"Let him be. He's done nothing wrong," Caleb growled.
The two cackled their unnatural laughs.
"The spirit in the house doesn't like him; it believes he plans to take away your Marci. He isn't innocent. "
That caught his attention. "What do you mean? Marci wouldn't go with him. So who cares what he wants."
The two pixies circled, their fingers running along his chest, his shoulders, his biceps. He held his stance; they wouldn't get the better of him.
"What makes you so certain, shifter? Deny that she is yours too long and perhaps fate can be cruel. Our little spirit likes Marci; it trusts her. It likes you too, shifter."
The one pixie moaned in disappointment. "Too bad his soul is spoken for by that little witch. He could be fun."
She giggled.
"The clock is ticking, shifter. Find her. Claim her, and you shall have her."
He had no idea what the hell kind of magic these pixies had, Annie needed to work on her initiation of this little club. His bear sniffed in impatience; he had no problem with this little game. His human side did. The cold reality of losing her echoed through him like shots firing among the trees.
"What if she doesn't want me?"
The pixie woman moved closer. "Oh, my sweet sexy shifter. I wouldn't worry. She won't deny you." A long forked tongue slithered out of her mouth and licked his cheek.
He stood rigid.
"That's not how mating works. Marci has to be allowed to choose me. She has to know her own heart," he said.
The blond pixie stepped away.
"You ruin all the fun. Yes, shifter. We know. The rules still stand. She will never find her way out of this forest if you don't claim her."
His next words burned like acid in his mouth.
"What about Jeff?"
The other pixie flitted around, back in her winged form.
"He can go too, unless he eats something. Then we get to keep him."
Caleb's hand darted out and grabbed her. He began to squeeze, and the pixie in the Marci-suit hissed.
"Fine. You keep the human. Release her. You harm any creature in this forest, and you will be breaking the accords between your world and ours."
He smirked. "I highly doubt the accords allow you to harm humans or any other magical creature or person."
She shrugged. "Gray areas. Now go. Your time is running out. You might not feel the effects of our magic, but she does."
Her words slapped him back to reality. Annie had said shifters were the only ones not affected by the forest.
Without a word, he took off in a direction his bear knew would take her to him.
* * *
He crashed through the underbrush for what seemed like hours.
"Marci. Where are you?"
He sniffed the air, but her scent had no direction. She was close; he felt her. The bear growled at being trapped. He stomped his paw deep within Caleb's soul.
What am I missing?
The bear blinked and closed his eyes. Caleb didn't have time to argue and did the same. Standing there he tried to use his other senses. Hearing did no good; he hadn't heard a single word from her.
He tried to remain still, keep the anger and fear buried. That's when he felt it. A tug - a pull from his core. Following the strange feeling, he moved, opening his eyes the instant the tugging grew tighter, stronger.
His eyes focused on the luminescent blue and at a figure lying in a small patch of low ferns. He nearly tripped as he ran to her.
"Marci?"
Grabbing her shoulders, he crouched down and pulled her against him.
"You're not Caleb."
She didn't reach for him.
"No. I am. It's me."
Her glassy gaze flicked to him and started to clear, her pupils focusing.
"Is it?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"It is," he answered.
Something on her face said she didn't believe him. The pixies were wrong, and he was already too late.
"Smile for me," she asked.
His eyes widened. "Okay."
He smiled as her fingers traced his lips. He nuzzled into her hand. The warmth of her skin everything his body craved.
Without another word, she pulled his face to hers, and she kissed him.
Her taste was sweet. It had been too long since Caleb had tasted her. He pushed in and kissed her harder, longer, deeper.
Pulling her in closer, her body leaning into him, as she controlled the kiss. She pulled herself up, climbing him, trying to get closer to him and God, he was willing to hold her as close as she wanted.
She pulled away.
"You're naked. Why are you naked? None of the others have been naked."
What? "What others?"
She started to shake. "So many of you and yet not you. None of them were you. So many of them. What if I picked the wrong one? My magic doesn't work here? I'm stuck here."
She began to ramble and shake. Caleb tried to hold her tighter, tried to keep the words from tumbling from her swollen pink lips.
The glossy look in her eyes said more than her words. She wasn't here at the moment, she was, but something wasn't right.
His bear snarled, angry at being trapped. Right now all he could do was follow their instinct.
17
Marci blinked and still couldn't clear her head. Was he real? He felt real. He tasted real. His smile the same that she remembered.
What if it wasn't him though? Was it cheating if she didn't know? Did it matter? If she died here, wouldn't it be better to die in his arms?
She covered her eyes with the palm of her hand blocking out the twinkling of the forest. Her rationality sitting just behind the drunken thoughts of whatever this forest did to her.
What was the forest doing to her? Her soul ached for something only he could offer and her body pulsed with
