AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * * *
Izel had just sent a rotund man who’d died of a heart attack to his afterlife when he felt himself being pulled away. He sighed, wondering when he would be able to get back to his mates.
When the tugging sensation faded, Izel frowned as he gazed at his surroundings. How was he back in this ancient forest? Just like the first time, this wasn’t his intended destination. He’d been pulled back here somehow.
Voices floated toward him. If Izel was going to get to the bottom of this, he needed answers. Cautiously, he moved in the direction of the sound. When the trees gave way to the stream he’d used the last time to escape, he saw Duncan, who was once again nude, and Orion standing there, holding hands, as Orion looked nervously around.
“Izel!” Orion cried when his mate spotted him. “Where in the hell have you been? And why are we back here?”
Izel approached them slowly. He didn’t understand how they’d ended up in this place once more, but he was relieved to see them safe. “I haven’t the faintest,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I was just yanked here.”
“Did you bring us here?” Orion asked.
“No,” Izel replied firmly. “I would never do that.”
Duncan looked around, his eyes narrowing. “I feel like we’re in an episode of Black Mirror.”
“I have no idea what that reference is, but we need to get out of here.” Izel’s emotions might be dulled, but the impending sense of danger gripped him.
“Can’t you just do what you did last time?” Duncan asked.
Izel opened his mind, searching for the exit they’d used before, but it was no longer there. “It’s closed to us.”
“Fucking fantastic,” Duncan growled. “You got us into this mess, so get us out of it.”
“How did I get us into this?” Izel asked. “I was just as powerless as you when I was yanked here.”
“If you hadn’t shown up at my house, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Duncan argued.
“Fighting isn’t going to get us home.” Orion pressed his lips together. “Both of you knock it off. You two are giving me a headache.”
Izel held up a hand, cocking his head. “Quiet, both of you.”
Duncan scowled but didn’t say a word. Izel listened closely, the sound of a low growl reaching him.
“We have to keep moving.” He tugged on Orion’s hand, but his mate refused to move.
“Not until you tell us what’s going on,” Orion demanded.
“We’re being stalked,” Izel said. “Is that a good enough reason to keep moving, or should we stand here and debate the issue?”
“We can keep moving,” Orion said quickly as he looked behind them. “Knees to chest. Knees to chest.”
Izel led them away from the stream, moving silently through the dense foliage. Orion and Duncan followed at his sides, their hands tightly clenched together. The forest seemed to grow darker as they moved deeper into it, and the sounds of nocturnal creatures filled the air.
Izel’s senses were on high alert as he sniffed the air, trying to catch the scent of their pursuer. He couldn’t quite place it, but he knew it wasn’t natural. “Whatever is stalking us isn’t like anything I’ve ever encountered before,” he whispered to Duncan.
Duncan nodded, scanning the tree line as they moved. “I can feel its presence, but I can’t seem to get a clear read on it. It’s like trying to see through a fog.”
Izel could hear the growls growing louder, and he knew they didn’t have much time left. “We need to find a way out of here,” he said. “Now.”
“How?” Orion asked.
Izel stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing as he stared into the darkness ahead. “There,” he hissed, pointing toward a faint glow in the distance. “That’s our way out.”
Without hesitation, Izel took off toward the light, pulling Orion and Duncan behind him. The forest seemed to come alive around them as they ran, the sounds of snapping twigs and rustling leaves filling their ears. But none of them looked back, focusing only on the light ahead.
As they approached, the light grew brighter and brighter until it enveloped them completely. They stumbled out onto the streets of downtown Midnight Falls, panting and disoriented. No one was on the street to witness the three men appearing out of thin air, which was a good thing, as Duncan was still naked, and Izel was wearing his reaper robe.
