Page 24 of Bond & Protect

She rises up on her tip toes and brushes her lips against mine. It feels really nice that we can just do this now. We don’t need to worry about anything. We can simply act on our feelings no matter what we’re feeling. I can hug and kiss her whenever I want. It’s such a freeing feeling.

“I’m back,” Liam calls out as he swings the door to the cabin open. I almost leap back as if me and Mila have been caught out doing something that we shouldn’t, but I quickly recall that all of this is okay now. We’re open at long last. It’s fine. “I’ve just been to the pack elders. The wolf that you found is being healed but there isn’t any sign of life yet.”

“Wait… you found a wolf?” Shit, as Mila asks this, I realize we didn’t tell her.

“Yes, me and Amos. Sorry, it’s been a bit hectic. It was on that hectic day.” My apology doesn’t seem to soften the blow at all. “We found the wolf that might have been involved in that incident with you. You know, when we found you covered in wolf blood.”

She nods slowly, but I can see she’s feeling a bit shitty about everything. Left out. That isn’t what I want at all. Guilt rushes over me as I remember that I have another secret from her as well. I purposely kept the book away and now I might hurt her more.

It’s for her own good, I tell myself firmly, trying to justify what I’m doing. I have to do this.

“The elders don’t know when he will come around so we can find out any information from him, but things are slowly moving in a positive direction.”

“Okay, well, that’s good,” I respond, trying to keep the conversation flowing. We still have so much to do, and I’m more determined than ever to ensure this is sorted sooner rather than later. The last thing I want to do is ruin things with Mila by keeping secrets from her. Even if they are for her own good. I’m starting to think about that white picket fence life as well… “Amos and Sydney are out scouting the area, but I think it might be a good idea to get them back now.”

I can see that Liam is about to ask me ‘why’ but the word doesn’t leave his lips. He spots the warning narrowed in my eyebrows and does what I need him to. “Should I go and shift? Ask them to get back here so we can all talk together?”

I nod along even though I know we can’t talk here in front of Mila. Not if we want to do what’s right by her. I’ll have to figure out a way for us to chat alone at some point. But for now, we really do need everyone to come back because if either of them is caught alone, they might end up in a really dangerous situation. Especially now that I know the way we have to fight.

Liam heads outside the cabin and shifts rapidly. We can hear him pacing around the cabin as he silently communicates with Amos and Sydney to come back. But I can’t concentrate on that because Mila’s eyes are practically piercing through me.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the wolf?” she suddenly asks me, hurt. Not just hurt. She sounds crushed. “Did you really just not get the chance? Or are you keeping things from me?”

I offer her a one-shouldered shrug because I simply don’t know what else to do. “I don’t know what happened. I guess it slipped my mind in the chaos of the monster attack.”

“It might have been the wolf I saw when the monster caught me before.”

“Huh?” Now it’s my turn to narrow my eyes at her. “What do you mean?”

“Oh… maybe I didn’t tell you everything as well,” she admits, starting to be a little more understanding now. “Because it was a hectic day. The monster is responsible for my memory loss.”

I gasp in shock. “Oh my goodness, so you remember what happened now?”

She nods slowly. “The memories are still a bit hazy and feel more like a dream than reality, but the monster got me. That’s the only way that I can describe it.” A glaze comes over her eyes as she talks. “It caught me and put me in a trance. I couldn’t think or feel anything.”

That’s how I felt too! So I wasn’t alone in that. I don’t like the idea of Mila feeling that too, but I’m glad I’m not by myself with any of it. That would be too much.

“But there was a wolf there. I think it was trying to help me. Or maybe I was trying to help the wolf. I can’t be too sure about that.” She shakes her head, looking frustrated with herself. It must be hard to only have a little access to these very important memories. “Anyway, the monster was calling out to me, calling out to my loneliness, promising me something, and then… well, then I woke up covered in wolf’s blood and you were looming over me.”

Wow, and I was there accusing her of murder, which wasn’t great. Well, it was Sydney more at first, but that doesn’t matter. I was worried that he was right. I thought he might have been onto something. There’s that all too familiar guilt surging through my veins again. I don’t feel like I can do right for doing wrong here. Everywhere I turn, I hurt someone, I make a wrong choice, I cause trouble.

“Anyway, I wonder if the wolf you found might be the same one. I hope he’s okay.”

“Me too,” I agree solemnly with her. “Because I feel like we might get some serious answers there. We might know more about what’s happened and what to do next.”

A thick ball of emotion lodges in the base of my throat. It’s kinda hard to breathe past it actually, but I do my best. I’ll do what I need to do to keep Mila calm. Although I’m definitely not doing my best. This is why Liam is so much better at this hard stuff than me.

It takes time for me to get the guys alone and in wolf form, outside the cabin so Mila can’t hear us. I’ve been on edge all day long, I’m sure everyone has felt it, and now I can finally let loose and fill them in on the details so they aren’t questioning any longer.

‘We have to be together!’ I finally blurt out the moment I can. ‘To fight the monster. We have to be bonded on a deeper level, like we are now, and we have to fight the beast.’

‘To kill him?’ Sydney asks, shocked.

‘I honestly don’t know if we can kill the monster, but I think we can overcome it. We can push it back through The Rift. We can seal it as much as we can to stop that fucker from attacking us more and making this whole situation even worse than it already is.’

There’s a beat of silence that seems to go on forever. I pad around anxiously, unable to keep my paws still, just as I haven’t been able to keep my feet still all day long.

‘How do you know all of this all of a sudden?’ Amos finally jumps in.

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