Page 6 of Reveal Me
I blinked, rubbing my forehead with the heel of my palm, trying to shake off the dizziness. The clouds were thick and low, but the sky was a rich shade of blue that didn’t match Earth’s. The sun had an odd orange hue, casting everything in a surreal glow. A chill ran down my spine. I wasn’t on Earth anymore.
I was on Panthera. Of course, I was. Fate had a way of tossing the unsuspecting into the deep end when they thought they were clever enough to avoid it.
I groaned as I slowly pushed myself to my feet, feeling the ache in my bones. What the hell was I thinking, trying to outsmart fate? I could only imagine how this would play out. Ilooked around the wood, expecting the Panther King to come prowling out of the underbrush…
Nothing. No one. Well, at least something was going in my favor.
I needed to call Stella. She had to come and get me.
I fumbled through my purse. After a misstep with a bobby pin that went straight under the nail and into the sensitive flesh of my index finger and something gooey getting smeared on my thumb, my fingers brushed the cold metal of my phone. I pulled it out, half-hoping it would work, though I knew deep down it wouldn’t.
I powered it on. It flashed a screensaver of me, Stella, and Tori together for one of our girls’ nights in. I had full power… and no bars. Of course not. I was on another planet. Panthera had technology, but not likely my service provider.
Muttering a curse, I slipped it back into my bag. No cell service. No way to even get a signal. Technology wasn’t going to save me here.
I sighed, looking around for something—anything—that might tell me where I was. There was no map, no guide, no indication of anything remotely helpful. Only the tall, looming trees and the soft rustling of the leaves in the wind. Then my eyes narrowed as I noticed something: the plants.
There it was—the one thing I could always rely on. I closed my eyes, feeling my connection to the world around me. It was instinctual, like a heartbeat that pulsed through my veins, a deeper pull toward the earth beneath me. I reached out with my magic, letting it flow into the foliage.
The flowers around me were too soft, too fragile. Their pale petals recoiled as I passed. Flora was smarter than fauna because they came before the four-legged furries and bipedal beasts. The flowers sensed the danger in my very presence. They lacked the strength to thrive in the same way the toxic vinesand deadly blooms did. Their sweet fragrance was too light, too innocent for me. I felt their hesitation, the way their fragile stems bent away. They understood I was a creature made for something far darker—something they couldn’t withstand.
But then there were the vines. Thick, twisting, and strong, they didn’t shy away. Instead, they reached out, drawn to the poison in my nature. The ones with the venomous allure of life and death wrapped in their green tendrils answered me immediately, their connection to me as clear as if they had always been waiting. They whispered in languages older than the stars, guiding me, pulling me toward the right path.
As I moved deeper into the forest, the air thickened with the scent of danger. The nightshade bowed low as I passed, its dark purple flowers nodding with respect. The hemlock followed suit, its tall stalks bending gracefully in deference, its leaves quivering at the edges with that sharp, bitter tang only it possessed. The poison ivy with its jagged leaves coiled around nearby trees, its vines curling toward me, ready to protect and guide, as though it knew my every need. The mandrake, its twisted root half-buried in the soil, gave a faint rustling sound, almost like a whisper of approval. Even the belladonna with its bell-shaped flowers seemed to sway slightly in my presence, its toxic berries like a crown awaiting its queen.
Each plant, each vine, was aware of me, of my nature, and they responded, guiding my steps as if they had always known I would come. These were my allies, my true companions in this new world I had no intention of making my home.
I listened to their calls. Followed the direction they pointed me toward. They spoke of the wild, the dangerous, the untamed—things I understood intimately. But just as I took my next step, a strange sensation washed over me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Someone was watching me. I couldn’t explain it, but my instincts kicked in, and I turned around sharply.
There, in the shadows of the trees, stood a massive panther. Its golden eyes glinted in the dim light, locked on to me with a hunger I didn’t like. Its stance was low, muscles rippling beneath its sleek fur. The beast was watching me like I was its next meal.
My heart pounded, and for a moment, all I could hear was the rush of my own blood in my ears. This was it, then. This was the kind of danger they talked about in those old fairy tales. A shifter, ready to claim me as its prize.
I stood frozen for a moment, trying to make sense of the situation. There was no time to think, no time to second-guess. I wasn’t in control here. This beast, this predator, saw me as prey.
Its nostrils flared. Mine did too. And I smelled something… wrong.
Well, not wrong. The bittersweet smell of the poison smelled perfectly fine to me. But that kind of poison had no business being matted to the panther’s fur.
Chapter 4
Dion
Ineeded to get out of the castle. Away from the chaos, the decisions I didn’t want to make, and the looming presence of my fated mate. The very idea of Niamh showing up early gnawed at me, like a thread being pulled in the wrong direction. Fate had an annoying way of sneaking up on me, and I wasn’t ready for this. Not yet.
I pushed my way through the trees, the cool air brushing past me. The crunch of leaves underfoot was a comforting rhythm, like the beat of my own pulse as I moved deeper into the woods. It was always like this. When I needed to think, to clear my head, this was where I came.
When I was a child, the Forbidden Forest had been dangerous. I’d liked the adrenaline rush that came with sneaking out here. In the years since, the forests had mostly been cleared of the mad monsters, but a few stragglers still lurked in the dark. Not everyone came back from Pan’s madness. Now I was the one wishing the madness would come and claim me.
I’d been a fool. A coward, really, running away from the inevitable. But no, I wasn’t running. I told myself this was just a strategic retreat, a way to gain some space, some time before the inevitable. Deep down, I knew better. What I was feeling was fear, plain and simple.
What was I afraid of? Niamh? The idea of being shackled to someone I hadn’t chosen? Maybe. But I saw how Stella and Oz were. That connection, that bond they shared, it was undeniable. I wanted that too, didn’t I?
But Niamh wasn’t Stella. And I wasn’t Oz. Could I have that with Niamh?
Was she kindhearted but would bust my balls, like Stella? Was she strong and capable but also a good listener, like Stella? I knew what she looked like. I didn’t know what she was like.
