Page 20 of Hallowed Tree
But first, I was going to take advantage of romancing Harry a little while we—
“There’s Skylar. I’d wondered where he’d gotten to?” Harry said, pointing farther out into the yard where Skylar sat on a bench.
“Why’s he here?” I asked, trying to keep the whine out of my voice.Seriously!Couldn’t I just have this?
“Kingston must still be out at the pond. Come on.”
Before I could convince him to stick with our original plan, Harry zipped lightning-fast across the lawn to the other man’s side. Doing what I always did, I followed.
“Kingston hasn’t come back at all yet?” Harry asked.
Skyler looked up at us, worry lines creasing his face. “No, and I’m freaking out a little. He needs sleep.”
Harry huffed. “Come with us. We’re headed out there now to investigate what’s going on with the oak. Maybe that will reassure him enough that you can convince him to head home.”
Oh yay.My romantic stroll through the garden had turned into a family field trip. Again, Harry rushed off with Skylar by his side, leaving me to follow along. I understood Skylar’s concern when we found Kingston circling the inside of the fire pit area over and over. That didn’t look healthy.
“Sir, it’s late. You should go home,” Harry said sternly.
Kingston glanced in our direction with bloodshot eyes and shook his head. “I can’t. You don’t understand. All I see when I close my eyes is this spot. It’s like I’m supposed to do something, but I don’t know what.”
Skylar lifted his arms helplessly while watching him. “We have to do something,” he murmured.
Glancing at the three of them, Harry, my love, and then these other two men who’d become the family of my heart, seeing their concern and feeling the full weight of fixing this for them and not just the novelty of the situation, I headed for the oak tree.
Harry gasped. “What are you doing?”
“I need to take a better look.”
“I thought you were going to ask some of your friends?”
Stopping, I held my arms out at my sides and gestured around us. “No one’s come out to say hi. That’s suspicious in itself. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
As I got to the branch with the sludge, he called out, “Buck, be careful.”
The purple and navy sludge glowed even brighter in the darkness than it had in the light of day. Angling my body so Harry wouldn’t see, I poked a finger at it. My finger instantly depressed into the top of the sticky goo.Yuck.
Kingston came up alongside me. “Does it still look like fungus?” I asked him.
“It does. What do you think this means?” he asked.
“I have no idea, but it’s not giving me any answers.” Moving from there, I hesitated. The tree trunk was where Harry and I had felt the creepy void, the thing that had us the most concerned, but I had to check it out. How else would I get answers? After taking a deep breath, I stepped close, reaching out both hands to trail along the bark.
“Buck, don’t!” Harry yelled.
Harry
As Buck’s hands came in contact with the trunk of the oak, his image immediately began to fade. Without thought, I blinked myself onto his back, merging our essence in his disintegrating form.
“What the fuck?” Buck murmured.
Detaching myself from him, I pulled my vest down, embarrassed at my overreaction. “I’m sorry, I was worried the void was going to suck you somewhere, and I panicked and grabbed for you.”
“Harry, are you not seeing what I’m seeing?”
His words made me stop, and I finally took notice of our surroundings. We were no longer standing by the pond with Skylar and Kingston with us but in a small, dark space. “Oh no.”
Buck wrapped his arms around my shoulders and tucked me into his side. “Don’t panic. Listen.”
