Page 18 of Entangled in the Woods
I stood up as Kleio and Jack made their way to the hunters. Kleio whispered something to Everett that I couldn’t hear. He nodded his head in agreement, briefly glancing my way. Jack shook his hand and wished him luck.
I didn’t know what I should be doing.Do I sit and keep to myself? Or should I go up and say goodbye?It seemed like I should do something. Before I could figure out what to do, I found myself walking over to Everett and Wilder.
“Good luck,” I mumbled. “I hope you catch a lot of rogues.”
Everett smirked as he reached out his hand to shake mine. His hand and fingers completely encapsulated mine. Our eyes met, and shivers traveled down to my tailbone. Every time I looked into his eyes, my mind went to mush. He blinked, breaking the trance his eyes had put on me. Abruptly our hands separated, and I took the hand he shook and brought it close to my chest. I turned to wish Wilder well, but he was already on his way out of the tent with Gavrill’s arm slung around his shoulders.
I mentally berated myself. That had made me look like an idiot. I shouldn’t have done that.
Kostas came up from behind Everett and slapped him on the back. “It’s almost time, alpha.”
As Everett walked with Kostas out of the tent, I waited for him to look back at me, but he never did.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight,” Kleio said, slowly pacing the tent.
“Sounds good to me.” Jack was sitting on the couch, watching her with an eager look on his face.
“I’m not going to be able to dothateither, Jack.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just too nervous. Why can’t Gavrill go on the hunt? He’s almost as strong as Everett, and then we wouldn’t be putting our alpha at risk.”
“Everett would never let him go with Wilder,” he said. “Gavrill would worry about keeping his brother safe instead of focusing his attention on the rogues. Dangerous for everyone.”
“Wait, Gavrill is Wilder’s brother?” I asked.
“Yep, you’ve already met your boyfriend’s family,” Jack said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not my boyfriend.”
“Jack!” Kleio swatted at his arm. “I promised her we were done with the teasing.”
A chorus of howls from outside filled the tent. She stopped her pacing and cuddled up next to Jack. “Wake me up on Monday morning.”
We sat in silence for several minutes until the howling stopped and Kostas flipped back the flap of the tent. He walked inside and sat down on one of the empty couches. “Well, they’re off. Kip and Elijah bullied their way to the front, of course, but Everett and Wilder have a leg up on them tracking wise. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“They’d better be,” Kleio said. She ran her fingers through her hair, twirling a section between her fingers. “This is the most stressful month of the decade. I can never sleep with all the backstabbing and riffraff that goes on during Deca.”
Kostas rubbed his hands together as he spoke. “Rules never get followed during Deca. No one is watching, and accidents always seem to happen. But I have faith in Everett. He’s thestrongest shifter here. Let’s just hope he comes home tonight with a decent number of rogues. It would take the pressure off.”
“I know. It still worries me,” Kleio said. She looked over at me. “Elise, you must be tired. Let’s go find the tent Wilder so kindly set up for you.”
I was thankful the pack had an extra tent for me. While I appreciated the thought, there was no way I was going to share a tent with Kleio and Jack. Had she expected me to share the bed with them? On top of the simple awkwardness, I would also have a much harder time sneaking out if there were others in the tent with me.
What I had told Everett meant nothing to me. His talk of wards didn’t scare me either. They were probably some scary story shifter parents told their kids at bedtime that he thought would get the “dumb human” too. Magical electrocuting invisible walls? Mm-hmm, okay, right.
Shaking my head, I refocused myself. I needed to get back to the cabin. I couldn’t stay here with a bunch of shifters.
Thankfully Wilder had set up my tent far enough away from the others that escape seemed actually possible. Everyone had been so nice to me, except for Wilder. I kind of felt bad leaving everyone without a thank-you or goodbye. Especially Kleio, who I had taken a liking to. She was fun and open and confident in her choices. Something I wished I could be.
I sat on my cot, waiting for the sounds of the camp to die down and for everyone to retreat to their tent for the night. Once the crickets became louder than the voices, I grabbed my purse, putting it securely across my body. I kicked off Jenny’s wedge sneakers. They’d done me dirty earlier today when I’d run from Everett.
Delicately, I pulled the flap of the tent back so I could peek out. There was no movement. I slithered my body out andcrouched with my back to the side of the canvas tent. A few campfires still glowed with red embers.
Between the red glow and the bright stars in the sky, I had enough visibility to make my way through Camp. I dodged the ropes and stakes that held the tents down, breathing easier. This escape was looking promising. If I could make my way behind the main tents and follow them, I would be parallel to the main road. From there, I could follow the road out of Camp and hopefully I would find a landmark that was familiar.
My footsteps picked up in pace as I made my way from behind the last tent in the row at the start of Camp. Looking behind my shoulder, I saw nothing. Silently congratulating myself, I took off into a full run. The gravel road appeared to have endured frequent driving, breaking down the gravel rocks into fine pebbles and dust. It was perfect for running. My muscles were warming, and my breathing leveled out as I set a pace that was comfortable but kept me moving.
I wondered if Jenny was worried about me. How could have Everett gotten a message to her that I was okay when he had been at this “Camp” the whole day? What kind of excuse had he given her as to my whereabouts?
My purse shifted down my body as I ran, and I looked down to rearrange it to the other side. I didn’t have time to lift my gaze before I was flying backward, having hit something solid in the middle of the road. My head flew back, leading my body to the ground. A loud thud echoed in my ears as my skull hit the gravel, my body following it like a rag doll.
