Chapter 4: The Hunger Deepens

Chapter 4: The Hunger Deepens

My lungs were on fire.

Every breath scraped my throat raw, and my legs had reached the point where they were no longer asking permission before giving out.

I kept running anyway.

Because behind me was Blackwood.

And somewhere inside Blackwood were things with claws and teeth that had already found my apartment once.

Kael never let go of my hand.

His grip stayed locked around mine as he dragged me through the undergrowth, moving so fast I barely had time to see what I was running into. Branches whipped across my face. Thorny bushes caught my jeans. Wet leaves slid under my boots.

I nearly went down.

Kael caught me before I hit the ground.

"Keep moving."

"I'm trying!"

He pulled me upright and kept going.

The howls behind us rose again.

My stomach dropped.

They sounded farther away now.

Then another howl answered from somewhere to our left.

I nearly tripped again.

'Oh, fuck me.'

They weren't just behind us.

There were more directions.

Kael changed course immediately.

"Left."

I didn't question him.

I couldn't.

I just followed.

He cut between two thick trees and pulled me down a slope. The ground was slippery, and my boots kept sliding over damp leaves.

Kael moved like the forest belonged to him.

Maybe it did.

He barely slowed for anything.

When branches came toward my face, he pushed them aside. When the ground got too steep, his arm came around me and steadied me without breaking stride.

Another howl echoed behind us.

Then another.

Then silence.

I was starting to understand why that silence was worse.

I couldn't hear them.

That didn't mean they were gone.

It meant I didn't know where they were.

We reached the top of a low ridge.

Kael stopped so suddenly that I nearly slammed into his back.

He raised one hand.

I froze.

He stood completely still.

His head tilted slightly.

Listening.

I tried to listen too.

At first, all I could hear was my own breathing.

Then the forest started making itself known.

Leaves moving.

Branches creaking.

My heartbeat pounding against my ribs.

Far away, something howled.

Kael turned his head toward the sound.

Another answered.

Farther away.

Then nothing.

He looked down at me.

"Come on."

He turned sharply right.

We went into a denser stand of pines.

The ground dropped again.

This time I saw the ravine before I fell into it.

Kael caught my arm and guided me down.

At the bottom was a massive fallen oak.

Its roots had ripped out of the ground years ago, leaving a dark hollow underneath them.

Kael crouched.

"Here."

I crawled underneath.

The ground was cold and damp against my jeans.

I dropped onto my ass and leaned against the earth wall.

My chest heaved.

I couldn't catch my breath.

Kael crouched outside the roots and looked back toward the ridge.

"Stay low."

I nodded.

"Breathe quiet."

I tried.

I really fucking tried.

My lungs had other plans.

Kael stayed outside the hollow.

One minute passed.

Then another.

He didn't move.

He looked like part of the forest.

Dark hair.

Torn shirt.

Blood streaked across his skin.

Those impossible shoulders.

Those scars.

Those eyes.

I remembered him standing between me and those things.

I remembered his hand closing around the first creature's throat.

I remembered the sound its neck made.

My stomach twisted.

'What the hell did I bring home?'

Eventually Kael lowered himself beside me.

The space suddenly felt much smaller.

He was close enough that I could feel the heat coming off his body.

And smell him.

Blood.

Pine.

Sweat.

Something darker underneath all of it.

Something that made my pulse kick for reasons I didn't want to examine.

I looked at his arm.

The claw marks were still there.

Fresh.

Red.

Except the bleeding had already stopped.

Of course it had.

I looked at his temple.

The cut was nearly gone.

"How long do we wait?"

"Until they lose the trail."

"And if they don't?"

"I decide when it's safe to move."

"That's reassuring."

"It wasn't meant to be."

I rubbed my face.

Sweat had soaked my hair.

My hands were still shaking.

"Those things..."

Kael looked at me.

"What the hell are they?"

His jaw tightened.

For a second, I thought he was finally going to answer.

Instead he said, "The kind that don't stop until they get what they came for."

"Which is you."

"Yes."

"And now me."

His eyes dropped briefly to my hand.

"Because you smell like me."

I looked down at myself.

"That's still fucking weird."

"They know my scent."

"And apparently you rubbed some of it all over me by bleeding on me."

His mouth twitched.

Almost a smile.

Almost.

"Something like that."

I let out a breath that sounded dangerously close to a laugh.

"Great. I hit a stranger with my car, play Florence Nightingale, drag him home, and suddenly I'm on the menu for a pack of nightmare dogs."

"They're not dogs."

"I noticed."

Silence.

A branch cracked somewhere above us.

Every muscle in my body locked.

Kael's hand found my wrist.

Not hard.

Not restraining me.

Just there.

His thumb rested over my pulse.

I could feel my heartbeat under it.

And then that heat happened again.

It started where his thumb touched me.

A small spark.

Then warmth spread up my arm.

I swallowed.

Kael looked down at his hand.

Then at me.

"You’re shaking."

"Adrenaline."

"That's not all."

I pulled my wrist away.

"Don't."

He immediately let me go.

No argument.

No question.

Just a quiet nod.

I hugged my knees against my chest.

The forest smelled different underneath the oak.

Wet soil.

Moss.

Pine.

And him.

Mostly him.

Every time he moved, I noticed.

Every time his shoulder brushed mine, my skin reacted.

I hated that.

I hated that my body seemed to have developed its own fucking opinion about the situation.

I was hiding under a tree root after being attacked by three monsters.

The sensible response was fear.

My body apparently wanted to add something else to the list.

Minutes crawled past.

The howls became distant.

Then quieter.

Then stopped.

Kael still didn't relax.

He kept watching the ridge.

I watched him instead.

"You said 'not yet' earlier."

His eyes shifted toward me.

"About what you are."

"I remember."

"When does 'yet' happen?"

His mouth tightened.

"When you're somewhere I can actually protect you if the answer scares you into running."

I stared at him.

"I'm already running."

"Not from me."

The certainty in his voice shut me up.

I looked away.

The words shouldn't have affected me.

They did.

I stared at the darkness between the roots.

"My life is gone, isn't it?"

Kael didn't answer immediately.

"The apartment."

My voice sounded smaller than I wanted.

"The library. My car. My normal boring life."

I swallowed.

"My mom is probably losing her fucking mind."

"Probably."

I looked at him.

"That's your comforting response?"

"You asked if your life was gone."

"Yeah."

"Parts of it."

He paused.

"Not all of it."

I waited.

"The version where you go home, lock your door, and pretend tonight never happened?"

His eyes met mine.

"That part is gone."

I nodded.

Because he was right.

There was no pretending anymore.

I had seen things that weren't supposed to exist.

I'd watched a man kill them with his bare hands.

I'd watched him heal from wounds that should have put him in a hospital.

I'd followed him into the forest.

There was no going back to normal after that.

A low rumble rolled across the sky.

Thunder.

I looked up through the roots.

The clouds had thickened overhead.

Kael suddenly stood.

"We move."

I stared up at him.

"Now?"

"Deeper territory."

"What does that mean?"

"They won't follow past the old markers."

"What old markers?"

He offered me his hand.

"I'll explain later."

"You're really good at that."

"At what?"

"Making everything sound completely fucking normal."

His mouth twitched again.

I took his hand.

Heat rushed through me.

This time I didn't pull away.

Neither did he.

We climbed out from under the oak.

The forest looked different now.

Or maybe I was just seeing it differently.

The trees were older.

Thicker.

The branches tangled overhead, blocking most of the moonlight.

Kael moved confidently between them.

I followed.

Every so often I noticed strange marks cut into tree trunks.

Three short lines.

Sometimes four.

Too straight to be scratches from an animal.

Too deliberate to be natural.

I looked at Kael.

He didn't say anything.

So I didn't ask.

Not yet.

We walked.

And walked.

And walked.

I lost track of time.

My legs started burning again.

Then my feet started hurting.

Blisters.

Fantastic.

I hadn't even noticed them until every step started feeling like somebody was driving a nail through my heels.

Kael noticed anyway.

Of course he did.

He slowed.

"We can stop."

"I'm fine."

"You're limping."

"I'm experiencing a minor disagreement with my footwear."

He looked down at my boots.

Then back at me.

"You have blisters."

"I prefer not to discuss them."

He slowed anyway.

I wanted to complain.

I didn't.

The truth was, I needed the slower pace.

A few minutes later, the trees opened.

A narrow stream cut through the forest.

Kael crouched beside it.

He cupped his hands and drank.

I dropped beside him.

The water was freezing.

I splashed some over my face first.

Then drank.

The cold hit my teeth so hard I winced.

"Jesus."

Kael looked at me.

"What?"

"This water is trying to kill me."

"It's water."

"It has attitude."

For the first time, I saw it clearly.

A faint smile.

Not much.

Just the smallest movement at the corner of his mouth.

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You were smiling."

"No."

"You absolutely were."

"I wasn't."

I pointed at him.

"I saw it."

He shook his head.

"You're tired."

"Convenient excuse."

I drank again.

When I straightened, he was watching me.

Not casually.

That same intense stare.

"You’re quiet."

I snorted.

"I'm trying to process the part where my entire existence got flipped upside down in a few hours."

He waited.

"By a guy who fights monsters with his bare hands."

I paused.

"And apparently isn't human."

His face went still.

"You could make this easier by explaining."

"I could."

He stepped closer.

The stream murmured behind us.

The night pressed around us.

"But once I explain, there's no putting it back in the box."

I looked at him.

"I already left the box in pieces on my living-room floor."

Something changed in his eyes.

Not fear.

Not surprise.

Something closer to respect.

He looked past me.

His head tilted.

Listening again.

My stomach tightened.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That's not nothing."

"The trail is cold."

"Meaning?"

"They lost us."

I exhaled.

I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath.

Kael looked toward the darker trees ahead.

"We need to reach the border."

"Why?"

"Because you'll be safer there."

I looked at him.

"You keep saying that."

"I mean it."

We crossed the stream.

The ground rose sharply on the other side.

My legs protested immediately.

Kael slowed again.

This time I didn't argue.

His hand occasionally brushed the small of my back when the path became steep.

Every touch sent that strange heat through me.

It was getting stronger.

That was the part that scared me.

Fear I understood.

Adrenaline I understood.

Attraction...

I didn't know what the hell this was.

Because it wasn't normal attraction.

It felt deeper.

Like something inside me had noticed him before my brain had caught up.

I kept my eyes on the path.

'Don't think about it.'

Then his scent reached me again on a shift of wind.

My pulse jumped.

'Fuck.'

I thought about his hand around mine.

The way he'd stepped in front of me without hesitation.

The way he'd looked at me under the roots.

The way he'd said, "Not from me."

My chest tightened.

I hated this.

I hated that part of me wanted him closer.

I hated that part of me noticed whenever he moved away.

I hated that I didn't want the feeling to stop.

We finally reached a clearing.

Massive stones surrounded it in an almost perfect circle.

I stopped at the edge.

The air felt different.

Thicker.

Still.

Charged.

The fine hairs on my arms lifted.

Kael stepped across an invisible line.

Nothing happened.

He looked back at me.

"Come."

I stepped forward.

The moment I crossed the line, something passed through me.

Not pain.

Not exactly.

A pressure.

Like walking through a current of warm air.

I shivered.

Kael's shoulders dropped slightly.

For the first time since we'd left my apartment, he looked less tense.

"Safe for now."

I looked around.

"How safe is 'for now'?"

"They won't cross this line without a fight they can't win."

"That's... weirdly specific."

"It's true."

I didn't argue.

My legs finally gave up.

I sat on one of the stones.

For several seconds I just stared at the ground.

My hands were still shaking.

My clothes were torn.

My jeans were covered in mud.

My hair was probably a disaster.

And somewhere behind us was an apartment I wasn't sure I'd ever see again.

Kael remained standing.

He scanned the trees one last time.

Then turned toward me.

Moonlight broke through the clouds.

It hit him full in the face.

I stared.

He looked impossible.

Tall.

Scarred.

Blood streaked across his skin.

Black hair hanging around his face.

His shirt torn open.

The claw marks on his arm were already nothing more than thin pink lines.

I looked at them.

Then at his eyes.

That amber was still there.

I swallowed.

"You're not human."

It wasn't a question.

He didn't deny it.

He walked toward me.

One step.

Then another.

Until he stood between my knees.

I had to tilt my head back to look at him.

"No."

One word.

That was all.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Part of me was terrified.

A very large part.

But underneath the fear was that strange pull again.

Stronger now.

Almost painful.

I lifted my chin.

"Then what the fuck are you?"

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

Just for a second.

Then returned to my eyes.

His voice came low.

Rough.

Almost careful.

"Something that should have left you on the side of that road."

I stared at him.

He reached toward me slowly.

Slow enough that I could have moved.

I didn't.

His fingers brushed a leaf out of my hair.

Then stayed against my temple.

Heat spread through me.

Not just across my skin.

Deeper.

Into my blood.

My breath caught.

Kael didn't move.

Neither did I.

"But I didn't," he said.

His thumb moved slightly against my skin.

"And now you're here."

His eyes held mine.

"With me."

My heartbeat became almost painful.

"In the middle of a war you never asked for."

I couldn't find a smart answer.

For once, I didn't have one.

The hunger inside me pulsed.

Once.

Hard.

Undeniable.

Somewhere far behind us, a single howl rose through the forest.

I flinched.

Kael didn't.

The howl faded.

Nothing answered.

Silence returned.

His hand remained against my face.

"Get some rest while you can."

I swallowed.

"Why?"

His eyes never left mine.

"Because when the sun comes up..."

He paused.

"...everything changes."

He didn't step away.

Neither did I.