Under The Oak Tree Novel 121 Novels & Stories

I opened my eyes. Mara was there. Not a vision this time. Solid. Standing under the tree with her hand on its trunk, her all-white hair moving though there was no wind, her white eyes kind. “You came,” she said. Behind me, outside the circle, I heard shouting. Howls, very close now. Jax shouting, “Stay back! She’s under Oak protection! Old law!” And Harlan’s voice, furious: “She’s my pack member! That tree is dead! Old law is dead!”

Ayla and Rhobart ate in silence while they listened to the women talking or watched couples dancing. Minutes before midnight Rhobart stood and looked at Ayla, “We should go see the winter oak tree. You will love it.” Ayla looked at her mother, and Queen Lavia nodded. Rhobart grabbed Ayla by her hand, and together with Kerra, they made their way to where the old winter oak tree was. “Rho,” Ayla said when they stopped close to the tree. “Why are we looking at an old tree?” Rhobart chuckled. “You will see when it is midnight. I am sure you are going to love it.”

m. I’m sitting cross-legged on the cedar stump where Elowene’s tree used to be before the black fire. The valley is still mirror-blind. The air smells like spray paint and broken glass. I close my eyes and fall inward. Mist-space. The orchard is darker than I’ve ever seen it (stars gone, sky the color of old blood). Dacia is waiting under the bare cedar tree. She’s not the towering eight-foot warrior-queen tonight. She’s my height.

Inadvertently, I’d picked a battlefield laden with weapons. And oak was the most powerful wood of all. I kept hold of the broken branch in my hand, hoping that the snapped edge, torn into multiple points, would work as well as a whittled stake. Dragging myself up the slight incline with heaving breaths and fumbling feet, I searched for an oak tree. It was harder in the winter, harder to determine branch from branch that it was to determine leaf from leaf. I couldn’t see one, and had to hope that the branch in my hand would suffice when I heard footsteps behind me. I stilled, quieting my loud breathing. Silently, I slipped the blade out from under my jeans.

“It’s no problem. I’d like for you to come. I feel like you’re owed something from New Glade, anyway, for getting hurt in my territory.” “Oh, I don’t blame anyone for that. I’m clumsy.” I rise so quickly, I almost knock him in the chin with my forehead, which shows me just how close we were to each other. It was much closer than I realized, and now I’m too warm. Much, much too warm. Damn near tingling. He rises, too, and before I can step past him, his hand is resting on my upper arm. “Oakley,” he says, and my name is like sugar when he says it. “Did something…. You asked if you were alone in the forest that night. I don’t think you were. Do you remember anything from before you ended up in

Nature did not ask for her permission before swapping her life like this. Ivy stood under the shade of the towering oak tree, her gaze fixed on the horizon as she awaited Emily's arrival. The forest around her seemed to hold its breath, the rustling leaves and the distant chirping of birds creating a serene backdrop to the turmoil within her. Her fingers clenched and unclenched, a nervous energy coursing through her body.

Rowan said, pointing through the trees. Kael rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We stay together." Nobody argued. We followed the sound. The forest changed as we walked. The pines gave way to older trees. Their branches spread so wide that the sunlight barely reached the ground. The air smelled of wildflowers. Then... I saw it. An oak tree. Its trunk split into two before reaching the branches. The same tree from my mother's drawing. "The orchard," Elias whispered. No one moved.

"You don't have much Darkness. I wouldn't have guessed you needed help with it." "I kind of already have help with it, but my help isn't necessarily the healthiest option," Lissa said looking over at Rose again. Rose had spread herself across my back and wrapped her arms around my neck. I could feel that she was close to being asleep but was trying desperately to stay awake. "What do you do to help?" Oksana asked. "Rose takes a little of it, though I'm pretty sure that she takes more than she's letting on," Lissa answered looking over, again, at the sleeping Rose.

Like it knows something important is about to happen and doesn’t want to miss it. We stop near the old oak tree that holds the swings. It survived the battle somehow, some part of it cracked but still alive. Someone wrapped glowing charms around its trunk to help it heal. Soft light pulses from them, slow and steady. Karl leans against the tree. I sit on one of the swings. My lips curl into a teasing smile, gesturing to the empty swing by my side. “You don't want to sit?” “Nope, I think I'm good standing here.”

The sound of soft weeping draws my attention to one of the few remaining trees on the lot, a large, aged oak that at this distance I can see a patch of pale skin contrasting with the tree's wood. I change the course of thoughts of the past with the inopportune curiosity of discovering who is hiding, I look over my shoulder confirming the endless line of associates sucking up to the most important new name within the mafia, with his pet dog beside him feigning pain with the loss. The funereal atmosphere is not strange, the cold wind raises some fallen leaves despite the clear sky at that moment the announcement of the storm lurks around the corners like the darkness in my chest, hidden by the