joe. He had stopped working and was looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

I realised I must look a bit unusual. I hadn’t spoken to him much and I’d been going from tree to tree just touching their bark and I became conscious that my clothes had been hopelessly outdated several hundred years ago… but I was comfortable in them, so I’d never thought to change them.

I cleared my throat again. “Ha, I was just… seeing what trees were here.”

He knew it was a lie. I could see it in his eyes.

“You do you,” he said.

“Do? What do you mean?”

“I mean… be yourself. Do what you want.”

“Oh. And you would like that?”

His eyebrows went up and he took a second to answer. “Yeah, I guess.”

I decided it was time to push Joe a little and see whether he was becoming aware of our bond. Last night he’d made love to me but he hadn’t exactly been behaving like a mate since then. It was almost as if he intended to forget our encounter.

A little worm of worry burrowed inside me. He’d said he moved around, would leave the area soon. But not for a month. I had a month to convince him to stay.

“Do you like me when I behave like this?”

“Yeah, I like you.”

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