Page 15 of Bond & Protect

Holy shit, Elias was right. The stories that we have all grown up on are true. I’m staring at the evidence of that right now in front of me. Believe it or not, it’s here.

None of the stories end up with a ‘happy ever after’ so I know that I need to warn the others. Even if it’s too late for me, I can at least protect everyone else, right? Right?

Oh God, I don’t know. I have no idea.

Fear grips hard on my throat. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, I can’t suck in enough air to emit the howl I so desperately need to. I attempt to communicate telepathically instead, but although it kinda feels like everything is happening in slow motion, I know it’s rapid as well. Which is why I don’t know if my messages get through at all.

It might be too late because the monster is charging towards me. I’m screwed…

6

MILA

I’m lost. Figures. It’s dark. I’m cold. My feet hurt, and I’m tripping so often that it is a wonder I haven’t broken something vital. All because I didn’t like Elias chasing after Amos like that. I didn’t want them to fight over me. So I tried to chase after them even though I knew I couldn’t keep up. I’m such an idiot. It’s no wonder I’m lost now.

If I had any idea how to get back to the cabin, I wouldn’t be wandering around aimlessly, trying my hardest to fight back the tears that so desperately want to come…

Wait. Oh my God. My heart damn near stops beating when, hope beyond hope, I see headlights coming from a road in the distance. People! Life! Oh my God, I might be saved.

“Thank you, Universe,” I mutter gratefully under my breath as I haul ass toward it.

Or I mean to… but a clean howl pierces the night, causing me to freeze where I am. To me, it sounds like Amos. I’ve grown used to his wolf noises when he starts baying at the moon in the late evening when I’m trying to sleep. But this howl doesn’t sound like a leisurely song to the night. It sounds like an urgent call. Has he found me? Do I go to him? Tell him I want to leave so no one else gets hurt? Or do I just slip away while I can? I’m still trying to figure out my own heart on the matter when seconds later, a shrill yelp of pain comes from the same direction.

My legs are moving underneath me before my brain tells them to. I am racing back toward the sound of gnashing teeth and whimpers. Fear floods me. It overwhelms my system, affecting every single part of me. My whole body is now absolutely freezing cold.

“Amos!” I cry out as I run. If he’s hurt, then I need to get to him, now. “Amos, where are you?”

I try to follow the sounds, but in the dead of night, surrounded by endless trees, it starts to feel like the noises are coming from everywhere all at once. If this is Elias hurting Amos because we kissed, then I don’t know how I will handle it. It might crush me hard.

“Amos, where are you? Elias, what are you doing?”

Eventually, I stumble into a bit of a clearing and see shadows there. I hope it’s Amos. I continue on, needing to stop this fight before it escalates. I still feel sick as I run, though, not sure if I’m going to be able to make this all right.

“Amos, oh my God! Shit, what happened to you? Fuck…”

He has a nasty gouge on his chest that’s bleeding. I clap my hands to my mouth in horror because this is not what I want to see. I really don’t want him to die.

Then I catch sight of the shadowy figure looming above him. Elias isn’t causing these injuries. He’s nowhere to be seen. This is a monstrous-looking beast unlike anything I have ever seen before. It’s even worse than anything I’ve ever seen in a movie or read about in a book.

Teeth bear. It looks like it’s going to devour Amos whole, which I refuse to let happen. No way. I run over to Amos and clutch him to me. His warm blood soaking his fur and my hands and arms. I gasp as Déjà vu hits me like a brick wall, and fuzzy memories come flooding back…

A voice called me from the forest. I felt compelled to go. I felt so lost… so lonely… and the voice promised me comfort. Much needed comfort. When I arrived, a young wolf was fighting a grotesque monster and holding his own, but obviously getting tired.

I wanted to help, but I didn’t know what I could do. I didn’t have any power or strength.

The monster, sensing me close, left the young wolf and lunged for me instead. But the wolf attacked the monster head-on. Getting cut up in the process. I pulled the wolf out of the monster’s jaws and held him close to me. There was blood everywhere. All over me, consuming me…

I swallow hard, but the memory sticks with me. This is how I ended up in the middle of the road. This is what happened before Sydney and Elias found me.

It’s the memory that I’ve been searching for, isn’t it? Holy shit, this is what happened to me when I was blacked out, or in some kind of trance. I don’t know what it was exactly, but it was this. There was a monster, and a wolf, and me…

I have the same ice-cold sensation of being watched as I did back then. The same numbness creeping through my veins. Just as I couldn’t feel fear then, I can’t feel it now, either. The monster isn’t finding it quite so easy to take control of me this time, but it won’t give up. It’ll never give up, I can just tell. The monster is absolutely determined to sweep me off my feet.

What’s that? A new sound joins us, but I’m kinda stuck. I can’t turn around, however hard I try. I’m still clinging to Amos, but I can’t really move as freely as I would like to. But I’m pretty sure that’s the sound of more wolves. Somehow, Amos has contacted others and they are coming.

I try to speak, I want to say something, anything, but my lips might as well be held together with a clamp. It doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t break this at all. What the fuck is this monster? And how the hell is it able to do this to me? Why do I feel like this is somehow connected to my history? I don’t know much about my family’s past in this town, but is this it?

The monster eyes the three of us together. I can see the face type part of its body is calculating, trying to work out how it can take us down. First, it starts towards a russet brown wolf. Elias. The alpha moves closer to me, a protective growl running out of his mouth.

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