Page 35 of Bond & Protect

“We’re going to wait here,” Sydney tells me once we arrive. “I think it’s best for us to keep you both safe. Plus, we would rather prowl around here to make sure The Rift doesn’t open again.”

“Aren’t you tired as well?” I ask Sydney in shock.

“We can take turns napping and keeping watch,” he reassures me with a smile. “Plus, we also have some reading to do while we’re waiting. After fighting the monster and seeing the blade, I want to know if we missed anything else. I mean, it barely feasted on flesh…”

“Because it thrives on emotions, mostly negative ones.” I can’t believe I didn’t say this beforehand. My brain really has been scrambled by all of this. “The flesh is just something they like to snack on, basically. That’s why it tries to tap into fears, and why you feel empty around it.”

“Oh! That must also be why it wants to divide and conquer,” Sydney realizes. “And it almost worked as well. I don’t know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you!”

I don’t think I did much really. I was just there, trying to protect and show unity. But I hug Sydney to thank him for the compliment. I have to admit, I do feel much better, knowing that they will be around in case anything happens.

“Take the blade.” I hand it to him. “In case there is anything in the book about that. We might not have spotted it the first time around because we weren’t looking for it. We didn’t know it existed, so it would be good to look through a different lens now.”

“You’re right,” Sydney agrees as he takes the blade from me. “That’s something I will definitely do!”

I hug all the men in turn before I take Mom up to my apartment. It feels weird to be back here, in the apartment that once filled me with a little bit of hope. This place was supposed to be all about me. I was going to start again and feel so much better. I was going to start afresh, away from my stalker and everything. Little did I know that it would end up being little more than a stopgap. A moment in time while I met the wolves.

I breathe the place in deeply, smiling to myself. This apartment really did start me on my journey to changing my life. I just had no idea what it would look like and how it would be. Wow.

“I think they are nice wolves,” Mom murmurs as she climbs into bed. I think she’s going to be sleeping for a very long time, which is good. She obviously needs it. I want to sit with her, to be with her all night long until the morning when we can talk. “They are good to you. They care about you. I can see that. You know that I have always been a good judge of character.”

With a bigger beaming smile, I stroke her hair gently, just like Mom used to do to me. “Thank you, Mom. I appreciate you seeing that and saying it too. That’s great.”

“They will take care of you forever. You belong here.”

Before I can ask her about her plans for the future, I notice that she’s already asleep and dreaming. Hopefully about something so much nicer than the reality she’s just been through. I don’t want her to think about the monsters or The Rift ever again.

I would like to not have to think about any of that again as well, but I know that isn’t possible. As I lie down beside my mom, allowing sleep to come for me as well, I am just simply grateful that I can wake up and experience calm in the morning. No more fighting, no more being locked away in a cabin. It will be the first day of the rest of my life. I don’t know what that will look like just yet, but I do like how it makes me feel. Like I’m going to start over at last.

Hope floods my chest, and a warmth flows through my body. I’m finally starting to feel like I can just be in love without worrying any longer. That will be the most blissful sensation of them all.

15

SYDNEY

No way. Holy shit. Oh my God. This book… it really does have everything that we need. Absolutely everything, I can’t believe it! We definitely didn’t see it all before because we didn’t really know what we were looking for, but now I’m intrigued by everything and it’s amazing.

“Elias, look.” I show him one page as we sit by the house in human form while we wait. We’re switching between sleeping, being on watch, and reading this book. It’s an antsy night, and I don’t know how any of us are going to feel in the morning. “It looks like your grandfather, or someone on his team, made the blade. That’s interesting, isn’t it?”

Elias narrows his eyes in confusion. “But if that’s the case, then why would my grandfather send off the blade to some other family? One that ran away?”

“Well, it seems to need a human to use it. That might be why.” I don’t know the answers. It’s all just speculation at the moment, but it’s better than nothing. “Mila’s mom said that her grandfather knew that Mila would return to town one day. Maybe your grandfather knew it too. It might all be something that was foreseen.”

Elias frowns. “Do you believe all of that stuff? I don’t know if I do.”

“I don’t know. But we have to accept that we might not know everything now.”

He reads over the page again and again, allowing himself to absorb it. It might take him a little longer than me to come to terms with what I’m reading, but it’s okay. We’ll get there.

“You know, I have been thinking about reaching out to Theo again,” he suddenly announces. “Since he’s the one who gave me the note about The Rift in the first place, he might know more. Or he might even be able to reach out to other wolves who can come and help us.”

I suck in a sharp, shocked breath. We don’t like to bring other wolves here. It’s usually very problematic when lots of packs get together in one place. We have too much history of fighting and battling. I can’t believe Elias is even suggesting as much. Has he lost his mind?

“If The Rift reopens, then we’re going to need all the help we can get,” he continues glumly. “I mean, you saw what was on the other side, didn’t you? So many monsters wanting to get through. We would never be able to handle them all. Even with the blade.”

Shit, he’s right, isn’t he? I mean, there’s no confirmation in this journal that the blade works to keep The Rift closed forever. One monster alone weakened us, even with unity. But maybe that unity needs to stretch even further. It might need us to get all the wolves that we can here together. We might need to recover from all the fighting we have done over the centuries to make friends once more. Our little town might not like it, but we may not have a choice.

“Okay, yeah, that’s something we probably need to think about.” I have to admit as my heart sinks a little. I was looking forward to getting a little bit back on track, seeing what things can be like with Mila and us. We’ve only had time under duress. I want to know what it’s like to just be. I want to know what it’s like to just be in love. “It’ll be hard.”

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