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When he speaks, his voice is low and his warm breath caresses my lips. “What the feck are you thinking?”
I realize his hand cradles the back of my head, protecting it from the fall. His other hand presses into the ground beside me. It’s an intimate hold. I can feel almost every inch of his body pressed against me. I could easily lean forward, close the gap between us—
No.
The lack of oxygen is muddling my thoughts.
“Get off of me!” I push Rainer’s solid body off of me, lying there trying to process what happened as the oxygen whooshes back into my lungs and brain.
“Did you recognize who that was?” he asks.
Pushing himself to stand, he reaches down to offer me a hand. I slap it away, pressing myself up instead.
“I don’t need your help”
“Clearly you do.” He latches the gate, peering beyond it for a second before turning back to me. “What are you thinking—leaving the grounds?!”
“Hypocritical, don’t you think.” Considering he was just out there. How else would he have been able to tackle me like that?
I rub my aching tailbone, wincing. His eyes follow the movement.
“Are you hurt?” The concern in his voice catches me off guard.
“No,” I lie. “What were you doing out there?”
His jaw tightens. “That doesn’t concern you.”
“My friend is out there.” I glance past him, into the dark woods beyond the iron gate. “We need to find her.”
“Whatever you saw, it wasn’t what you think it was.”
“You saw her too?”
He doesn’t reply immediately.
If he saw her, too, it means it wasn’t my fear. It wasn’t the trees manipulating me.
Striding past him, I head for the gate. His hand flashes out, gripping my wrist.
“Don’t,” he pleads.
It’s his tender tone that causes me to pause.
“Why not?”
“It’s not safe.” He grits his teeth. “You can’t leave the property.”
“Thanks for the reminder, captor.”
“You could very well be lying in the woods dead if I weren’t here right now.” He releases me, and my skin tingles where his touch was. “How could you be so—so stupid?”
“Me, stupid? You’re the imbecile! You didn’t have to attack me when you have your infuriating magick boundary popping up anytime I even try to leave. Surely it would’ve—"
“No. If it wasn’t for me you—” He smooths his hands over his face with a growl. “Forget it.”
Char’s words from before she died rush into me. She had specifically said, “Do not linger in the forest, on either side, especially if it calls to you.”
She clearly knew something about the Cursed Wood and its capabilities.
