Page 29 of The Werewolf Cowboy
Finally the strip of daylight became wider, and the passage opened. She saw nothing but a thick covering of greenery.
“Touch it. It will recognize your DNA as Lupine and it’ll let you through,” Grayson told her.
Katy touched the hedge, marveling as the bushes rustled, and then parted. She stepped onto a pathway strewn with thick pine needles and branches. Trees flanked the pathway, thick, dark and menacing. It was a forest, and her wolf normally adored forests.
But at this forest, her wolf whined, cringed and wanted to turn back. Run the other way. The scent of danger tainted the air like old blood.
Grayson stepped through the hedges. Adjusting the pack on his broad shoulders, he jerked his head toward a ribbon-like path snaking through the woods. “Stay close behind me and do not look back. Stay on the path.”
Behind her, she heard the hedges close. Too late to run in the other direction. She had to push forward.
They walked only for a few minutes, but her stomach clenched in knots and gooseflesh sprang out on her bare arms.
Go back, her mind screamed.
This was not the forest of her beloved Montana ranch. The trees were tall and thick, their roots snaking across the floor, ready to trip the unwary. Rocks pebbled the floor, and the ground was riddled with undergrowth that held no sounds of wildlife, or even insects. The trees were so thick, insufficient sunshine spilled downward, making the woods spooky.
Decaying vegetation and pieces of fallen tree branches littered the forest floor like old bones. Wind whipped through the treetops, moaning like a banshee. And then it stopped. The silence became so jarring, it felt as if she stood in a valley of emptiness. There was no sound but for her own frantic breaths.
Katy scanned her surroundings, alarmed at how her skin crawled with apprehension. The trees seemed menacing, with long branches stretching out like malevolent hands. Purple circles ringed the trees, like a thick, ugly fungus.
Grayson headed forward until reaching a small stream. She trudged behind Grayson as a sense of foreboding filled her. This land of darkness presented unknown threats. Something deep inside her nudged her to go faster, get out of these woods.
They were dangerous.
And Grayson, her handsome cowboy friend, had changed into a Lupine equally as dangerous.
Suddenly Grayson turned right, stepping away from the path. He headed into the bank of ferns, farther from the stream. Katy hesitated. He’d been so insistent on following the path…
“Where are you going?” she called out.
“Shortcut. We’re losing daylight.”
Silence draped the woods but for the sound of their footsteps and her own increasing breaths. Dusk had started to fall, the purple, pink and bright pink shadows creeping across the forest floor like living things.
“You said to stay on the path.”
“It’s getting dark and it’s faster to hike by the stream,” Grayson told her. “We need to reach sanctuary before full dark.”
“What sanctuary?”
“Wolf Haven.”
“What is this place?” She felt a chill rush down her spine, as if a ghost finger stroked an icy finger down her bare back. This did not seem like any type of sanctuary.
“I told you before. The Feral Forest.”
The pathway narrowed and she picked her way over rocks. Charcoal-colored tree roots snaked over the path, stretching out like fingers as they trudged forward. Green moss-coated rocks provided little traction as she followed Grayson alongside the gurgling water.
Her wolf whined, wanting to go home now. Why, now that Grayson found her, did he insist on taking her to this awful place?
“Can we go back? I need to get home.” Goddess, she sounded whiny, but Katy didn’t care. All her nerves were jangled and she couldn’t help feeling she’d been here before.
Ancient cries of pain and anguish echoed in her mind, like memories. Katy rubbed her temples. She knew this place and it wasn’t her imagination.
She had been here before, and had no memory of it, until now.
Grayson glanced upward. A thin fog crept over the stream, droplets of mist creeping toward them like smoke. “Stay with me,” he repeated. “Don’t think about anything, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.”
