Greylock Manor: A Wolf Shifter Romance (Wolf Mountain Pack Book 1) Page 4

  He cupped his kissed cheek in one hand and stared at me in bewilderment before he shook off his shock. “Well, what are you waiting for?” He stabbed the end of his cane at the left-hand path. “Off with you now! Get going!” I gave him a lazy salute, and together Chris and I headed out. The old man shouted more parting words as we walked away. “And don’t get too tangled in the scenery, missy! And follow your nose!”

  A thought struck me a few steps down, and I turned back to the old man. “I forgot to ask your name-”

  I froze and my jaw hit the ground. Panic struck my mind, and I grabbed Chris’ arm and tugged him back to my side. “Look!”

  He looked at where I pointed, and his eyes widened. The cabin and its clearing were gone. Hell, even the other path he’d shone us was gone. There was only the trail on which we stood.

  I looked up at Chris as he pursed his lips. “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  “I have a feeling you’re right,” he agreed as he took my hand and turned us down the path. “So, let’s get out of here before another tornado hits.”

  7

  The winding path led us once again into thickets of trees and brush, but at least the trail widened enough that we could walk side-by-side.

  “Convenient of the deer to make a two-lane for us, isn’t it?” I quipped as I scurried up to Chris’ side. I noticed his face was tense, so I tilted my head to catch his eye. “You look like something’s bothering you.”

  His eyes darted over his shoulder in the direction of the old man’s house. “Did you notice something odd about the others? And about what the old man was saying?”

  I shrugged. “I think we’re all a little crazy to be here.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not that. There was an equal number of men and women, and we’re all about the same age.”

  I snorted. “Two shape-shifting people told us we could become werewolves and you’re worried about whether everyone has a date?”

  Chris pursed his lips. “I’m not sure it isn’t something like that.”

  My face fell as I arched an eyebrow. “Like they’re setting us up to team up only to betray each other at the end? They did say only one of us can win the prize.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  I frowned and looked ahead of us. “If it’s true, it’s a dirty trick.”

  “I won’t leave you.”

  I whipped my head to Chris and raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  He grinned. “How could I leave such a beautiful a damsel in such distress?”

  I snorted and bumped my arm against his. “Just don’t get any chinks in your armor just because of me, okay?”

  Chris stared at the path ahead of us and pursed his lips again. “I wish I could guarantee that, but the old man was short on details.”

  I sped up my pace and pumped my arms as I wagged my eyebrows at him. “Then let’s go see what’s in store for us.” Chris grinned and hurried after me.

  We had gone about a hundred yards when I noticed a change in the trees around us. Long vines hung down from the thick canopy and dangled about like fishing lines along the path. The tendrils created a sort of flimsy curtain effect until I could hardly see into the woods. A slight breeze passed over the woods and the vines waved a little like ghosts beckoning us.

  Me and my stupid imagination.

  I sidled up close enough to Chris that I almost tripped both of us. “I don’t think I like it here.”

  “Neither do I,” he agreed as he scanned the area. “It looks like a cage with bars.”

  I winced. “I was just thinking the same-ah!” Something had wrapped around my ankle. I dropped my eyes to my foot and they bulged out of my head.

  One of the tendrils had wrapped themselves around me. I yelped and danced around with my foot flailing. The vine dropped off me and disappeared into the undergrowth. Chris grabbed me mid-hop and pulled me against him as another breeze blew through the vines. That’s when I realized I didn’t feel any wind at all.

  Chris’ words confirmed my horrible suspicion. “The vines are moving on their own.”

  “Maybe we should do the same,” I quipped as I pulled him down the wide path.

  Movement along the forest floor caught my attention, and a second later another vine whipped out from the brush. It grabbed Chris about the calf and yanked him toward the trees.

  “Oh no you don’t!” I snapped as I held tight to him and dug my heels into the ground.

  Chris twisted around and gave the vine a hard kick with his other foot. The plant let loose a horrible screech and retreated into the brush. Chris grabbed my hand and pulled me down the trail.

  “Run!”

  Our feet pounded the hard dirt as we raced down the path. The vines rattled like skeletons as we flew past them. They lifted their bodies up and their tips shot out at us. We ducked and dodged as best we could, but there were too many and soon one of them wrapped around my waist. I was yanked off my feet and into the air.

  Chris spun around and grabbed my other hand. He tugged as the vine pulled, but one of the other vines came up behind him and slithered around his arms. The vine pinned his arms to his sides, forcing him to release me.

  I was pulled twenty feet into the air and found myself in the middle of the jungle of green tendrils. They swayed about me like curvaceous dancers as I was pulled backward away from the trail. Chris was likewise lifted up and followed ten feet behind me.

  I twisted around to see where I was headed and wish I hadn’t. The trees opened to accommodate a very small clearing. In the middle of the space was a huge pod of some kind, and as I was pulled out of the trees the pod parted. Two rows of teeth and a gaping maw smiled up at me.

  That wasn’t a pod, it was a mouth, and that mouth was big enough to fit a me-sized human.

  I couldn’t see any eyes until I detected two round balls on the far side of its head. There weren’t any irises, but I wasn’t up for complaining about untypical

  I thrashed in the hold of the vine. It in turn flipped me over so my hair dangled below me. Apparently, the plant had enough etiquette to start from the top and work its way down.

  I whipped my head back and found myself staring into the large mouth of the beast. A black hole at the back of the mouth indicated where I would be landed.

  That’s when I discovered that I hadn’t completely closed my bag. The sandwich container dropped out and fell into the chasm of hunger. The plant snapped its jaws shut, but through the space between the teeth I could just see the plastic disappear down its wide gullet. A crumpled shirt slipped out, and the creature opened its mouth and snapped it shut on the cloth.

  That gave me an idea, and a desperate chance at survival.

  I thrashed about as I was moved into perfect position over its face. More clothes and snack bars bundled up against the bag opening, and they all fell like rain on the creature. It snapped at everything and kept its jaws long enough to swallow.

  The tendril that held me opened up, and I dropped with a scream onto the plant. Fortunately, a snack bar beat me to the hole, and I fell onto the creature’s closed mouth. I hugged the thing’s face and slid feet-first down the larger half. My shoes crashed down onto its eyes and the plant loosed a high-pitched squeal. Its head thrashed about, and its tree tentacles flailed all over the place. Chris was unceremoniously deposited on the ground a few feet away from the head. He scrambled to his feet and met me at the base of the plant as I finished my slide down its face.

  Chris grabbed my hand and together we raced across the small clearing and through the trees to our wide path. The vines spasmed and slapped at us, but we kept our heads down and crashed our way through until we left the vines behind.

  We didn’t stop our run for another quarter of a mile, by which time my legs were starting to drag. I tripped on a rock and fell again Chris’ back. We both tumbled to the ground and lay there together in a heap, breathing hard and staring up at the canopy.

  After a few minutes of gasping, I turned my head to look at Chris. “Well, that was exciting.”

  He snorted. “That’s one way to look at it.”

  “Death-defying?”

  “That’s a more accurate description.” Chris sat up and looked around us. “I wonder what else around here is death inducing.”

  “I hope to remain ignorant about them,” I raised myself onto my arms, but my body was still shaky from all the excitement. I ended up falling against his back. He turned his head far enough to stare at me with a bemused smile while I sheepishly grinned at him. “Sorry.”

  “On the contrary, it’s my pleasure.”

  I snorted and gave his arm a push. “Do you ever know how to stop flattering me?”

  “Why, is it working?”

  “Well, I’ll just say that you’ve got a nice down-payment in my good regards account.”

  Chris chuckled as he climbed to his feet and turned to offer me his hand. “I’ll take what I can get.”

  I accepted his hand and he pulled me to my feet. Chris’ hand lingered a little longer on mine than I expected, and I found myself looking up into his face. His eyes were on me, curious and with more than a hint of sexual tension. My cheeks betrayed my interest by blushing.

  Chris grinned but released me and looked around. “I suppose the only thing we can do is keep moving forward and hope our luck holds out.”

  I looked down and brushed the vine leaves off my legs. “It was definitely lucky that I landed on its eyes.”

  A bemused grin slipped onto Chris’ lips. “I don’t think that was its eyes.”

  I paused in my cleaning and arched my eyebrow at him. “Why do you say that?”

  “Let’s just say it’s male intuition,” he mused as he folded his arms over his chest. “And besides, not every creature needs eyes, but they do need to reproduce.”

  I stared blankly at him for a moment before the corners of my lips twitched upward. “So, you’re saying that what I hit was its-?”

  “Balls, yes.”

  A barking laugh escaped me. Then somebody else laughed, and it wasn’t Chris.

  8

  Chris and I both stiffened and whipped our heads about searching for the source. A shadow dropped from the canopy and landed on bent knees across the trail ahead of us. It was Duncan in his human form.

  He straightened and clapped his hands. “Bravo! That was a wonderful show!”

  Chris drew me behind him and glared at our acquaintance. “You were watching us.”

  Duncan grinned and bowed his head. “Guilty, as charged, but I had to follow you because you two left the initiation ceremony a little early, so I’ve come to give you the rest of the trial info.”

  “Did any of that ‘info’ mention a human-eating plant?” Chris quipped.

  Duncan tapped the side of his nose and gave us a wink. “No, because that would be telling.”

  “Telling us how we’re going to die?” I retorted.

  The werewolf’s bemused expression softened. “My dearest woman, nothing like that will happen to you.”

  Chris scoffed. “So that plant was only going to give us a little kiss and let us on our way?”

  Duncan’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Well, I wouldn’t say that, but what would a prize be without a little effort? Besides” He strode toward us with arms opened, “the two of you handled that brilliantly! I would never have guessed Gerard would have been defeated so easily!” He paused and furrowed his brow as he looked off into the distance. “But then again, I wouldn’t have dared hit his-ahem” His eyes darted down to his own crotch, “his personal space, if you know what I mean.”

  I snorted and I looked up at Chris. “Looks like you were right about the ‘eyes.’”

  “Right, and alive!” Duncan pointed out as he clapped his hands together. “Now then, about what you missed at the initiation. Bonnie and I will be assessing your progress along the way, so don’t worry if you see one of us.”

  I looked over my shoulder in the direction of ‘Gerard.’ “I think we’ve got more important things to worry about.”

  “Yes, indeed!” Duncan agreed as he folded his arms and tapped his chin. “The others aren’t very far ahead of you, but one false move and they could easily win the prize.”

  Chris frowned. “Is this ‘prize’ really worth risking our lives?”

  Duncan shrugged. “Well, you don’t have to take the prize if you don’t want it, but the chance to become a werewolf is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He leaned toward us and gave us a wink. “If I were you, I wouldn’t pass it up.”

  “Because you didn’t?” Chris asked him.

  Duncan smiled. “Touche, my good sir. You’re as quick-witted as your lovely companion here. I wish I could give you my life story, but Bonnie burned my book draft when she found out I’d included some salacious details about her dying her hair.” A howl came from far off. Duncan looked in that direction and winced. “And on that note, I’ll finish your instructions.” He straightened and cleared his throat. “You two are to stick to the trails, and only the trails. No heading straight across, that would be cheating, and we don’t allow cheaters in our pack.”

  I plucked another vine leaf off my sleeve and let it flutter to the ground. “Are we disqualified if we’re dragged off?”

  Duncan grinned and shook his head. “Not a bit. Detours are just fine as long as you get back on the trail. Also, no attempting to murder or maim any of the other contestants. Maybe a little bit of nails in a scuffle, but no teeth.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and snorted. “I’ll try to remember that if I’m in a life-or-death struggle with one of them.”

  Chris cast a side-glance at me. “Are we supposed to interact with any of the others?”

  Duncan followed his gaze and his grin widened. “I wouldn’t keep anyone away from such a beautiful woman. Of course, you could all have a rousing drinking party together, just as long as you’re all home by twilight.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And if we’re not?”

  He shrugged. “Then nobody wins, and we’ll pick you up, or what’s left of you. Anyway” He stepped back with his eyes a-twinkle and that mischievous grin on his lips. “You two have fun and watch out for the bears.”

  Duncan turned and jogged into the trees. They soon swallowed him.

  I looked up at Chris. “You think he was joking about the bears?”

  Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Reading him is like trying to read a fortune cookie that’s upside down and in Hebrew. You know there’s something there, but you just can’t quite read it.”

  I snorted and offered him the crook of my bent arm. “Well, I guess we should keep going, otherwise we might not get the chance to learn Hebrew.”

  He smiled and accepted my arm. “Let’s see what they can throw at us this time.”

  We strolled down the trail arm-in-arm and had gone another hundred yards when something interrupted our incredible journey.

  “Help!”

  Chris and I froze, and we whipped our heads to face each other. My eyes darted in the direction of the scream. “Did you hear what I heard?”

  “We’d better check it out.”

  Chris hurried forward, and I glared at his back a moment before I scuttled along. “Do you ever believe in ‘ladies first?’”

  “Only if they can outrun me,” he quipped before he broke into a sprint.

  I frowned but hurried after him. Jokes aside, my heart pounded in my chest as the trail climbed up onto a short plateau. We found ourselves staring at a large group of boulders and rocks. A wide dirt path sprang from our trail and wrapped around the stones, creating a dusty barrier that allowed anyone to leave their footprints. A dark shadow in the center of the stones told us there was an opening to a cave of some sort.

  As we crept forward, I couldn’t help but look at the dusty ground. Six sets of shoe-covered feet had passed by ahead of us. Four different kinds of sneakers, a pair of hiking boots, and some designer boots that bore the maker’s mark as free advertising for an overpriced sole on an under-souled person. Two of the pairs veered off in the direction of the stones while the other two kept going.

  “Somebody help!”

  The voice was female and came from the hollow in the stones. Chris and I tiptoed up to the outer fringes of rock and peeked around the curved corner. The shadows led at a steep angle into a large hole in the ground.

  I happened to glance down, and my heart skipped a beat. There, nestled in the dust and squashed over the human shoes, was a huge human-shaped footprint. My jaw hit the dirt and I grabbed Chris’ arm. He looked at me in annoyance until I pointed at the naked truth on the ground. His eyes widened and his mouth caught almost as many flies as mine.

  “Please let us go!” It was a male voice speaking now. “We aren’t tasty at all!”

  A deep guttural female laugh echoed out of the hole. “But you look so darn tasty! Why, I could just eat you both up, but you, cutey-” A horrified scream mingled with laughter came from the woman’s victim. She giggled. “Why, aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!”

  I crawled on my arms and climbed over the top of the boulder to get a peek inside, but the smooth top was slicker than it looked. A stifled yelp escaped my lips as I slid over the right side and landed in a little crevice between two stones. Something brittle and sharp broke under me with a bunch of loud cracks and a white cloud of dust flew up around me. I unwillingly choked on the powder and waved my hand in front of my face. The dust cleared and I saw what I’d crashed into.

  A pile of human bones.

  9

  I screamed and launched myself out of the hole and straight into the surprised arms of Chris as he climbed up to me. We both toppled to the ground in front of the hollow and I landed on top of him. A hard ‘oof’ escaped his lips on the landing, but I didn’t give him a chance to take the breather before I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and gave the poor man a hearty shake.