T he forest woke me. I didn’t know how, but I felt the trees reach for me. I slid out of bed and it was a testament to Caden’s exhaustion that he didn’t wake at my first movement. Seth was awake in the living room. His hazel eyes locked on me when I emerged from the bedroom.

The pull toward the window was stronger than the pull to him, so I walked right past him, opening the curtains and then the patio doors. Outside, the voice of the forest was louder.

It’s coming .

Goosebumps skittered over my flesh. I’d felt the forest before but I’d never heard it speak to me. Their cry reverberated through my bones, sending a surge of panic leaping up my spine that made my stomach clench and my breath squeeze out in a soft moan.

The hunter—what I’d dubbed the strange entity—was close.

I turned to Seth and he’d already gotten off the couch, his body frozen and trembling not far from me.

He was looking at me like he was starving and I was a meal freshly set before him.

Heat pulsed through my core and my clit throbbed.

His nostrils flared and his muscles tightened further.

I could have reached out and touched him if I wanted to, and want I did, but I wouldn’t hurt Caden like that.

Instead of pulling Seth close, I stepped back. “We need to leave.”

My words seemed to break the spell holding him immobile.

“Caden,” I called. He appeared in the doorway a second later. “The forest is warning us. It’s time to go.”

“I’m going to need to ask some questions,” said Caden.

“In the car,” I insisted, dragging the curtains closed.

Most of our things were already packed, so getting ready didn’t take long.

We returned our key through a slot in the door and as our car pulled away, I saw it.

Emerging from the trees like a disease, the hunter was amorphous—black sludge, smoke, and shards of blinding sunlight brought to life.

It rippled at the edge of the forest, smashing flailing arms against the trees that tried to hold it back.

Energy burned through me, revving like an engine until I was sweating and unable to look away.

“Drive,” I whispered, my attention focused on the beast. Caden tore out of there and the hunter shrieked. It ran at us but thankfully it wasn’t nearly as fast as we were in the car. I stared out the window until it disappeared from sight. Caden drove as fast as he could.

You saw it? Caden’s voice filled my head.

I nodded.

How close did it get?

“Too close.”

We drove in uncomfortable silence for another hour. It took that long for us all to settle. My body still tingled from the panic and I couldn’t forget the way Seth had looked at me. Forbidden ideas crept through my head.

I shouldn’t want both.

But I did.

I forced down a shiver at the thought of them, one pressed to my back and the other to my chest. I squirmed in my seat. They were so much nicer to think about than a monster wanting to kill us.

Caden’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel and Seth let out a low whine in the back seat.

“Sorry,” I whispered, embarrassment turning my cheeks hot. “I got scared.”

“Did you pick up a new perfume somewhere?” Caden asked.

“No. Why?”

“You smell different. It’s nice. I’m just not sure where it came from.”

“Oh. I dunno.”

Caden reached out and took my hand in his.

It was a comfort even if it made me think about that hand wrapped around my throat.

That would be way more fun than running for our lives.

At least if we were running west we would hit long flat stretches that would let us get a lot more distance between us and that creature.

Lo, can I sit with you?

I turned to the back seat, where Seth was sitting in his smallest form, looking at me with saucer eyes.

I absolutely shouldn’t let him while I was riled up, but I nodded anyway.

He slunk through the seats and sat his little booty on my lap.

Caden glared at him but Seth blinked innocently and curled into a ball.

His tiny feet made biscuits on my stomach when I petted his soft fur.

Why were cats so damn relaxing? I’d used Caden in the same way before, each stroke like a calming mantra that chilled us both out. Having Seth in his house cat form also helped temper my recalcitrant lust.

We zipped down I-79 through West Virginia, hauling ass toward Kentucky. We were about five hours from Lexington and thankfully I’d peed before we left because I knew none of us wanted to stop too soon.

“I vote we drive as far as we possibly can. Switch off every few hours, stop for food and bathrooms, regroup, and have a proper overnight.” Caden’s hands were locked in a death grip around the steering wheel.

“It took that thing about a day to get to us. If we drive through the night, that should give us at least a few days of reprieve to figure shit out.”

“I’m cool with that.” I checked out the map on my phone. “It looks like after a solid day of driving we’ll end up around Denver, Albuquerque, or Bismarck, depending on where we branch off on the way.”

“My personal vote is the Denver route,” said Caden. “If we have to go farther I know there’s a permanent nest near Portland if we get desperate. Once we get past Salt Lake City, we can blast up I-84 all the way there.”

Plus, trees . Seth thought, perking up his head. I’d rather keep Lo near forests if the trees are telling her when that thing is getting close. Speaking of, what the hell was up with that?

“I have no idea. It’s never happened before.”

I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth if the trees wanted to keep us alive. I gave Seth a deep tummy rub and triggered his air biscuits, his paws curling happily as his purr rumbled. Caden rolled his eyes, but I saw the tiniest upturn at the corner of his mouth.

That spot is mine when we switch off.

I reached over and ran my nails over the back of Caden’s neck, toying with the short hairs until he relaxed under my fingertips.

Touching them both relaxed me far more than the distance we were putting between us and the hunter.

I wanted to fall asleep with one on each side, caged and protected.

But I didn’t want Caden to be uncomfortable.

The further we got, the more exhaustion crept in. Caden put the radio on low and I pushed my chair back, letting the sway and gentle rumble of the vehicle lull me to sleep.

Caden’s hand in my hair woke me and I blinked into the late-afternoon light.

“Where are we?”

Seth yawned and stretched, shaking himself awake.

“Lexington. I figured we could do with some food and a short walk.”

“Sounds like heaven.”

Seth hopped into the back seat and I righted myself so he had room to wriggle into his clothes. We swung through a drive-thru for some burgers and stopped at the Lexington National Cemetery to walk.

“Interesting choice,” I commented as we pulled into the parking lot.

Caden shrugged. “Walking trails and trees. I figure it’s closer to a forest than an open park.”

“Fair enough.”

I actually loved cemeteries, especially old ones.

We wandered through, passing ornate gravestones and monuments.

It was beautiful, and if I didn’t think too hard, I could pretend we were here as tourists.

I’d always wanted to do a cross-country road trip, but these circumstances were less than ideal.

Trees cradled more than a thousand graves, some dating to the Civil War and others far more recent.

If we weren’t on the run, I’d have wandered through to find the most interesting stone, researched names I came across, and enjoyed the winding paths with their careful landscaping.

We couldn’t linger, though. By the time we’d finished eating, Caden was already tensing again and glancing around.

Seth took over the driving when we got back to the car and Caden took up his spot in my lap. I couldn’t help but laugh when he stood, putting his paws on my chest to rub my face, scenting me with his cheeks before staring at Seth.

“Jealous boy,” I cooed.

Caden didn’t disagree with the statement and instead curled up on top of my boobs, forcing me to cradle him so he didn’t slide down. I cuddled him close and scratched under his chin.

Seth was a lot more reckless at the wheel than Caden. He zipped around other vehicles, flying down the highway as we left the city limits.

“We’re going to get pulled over,” I protested.

“Nah. I never get pulled over.”

Caden rubbed his head under my chin. His phone pinged and I fished it out of his discarded jeans in the back seat. My thumbprint was coded in so I unlocked it and held it in front of him, clicking on the notification.

Someone responded to my post .

I scrolled to the newest response for him.

I think it could be a witch wraith. Haven’t heard about one showing up for centuries, but it’s the closest I’ve come across based on what you’re saying and what’s been recorded in the past. No idea how to get it off your tail or how to kill it.

Someone did some fucked-up magic to make it and you’d have to find out how and who to have any luck.

I read it out loud for Seth’s benefit after scanning the words.

“A witch wraith? What the fuck is that?” Seth asked.

I pulled out my own phone, careful not to let Caden fall, and punched the term into a search.

Almost no information about it existed. It looked like they ate magic.

Like a lot of supernatural things, they weren’t a fan of salt or iron, but it didn’t sound like either would kill them.

The thing I’d seen didn’t seem to have much of a physical form so it wasn’t like I could go buy an iron skillet and bash its head in.

Salt sounded like good news, though. On the next grocery run we could grab some big containers to have on hand.

Even if it only deterred it for a few seconds, that could be the difference between life and death.

Why couldn’t there be an easy solution? Splashing some holy water on it or chucking garlic at it would be so much nicer. Too bad I was all too aware that things weren’t as simple as the legends had made them out to be.

I groaned.

Unknowable entities were a bitch.

I set my phone down and put it all out of my mind for the moment.

Caden’s paw curled on my arm and he looked up at me. When we have a bed again, I fully intend on de-stressing you to the best of my ability.

Need clenched my stomach.

We can pick up some nice rope.

I glanced at Seth, unsure how I could respond to Caden without making it obvious that we were talking about sex stuff. “I want to, but is that safe?”

The first night, yes. It can’t move as fast as us. With this kind of distance between us, there should be no danger in trussing you up.

I shivered. I wanted it so badly. No thinking, only feeling. Desire rose up my spine; a burning craving cut through my chest.

Seth squeezed the steering wheel tighter and shifted in his seat. My brain supplied a litany of images—the two of them pinning me so effectively they had no need for ropes, rendering me helpless to their appetites.

Caden needed an uglier brother. Jesus fucking Christ. This was just unfair.

I didn’t outwardly acknowledge that Seth could smell the shift in my scent as easily as Caden could. It wasn’t my fault my brain was a vicious traitor. There were too many hours between me and satisfaction.

How was I supposed to cope?

It would be so much more convenient if I could crawl into the back seat with Caden in his human form, let him sneak those wicked fingers inside my leggings and tease my pussy until I was too much of a mess to comprehend anything but his touch.

Getting worked up? Caden looked at me innocently from my arms. I smacked his furry ass. Cheeky little bastard.

Seth squirmed again and I bit my tongue, determined not to make a peep.

I tried to subtly squeeze my thighs to get pressure on my clit, but all it did was make things worse.

I swallowed the whimper I desperately wanted to let free.

My traitor brain told me to do it, to make that pitiful sound, to let them pull over so Caden could toss me on my back and eat me out on his knees on the interstate.

Fuck.

I closed my eyes.

This was going to be a long day.