Page 132 of Bosse
Of course, if the most recent visitors were shifters, the condition of this path made sense.
Bosse lifted branches out of the way as the horse pushed hard to move forward.
Alifair lowered her upper body over the saddle horn to help Bosse until they cleared the trees.
When the horse stopped, she sat up, taking in what remained of gray stone walls bleached by decades of sunlight. There were no trees around the castle. A wooden bridge two floors above the ground connected two sections. Weeds grew across the ground between the structure and the trees, meaning the land had been kept cleared by someone, though maybe only once a year.
“What do you think?” Bosse asked.
“That looks right based on what Kylie told us once I described the images I’ve seen.” She hadn’t understood why Kylie, of all people, would help them until Kylie said she wanted to get as far away as she could before Krol came back or Hessie was freed. She begged for help.
Not one shifter standing around called her out for a lie.
Kylie had been Hessie’s go-to servant, but she may have acted compliant to protect herself just as Alifair and others had. Kylie had spoken to many guards during her time and learned of the surrounding areas of Krol’s castle.
Adrian had assured Kylie that they would take her home.
“I don’t want to stay here tonight,” Bosse announced.
Honestly, neither did Alifair, but what did that leave them? “Where do you want to go?”
“How do you feel about sleeping under the stars?”
Her first reaction was a gut clench at the thought of sleeping outside where small creepy things and animals would get to her, but then she realized she’d be with Bosse. “Works for me. What about food?”
“I’ll shift once I have you in a safe spot and find something to cook quickly before nightfall. We’ll keep the fire small even then.”
That’s how she ended up stuffing small branches into a protective lean-to structure outline that Bosse had created from fallen limbs. He piled up different-sized, smaller branches, explaining he’d seen no sign of vegetation like vines that he could use to tie them together.
She’d woven cloth and yarn back with her clan community. How hard could this be?
Stripping the longer branches, she crisscrossed those in a way that created a decent wall of interwoven sticks. Then she began pushing thinner branches into place, leaving the green pine needles and leaves from other trees to overlap.
By the time she expected Bosse to return, she was quite pleased with herself.
A stick snapped.
That could be something the size of a deer moving around or a person sneaking up on her. She slowly turned to face a wolf standing taller than her. Her knees knocked, and her hands shook.
The wolf canted its head and then dropped what it had been carrying in its mouth.
Two dead rabbits and a pile of clothes. Food for dinner and Bosse’s clothes.
She stopped panicking, now feeling like a fool.
This was Titan. He sat like a gigantic, well-behaved dog.
“I’m sorry, Titan, you frightened me. I expected Bosse to come walking up.”
The wolf smiled at her.
She started laughing. “I’m going to have to get used to your size. Thanks for dinner. Uhm, I don’t really know how to clean a rabbit.”
Energy swirled around Titan as his head began to shrink along with his body.
His change mesmerized her. Bones snapped and moved under his skin. That had to be painful, but a minute later, a naked Bosse sat on the ground.
He raised those beautiful brown eyes to her. “Titan said you’re funny... and nice.”
