The Hollow Gods (The Chaos Cycle #1)

Chapter 33

Chapter

Thirty-Three

When Kai came to, he was face down in the earth, naked and covered in grime. Nothing felt weirder than mud stuck between the cockles of his balls and cold wind scraping against his ass. As he rolled over and opened his eyes, the first thing he saw were the nimble branches of the towering willow, swaying gently above him. It did little to put him at ease. His whole body felt like it had been mauled by a truck—twice.

Sitting up, he looked himself over, the blood on his arms reminding him he’d been roaming the woods hunting. To the right was a brown mass—a small deer—freshly killed with a grisly trail of blood and entrails tying Kai to the crime scene.

The morning air was colder than usual against his flesh, and, as always, he had no idea where the fuck his clothes were. Feeling like a thousand pounds of lead, he slowly stood to his feet and grimaced. The shame was as stubborn as the bloodstains.

“Get a grip,” he growled. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let the balm of the forest wash over him. He caught the trickle of a familiar scent followed closely by a shrill cry. His stomach twisted.

“No, no, no,” he muttered through clenched teeth, stepping around a shrub and making a sharp turn towards the intruder.

Crouching in the leaves was the damn sheep, with the raven creeping from the branches above. No doubt he’d led her to him; she wouldn’t have wandered this deep into the woods otherwise. She’d gathered his clothes after following them like a trail of breadcrumbs. His pants and shirt hung over her arm while she held his hunting knife in hand. When she finally noticed him, the colour rose to her cheeks as she tried keeping her gaze above his waistline. Neither of them spoke as they glared at one another in poorly-veiled hostility.

His eyes travelled to the hunting knife, then back to her face. “That’s mine.”

She stood up and whipped the clothes at him. He made no attempt to catch them, ignoring the heap as it flopped to the ground.

“You’re an asshole,” she hissed, still holding his knife hostage.

He raised an eyebrow, then bent over to retrieve his clothes. He’d been called far worse for far less.

“Stop that,” she ordered.

He glanced up, dusting his pants off. “Stop what?”

“Stop dismissing me.”

He snorted. “I don’t care if you feel dismissed.”

Kai could feel the tension in her body as she marched up to him and shoved him with all her strength. “I care!” she yelled. “You have no idea what kind of hell I just went through—your hell!”

He stumbled back, surprised by how strong she was—and angry. But like an animal under attack, his eyes flashed, and he took a step forward, throwing the clothes to the ground as he roared in her face. “I don’t want you in my head!”

For a moment, she recoiled. Good , he thought. She should have been more afraid—but his relief was short-lived.

“Don’t want me in your head?” she echoed incredulously, gathering her wits. “I was in your head because you needed help!”

Fuck her rational thinking. “I didn’t ask for your help, so stay out,” he seethed, then pointed towards the carcass. “Or is that what you want?” He threw his hands up for her to see the bloodstains.

She glanced over at the deer, paling at the sight of it. He heard her stomach flip, her throat tightening as she forced down nausea and scanned his bloodied figure.

“Quit chasing me,” he warned. “Even if this was a fairy tale, you know exactly what I’d be.”

“But you came back for me, you dimwit!” she retorted. “ You pulled me into the woods with you!”

He silenced her by closing the gap between them in one menacing stride. Her heart seized in her chest as he glowered down at her. She clenched her jaw, trying defiantly to hide her fear, but the predator in him could smell the urge to flee rising in her chest like a bird fighting to break free from a cage. Lifting his hand slowly enough so she wouldn’t flinch, he stroked his thumb across her cheek, smearing the blood from his fingertips over her skin. He leaned down and brushed his lips against her ear, whispering darkly, “I’m a wolf in sheep’s skin, Miya, and you’ve mistaken me for part of your flock.”

She tried to snatch the air back into her lungs with a sharp gasp. Feeling smug, he was ready to let her run away sobbing—until he realized that she was neither running nor sobbing. To his horror, her shell was cracking, hatching a teething, newborn lioness with a bad temper.

“So what?” she bit back, touching her nose to his. He snarled, baring his teeth, though it failed to deter her. “You want to be the Big Bad Wolf? Fine!” Drawing his hunting knife, she pressed the tip of the blade to his jaw. “Just don’t be surprised if the lamb shish-kebobs the wolf in this fairy tale.”

Shoving the hilt against his chest and whipping the sheath at his foot, she spun on her heels and stomped off, leaving him to boil like a potato in the stew of his own rage. “And put some damn clothes on. We’ve got to get back, and you’re shaking like a leaf.”

“Who’s wearing the fucking sheep’s skin here?” he cursed under his breath, hopping after her as he pulled his pants on and threw the shirt over his shoulder.

But the wind howled in protest, and the willow rustled as though calling after them. Kai glanced over his shoulder, the hairs on his neck standing on end. Noticing the tree for the first time, Miya too turned and stared up in awe.

“Wait—isn’t that—”

Her words were drowned out by a deafening gale. The air felt heavy, the whistling breeze a call to something long forgotten. Kai’s gaze remained fixed, his body fraught. He was overcome with a sudden, inexplicable fear of dying, right there beneath that damn willow. He couldn’t explain it, and he didn’t understand it. All he knew was that his terror ran bone-deep and that he wanted to run straight to the woman he’d been trying to chase away.

Slowly, he turned to Miya and offered her his hand.