Page 47 of The Strongest Wolf

He wasn’t responsible for this. I know that. But that isn’t enough to stop my fingers from itching as my claws want to burst free.

Nathan isn’t important. Not while Sierra is still bleeding terror. She comes first.

But after…

I turn away. “Get out.”

A soft tread moves toward me. “I can—”

“Luka. It’s best that I’m not around anyone right now.” My voice is gentler than it usually is, but there’s nothing gentle inside me. “Leave. And if you see Nathan heading this way…” I don’t finish my sentence. Luka can figure it out.

After a moment, footsteps move away. “Come on, Eden. Let’s go.”

Another long moment later and the front door snicks closed, and then it’s just me and a terrified wolf on the other side of the bathroom door.

I lean my head against the cool wood. “Sierra, it’s me. Can I come in?”

Silence.

Only terror.

I grip the handle and push slowly. A quarter of an inch. That’s about as much as I get the door open before it slams shut again.

Fuck.

“Sierra, baby. It’s just me out here, no one else. You’re safe.”

Again, there’s no response. Not even a whimper. Just painful silence.

I don’t know how long I stand with my head pressed against the door but several minutes. Twenty, at least. At my back, the cabin’s front door slowly opens.

I don’t lift my head as I speak. “Go be with Luka, Eden,” I murmur. “I’m not safe to be around anyone right now.”

A door clicks shut. If I didn’t have the benefit of shifter hearing, I’d think she’d left, but I know she hasn’t. “I’m not anyone. I’m family.”

Footsteps move closer. When she’s beside me, I turn to my right. She looks like she just shoved her white dress over her head, not even stopping to run a hand through her hair before she rushed back here.

I shake my head. “Your hair is standing on end.” Any other day it would make me smile, especially since it’s accompanied by the memory of a ten-year-old Eden looking the same way.

She reaches a hand up, pats her hair down, and then sinks to the floor, her back against the door and her legs stretched out in front of her.

After I moment, I join her.

Ten minutes pass in silence, our shoulders touching.

“I was worse.” Eden’s voice is louder than it needs to be. That’s how I know she’s talking to Sierra, and Eden wants Sierra to know it. “When I first came here, I hid in the forest for days because I was too afraid to approach anyone.”

I hold my breath. Eden has been so careful not to mention life with the Stones, and she has never brought up what it was like after she left them. Not even with Sierra. I never asked, thinking that one push would drive her even further away from me.

“If anyone laughed too loud, I’d think I was about to have a heart attack,” Eden continues, her voice softer now with remembered pain.

I release my breath, close my burning eyes, and lean my head against the door.

“Everything made me jump, and I never felt safe anywhere. But it gets easier.” Eden pauses. “It takes time, and it doesn’t feel like it will ever go away, but it gets easier. I promise.”

I’ve never known the right thing to say or do around Eden, but now I do. I lift my arm, curve it around her shoulder, and draw her against me.

She doesn’t speak, doesn’t pull away. Just rests her head against mine.

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