Page 103 of Daman

Daman cracked another smile. “It’s the living you need to be worried about.”

Gray raised the hood on his coat, covering his eyes, and spoke in a scratchy, exaggerated tone, “Where’s my toe?”

“What the fuck?” Ivan asked.

“You don’t know the story?” Gray lowered his hood and sighed. “A corpse who’s searching for her big toe. Some boy finds it in his chili.”

Ivan curled his nose. “Disgusting.”

Daman came to a sudden stop, his gaze falling to the snowy ground. Trees bowed on either side of it, and there was a small break above them, showing a peek of the gray sky. “A shack used to stand right there. It’s where I lived.”

I placed my hand on his lower back, offering him what little comfort I could. This was a lot harder on him than he showed.

“We should keep moving,” he said, tearing his gaze from the spot. “There’s a stream not far from here. The ridge isn’t far beyond that.”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t find the cave again after meeting him?” Castor asked. “How do you know it’s there now?”

“I don’t know for sure. It’s just a feeling.”

Kyo pressed his lips together.

“What is it?” Daman asked him.

“Nothing.”

“Just fucking say it,” Daman snapped. “We don’t have all goddamn day.”

“Hey, don’t talk to him like that.” Castor stepped toward Daman. “I love you, but I’ll kick your fucking ass.”

“Lay a hand on him and I’ll break it off.” I growled and put myself between him and my mate.

Castor’s nostrils flared as he returned my glare. And that caused my warriors to step in behind me, hands going to the hilts of their swords.

“Whoa.” Gray pushed against Castor’s chest and looked between the both of us. “You mated dudes are protective as hell, huh? Knock it off with the macho bullshit. We’re in a haunted forest, racing against the clock to find a key before Asa does. Kick each other’s asses later.”

“Yeah, Prince Douche.” Castor smirked. “Knock it off.”

“Stop,” Kyo told him. “For fuck’s sake.”

“War.” Daman pressed his face against the side of my neck. His nose was cold. The anger bubbling in my veins calmed as his earthy scent hit me. “It’s my fault.” He then faced Kyo. “But I still want to know what you were thinking. So spill it.”

“Okay.” Kyo squared his jaw. “I read that some people hallucinate while in the forest, and many claim to lose track of time. They were in one place one moment and somewhere else the next with no memory of how they got there.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was all in your head. The man in the cave. The mysterious white stone. It explains why you could never find him again. Because he doesn’t exist.”

Daman gritted his teeth together. “Yeah? What about the warning?”

“A warning you couldn’t remember until shit started happening. You could’ve made it up yourself. I’m not trying to be an asshole. I just read—”

“You read a few articles about this place, and now you think you have all the answers?” Daman’s body tensed. “You don’t know shit. It wasn’t a goddamn dream.”

“Okay. Enough of that.” Bellamy put a hand on Daman’s chest. “I think we should rest for a while and continue later. We’re all fucking exhausted.”

“You can rest if you want.” Daman shoulder checked Bellamy as he walked past him. “I’m going to keep looking.”

“Wait.” I grabbed his arm. “Bellamy’s right. We should rest. Tensions are high right now.”