Braxton looked around us again. “No. We definitely shouldn’t stay put, the noises are closing in. Let’s move to somewhere higher so I can get a lay of the land. Plus, I need room to shift.”
He was right. If we could get out of the dense jungle, both of us could turn into dragons and fly our asses right out of the Congo, or whichever mess of wilderness held us. I didn’t even care about releasing my marked power. Now was not the time to give a shit about the Four. Let them come at us. I was tired, hungry, and pissed off … it was lucky that wolf shifters only had a fertile window once every three months – and I was still a month out – otherwise we could have added PMS to that list of personality traits. It was only four times a year – useful in preventing unexpected pregnancy – and there was no mistaking when the time was upon us.
Braxton seemed reluctant to let me go, which I was kind of liking … a lot. As his heat finally escaped from me I almost swooned like some human in a romance novel. I hadn’t even noticed how much of my weight he’d been supporting, and despite the fact it was not cold at all in this place, I already missed the warmth of his body.
Braxton forced me to focus: “We should move. I don’t see a sun to track, so it’s hard to determine how much light we have left.” He turned, and I was drawn to the sight of his muscles rippling across his broad back. I leaned forward, my tongue already extended. I was so licking him.
Wait, what? No, Jessa!
I lifted my hand and unobtrusively slapped my cheek. I had to pull myself together. This was not the time. Not. The. Time.
Braxton started to walk. I managed to suck my traitorous tongue back into my mouth and follow him, focusing on the simple task of stepping right into each of his footprints. He was clearing the path beautifully.
“Have you ever seen plants like this?” he asked, a trace of unease in his voice.
Braxton’s words had me looking closer at the greenery around us. I knew this place felt strange, like old magic, but until I really looked I hadn’t noticed how odd the plants were. First, the colors were off. Not only were the leaves a bright, fake green, the trunks and branches were too. Plus the trees were massive, trunks as wide as a building and towering into the air. This forest was ancient. I also noticed that on top of the poison pink flowers, there were other strange blooms, yellow, looking like mini suns with petals like beams of light, and … they were warm. I could feel heat emitting from them.
This sort of weirdness continued as we pushed further through. Braxton stayed in front of me, making sure to clear the path the best he could. The terrain was rugged and I knew without him I’d still be back in the original clearing. I had no idea what the dragon man was using as a guide, but he seemed to be following a line only he could see.
We didn’t talk a lot, attempting to stay below the radar as much as possible. I was mainly trying to figure out where the hell we were. I studied our surroundings, searching for just one defining characteristic. I’d never been out of Stratford before, but I’d paid attention to at least seventy percent of school, and I knew of lots of places in the world. Especially if they were connected to supernaturals.
There was nothing recognizable here. I tilted my head back as far as my neck would reach, scanning hard for a sliver of sky or cloud. I could only see green. Which made no sense, the canopy was thick, but not so thick that I shouldn’t be able to spot blue patches.
It took Braxton a few moments to realize I’d stopped following him. In a flash he was back at my side. “What did you see?”
He followed my line of sight into the canopy.
I rubbed a hand over my eyes; they felt tired and gritty. “Why can I not see sky?” I worked hard to keep my voice low. “It’s not dark, there are gaps in the trees, but all I see is green.”
I looked up again, just in case I’d missed something.
Braxton cleared his throat, a sound I was familiar with. My chin dropped so fast I swear I jarred my neck. “What? … Brax, what do you know?”
While his expression didn’t reflect any unease, I could tell he was worried. “I’m pretty sure you are seeing sky.”
I shook my head, trying to understand what the underlying meaning to those words were. I slowly raised my face again. “Are you telling me the sky is green? That’s why I keep thinking it’s the canopy?”
I didn’t want to comprehend the repercussions of this. Sure, I’d seen a bit of a green sky when massive storms had rolled through Stratford. But there was no storm here, it was light and warm. So that meant, if Braxton confirmed my thoughts, that this was just a plain old green sky. The color of leaves.
“Yes.”
Oh shit-ass-face.