Page 19 of Entangled in the Woods
CHAPTER NINE
Floating in a sea of darkness,I couldn’t move or see anything. Like waves in the ocean, my hearing came in and out. One minute I could hear what was going on around me and the next only the blood whooshing through my head in synchronized with my heartbeat.
“What have you done, Lyka?” a deep voice asked.
Strangely, I felt like I was floating in the water, rocking back and forth. I was lying braced on something firm, wind rushing past me. Moving?
Another voice joined. The rocking never stopped. “What the hell is going on?”
“She ran into the wards.”
“Where was she going?”
“I don’t know. I need to get her back and get her head looked at.”
“Give her to me—I can bring her to the tent.”
Something shifted, tightened around me. “Don’t touch her.”
Opening my eyes was painful.My head felt like I had been on a rickety roller coaster one too many times, my brain jostled. I rolled my head to the side to look at my surroundings. I was in the pack’s main tent, on one of the floral couches. Someone had draped a tan fleece blanket over me. I tried to sit up, but the pulsing in my head immediately humbled me, so I lay back down.
“You’re awake!” Kleio’s voice rang out. “You had us all scared, Elise. How are you feeling?” She came over to the couch and sat down next to my knees.
“Not great. My head hurts,” I managed to mumble. “What happened? I was running, and then I hit something.”
“You ran into the wards. I wasn’t kidding when I told you that you were stuck here for the weekend. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out until Sunday afternoon.”
Groaning, I tried again to sit up. Wards? Was that what I had laughed off as a bedtime fable? I hadn’t run into a solid wall, that was for sure. But I had definitely hit something. My pounding head was evidence of that.
“Thank goodness Everett found you,” Kleio said.
Everett had found me? I hardly remembered anything from when I’d hit the ground to now.
Confused, I tried to gain some clarity. “I didn’t see any walls.”
“Of course not, silly. You can’t see the wards,” she said. “Most humans can sense them. They give them the feeling of unease, and they usually turn around. You must have been running so fast that your body didn’t have enough time to sense them. Coming at them with some speed can really do a number.”
My hand felt my head. There were some paper towels on the back of my scalp. Hissing at the stinging contact, I pulled my hand away.
“The escapee awakes!”
I turned my head to see Gavrill entering the tent, having to duck down to fit through the entrance. “Boss says one of us has to keep an eye on you the rest of the weekend. Doesn’t want the human to get hurt again. Too much of a liability with all the pheromones around here.”
“You should’ve seen it, Elise.” Kleio giggled as she reminisced. “There was blood from your head on the ground—okay, that part wasn’t funny—but the other shifters came out in droves. Everyone was wondering what had hit the wards and who the pretty human was lying on the ground. Gavrill, Kostas, and Everett had to get all tough and growly to get them to back off.”
Suddenly Kostas sat up on the couch next to me. “Glad you found it so entertaining.” He had been lying down, and I hadn’t even noticed him there. “Everett and Wilder are out hunting for the day. You’d better hope they come back with more rogues than yesterday. Their hunt got cut short.” The look he gave me told me he thought that was my fault.
I groaned, trying to sit up. The sun coming through the windows on the sides of the tent was evidence that I had been unconscious the entire night. The back of my head throbbed. My mind went into problem-solving mode, taking stock of what I had with me to help my recovery. When I’d gone to the bar Thursday night, I hadn’t planned on being in the middle of a shifter tournament by Saturday. I didn’t have any first aid supplies with me.
I could feel Kostas taking stock of me as I finally managed to sit up and tried lifting myself into a standing position. “Takeit easy there,” he said. “Everett isn’t close enough to rescue you this time if you take another fall.”
“I didn’t ask anyone to help me.” I glared as I spoke.
“You should be glad he was there. Those other wolves would have torn you apart just based on instinct. Head wounds bleed a ton.” Kostas got up from his couch and went to grab a bottle of water from the cooler against the tent wall. “Where were you going anyway?”
Everyone paused what they were doing to look at me, curious as to my answer.
“I was trying to get back to my cabin. I have roommates who must be wondering where I am.”
