Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“Sure, they know we’re here,” Niamh said, looking up as well. “Edgar has been tramping through the grass and brushing branches the whole time—”
“Me too,” Jasper said. “I swatted a few fern leaves out of the way.”
“You kicked them,” Ulric accused him.
“And kicked them, yeah.”
“Touching the tree is just overkill, like,” Niamh said.
“It’s what he wanted us to do.” I laid my hand on the bark and infused the trunk with a slight vibration. The basajaun had said that would signal the basajaunak that I was in their territory and wished for an audience. Though Niamh was right—they surely already knew of our presence. They could sense life through all manner of activity in the wood, not just a single tree.
Austin placed his hand next to mine because he was the leader of his pack. He didn’t have any magic to add, but the basajaun hadn’t seemed to think that would be a problem. Then again, he didn’t think any part of this visit would be a problem, including the near certainty of an attack by enemy mages and their crew of trained soldiers. Hopefully, a random basajaun wouldn’t happen by, see an alpha, and decide it was a fine time for a challenge.
“It’s a little unsettling that we really have no idea how their culture works,” Austin whispered, pulling his hand away. We continued along the path.
“It is, yes,” I replied. “It really is. But I’ve thought that since first meeting the basajaun. You at least know the rules of engagement.”
“I know the rules for meeting one of them. I don’t know anyone who’s been in their home, or even met more than one at a time. This will be…enlightening.”
“What I don’t get is that he’s supposed to be some rule breaker, right?” Ulric said, looking back at us. “He left his people, but the other youths still live in the elders’ shadow or whatever. But there have obviously been other basajaunak who’ve moved away from their homes. How else would Alpha Steele, Kingsley, and other shifters know how to deal with them?”
“Maybe the cultures are different, depending on where they’re from. The others could be from places where it isn’t so strange to leave,” Hollace said from behind us. “I’ve noticed that the basajaun—the one we know—doesn’t share a lot of information about himself and his kind.”
“Noticed that, did you?” Ulric replied sarcastically. “We don’t even know the dude’s name.”
“Maybe keep that chatter to a lower volume, Miss Jessie,” Edgar called up. “You’re making my friend Sebastian very nervous. His heartbeat is going very fast.”
“If you weren’t watching the vein in my neck so closely, it probably wouldn’t be moving so quickly,” Sebastian responded. “But I agree with him, Jessie. Again. It’s becoming a habit, apparently, my agreeing with him.”
“You’re done for, bud,” Hollace said. “Absolutely done for.”
A musty earthiness drifted through the air, as though everything were permeated with the bark of the trees. Nathanial was in front of me in line, so I rested my hand on his shoulder to keep my balance and closed my eyes as I breathed in deeply. One breath, two. The quiet around me, the serenity, calmed the beast inside. Calmed the fear of the terrible hum from the challenge that now resided deep within. I asked Austin if he felt the same way.
“No,” he replied, “but my animal isn’t natural to this type of climate.”
“The alpha is hinting at a vacation to the Arctic, Miss Jessie,” Ulric said with a laugh. “I’ll sit that one out, if you don’t mind. It can be your Jane honeymoon, and the shifters can be your protection.”
Nathanial started, “I do—”
“The wilderness is calmed here,” Niamh said, interrupting him. “It is protected. By the basajaun, I imagine. At present, we must be too. Ye can feel it in the air. In the hearts of the trees.”
I felt my eyebrows climb before I looked back at Austin in surprise. I’d never heard Niamh talk like that. Maybe I’d never heard her completely in tune with her animal before. It felt like good news, though.
Austin’s emotions rolled through the bond.
“What’s the matter?” I asked quietly.
“If she feels protected, then the two of you aren’t just responding to the natural habitats of our beasts,” he murmured. “Given that I don’t feel protected or at peace, I can only imagine I’m being singled out.”
“What do you mean? You think they’ll challenge?”
“It’s a distinct possibility. If they do, get clear. It isn’t your fight.”
“Why do you guys keep assuming I can control what I do?”
“Treat it like a challenge.”
I didn’t remind him that there was a reason I never went to his challenges. Seeing him attacked was a sure way to losing my senses and freaking the hell out.
After another hour of hiking, we were immersed in the redwoods. Clover, ferns, and moss covered the ground to either side; a carpet of it wound between the enormous redwood bases. Occasionally, one of the huge trees lay on its side, its roots higher than I was tall. Within them lay tangled brush and fallen branches. If we didn’t have a trail to follow, we’d be hard-pressed to get through.