All Chapters of Whispers of the Wild Hunt: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Inside my apartment, it’s easy to believe I’m somewhere safe, somewhere loved. There are no eyes watching my every movement. There’s no magic prodding at mine. I can just… be.Sure, Rhett is still outside, keeping a watch on the world around us. But, oddly enough, his eyes don’t seem to bother me. They don’t make my skin itch, or give me the need to run. Under his watchful gaze, I almost feel comfortable.But that’s crazy. I know better than to ever let another man get close to me.I should feel bad that he’s laying out on the forest floor, probably cold now that he gave me his jacket. Though, if he’s smart, he would shift into his wolf form. I bet he’s a majestic beast once shifted…My nightly ritual is in full swing as I wander about my apartment, opening my window, changing into pajamas, washing my face, yet m

When I wake in the morning, my body aches from the toll the magic took on me the night before. Faintly, I remember Rhett climbing into bed next to me, but the sheets are cool to the touch. He must have left shortly after the pain receded.I try to ignore the sting of rejection that flows through me, getting up to get ready for the day in something comfortable. His smell is everywhere, wrapping around me as I wander my small apartment. Did the pain scare him away?It must not have been as bad as it usually is, the sheets were clean when I woke up, not a drop of blood, sweat, or other bodily fluid that I would normally see. Yet, still he left.It’s fine, Lena. We don’t need a man. Especially not another supernatural one.Doesn’t mean I didn’t hope this one would be different.Crisp air flows under the window in my kitchen, filling the small ap

I hit the apartment steps at a jog, hoping to get back before Lena wakes up. She had a hard night, surely that means she has earned a day to sleep in? I chuckle to myself, remembering all of the mornings I’ve trailed her to work in the dark. The sun has just started rising above the horizon, so I doubt she’s still in bed.Have we come far enough that I can let myself into her apartment? I don’t know. Do I care? No. I’m frowning before my foot even touches the top step. The door is closed, but not locked. That alone might have meant nothing more than us having a safety talk.But the scent is all wrong.This morning it was a heady mix of our scents mingling together, something I could have easily gotten drunk on before Tam called the whole pack in for a meeting. I would have ignored it, rolled around in the smell of my mate, but Tam’s alpha bark means business. And there is not a bit

The vines rip at my bindings, slipping into the plastic like a snake would a crack. They curl and twist with purpose, finding any tension point they can and tearing at them. They split the zip ties with a near-silent pop before setting me softly on the ground. Everything hurts, and I’m almost positive my shoulder is dislocated, but with my hands free, I don’t wait.I run.“Don’t let her get to the trees,” a man’s voice, sharp and panicked screams out. He sounds way too close for comfort. But he’s too late.Luckily, my magic had deposited me close enough to the forest that I can taste it. My magic knows the forest, and the forest knows me back. I run for the safety of its shadows, knowing without a doubt that it will hide me.My feet smash through the undergrowth, and it takes all of my senses to keep myself upright and not tripping over every root

Stairs moan under his feet in the decrepit building they brought me to. Every creak up the crumbling steps echoes out like a warning, but he never slows. His hold on me never wavers, cradling me like I might fall apart. Though, the jokes on him because I already have. With the shattering of my cocoon, my magic has all but disappeared on me, hidden beneath the exhaustion.And now here I am, in the arms of a man who feels an awful lot like Rhett, though I refuse to look too deeply at that connection right now, yet he walks me deeper into my own personal hell.With every step, my eyes start to focus a bit more, but I refuse to look up at him. Instead, I take in the building around me. Outside it had looked abandoned, holes in part of the roof, windows missing the glass, trees growing out of the brick siding. And the inside isn’t much better. Wallpaper hangs in tattered strips, boards are missing from the flooring leaving ga