Page 10 of Mushy Stuff (Guardian Mates #1)

Everything is dark when I wake up, and I can’t tell if it’s day or night.

For the briefest moment, I forget where I am.

I can’t see anything. My heart starts racing, and I feel the prickle of sweat breaking out.

But then I roll over and my hand touches the moss-like fur on Wold’s back, and I remember everything.

I snuggle up to him and fall back asleep.

I wake up later when he moves to get up. “Is it morning?”

“No, it is afternoon. I usually sleep during the day and wake up in the evening.”

“Oh. Are you nocturnal?” I ask as I begin putting on my clothes .

“No, I just like the night better,” he explains. “There are less humans that I have to deal with at night.”

“Humans? Isn’t this a different world? What about the wall of magic that I ran into? Isn’t it supposed to keep them out?”

He sighs, “Yes, but there are sometimes thin spots like the one that you came through to get here. There have been more thin spots lately, and more humans slip in during the day than at night.”

“Oh. What happens to them if they wander in during the day while you are sleeping?” I ask as I try to run my fingers through my tangled hair.

“Part of the magic of the wall is that it repels humans. If one comes through a thin spot, they are usually extremely unsettled once they are on the fae side. It makes them want to turn around and go back. I do not like being the monster that scares people, so I would rather let them wander off on their own. You wandering so far in was unusual.”

I pause trying to untangle a stubborn knot in my hair and look at him. “But what if someone gets stuck here in the fae world like I did? Do you just let them wander off? ”

His face turns dark, and he’s giving me a look that I can’t quite read. “I am bound to protect this land. I would be compelled to kill them.”

I gape at him for a minute or two, the knots in my hair completely forgotten. When I feel like I can speak again, I say, “Um, Wold…compelled to kill them?! I’m a human trapped here!”

“I know, but I am not compelled to kill you. I am drawn to you. You are the only human that this has happened with. The others either went back on their own, or…I did as the bond demanded.”

A shiver wracks my body, and I cross my arms over my chest. I frown as I study his face. “I feel drawn to you too. That’s why I kept going once I crossed the creek. I felt pulled in by something,” I admit.

He tilts his head and studies me.

“What does that mean, Wold?”

“I do not know,” he says. “The way my birth mother raised me…I do not know much about our world. Only enough to survive.”

“Am I the only human in this world?” I ask.

“No. I have heard of others. The Elven are not bound to the land, and they are known to steal humans occasionally for their pleasure. They know of ways to bring them in past the Guardians,” he explains.

“There are spells that can allow the Elven to go through the wall, and they use them to go into the human world to steal people. But I do not know much more than this. My nursemaid told me to never allow any of the Elven to go through the wall in my territory, so I haven’t. ”

“Is that what you meant when you said that we could get stuff from the fae market to send me home?” I ask.

“Yes,” he replies.

“Do you know how to do the spell?”

“Yes, my nursemaid taught me. She wanted me to be able to escape my birth mother if I needed to, even if it meant going into the human world,” he says.

“You keep calling her your nursemaid, did she have a name?”

I can see the pain on his face when he says, “Yes, I called her Nanni when my birth mother wasn’t around. I wasn’t allowed to call her anything other than nursemaid when anyone else could hear us.”

“That’s so sad, Wold. I’m sorry that you had to grow up like that.” I pause, then say, “Well, I guess we have a plan. So what do you usually do during the day, er, I mean night?”

“We need to eat, so I will hunt for some more hoppers. Then I usually spend time in the cave tending to the mushrooms. I also survey my territory to make sure nothing is amiss.”

“Oh, I would love to see your territory! Can I come with you for that?” I say excitedly.

He looks at me curiously. “Yes. ”

“Would it be all right if I went for a swim to rinse off and try to get clean first?”

“That will be fine. I will go hunt for hoppers.”