So, this is how it ends.

The ground slips away and I’m falling. My hands shoot out to the sides of me. Shit. There’s nothing to grab a hold to. Nothing to slow me down.

There is nothing but pitch-black darkness until I’m falling towards the light.

Oh fuck no, please don’t tell me I’m falling to hell or somewhere awful. My eyes squeeze shut.

Don’t die. Don’t die. Don’t die. I chant over and over.

Crash.

Ow. My butt hurts like a motherfucker. Wait. Why is the ground moving…again. The ground moves. My heart thrashes in my chest.

This isn’t the ground.

I gulp. This thing, whatever it is, has horns. Sharp horns that look like they can impale me like a sheet of tissue paper.

“Hey there, big guy. Nice guy?”

It lets out a shriek that pierces my eardrums something fierce. It shakes and I’m falling over. My hands grapple, but its skin is so smooth that I topple over like water.

I’m gonna die. Here lies Megan: she had no family, no friends. She leaves behind an ex-boyfriend that cursed her name and took every penny she saved.

And she was a dumbass for falling through that hole.

My side aches, but I can’t lie here. The thing, whatever it is with its big horns, smooth as rubber body, and a snout, so long it resembles an ant eater. Which fitting. This thing is massive and I am clearly an ant in this scenario.

Get up! Run! Blood pumps through my legs, howling with every strain. Don’t look back.

Crap.

It’s so close that one trip and I’ll be a goner for sure.

Why couldn’t it be like an herbivore? Those fangs are massive.

Crap. Double crap. The tree branches scrape at my clothes. The vegetation is all wrong. It’s not green, not really, but almost so dark that it may as well be black.

I pump my legs faster. Come on! Need to find shelter. Somewhere to hide. Can’t die here. I’m a fighter.

Never back down.

Crash.

Oh, fuck me sideways, what was that?

“Human?” The voice questions.

I shiver. Whoever this guy is, his voice is like sin on wheels. The creature screeches and I need to get up. Keep running.

“Stop. What is a human doing here?” He grabs my arm and I jerk back.

Oh?

His eyes are purple. Like an amethyst. His hair is as pitch black as the trees…and are those dog ears?

“What the hell…” I try to jerk my arm back, but his grip is so tight it’s like trying to break free from a snake’s grip. “Let go, dog boy!”

“Dog?” He sniffs, his large ears twitch and then swirl towards the direction of that thing. “I am a fox.”

“I. Don’t. Care. Let me go.”

Crappp, it’s here. I squeeze my eyes shut. Maybe if I don’t look, it won’t hurt. Warm air blows across the back of my neck.

This is it.

I would have fared better against those wanna be thugs.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying not to think about the pain. Be quiet.”

“Perhaps I should feed you to the klarvak.”

What?

I open my eyes and look back. Oh, that thing isn’t coming after me anymore. Well, that’s good news? I turn my attention back to dog - excuse me - fox boy, and the way he is staring the creature down is downright scary.

Okay. The Kar-something is afraid of this guy. Maybe I should be too?

“You know, I think I’ll just be on my way,” I quip, not so subtly jerking my arm back, but I swear his hold is like trying to break free of a snake ball. Why is his grip so damn strong? “Um, do you mind?”

“What is a human doing here?” he repeats.

“What is even here?” I ask. This area is nothing like what I’m used to. Maybe I am dead? This must be the underworld because it sure as heck isn’t Earth.

He blinks. “You smell funny.”

“Gee thanks. How about you let my funny smelling ass go?”

“Nah,” he drawls. “Think I’ll keep you.” He raises a hand. The hairs on my neck stand. What the hell is this pressure? I try to turn my head. But he moves his hand on my arm so fast that I don’t register him gripping the back of my head. Instead, all I feel is his hard chest.

I flush.

What is happening?

“Humans don’t come out to the Ocara regions unless they have a death wish,” he says, releasing his hold over me.

I whip my head back and gasp. That monster, Klav-something, lies in a pool of tar. No, is that it’s blood? But how? All he did was lift his hand. I whip my head back to him and take a step back.

“Name,” he commands. He tilts his head to the side and his large fox ears twitch. “Or do you not have one?”

“Why wouldn’t I have a name?” I splutter. “Megan.”

“Megan.” He rolls my name over his tongue. “Your name is as strange as your smell.”

My right eye twitches. To hell with this guy. “You don’t have to keep telling me I stink.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

A headache blooms between my brows and stays there like an unwelcome guest. “Okay, fox boy or whatever. I need to be on my way now.” I smile so hard my eyes squint. The less I see him, the better.

“You have no weapons, inadequate clothing, can’t take down a simple beast, and you think to survive the night?” He crosses his arms.

“Inadequate? Buddy, you’re the one wearing cut off sleeves and long ass gloves in place of actual sleeves. Not taking fashion advice from you.”

He snorts. “Be my guest then. The undead will feast on your soul.”

The undead?

I gulp. “Is that a joke? A tall tale?”

He doesn’t smile. He shrugs as if he can’t be bothered to answer the question.

Okay…I’m out of my element here.

“What’s in it for you?” I cross my arms and jut out my chin. When in doubt, fake it.

“I sate my curiosity.”

This is the dumbest idea I have had in a long time. A howl comes from somewhere behind me, or maybe from the side.

“Okay…do you not have a name?”

He snorts. “Lord Roharu to you. Or simply Lord.”

“Roharu.”

“Lord.”

“That’s not happening. You aren’t my lord. What are you? Stuck in the 1400s?”

“1400s?” His eyes gleam. A fang slips past his upper lip. “Come, the night is fast approaching. The dead will rise.”

“Stop saying that,” I grumble, hugging myself. The dead don’t rise, right? Something snaps and I jump.

Roharu, not lord, laughs. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, buddy.

“You tremble like a smivack.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I don’t appreciate the assessment.”

He laughs again as though my struggles are for his entertainment.

“So, you’re some kind of fox human?” I frown at a branch that wracks me in the arm. Great, even the forest is out to get me.

“I am no man.” Roharu isn’t laughing this time. He moves at a pace that I suspect is more for my benefit. “Did you lose your memory? Hit your head? Or perhaps your family discarded you off a cliff.”

My throat tightens. My body is hot. “Dead. My family is dead.”

He glances back. His eyes are a beautiful shade of purple. They glow as the sky darkens. “You seek vengeance, then?” He stops and looks up at the sky. “No human travels this far unless they are desperate.”

Uhhh… travel? More like I fell into a stupid hole.

My teeth chatter. Knocking against one another like someone pounding on a door in the middle of a winter night. It’s cold. Damn near freezing. The temperature just plummeted out of nowhere.

Roharu sighs and walks over to me. I take a step back. Not that it does any good, because he pulls me into his arms like I’m nothing but a sack of potatoes. My fingers twitch.

Oh. He’s warm. How is he so warm when the heat is being sucked away from my body? Does he not feel the chill at all? And the light? How did it get dark so quickly?

“Keep silent,” he murmurs, eyes narrowed into slits. He leaps and I swallow the scream.

How high did we just jump?

I’m too chicken shit to look down. My arms tighten around his neck. If it’s uncomfortable for him, he doesn’t mention it. Doesn’t even flinch.

“What’s happening?” I whisper into his ear. It twitches and swirls. A part of me wants to touch it. Are his black ears as soft as they look? I shift, moving closer to him. His body is like a space heater. I’m either losing my mind or he wasn’t this hot earlier.

“The undead. This night is unnatural. It fell too quickly.” He sniffs. His claws dig into me ever so slightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to remind me that despite Roharu’s easygoing nature, he can harm me. “Keep silent.”

He sets me down on the branch with my back to the trunk. My thighs tighten around the branch. We’re high. Like really high. One fall and I’ll die. I swallow the fear.

Keep it together.

Keep it together.

Keep it together.

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m freaking the fuck out.

My heart jumps. Voices. I can’t make out what they are saying. It’s distorted. My heart is pounding. Fear strangles my vocal cords. Every part of my body is screaming to run.

Kind of hard to do in a tree so far off the ground. But when I could get down, where would I go? I peek at Roharu from under my lashes.

Blank face.

Ears pointed toward the voices and the creepy groans. Sounds like something that needs some oil to grease their bones.

“Stay here,” he commands, and before I can reach out to stop him, he disappears. Vanishes.

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod I’m done for. This is how it ends. I die of thirst and starvation, or I die from breaking my neck trying to climb down.

He left me.

That fox boy left me!

He just left me to—the voices go silent. There’s a stillness to the forest. Not even the leaves rustle. Roharu appears in front of me, his face pressed close to mine.

My lips part, but no sound comes out. Oh lovely. I’m a silent screamer.

“Don’t do that!” I hiss.

“Here,” he holds out his hand.

I gag. “Is that a heart? Are you insane?”

He tilts his head to the left. “You need to eat. Do you not want it? It’s from a dark mage.”

“I don’t care how hungry I am. I am not eating a heart. Or anything raw.”

He shrugs and bites into it.

Oh, I’m going to be sick.

“They’re looking for you,” he says in between bites.

“What? Who?”

“The undead, of course. They have orders. But why you?”

“Your humor sucks.”

“How strange. Every female I have entertained has complimented me on my humor.”

What is my life right now? “Perhaps they didn’t want to insult your dick, then?” Objectively, he’s attractive. So, it can’t be his looks. Though his personality is kinda sucky.

His brows pinch together. “Cocks.” Roharu turns away and licks the blood off his hand.

Cocks? As in plural?

“Why would the undead want you?”

I blow out a breath. “I’ve never seen an undead. The closest I’ve gotten to the dead is a tombstone.”

He hums. “We’ll sleep here for the night. It’s too many of them gathering.”

Sleep here? In this tree?

“Oh no, there’s no way.” I’m hyperventilating. Fear tightens around my throat. I can’t do this. Everything hits me at once. This is a dream. It has to be a dream.

Roharu rolls his eyes and raises his hand. Is he trying to get my attention? My chest rises rapidly. I reach for him. At least I think I do before everything goes black.