Page 198 of Shifting Hearts 1
“What the hell are you,” she panted. Whitened knuckles gripped her sides in fists, ready for that fight or flight response she expected from her body, when it chose to do neither.
I frowned, throwing one gnarled hand out as though to catch her fingers. Her soft skin contacted my harder form, a clash of sensation. I creaked as she gasped. Taking care not to splinter her fragile form, I uncurled her fists from where she clutched at her skin until it bulged beneath her thin dress, the cloak torn and shredded in her flight across the forest floor.
Reaching deep, I drew every fragment of her red cloak to me, gathering the pieces of cloth like breadcrumbs of her trail from her flight. Coveted pieces for my collection of memories of her, and stored them in a hollow tree for later, the scent of her within me. A shot of need coursed through my branches and my creaks grew louder.Deeper.
Bryn crept forward as I retreated into my solid form, urging her closer. I couldn’t touch her again in this place until she reached me, and I didn’t think either of us were ready for that just yet.
Another step brought her almost within reaching range.
“Stop that.” My voice creaked through the sunken grove. Not quite a whisper, a mere thought creeping across my leaves.
But she heard my strange voice. Like the wolf heard me.
And she answered.
“Stopwhat?”Bryn stared around wildly.
Her ruined scarlet cape fluttered weakly behind her in a n incomplete spiral. She followed its path in reverse, almost subconsciously, turning on her bare feet to note the emptiness of the grove, the lack of escape route before her gaze rested on me. The only thing left that might have spoken to her. The tree with a face, if not quite a body.
“What are you?” Her breaths panted faster, though she tried to control them, closing her mouth so the air puffed from her nostrils instead.
“I am the trees.” I watched her, letting an alien smile curve my lips. My whispery voice filled the clearing enclosed on every side with thick trunks, impossible even for her slight form to slip between.
A place where escape was unimaginable without help.
Here the ground was stained slightly darker than the rest of the forest. This was a place of sacrifice.
Wolf was right.I cracked first.
He should have bargained harder.
But after a few millennia, even a tree god grows bored.
“You are where you are meant to be,” I murmured, sliding forward on toes of roots, scraping the earth, drawing deep rants in the ground beyond me. Tiny roots sprang from the tips to carry me forward as she stumbled backward.
A base creation, I decided, as, rather than watch me in horror, Bryn’s dark gaze that matched my shadows narrowed.
“You’re the one who’s been touching me. Haven’t you,” she hissed her accusation.
My little fallen leaf trembled. But not with the fear I anticipated.
But with fury.
“So strong. So… I don’t know your word,” I whispered.
It had been too long since I spoke her language to anyone other than the wolf, and our conversations were scant enough. I talked only to my trees, and we only spoke of what was necessary. He circled me in a dance I understood. Bare feet crossed over one another as I glided closer, reaching out. So soon my branches like fingers would contact her skin, feel its softness depress beneath my hardened surfaces. Then I would haul her into the air and?—
“You really can’t keep your hands to yourself, can you?”
The brittle announcement from the singular exit I left open, hidden behind one heavy trunk and invisible to Bryn from where we stood, broke through our playtime.
“Wolf.” I sighed, letting my arms sink. Every action seemed heavier than it should be as though even this moment sucked away the last of my connection to the human before me. My roots touched the floor, sinking into the earth that parted for me, understanding my needs. I stretched higher, aiming toward the canopy but not reaching it. Just tall enough to gaze down upon them both as I retreated yet again. “My furry friend. You have never been the patient one.”
“Look who’s talking, treeman.” The wolf shook his head. His blackened eyes fixed not on me, but on her.
Our prey.
Bryn stared between us. Her neck snapped side to side as she backed away from my increasing girth. I dug my roots deeper into the soil, fixing myself in place and enjoyed her terror.
