Page 36 of Entangled in the Woods
Kleio’s eyes grew wide. “He kissed you?” I nodded my head, and she started smiling. “How was it? I mean, what did it feel like?”
I looked down, trying to put into words what the kiss had felt like. “It was a good kiss? I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Kleio.”
“Think about how it felt. What did you feel?”
I had felt a lot of things with that kiss. It was as if the world had gone fuzzy around us and all my senses had focused on Everett.
I tried to put what I had felt into words. “It was consuming. I felt like there was something between us that kept pulling us closer together.” She nodded knowingly. “What, Kleio? What are you not telling me?”
She stopped walking and turned to me, grabbing my arm, making sure I had her full attention. “You’re important to Everett. I think he likes you, Elise. He wouldn’t have risked losing the hunt by coming to save you yesterday if he didn’t care.”
“Is that what you feel with Jack? The overwhelming feeling?”
She smiled at me, reminiscing. “Totally. I felt it from the first time we touched.”
I broke eye contact with Kleio and looked around the forest where we were standing. It was calming, as it always was, its sounds soothing. Something inside of me felt unsettled hearing Kleio’s words. I wasn’t imagining what I was feeling—Kleio had the same feelings with Jack. But that made me even more uneasy. They were deeply infatuated with each other. I couldn’timagine getting to a place like that with Everett. It wasn’t the reason I’d come to Minnesota.
“There it is!” Kleio broke away and jogged to the red mulberry we had transplanted last weekend. I followed her, eager to see how the tree was faring. Transplanting could be hard on trees, especially one so young.
She crouched down next to the sapling, admiring its leaves. “Looks good, right?”
I bent down next to her, letting my knees squish into the soil. I rubbed a leaf between my fingers and ran my hand along the trunk, giving it a slight wiggle to see if the roots had grown and stabilized the tree. Everything checked out.
“It looks great!” I said. “I would call this a successful transplant.”
Kleio stood up, stepping back, admiring the tree. “It really feels good to save a tree, even just a small one.”
“Every tree is important to the forest. Everything around us is in a symbiotic relationship, relying on each other to survive.”
She looked at me funny, cocking her head to the side. “That’s kind of like our pack house. We eat together, work together, and live together—everyone working toward a mutual interest.”
“Yeah, kind of like a…pack house?” It was my turn to give Kleio a funny look.
“I forgot you know nothing of shifter culture.” She could sense my puzzlement. “We live in a pack house, which is basically a large house with a bunch of smaller apartments for the families that are a part of the pack. Living together as a family is very important to us. Some members have their own places close by, but most of the pack lives in the main house. It’s like living with all your extended family.”
My face must have contorted into a disgusted look at the thought of living with my entire family.
Kleio laughed. “It’s great. People who support you constantly surround you. Plus we throw some exceptional parties. You should come to the party we’re having next weekend to celebrate the end of the Deca Tournament!”
Being at another event surrounded by shifters was not something I wanted to do, but I was politely and told Kleio I would think about it.
With the mulberry doing well, we spent the afternoon walking the woods, me naming plants for Kleio between bites of the sandwiches she had packed. She spent a lot of time trying to get information about Everett from me. I kept my lips closed. Her tracking skills weren’t as bad she claimed them to be, and we made it back to Camp just in time for the evening meal.
Dinner was delicious, as always, and I retired early to my tent as the sun was setting. Tomorrow I could get back to the cabin. I knew Jenny would assume I’d spent the weekend with Wilder…which felt strange to play along with now. But what else could I tell her? That I’d been with…Everett? It wasn’t like I could tell her the truth. For the past week and a half, I had basically done more of Jenny’s research about wolves than I had done of my own.
In my head, I tossed around the idea of telling her about the shifters. I didn’t know her that well; I had only just met her. While it would be nice to have a sounding board who wasn’t a shifter, she seemed only interested in telling me what to do instead of listening and giving advice, and I didn’t know yet if I could trust her with a secret like this.
I got ready for bed, still wearing my leggings and shirt from Friday. I made a mental note to pack a change of clothes along with my deodorant since I continued to end up in this situation. Since it was a weekend-long event, no one showered or bathed. It was truly camping, with no running water or electricity. Luckily I had practiced in taking care of my needs in the woods,or being without a toilet would be mortifying. I scrubbed my teeth with my finger and a bottle of water, doing the best I could to keep clean. This level of hygiene was not what I was used to.
I lay in my bed for a while, the glow of the moon gradually lighting my tent. The cloudless night gave the moon nothing to hide behind, and it shone brightly in the sky. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the glow beneath my eyelids. I sat up in bed, rubbing my face. When I couldn’t sleep my mind raced. Mostly with thoughts about my research. It was hard to escape camping in a tent in the woods, the sounds and smells of nature constantly surrounding me.
If I couldn’t sleep, I might as well put my wakeful mind to work. I still needed to sketch the red mulberry and take some notes about its surroundings. Now was as good of time as any.
It was remarkable how bright the moon was tonight. The moon was like a flashlight in the sky, lighting the earth. I crossed my fingers that I’d remember the way to the red mulberry. Twice now, I had been to the tree and the stream it grew next to. The topography class I had taken in undergrad taught me that water flowed at low points in the forest. If I was walking on a slight decline, I would be going in the right direction. Hopefully I was as good of a tracker as the shifters.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The canopyof leaves above me only slightly dimmed the light of the moon. I could still easily navigate the forest floor, dodging the errant tree root. After second-guessing my sense of direction a few times, I heard the babbling of the stream and smiled as I saw the mulberry, its leaves fluttering in the breeze. Far enough from other trees, the mulberry stood alone under the moonlight, like a spotlight shone one it.
