Ravensblood Forest salt grasping

running alongside this! can be grabbed as she is still in pack territory

"kelp," chani mumbled as mireille's screaming split the sky overhead again. the pirates were doing nothing; she backed away a little, a little, a little.
she needed kelp. she needed to run.
chani put her head down and started to stalk away from the scene of her aunt's birth, trying to ignore her own mother's gasp of pain.
tears stung her eyes, but the captive continued to walk toward the treeline as quickly as she was able.

crowell had been dozing, curled like a barnacle beneath a patch of sun-warmed driftwood, when the screaming tore through the air like a gutted sail.
a snarl of voices—wailing, shouting, crying.
he blinked awake, groggy, ears twitching with disinterest. birthing pains, maybe. some poor lass spillin’ pups in the dirt. he didn’t care. weren’t his problem. but the longer he investigated the scene, the more something grated on him. he counted one... two... women.
the third was not there. the damn cunts forced themselves into labor so she could escape!
fuckin’ hell, he growls, jerking upright. legs stretch long beneath him as he shakes the drowse off. flame-bright eyes scan the space where she should’ve been. nose dips low to the earth, drawing in her trail like a hound on blood. and then he’s off; howling into the sky like an alarm triggered.

so close was escape that chani felt fear finally break over her. terror sank into the young woman's heart as crowell's cry of alarm set her world to fire. 
she almost went back to him.
but each step was a force of its own, and as soon as she was among the trees, chani began to run as fast as she was able, flickering through the forest in the direction of open sea.
pepper. pepper. pepper. i will get away. i will get them away.
tears blurred her eyes, even as her legs became the same.

he tore after her like a storm on legs.
bitch! he howled a raw, guttural sound that split the air like a snapped mast. long limbs churned through the brush, snapping branches underfoot, nose low, eyes wild with fury.
he’d known better than to trust her. he had watched her. fed her.
and now she ran. the ungrateful—
yer dead, erzulie! he bellowed into the trees, voice cracking with rage. dead when i catch ya!
he ran harder. he didn’t care for the others.
crowell’s blood pounded loud in his ears. each breath came sharp, ragged. through shadow, through tangle, he pushed. she wouldn’t get far. not heavy with his pups like that. no. he’d find her, and tear her back from the sea if he had to.

stress; stretching thin.
chani found herself in the darkness of that bleeding forest, and as if rebirth too came for her, she ripped beyond hanging branches and low-fallen logs.
a scratch set her left face to bloody, but sunlight pierced through the trees.
and chani ran, ran with a fierce hitch in her side, ran with an aching chest and burning throat, with limbs on fire and breath poised to shout, to shout;

rolled for him to lose her :3

crowell burst through the trees like a cannonball, teeth bared, eyes blazing, breath tearing from his lungs in ragged gasps.
erzuli— the snarl caught in his throat.
he skidded into the clearing, earth gouged beneath his paws—only to find emptiness. just the whip of wind. just the whisper of leaves.
his head whipped side to side, flame-bright eyes searching, wild, uncomprehending.
no, he rasped, louder now—no!
nose hit the dirt, dragging through broken foliage, frantic now, rabid. but the trail was thin. gone. broken up by bark, by water, by wind. she’d vanished.
he threw his head back and screamed.
fuck!! a howl like a curse, like something ripped from the gut of a godless thing. he spun once in place, teeth gnashing, tail lashing like a serpent.

Over the cries of women birthing came something deeper but just as primal, ripping through the forest—Crowell, calling for aid. His mind immediately went to the third captive, the one the man had designs on.

With a fleeting glance toward packmates and mothers alike, Hex slipped away, moving hastily toward the source of the howl, heart pounding.

When he came across the pirate, Crowell paced alone.

What happened? he asked, eyes widening in slight—if somewhat feigned—alarm. Is it the girl? Where'd she go?

What did you do to her?

crowell whirled on him the moment he heard steps—eyes wild, breath ragged, fur bristling like a struck match.
fuck off, blackbeard barks. his teeth snapping air between them before he tore away again, crashing through the trees with reckless abandon.
she’s mine! came the shout, thrown like a curse over his shoulder. and then he was gone—racing for the sea.
where else would she go? his little siren. the water called her.

exit crowell