Branches of Life

The sun appeared on the horizon twenty minutes before we turned off onto an uneven dirt road. Tall trees raced past my window. The tension that still held my body hostage began loosening its grip. I knew nothing about this forest, nor did I doubt the possible danger it held. But there was just something about the sights, smells, and sounds of a forest that soothed both me and my wolf.

Eventually, the van came to a stop. As soon as the car was turned off, Koa exited the van, still not speaking. No one had said a single word this past hour, not even me.

"Now you can get out." Starling chuckled and left the front seat.

I wouldn't put it past Koa to leave us behind. The others must've thought so too because we exited the van like it was on fire. The rich scents of dirt, trees, and grass greeted us, as did the comforting sounds of the forest. We joined Koa and Starling at the trunk, pulling weapons out of our bags and strapping them to our bodies. I took this time to switch out my heeled boots in favor of a sturdier pair. Koa pulled out what looked to be an ordinary oversized tarp. That is until I saw the rune etched into the corner. He draped it over the van and gestured for Ander to help. Blood magic wasn't necessary when activating runes like these. Any Mythic could activate them because the magic was already infused into the rune. But it didn't hurt to have the addition of blood magic. In fact, it made the spell even stronger.

I pressed my lips together to hide my smile. Not only did Ander hate being bossed around, but he despised casting on sorcerers' runes. Proving my point, Ander growled under his breath, while he twisted his ring around and dragged it up his forearm. Good thing he healed so fast, otherwise his arm would be riddled with scratches and scars. Who knows if blood mages would be so willing to cast if each time they did so, they left a mark behind.

Using his blood, he drew the same rune on his forearm, then he traced over the one on the fabric. The rune on Ander's arm disappeared, while the one on the tarp glowed. Once the glowing died down, the tarp along with the van, turned invisible.

'How is my little wolf?' Rowan's sudden question made me flinch, having forgotten about her, yet again. I felt bad that I kept forgetting I had a familiar, but we'd only been bonded for less than a day.

I wasn't prepared to see her sitting beside me, in full view of everyone else. My gaze flicked to Koa and then back. 'I've already revealed myself to them, they're trustworthy.'

"Debatable."

She shocked me further when she asked, 'Are you referring to the incident outside the car?'

"You were there?" I practically shrieked, feeling embarrassed Rowan had been around to witness it. While also feeling unsettled at how I'd been unaware I was being watched.

"I still can't believe I'm seeing a wolf spirit familiar bonded to a wolf summoner," Starling marveled. Of course, she knew the unspoken rule for spirit familiars. She continued staring at Rowan in awe.

Koa apparently couldn't care less, with how easily he dismissed Rowan. "Try and keep up, and please refrain from doing anything stupid." He shot me a pointed look, before striding into the trees. True to form, he didn't walk slowly or check over his shoulder to make sure we followed. Asshole.

Starling gave a small and somewhat apologetic smile, before following her brother. It was a slow process, but I was starting to like her. She sucked way less than Koa in my opinion, not that it was hard to do so.

The four of us shared a collective look that said; we'd stick with them for now, but we all wanted to kick Koa's ass.

Ander stayed at the back of the group, muttering under his breath all the sigils he'd like to cast on Koa. A couple of them had me snorting, while several had me cringing. Unlike before, we were able to catch up to them not even a minute later.

"Do we even know where we're going?" I finally asked, after hiking for what felt like an hour. "If this guy lives isolated in the human realm, I doubt he left a map lying around."

I've never been one for long hikes. I always got bored after twenty minutes—if that—unless it was near waterfalls or somewhere scenic and even then, that interest didn't last longer than an hour. Every time I had to hike somewhere, I wished that I could turn into an actual wolf. I would be able to get to our destination so much faster. Of course, that was following the assumption that we had an actual destination, and we weren't aimlessly wandering through the forest. I wasn't too convinced that we weren't doing just that.

"I'm impressed it's taken her this long," Ander murmured, and Harmony's lilting laughter followed.

Koa tilted his head back and groaned, all the while maintaining his brisk pace. "You're insufferable."

"That's what our brother said when she was a toddler." Ari chuckled, bumping her shoulder against mine

There was a decent-sized age gap between us and our older brother, and with him switching packs before I turned two, we weren't nearly as close as I wanted us to be. We sent messages back and forth at least once a week, checking in on each other's lives, but it wasn't the same as talking face-to-face. It had been over two years since we last saw him.

A big mystery Ari and I were never able to solve, was why he left. It obviously wasn't because of a disagreement with our parents. They spoke regularly and even visited with each other often.

"It's one of my best qualities," I answered, shoving aside all thoughts of my brother. "Now, do you actually know where we're headed, or are you just pretending you do?"

"I'm starting to think those two shouldn't be allowed to talk to each other." Harmony moved twigs out of her path using her earth magic, saving her bare feet from anything sharp.

"I wouldn't worry about that. They'll learn to get along." A knowing smile curled Ari's mouth. That was never a good sign. Not with Ari. Either she knew something we didn't, or she was planning something. Neither of which were good options.

Instead of attempting to figure out the hidden meaning behind that smile, I focused on the fact that Koa still hadn't answered my questions. I picked up my pace until I was right behind him, and grabbed his bicep. His skin burned beneath mine. I assumed it was a dragon thing. Before yesterday, I'd never met one, so I couldn't be too sure about whether or not they all ran hot. It wasn't an unpleasant heat. In fact, it was almost soothing.

Koa abruptly stopped and I slammed into his back. My grip on his arm was the only thing preventing me from falling on my ass. Letting go of his arm, I circled him. Putting us face to face. Kind of. The only way I was able to make eye contact with him, was craning my head back. It was unfair how gorgeous he was, at odds with his asshole personality. His swirling gold and copper eyes, my favorite feature, drew me in with their intensity. He grabbed a strand of hair that had escaped my messy ponytail and twisted it around his finger.

Fake coughs, courtesy of Ander, yanked us out of our bubble and back to reality. I was simultaneously relieved and annoyed by his interruption and wasn't sure how I felt about it. Koa released my hair, taking a step back. I hadn't realized how close we were standing. And I didn't know which of us was to blame.

"We've been able to figure out his general location," Koa hedged, pissing me off with his vague-ass answer.

"How general?" I pressed, refusing to let him get away with it. He waved his hand at the trees around us and my jaw went slack. He couldn't possibly mean the entire forest. I must've misunderstood his answer. While I didn't know much about our location, I could tell this place was fucking huge. It had to be, if a Mythic was living in isolation, they'd want to be far enough away from civilization so they wouldn't be disturbed.

"That's like finding a feather in a haystack," Ari huffed.

I pointed in her general direction but kept my focus on Koa. "No."

"He's a powerful sorcerer, we're lucky to have a location at all. Even one as general as this." Starling heaved out an exhausted breath.

"And you don't know any stronger sorcerers or sorceresses to do the spell?" Ander's voice came from right behind me, nearly making me jump. How in the hell did he get behind me without making a sound?

"We don't know if we can trust them," Starling said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she groaned. "We had the strongest sorcerer we trusted cast this spell. Our number of allies is smaller than you would think."

Her words made me want to ask how many there were. To find out how they figured out the creatures were in hiding. Before I could voice any of my questions, Koa spoke. "From what we've heard about him, he's not stupid. He'll most likely have wards in place that'll alert him to our presence. He'll find us." Koa must've thought that answer was good enough because he brushed past me and continued down his aimless path.

I stared after him, completely baffled by his horrible plan and his audacity. No way in hell I was letting this go.

I took off after him, annoyed at how he was already so far ahead. "Wait a fucking minute, that's your big plan? Wander aimlessly through the forest and hope to set off a magical alarm system? What if he's the shoot first and ask questions later type? Dude lives in the forest all alone, I doubt he gets many visitors. Hell, he probably doesn't even want any in the first place." I was practically running at this point, still unable to catch up to him.

"You forgot the part about how he might be the one helping the creatures," Koa unhelpfully added.

"You suck as a guide." He chuckled at my comment and even though I was irritated with him, the sound still mesmerized me. "Just so we're clear when he attacks, I'm using you as a shield."

"If we're calling shields, I call Ander." Ari jogged up beside me. I had heard her and the others following at a close distance as they gave us the illusion of privacy.

"I guess that leaves me with Starling as mine." Harmony's voice came from several feet behind us.

"Why do I have to be a shield?"

"Because you're older and lived a longer life," Ari tossed out over her shoulder. Starling and Koa both gave off the appearance of being in their late twenties—which was, as Ari pointed out, older than us—but we had no clue how accurate that assessment was. I hoped Koa wasn't in the triple digits.

Starling gasped. "I'm not that old, I'm only thirty-three

"Like I said, you're older."

"Don't worry, Ander's old like you." Harmony's sweet voice made the dig have more impact.

Ander's rich laugh sounded behind us. A smile curled my lips at the light-hearted banter.

Starling's response died off when a wave of pure darkness rolled over us. My wolf rose to the surface, enhancing my vision, but even then I could only see maybe a few feet in front of me. There was only one creature I knew that was able to do this: demons.