I'm in the usual forest, but something is wrong. It feels wrong. The air is heavy with thick fog, and I can barely see three feet in front of me. I wander in the direction I know the clearing to be in, picking my way over fallen tree branches and dense pockets of fallen leaves. My feet are bare, and the sensation of the crunchy leaves against the soles of my feet is unpleasant.
I finally reach my destination, but my wolves aren't there. I sit on the stump and wait for them to show. They always do. An indeterminate amount of time passes, and my wolves are nowhere to be seen, and the fog is only getting thicker, making it hard for me to breathe. I close my eyes and will myself to wake up, only it isn't working. I open my eyes, but it's a white out. Like when there's so much snow you can't see anything in front of you. All I see is white and it's surrounding me. I can feel the fog against my, now drenched, skin and clothes.
I start to panic because the fog is literally starting to suffocate me. Every breath is a challenge, and I grasp my throat in a futile attempt at getting air. I'm at the verge of blacking out when I hear a noise. It almost sounds like a laugh, but that can't be because I'm alone. Right? I frantically look around, not seeing anything but white. I close my eyes, willing my ears to pick up any odd noises.
There. I blindly walk toward the sound, my eyes still closed. As I move forward, breathing becomes easier, and the fog gets lighter. I keep moving until I can't feel the fog against my skin anymore. I stop and take a huge breath in, holding it for a moment before releasing it. I take another breath, this one through my nose, and the smell hits me. It smells like rotting flesh. My ears pick up a soft cackle. I crack an eyes open. The forest looks normal again.
I look around, but I don't see anything. I can still hear the slight noise, and smell that disgusting stench, but my eyes aren't picking up anything unusual. I make a full turn, when suddenly a figure pops into my peripheral, causing me to jump and let out a little squeak.
I turn to see who it is, and am instantly frightened. It's the same woman as before, her red hood covering her face from view. My heart beats erratically, and my whole body shakes from fear.
"Wh... who are you? What do you want?" I ask her. She cocks her head as she regards me. At least that's what I think she's doing since I can't see her face. I want to reach over and rip the hood away so I can finally see what we're dealing with. I look around, sure that my wolves will be here any minute, but they're nowhere to be seen.
"They aren't coming, deary, so don't get your hopes up. I'm keeping them away." Her voice is unpleasant, and sends shivers down my spine. It reminds me of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz, and it's confirmed when she cackles. She throws her head back when she does, and the hood falls back against her shoulders. I rear back from the disgusting, and terrifying sight.
Skin drips off her face as though it was made of plastic and someone set fire to it. Her eye sockets are dangling down her cheeks, making her eyeballs look like stark orbs sunken into the sockets. Teeth are rotting in her mouth, the ones she actually has are black as night. The little hair that exists on her head is shock white and frizzy. It's easy to tell where the horrific smell originates from.
I physically recoil away from her, eyes scanning my surroundings, searching for the quickest exit. All of a sudden thorn filled vines grow from the ground and block all possibilities, and my sense of fear grew exponentially when I realize there's no way I'm getting out of this. I close my eyes and once again will myself to wake up from this horrific dreamscape.
"Oh no, deary. You aren't getting away from me that easily." I refuse to open my eyes and look at her, instead standing very still and hope the guys can feel my fear and help me out of this situation.
"What do you want from me?" I ask on a pathetic whine, but I can't bring myself to care that my fear is coming off in waves. "I haven't done anything wrong." I plead.
"Your very existence is wrong." She's moved closer, and her revolting breath washes over my face, causing me to gag. I drop to my knees and empty my stomach onto the packed forest floor.
Once I have heaved everything out, and there's nothing left but bile, I sit back on my haunches. My eyes are watering from my efforts and I brush the wetness away. I sit back, defeated and dare to look up at her. I know I'm in a vulnerable position, but there isn't anything I can do about that right now. She looks down on me with a mixture of disgust and glee. The sneer on her face sets my heart pounding anew.
"I'm keeping you here, deary, for the time being." My heart lurches at her words.
"Why? What did I ever do to you?"
"Let's just say that you're the key to undoing something I sent forth a long time ago, and I'm not ready for my life's work to be demolished."
My brain works, trying to understand what she's telling me. There's something there, just at the back of my mind, but it's just out of reach. I stand up and prepare to walk away from her. I need to get that smell out of my nose, but when I attempt to take a step I'm blocked. I run my hands around the invisible wall that surrounds me. I turn and look at her.
"What did you do?" Now I'm getting angry.
"Just erected a cage to hold you in." She replies with a flair of her hand as if it was no big deal.
SHIFTER
JAMIE
I wake up as fear courses through me, but it isn't my own. Nor is it JJ's or Nev's. It's my beautiful Skye. I look down at her, lying so peacefully next to me. She looks like a fiery angel with her hair spread out everywhere. I send a silent message for JJ and Nev to get in here. I cover her naked body, then grab a pair of sweatpants off the floor and throw them on. Seconds later, they fly through the door, looking around for the threat that isn't here.
"What's happening?" JJ demands as he looks at our girl lying in the bed, seemingly nothing wrong with her. "Why is she panicked and scared? What did you do to her?"
"Whoa. First, I didn't do anything that she didn't ask for. Second, I think she's trapped in a dream-walk. That Dalton guy is dead, so who the fuck is scaring her right now?"
"Could the witch have sent another wolf?" Nev asks quietly as he paces back and forth. It's an effort right now to keep my wolf from taking over. I close my eyes and will him to calm down. When I open my eyes, I can see the others having to do the same thing. With our wolves somewhat calmer, we can think.
I close my eyes. I don't listen to what JJ and Nev are discussing. I hone in on Skye's emotions, taking them into myself so I can feel everything she does. As I do this, I find my mind drifting. I can still feel her, as well as the anger emanating off my brothers. I'm being drawn to her.
The forest appears behind my closed eyes. I can see where we would normally meet her, but the log she sits on is empty. I'm being drawn away, further into the forest. At once I come upon a wall of thorns, but I will myself through it. Nothing here is physical for me as I drift through the wall. When I'm on the other side and take in the scene before me, I'm instantly furious, and my wolf is snarling. My beautiful girl is pounding against something I can't see. A hideous person is standing in front of her, taunting her, laughing at her with a high pitched cackle, a large red hood bouncing against her shoulders as she releases her mirth.
I float closer, intent on ripping the heart out of this witch, but when I reach her, I have no effect on her at all. My wolf doesn't like that we can't hurt the person treating our mate with such disrespect. I growl in frustration.
"What's the matter wolf boy? Having a hard time?" At her words, Skye calms a little and looks around frantically. That's right, Beautiful, I'm here even though I don't know what I can do about it yet.
There has to be a reason I was able to see this even if I can't participate. I really want to participate. My wolf whines at that thought, in complete agreement. We would like nothing better than to tear the witch's throat out, and roll around in her entrails, reveling in the kill. I brush the fantasy away, and focus on Skye. I will her to see me.
"Jamie?" She asks tentatively, and my heart jumps. She looks right at me, or more likely, through me, but she knows it's me here, so that's something. I close my eyes, and concentrate on Skye. My thoughts are swirling, warring emotions scatter through my brain. I latch onto one, and put my full focus on that one emotion. It's not mine. It's Skye's. I use that singular emotion to power me, my body filling up with it.
"I love them so much. I can't lose them when I just found them." I hear her say. I open my eyes, but she isn't speaking out loud. That's when I realize I can hear her thoughts.
"Beautiful?" She jumps a little at my query, eyes scanning the surroundings. A look of defeat mars her features and her head hangs down.
"I'm losing my mind."
"No, Beautiful, you aren't losing your mind. We can hear each other's thoughts now." Her eyes widen at the realization.
"How?"
"I don't know, but that isn't important right now. Who is she?"
"I don't know. A witch. She said something about keeping me away so I wouldn't destroy her life's work." Skye is making furtive glances at the witch. I have my suspicions about who she is, but I'll have to table that for the moment, while I try to figure out how to get Skye out of this situation. "She has some kind of invisible barrier around me, and I can't get out of it." To prove her point, she pounds on it again.
"Okay, I want to try something. I'm going to continue focusing on this emotion from you that I'm holding. Try to latch onto it. In my head, not yours." She closes her eyes to concentrate. Some time while we were talking, the witch disappeared, but I don't have time to worry about where she went. I need to concentrate on this, and hopefully bring Skye back.
"That's a beautiful emotion." She whispers in my reverently.
"Love is always beautiful." I reply, and see a single tear slip down her perfect face. "Can you follow it back to me?"
She nods her head and concentrates. After a few minutes she nods again.
"I'm there. Now what?" She asks excitedly.
"Now you and me are going to use it to push outward. I'm hoping it's strong enough to break that barrier around you."
"Okay. I can do that."
Together we latch on and push outward. Love is such a strong emotion, I'm hoping it can dispel what the witch did. It takes a long time, and Skye's face is turning red from her efforts, but we are rewarded with a small crack. Skye heaves a few deep breaths, as if she had been holding it.
"Okay, great. Let's a take a moment, then try again." I tell her, and after a couple of minutes we do. I double my efforts, allowing my wolf to also latch on for extra strength.
The three of us push out, and it doesn't nearly as long for results. A large crack runs around the entire middle, meeting with the crack we made before. Skye smiles wide and starts to bang against the crack. After a few minutes, the crack starts to crumble until there's a hole large enough for her to step through.
"Okay, don't let go, I'm going to lead us back to the land of the waking." I reverse the steps I used to get here, making sure she's still with me.
Soon, I'm back in my bedroom. I open my eyes and rush to the bed, pushing JJ and Nev out of my way. I get there just in time to see my beautiful girl flutter her eyes open. Making sure she's covered, I gather her up in my arms. She hugs me back just as fiercely.
"What the hell is going on?" JJ demands. "Not that I'm not glad to see you're back, because I'm ecstatic, but how?" He looks bewildered, as does Nev. The elation that Skye's back has me giddy.
"Do you want to tell them? Or should I?" I ask her, then wink.