Forbidden Forest (The Legends of Regia) (27 page)

She reared up and struck him in the chest over and over and hard as she could. He grabbed her arms, restraining her. She pushed against him with everything she could as though she could crash through him. A feral growl broke out of her. “I want to hurt you, Syrus! I want you to feel the agony you’ve created inside me. But you never will. You’ll never understand.” She let herself go limp, and she slid back to the ground sobbing. “How could I not hate you? You’ve robbed me of my spirit. I can’t trust you. Can’t trust what you are. You think you mean well, but I’m nothing but a toy to you.” She wept bitterly.

He knelt with his heart ripping in pain and reached for her. She didn’t pull away. As soon as he touched her, she curled up in his arms.

“It’s not true,” he whispered.

She raised her tear-streaked face, and again he kissed her. He meant to show her, if only he could, if only she would let him. Love seemed to flow from her mouth into his, staggering him. His fangs began to throb, not from a desire to drink from her, but a scorching rage to tear Leith’s throat out.

“You don’t belong to him. You belong to me,” Syrus said through his clenched teeth.

Forest stiffened in his arms, and he knew that in his rage he had said the wrong thing. She pulled away slowly, stood, picked up her backpack, and strapped it on. Syrus didn’t move.

“I can’t belong to you, Syrus. I don’t even belong to myself.”

The next second, she darted through the trees and was gone, leaving him all alone.

Chapter Eighteen

FOREST RAN, the world around her blurred by tears. She ran like a small child to its mother for comfort. But the mother she was seeking was her surrogate, Shi. Everything she’d felt since the first moment she’d laid eyes on Syrus seemed to meld and roll up into a ball. The combination equated only to sorrow.

Forest tripped and fell on her face three miles from where she left Syrus. She pulled herself into a sitting position, her tears momentarily stymied as she looked at her surroundings. She was in the Dryad graveyard. The monuments of stone trees were broken and toppled. The whole graveyard was a ruin. The destruction had happened long before she had been born, and it was the one story Shi would never tell her. She said it was too painful for her to discuss.

Forest sat against a large broken trunk and pulled her knees into her chest. “Shi?” she said quietly. “Shi, please answer me.”

She felt the breeze first then she heard the faint, whispering voice. “I’m here child.”

Forest looked around. Shi materialized in a sitting position next to her. She looked the same as she always did, green and long, twiggy arms and legs with large wise eyes that were reflective and insect like. Forest immediately placed her head on Shi’s lap, and Shi stroked her insubstantial fingers over Forest’s forehead.

“Oh, Shi, tell me what to do.”

“About what?”

“Me…and Syrus.”

“In the past I would have, but not now. Not with this problem. You alone must answer it so you have no one to thank or curse but yourself when you finally land on your feet.”

“You don’t hate me for having a vampire as a mate?” Forest asked.

Shi chuckled lightly. “You didn’t choose him. I don’t know why you are always mixed up with their kind. But I am a little amazed at what is inside you for him and also what is inside him for you, especially since he doesn’t even know that you are mates.”

“What is inside him, Shi?”

“Hmm…It feels like cheating to tell you anything else.”

“Is he sincere, or just confused by our partial connection?” Forest asked.

“Are
you
confused by your partial connection?”

Forest was quiet, biting on her lower lip. Shi continued to stroke her hair back from her face. It felt more like a light breeze than tangible fingers.

“My strong adopted daughter, how I long to see you free from that which binds you.”

They both were quiet for a few moments.

“You are so tangled up inside, Forest. Just answer one simple question. Are you really willing to turn your back and never see him again?”

“No. That’s the simple truth, Shi. No.”

“There you are then. I’ve always told you to simplify things, haven’t I?”

Forest chuckled. “Yes, you have, countless times.”

Shi continued to stroke Forest’s hair. After a moment she laughed. “Silly girl, you haven’t even asked me where the wizard is.”

Forest gasped and sat up. “Yes! The wizard! Where is the wizard?”

Shi smiled and pointed straight ahead of her. “How many times have you sat in this graveyard, Forest?”

Forest shrugged. “Too many to count.”

“And since you know this place so well, tell me, do you recognize that stone tree over there?”

Forest looked where Shi was pointing. Sure enough, there was a stone tree more intact than any of the others. It was an anomaly among them. She had never seen it before.

“Look there at the base, the fracture line running down the length of it. Do you see?” Shi asked.

Forest nodded, and standing up, she took a step toward it. “It’s an illusion! That’s his front door!”

“Yes indeed. Now you know where he is, and how I wish we could sit here and have a nice long talk, but right now you must run.”

Forest felt it a millisecond before Shi said anything about running; her heart seized in a terrible panic. It was unlike any distress she had ever experienced. She started her hand over her heart, unable to breathe.

Shi’s form was still there next to her, but Forest could tell that her eyes were elsewhere in the wood.

“What has happened?” Forest gasped.

“They’ve taken him. Eight wolves in man form. He surrendered; too outnumbered. He’s injured, but alive. What you’re feeling is your connection to Syrus, alerting you that he is in mortal danger. They are taking him to the Lair.”

Forest hesitated only long enough to shift into a form she had not used since she was a youth, a she- wolf. Shi watched her fly, contemplating how best she could help. She had no powers past the boundary of the Wood. She traveled to the other side of the Wood in the blink of an eye and looked down on the troop of vampires she had confused. She appeared before Redge.

Shi had to admire the way the vampire covered his alarm at the sight of her. The rest of his troop was more obvious. One even made to run in the opposite direction.

“Listen well, Redge of Halussis. Your prince had been captured by werewolves and is being taken to the Lair as we speak. Forest will do all she can to save him, but I fear she may need your assistance in the end. I have kept you here wandering in a loop, but I now release you. Follow me swiftly. I will cut a path for you straight through the wood to the Lair. I will keep any wolves away from you. Come now!”

Redge didn’t need telling twice. He waved for his men to follow, and they all fell in behind him, single file. With Shi flying ahead, they moved like a bullet train, the sun glinting off their clinking armor.

Forest ran on all fours, faster than she had ever moved before. Her sword, clinging awkwardly around her animal body, was the only catch in her fluid speed. Panic made her crazed, and the fear of loss drove her focus to unnatural heights. The trees and foliage and uneven terrain was nothing to her—she exploded through it all, gaining in speed and momentum. She knew she couldn’t just charge in, kill them all, and take Syrus back to Maxcarion. She needed a watertight plan.

As she drew near, she could smell Syrus’ burning flesh. They had chained him with silver. Since they were all in man form and she was in wolf, she had to wait for them to emerge from the wood before she could charge through the boundaries of the Lair. She quickly decided how she would handle the situation and hoped with everything she had that it would work.

Forest hunkered down, hidden from view in some bushes at the edge of the Wood.
Remember the plan
!
Remember the plan
! She screamed to herself as she saw Syrus pulled behind four of the wolves, the other four bringing up the rear. Silver chains wrapped around his wrists, one tangled around his neck. Smoke rose off his skin. They had obviously beaten him—he was bloody and bruised. The desire to kill had never pulsed through her so strongly.
If you fight, both you and Syrus will die
.

She stayed still as they emerged from the wood and approached the wolf community’s low-lying, solider training camp. Luckily for her, soldiers were whom she preferred to deal with in this circumstance.

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” one in front shouted to someone in the camp. “Look what we caught in the Wood!”

A wolf Forest recognized stepped out to meet them—Gahu. She had met him back when she was making regular tips to the Lair, bringing Philippe smuggled French wine. Gahu had purchased some grape soda and a package of Twinkies from her once and had been friendly to her every time she visited. It looked as if he had gained some rank. She hoped it was enough and that he remembered her fondly.

Gahu approached Syrus, his lips twisted back from his teeth. The wolves that had brought him in backed away.

“He was alone?” Gahu asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Maybe you didn’t see anyone else, but I doubt he was alone. Look at him. Look at his hair. He’s someone’s servant.” Gahu turned his attention wholly on Syrus. “Who are you with?”

Syrus said nothing, keeping his face tilted toward the ground.

“How many of you are there? Where is your master?”

Still, Syrus said nothing. Gahu growled at him from deep in his throat. “It seems you have a high pain tolerance.” Gahu gestured at the silver chains. “I don’t mind a little challenge. Let’s see what it takes to open that sharp mouth of yours.”

More wolves had come out from tents and stopped their sparring exercises to see what was going on. As soon as they laid eyes on Syrus, they all had the same malevolent light in their eyes. Gahu drove his fist deep into Syrus’ stomach, sending him to his knees. Howling and barking erupted around them. It was time for Forest to make her appearance before Syrus was torn apart.

The crowd had their backs to her as she came charging towards them on all fours. She broke through, knocking aside those in her way. Shouts of surprise and alarm went up as she crashed into the center, using her body as a barrier between Gahu and Syrus. Gahu’s mouth fell open as this unknown she-wolf snarled at him, protecting a vampire.

“What the hell is this?”

The crowd fell silent in confusion. Forest saw Gahu’s nostrils flare as he caught her scent. She needed him to recognize her before he gave the word and they were both killed. Forest shifted back into a woman, pulling from her mind one of the sexiest forms she had ever assumed; long curly black hair, playboy bunny curves, and full pouty crimson lips. The response to her new shape from the surrounding soldiers was expected and exactly what she was wanting. They howled, whistled and made lewd comments.

Gahu looked closely at her pointy ears and her forever-unchanging eyes, and the light of comprehension dawned on his face.

Knowing she had bought them only a few moments she continued with her performance. Forest turned to face the group with a deadly stare. “Idiots!” She spat, reaching down to remove the silver chains from Syrus. “You’ll jeopardize my whole mission!”

She quickly felt his pulse. He was even weaker than he looked. The silver had burned its way deep into his skin. She pulled on it gently so she didn’t cause any more damage. Pretending to examine the wounds on his neck she leaned very close to his ear and whispered, “Don’t believe anything I’m about to say.”

She turned back to Gahu and threw the silver aggressively on the ground.

“Forest, what in all of Regia do you think you’re doing? Have you lost your mind?”

“Under different circumstances, I’d say it’s good to see you, Gahu.”

She heard murmuring through the onlookers. “It’s Forest. The Shape shifter. The smuggler. She’s friends with Philippe. She kills vampires for fun, why is she with one?”

“I’ve got strict orders, Forest. I must kill any vampire I encounter. New orders recommend the same treatment of Elves now that they have lumped in with the suckers. Shape shifters are welcome on a case by case basis,” Gahu said severely. “Seeing as you are a Halfling, you are regrettably half my enemy. The fact that you have always had a good standing relationship with Philippe has bought you a few seconds to explain yourself.”

“I, unquestioningly, know how bad it looks for me to be in the company of a vampire. Believe me, enduring his company has been the foulest trial of my life. You know how I hate suckers. Unfortunately, his life is tied to the success of my mission; a mission for the Lair and for the victory of the wolves in this war.” She gave a meaningful look around at the bystanders. “But that is all I can tell you here. I must see Philippe at once!”

Forest watched Gahu as he considered her words. She knew she had said all the right things. He was an officer of the army and acted predictably. If in doubt, escalate the problem up the chain of command.

Gahu looked at the men standing around. “Back to work!” he barked loudly. Within seconds, they were alone.

“All right, Forest. Let’s go see Philippe.”

“Thank you, Gahu,” she said, bending down and pulling Syrus’ arm across her shoulders, helping him to his feet.

The three of them began walking towards the ground entrance of the mountain. Many wolves hissed and growled at Syrus, but none did any more than that because of the warning look they got from Gahu. Forest maintained her solid exterior, but inside she felt like a scared little girl. At any moment, Syrus’ presence would push one of them a little too far, and in the blink of an eye, Syrus could be dead. She was relived once they stepped through the entrance of the mountain out of the open.

The air inside the mountain was cool and slightly moist with a smell of minerals. She had been in this place many times before as a guest. It was a huge entrance hall with many doorways leading off to various locations within the mountain. Gahu seemed as relieved as she was that there was no one in the large room except a few guards.