Her Imposter, Her Imprinter

Chapter 25

Forrest was still an hour away from Clastgrove when he decided to forgo the car he was driving in to make the rest of the trip on four legs. He knew that he'd make it there faster than any machine ever could.

When he had abandoned the car, he hadn't even turned it off. He didn't even park it. Heck, he was still driving the damn thing when he just decided to unbuckle himself and jump out of the moving vehicle.

Bacchus, who had been in the passenger's seat was yelling at him and sputtering incoherent curses at him, but Forrest was long gone. Forrest was sure Bach would understand though and would later forgive him for almost crashing the car. He knew Bach would be fine.

So he continued to barrel through the dense woods, trusting his instincts to get him where he needed to be because he only had Eris on his mind.

The call he received from Joseph almost had him paralyzed. He just knew in his gut that having Henry anywhere near Eris right now would spell disaster. Someone was going to get severely hurt and judging by Henry's instabilities, Forrest knew it would be Eris. The thought of that, of Eris unconscious and bleeding on the ground from multiple fatal wounds had his stomach roiling. Forrest had seen some gruesome things in his life, but he knew that was the only thing he wouldn't be able to handle. As much as he wanted to deny the possibility of these thoughts, his worries still managed to over power him and they accompanied him the rest of the way to Clastgrove. He knew he was going to have to prepare himself for the worst.

Upon reaching the border of the pack, Forrest slowed his pace so that he could meet the patrols and request entrance. When the metallic stench of blood reached his nose, however, he charged right through, following the smell and hoping it wasn't Eris'. He hoped that he'd be able to calmly explain to the border patrols later why he had breached their land. Strangely enough however, no one came after him, and that worried him.

Either their security was severely lacking, or they focused their forces on a great threat.

Ironically, Forrest was hoping it was the first option. It was a better scenario than the gruesome one he was imagining.

At the entrance, he slowed his gait and cautiously entered the house. As he suspected, the main house was the source of the blood and it didn't take Forrest long to figure out whose it was.

In the corner of the living room was Joseph Faulkner who was looking pretty worse for the wear. Forrest noticed that as he got closer to him though, the more prominent his injuries seemed to get. His entire body seemed to have sustained some sort of damage, whether it be a scratch, gash, or bruise. It was his neck however, that seemed to have suffered the most abuse. Forrest could already tell that his outward wounds were already slowly trying to heal, but he knew that it was still imperative for Joe to see a healer.

Forrest was just about to lean down to lend a hand when a piercing shout thundered through hi skull. The force of it was even painful enough that he had to grasp at his head. When he didn't answer, more pressure flooded behind his eyes. That was when he finally realized a member of his pack was trying to reach him. Before they could shout into his head again (and cause a brain hemorrhage), Forrest opened his mind and responded.

"There you are! My God man, are you deaf?!" It was Avery. She was extremely pissed off, that much was obvious by the blatant disrespectful words she spoke to him but also in the sound of her voice that had taken on a crude growling sound akin to something her wolf would make.  Forrest had half a mind to scold her for her tone, but he was swiftly interrupted.

"You can lecture me later! You need to get over here right now." She persisted. Any other day, Forrest would be quick to reprimand her behavior, but once he caught onto the words she used, he froze.