Page 32 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Sylvie

I stared for the longest time, waiting for something else to happen, but it never did. The tree just stood there, dead—from alive to gone in a split second. No fire flickered in its core, no ash blew away in the wind.

The tire swing was nowhere to be seen. Stretching out from the tree were long lines of black-scorched grass. The lightning had come from nowhere and struck the one tree not part of the forest. Then it was gone, disappearing back into the clear blue sky as fast as it had come.

I stared at the maze of blackened lines etched into the ground, all leading back to the tree itself.

“That’s some coincidence.”

I searched my gut for any warning signs, any fears of danger, but I got nothing. Was it really a freak accident?

It couldn’t be. The clouds had bathed the house in darkness. It had been so pitch black that I hadn’t been able to see my hand in front of my face. For a split second only, perhaps, but I hadn’t imagined it. I wasn’t crazy.

I picked up the journal and looked at the last entry once more, where my grandmother had said that I would think her crazy.

“Was this your way of proving that you aren’t?” I asked the book, looking between it and the window. “Because that was too much, Grandma. Way too much.”

Putting the book down, I headed to the back porch. Still not even so much as a shiver down my spine. No indications of danger. There was no smell of burning in the air, and as I tiptoed across the grass to get closer to the tree, I couldn’t feel any heat either.

The rope from the tire swing was completely and totally gone. The tire itself I spotted twenty feet away, having banged off the side of the shed. It wasn’t melted. Wasn’t even scorched. A bit of rope was still wrapped around it, but most of the line had simply flash-fired into ash.

I stopped short of the tree, staring up at it. The evening sun was now quite warm on my skin. No leaves were left in the tree to provide shade. Only the branches. All of them blackened without being burned. Something had simply robbed the tree of life.

Looking at the ground, I eyed the crazed pattern of burned lines, trying to make sense of it.

Was it random, or was there more? My subconscious was telling me there was a pattern in it, but I couldn’t spot it.

All I could tell was that it didn’t seem to be as random as it should be.

Walking around the tree to the far side, I tried to spot what was setting off a part of my brain, but I couldn’t.

“Was this a sign?” I asked the empty air. “Did you send this, Grandma, to tell me that the past is over, and it’s time to move on? I’m not sure what else I could interpret from that.”

Walking up to the trunk of the old oak, I held my palm out and slowly leaned it in closer. Still no heat. In fact, touching the bark it seemed … cold. Like death should be.

The bark where I had touched the tree abruptly peeled back and fell to the ground.

“What the hell?” I looked into the trunk, only to see that the inside wasn’t dead wood. It was rotted. Decaying. Decomposing in front of my eyes.

Nails clawed at my spine.

Crack!

I scrambled out of the way as one of the mighty branches came plunging down right where I’d stood. Breathing heavily, I stared at the spot I’d been. A branch that size would have killed me. Only the fact I’d started moving early had saved me.

More terrible noises signaled the rest of the tree branches falling off in huge chunks. Bark came with it, peeling down the tree. Rotting debris poured from underneath as it shed layers. Peeling away like the skin of a fruit.

I took another step back. My spine was still tingling. So I took another.

The thickest part of the trunk split apart like a cheese string right down to the core, and my spine lit up with warnings. I raced around the circle of dead oak, making for the house.

Halfway there, the core of the tree moved . Distracted by the horrifying sight, I tripped over a fallen branch and hit the grass hard. So it was as the center of the tree unfurled, shedding the rotting wood like a cocoon, revealing the ebony wood at the center.

Among more snaps, wood peeled away from the core, like arms and legs. A nail gun ran down my spine, shrieking with warnings of danger and death as a humanoid wooden figure stepped out of the rotting core. Moving toward me.

Its limbs continued to split and braid themselves together until they looked like a child’s hair. Black and shiny. And absolutely not natural.

I had to get out of there. Getting to my feet, I backed away as the tree-thing took an unsteady step toward me. Then another. Each time its movements grew in confidence, the faceless wood showing no emotion or purpose.

The thing extended a hand toward me, and I opened my mouth to scream. Nothing came out. An invisible hand was latched around my neck, squeezing tight.

Bloodbound.

The voice roared in my head, instantly giving me a headache that threatened to split my skull in half. I turned and ran, clawing at the ghostly pressure on my throat.

Bloodbound.

Bloodbound.

Bloodbound.

It wouldn’t quit. I dashed toward the forest, the dark tree-thing stabbing its branch-legs into the ground as it came along in pursuit. My danger senses weren’t letting up. They combined with the pounding in my head in a cacophony of noise that was impossible to sort out.

I darted under the branches of the forest, the tree-thing moving with increasing grace with every step as it chased me.

Under the canopy, I hoped for the warm, protective embrace I had felt so often, but I didn’t get it.

While I hadn’t expected the forest to save me, it would have been a nice boost. A surge of energy, to keep running as the tree monster came on, moving faster as it aged.

Bloodbound.

I ran on, finding a clear path wherever I went.

The wind was heavy even deep in the forest, and each time I glanced behind me, it seemed the wind was blowing bushes or tree limbs into the path of the entity.

I had to be imagining it, of course. But my path was unimpeded.

I was putting some distance between us. Perhaps I could escape after all.

Something snagged my ankle. I fell, shrieking in fear, knowing the tree-thing would be on me in a flash. Looking over my shoulder, I watched it step through a particular thick section of brush that was reluctant to give way. Slowing it, or trying to. Was the forest acting on my behalf?

I scrambled backward as the tree-thing thrust one dark-wood arm toward me.

Bloodbound.

The tendrils of wood lengthened like leather, the end spreading like a maw of snakes reaching for me. It was death. That’s what it was. I stared it down, my spine gone silent. It knew this was the end. There was no escaping it.

To my left a branch snapped. It was followed by a growl so deep the very forest floor vibrated in return.

Out of the bushes stepped a humungous gray beast, stopping the tree-thing cold with its presence.

Death receded in my eyes as I stared at the familiar gray wolf.

One eye flashed with fire, the other with ice as it stared down the tree-monster, the two wicked gashes down its flank a vibrant warning that it was not afraid of a fight.