Page 17 of Bloodline Unbound

I refuse to be outside. Those trees are hiding fucked up things. I huffed and threw myself into my human form and whipped every curtain shut.

“What kind of fucked up things?” Caden asked. “What did you see?”

“I didn’t see anything. I felt it. Heard it. It called me.”

“Ope,” said Logan. “Yeah, stay in. That’s the rule of the Appalachians.”

Caden looked at her curiously. “What?”

“If you think you see something in the trees, no you don’t. If you think you heard someone call your name in the woods, no you didn’t.” She freed her arms from her burrito, and I tried to ignore the way her gaze swept over me; really I did. My dick wasn’t so good at ignoring. If I’d been wearing pants, I’d be pitching a serious tent. Gods, I wished I were wearing pants.

A growl rose in Caden’s throat and I clapped my hands over my jewels, awkwardly angling my forearms to hide my dick lest he decide to take it out with a well-timed paw slap.

Logan disappeared to get dressed but Caden hung around to make sure I didn’t go anywhere near her. It was only when she emerged wearing a pair of galaxy leggings and a black sweatshirt, her long hair hanging in a thick rope over her shoulder, that Caden left to get dressed himself.

Logan wandered over to the curtains and I scooted away, unwilling to be naked and nearby when Caden came back. She pulled the fabric aside a tiny bit and peeked out.

“Someone’s standing at the edge of the woods.”

Goosebumps rippled up my back. Forgetting to keep my distance, I grabbed a throw pillow to cover my junk and chanced a look through the gap. “I don’t see anything.”

Logan looked at me, confused, before checking again. “But she’s right there. The woman in the jeans and peasant top.”

I looked everywhere, but there was absolutely no one there.

“What’s going on?” Caden asked as he came back into the room.

“Lo says someone’s out there.”

Logan huffed. “She’s there.”

Caden pushed me out of the way. His gaze flickered this way and that, scanning the area. “I don’t see anyone.”

Logan whipped back the curtain and pointed to a gap in the trees. “There.”

Caden and I exchanged glances.

“You guys. There’s a whole-ass person out there. How do you not see her?”

“Lo,” I said softly. “There’s no one there.”

She turned desperately to Caden and he could only nod.

“But…” She focused back on the window, her eyes locked on something out there. “I see her.”

Logan moved to open the patio door, and Caden locked a hand on her wrist. “You can’t go out there.”

“What if she needs help?”

“You’re the one who told me not to go,” I said. “What happened to ‘if you think you see something in the trees, no you don’t’?”

Logan bit her lip and I was immediately thankful for the pillow obscuring my dick. I slipped into my smallest form and wove through her ankles.

Open the door for me. I’ll check it out.

I didn’t want to, but I wanted her going out there even less.

She cracked the door open and I slunk through, walking gingerly to the edge of the deck. I still didn’t see a damn thing. I lifted my nose to the air, sniffing out anything weird, but there was only pine and earth. The wrongness that had been hunting us wasn't here. Even so, I was still hesitant to go any further.

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