Page 20 of The Unbound Witch

“In your dreams, Pup.” Grey held him tight for several more steps before finally releasing the shifter, who promptly shoved him with both hands, causing him to trip and fall to the ground.

Torryn shared a half smile with me before grabbing both of the fighting men by the collars and yanking them to their feet, as if he’d done it a thousand times.

A quiet snort brushed my ear before Kirsi whispered, “Who knew Grey was such a man-child?”

“It’s nice to see him happy.” I smiled. “We rarely get to see that side of the shifters.”

“Animals,” she added, though I could hear the lightness to her words. The laughter somewhere far away, if only a trace to her haunted tone.

“So?” Atlas asked, tilting his head toward me as he swept the dirt from his black pants.

Grey shook his head. “Better to tell the tale once.”

Torryn nodded, reaching up to pat the thick neck of my stolen horse. “I imagine anything that has taken you away from the castle and dropped you here is quite a tale.”

They avoided paying much attention to me as we went, laughing like old friends. I didn’t miss the way they watched our surroundings, even now, hidden deep within the forest they expertly navigated.

“Tell me Ash has been asking when I’ll return,” Atlas said, pulling back a branch so I could pass below it.

I felt guilty riding the horse as they walked, but no one seemed bothered. And I knew I couldn’t do it. Even now, my energy drained. My eyelids grew heavier, my limbs ached.

“She married Tomas last spring,” Grey said, his voice serious.

Atlas jerked to a stop, whipping around, his blue eyes wide. “Tomas? The fucking fox?”

“The one and only,” Grey answered, holding his grim face. “Said she couldn’t sit around and wait on a guy that wouldn’t commit or make her toes curl.”

Torryn burst into laughter, the sound deep and smooth through the darkness of the dense forest around us. Grey cracked, his own laughter a sound that twisted my heart, even as Atlas stormed ahead.

“You guys are dicks.”

“I take it Ash is a shifter?” I asked quietly, torn on whether I should intrude on their conversation.

“Atty has been friends with Ash since they were pups. She’s a wolf, too. The fastest you’ve ever seen,” Grey explained. His eyes flashed to Atlas, a conversation happening without words before the shifter nodded and Grey continued. “After he lost someone he loved, he tried to get over her using Ash.”

“But,” Torryn jumped in, “Ash wasn’t having it. She said she found him… What’s the word she used the day we left?”

“Asinine.” Grey chuckled, snapping his fingers. “That was it, wasn’t it?”

“She meant it in a loving way.” Atlas pulled back another branch, letting us all pass him by. “And I don’t need or want a partner, especially one that… the fox? Seriously?”

“Is it safe for me to come out yet?” Kir asked, so close to me I jumped at the tone of her voice.

“Only if you’re pretty,” Atlas joked, releasing the tree limb he held.

In one fell swoop, before he could see it happening, Kir hauled a branch back and whacked him right in the face.

“Okay. Fair. I probably deserved that,” he said, rubbing his brow.

Grey clutched his chest in laughter. “Kirsi Moondance, my friends.”

She appeared beside Atlas, the ethereal glow lighting the surrounding forest in a soft blue tone. A beacon in the darkness.

“Pleasure,” she said with just enough bite, Atlas moved away.

“Since Raven is too polite to ask, what’s the story here? Who are you guys?”

“We’re guards for Eden,” Torryn answered.