Page 9 of Wandering Witch

Strong arms wrapped around me as I rocked myself while coddling the injured limb close. As the warmth of Portlock’s embrace settled into me, I took in his rich scent of pine and earth after rain. I reclined into him as my racing heart slowed itself to keep time with his strong and steady beat.

Once I was calmed down enough to let him examine my arm, we both gasped at the bruises that were already blossoming there. When he barely grazed a finger over the darkest of my wounds, I flinched at the pain it caused.

“What could have caused this? What were you dreaming of, my love?” Worry weighed each word as he carefully twisted my arm to get a view of all the injuries.

“Uh, well, it was kinda weird.” How could I describe what I saw without sounding crazy? Even in my own head, it sounded confusing.

“In what way? I vaguely remember that the people who shared lands with my mother would place great reverence in their dreams. Perhaps your dreams are trying to guide you?” he questioned sagely.

I took a steadying breath before I answered him.

“Maps. Maps of North America.” I twisted in his arms so we faced each other. “This was only the second dream like that. The first time was just before we met, and the map held just circles and stars.” I chewed on my lip as I tried to recall my dreams clearly enough to retell them to Portlock.

“In the second one, one of the circles had changed shapes. It was now a bear paw. But that wasn’t the oddest part of the change. The circle that shifted was located over where we met.”

He smiled at the thought that my dreams could have led us to meet. I almost didn’t want to tell him the other part, the one that would steal that look from his face.

“Eventually the maps were replaced with a village. It's unlike any I've seen before. Death, darkness, and even despair had wrapped its claws into every fiber of the town. The shadows hung so heavily over it that I felt it deep in my bones. But something in the first dream called to my spirit, almost begging me to find it.” I swallowed the lump that formed.

“Tonight, the shadows had grown thicker, stronger. They were alive.” I looked him in the eye before continuing. “They were angry. They lashed out at me. When they did, that’s when I woke up.”

My body had started to shake violently and Portlock’s arms tightened around me.

We sat like that for several long minutes as he soothed my nerves.

Morning finally dawned, and I was still wrapped in Portlock’s arms. Drowsily, I mused to myself, his name is getting to be quite a mouthful to keep saying. Perhaps there’s a way I could shorten it.

When he shifted around me, I knew it was time to get up and start moving again.

“Do you happen to have a map on you, Fare?” I was startled by my companion’s question.

“Uh, yeah. Right here.” I laid out the map that I had already marked from my first dream. I closed my eyes for a brief moment to try and recall where I had seen the bird emblem. As I watched my finger trace the map, I felt a force take hold of my hand. It pulled me along until I was roughly halfway between the bear paw and the southern circle. I swallowed hard before continuing. “We are somewhere about here. If we were to continue at our same pace, it should hopefully take us no more than a week, week and a half to get to this circle.”

I glanced up and saw him nodding along as though he was confirming what I had just said.

“It is as you say. The sooner we make haste, the sooner we should arrive. We should leave once you are ready.”

Locke

Iran as hard and as fast as I could in the direction my mate indicated that we should continue heading. Hopefully, once we arrived, we will be able to figure out more of what her dreams were trying to tell her.

I was concerned over the possibilities that could be the source of her troubling visions. When she had her nightmare, I felt a dark presence rise with it. There was something very similar to the darkness that attacked my mate with my own darker powers. Similar, but not enough that I would be positive in claiming that they came from the same source.

I had a different concern though. I knew that the miles we traveled every day were long and far, and while my body was easily handling it, there was every likelihood that hers was not. Her only job may have been to be straddled across my broad back, but staying in one position and then holding on without proper support would take its toll on one's body. I also noticed that when I did finally let her down at night to rest, she would hold herself stiffly and move gingerly.

One of the nights when I found myself exceptionally restless, I dug through my mate’s bags to study the map she’d marked for us. By my calculations, we should reach our destination by late afternoon tomorrow. After that comes the discussion of which location we head to next. If it were up to me, I think we should head to this one first. I mused as I tapped a finger on the remaining circle. It seemed to me that it would make more sense if we finished with the locations that had similar markings before moving on to the outlier. But ultimately, the choice lies not with me but with Fare. Whatever path she chooses, my role was to follow at her side.

Just as I finished refolding and replacing the map, a strong wind blew over our meager campsite. I felt a mere brush of the pressure from the gust but little else. However, just as I was about to retreat to my side of the camp, I saw from the corner of my eye, my little one was shuddering from the cold.

Well now, I thought to myself, what kind of mate would I be if I allowed my beloved mate to suffer? And if that gives me a perfectly valid reason to hold her close, who was I to complain?

I grinned to myself as I lay next to my mate and pulled her into my warm embrace. As my warmth flowed into Fare, she relaxed into me and even pulled at my clothing to try and cover more of herself.

Morning found us intertwined together, with her head resting on my arm and my body draped around her. I inhaled a deep breath of her sweet scent and moved to rub my cheek against the top of her head. At my caress, she moaned and arched her back into me.

I groaned as her body stoked my own into a different sort of wakefulness. My body vibrated with a low growl of arousal as I pressed my hardness into her soft body. She responded in kind and pushed back into me and I felt my hand traveling on its own accord down her body, stopping periodically to grope where I could find any especially soft locations.

Just as my hand reached the apex of her thighs, something in her body shifted.

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