Hunted [Wild Hunt Series: 1]

27: Twenty-Eight

It was difficult to say when exactly I'd woken up; since the prior night's events unfolded I'd felt vaguely awake much the entire time. That intangible line separating reality from dream had been erased for several miasmic hours. What I had dreamed and what had actually occurred mingled together in a singularly toxic, fleeting memory. What I knew at present was the warmth of another humid day; the gentle, purring rise and fall of Shail's shoulder; the eye-pounding throbs of a massive headache and that uncomfortable sleepy reluctance to get up, not because you want to, but because you had to pee. There was no doubt in my mind that that was the real reason behind my abrupt awakening.

In those first few moments a small level of confusion settled onto my shoulders. I sat fully, turned back around. The crag cat's head lifted. Shail watched me for a moment, then settled his snout back across his paws. Not shortly after that, he flopped completely onto his side, clubbed tail grinding through the partly-dried soil. In the dark, and with what I now understood to be some kind of poison running through my veins, I hadn't been able to see much of Chiro's cave. My flat cat and I were sprawled several feet away from the drippy overhang, situated in the brief stretch of dirt, small grasses and stone.

By that point I had recovered just enough mental acuity to realize something was wrong with this picture. I searched through my fragmented recall. I didn't remember Chiro leaving or anyone else arriving. There was definitely a huge chunk of time missing.

And then Dakota stepped past the ashes of a dead fire. "Nice of you to join us," she said, nodding her head backward. Past the greying, wet ash, beyond Dakota's skinny frame and blood-rusted gown, sat several pale and dirty shadows of the women we'd rescued. I scanned their curious faces, and by head count alone knew there were more than we'd had. I lifted my hand dumbly and waved at the newcomers.

Dakota clutched a hunk of jerky-like meat in one hand. "You hungry?" she asked.

"Have to pee," I said, pushing myself off the ground. I paused to peer into the cave once more: neither wolf nor demon lurked among the white gowns. "Where's—?"

"Hell if I know. " She shrugged. "Dot wouldn't stop screaming whether he was man or beast. Attracting all kinds of attention. We had to shut her up. If he didn't move off, I'd have had to gag her. He went out to make sure no one's come close. His creepy pet keeps coming back to sniff you, so I'd wager he's not far."

"When'd the wolf last visit?" I asked, allowing myself a languid stretch.

"Fifteen minutes ago? It'll be back soon."

"I'll follow him," I decided. "In the mean time..."

The woman let me pee before my bladder exploded, then did her best to fill me in on what'd transpired since early this morning. Apparently Chiro had left me here in the cave and gone to fetch my own potential 'brides' back at the waterfall. Dakota and some of the others were a bit shocked that he'd known exactly where to go, but I wasn't. Of course he'd known where we were; among other things, like having a wolf that kept trying to get on my good side even though he dragged away my calf, Chiro had given me directions on how to befriend a cat like Shail. Last night, the demon had warded off some silly sticks and a very pissed Dakota before she'd surrendered. They talked. He told them about packing up and heading to the castle as soon as possible- which was set to begin, apparently, soon after I awakened.

While many of the women remained huddled in the cave, unsure when we were leaving but more than ready to leave the somber forest, Dakota and I sunned ourselves beside Shail. Not to be rude, of course. Mostly because I wasn't feeling well enough to hear a round of names that I'd immediately forget thanks to my headache and current mess of thoughts. I'd talk to them after my aches and pains subsided and I figured out our game plan moving forward. Knowing their names and where they came from and what they liked to do wasn't going to be of any use to anyone if we were all dead or enslaved. And then there came, as Dakota scratched Shail's chin, the realization that my high school enemy was actually my closest friend here.