and chittering of unseen animals preoccupied my senses.
Before long, a strange presence filled the air, and I suspected that we
were being watched. I took Savannah’s arm and raised a finger to my lips.
It wasn’t a sound that caught my attention, but rather a feeling of power
and silence. The noises of the forest died around us as a high-pitched
humming reverberated through the trees. My claws slipped out, and my
muscles tensed.
The smell of melon and sugar dulled my senses as a woman stepped
through a curtain of moss dangling from the gnarled trees. Had it been there
moments before? I couldn’t remember.
“Blessed day, beauties,” the woman drawled in a seductive voice,
planting her hands on her full hips. She stood over six feet tall, and her wild,
dark hair hung loosely around her, draped with vines and flowers. A crown of
stag horns rose above her brow, and her nails were sharpened into points.
“Now, which one of you summoned me?”
“I did,” Savannah said, slipping around me.
“My, my, two wolf pups lost in my wood. What brings you here?” The
woman’s eyes darkened as she gaped at Savannah, taking a step forward.
“That’s close enough,” I growled. Cavra’s head snapped to mine like an
animal’s, and her eyes brightened back to an emerald green. She smiled
maliciously as she took my measure but quickly set her gaze back on
Savannah.
I sensed Savannah’s fear, but she stood tall, betraying nothing. “We
understand that you dictated a book— The Grimoire of Nightmares—to a
witch named Sorsha Delamont. That book was stolen by a blood sorcerer,
and he’s using it to trap people in their dreams. We came to seek your help in
stopping him.”
The woman tilted her head back and let out a hearty laugh, the air around
her vibrating with magic. Whatever she was, she was powerful, and I didn’t
like it one godsdamned bit.