The Sweetest Blood

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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Everyone belonged to a duo as a kid.  

We all had our partners in crime—the Goofy to your Mickey Mouse. The Tigger to your Poo Bear.

Ben was mine; the other half of the childhood me. As kids we had been joined at the hip—siblings in spirit rather than blood.

I had no idea just how much I missed him until now.

Though, to be honest, I never understood how we had become so close. He was the Alpha’s only son and I was the daughter of a woman who had married a regular beta. Sure my dad had been the Alpha in the past…

But that had been ages ago.

Almost as long ago as the last time I had seen Ben seemed.

I couldn't even come up with a date; maybe right before High school had ended?

There had been no dramatic falling out.  No fight.  It just seemed like once I had met Jordan, and Ben’s father had begun training him in the duties of an alpha, we just...lost touch.

It felt like years since I had seen him, but I instantly recognized his scent; honey and warmth. 

“Ben!” I took a clumsy step in direction and felt myself instantly engulfed in his arms.

I can’t lie.

It felt so good to just be held by someone again that the feeling hit me like a ton of bricks. I sniffed, unable to hold back the tears that dripped down to soak through the cotton of my blindfold.

Surprisingly that little ball of pain in my chest eased up a bit.

“I missed ya, Ro-Boat,” I heard him murmur into my hair.

He felt so warm, and so solid and so alive a sudden longing for Jordan almost knocked me over.

Somehow, I managed to get a hold of myself.

“I missed ya too Benny-Bear.” I said, smiling at the sound of our old nicknames.

Ro-Boat and Benny-Bear. I couldn’t remember who had come up with what—or even why.

Back then everything had been so simple; we didn’t need any reasons.

Back when there had been no mates…no obligations. When every story had a happy ending and pain was something limited to the sting of a paper cut.

I would give anything to go back to those days.  

When it was just me and him wading through the lakes and shifting under the full moon.

When heartache was just a bad word only grown-ups used.

“I’m so sorry Roxie,” Ben croaked, holding me tight.

Just like that the nostalgia shattered and I was snapped back into the present.

A place where there was no such thing as a happy ending.

“It’s okay,” I muttered into his chest. He was holding me too tightly to pull back, not that I necessarily had the strength to.

I could feel the shape of pure, solid muscle coiling beneath his shirt. He felt larger, too--I could barely fit my arms around the width of him.

When had my tall lanky Ben grown into this?

“It’s not okay.” His hands went to my shoulders, holding me away from him. I could guess that he was staring at my face—but I could only guess what he saw. “I meant to come visit you, I really did. But my dad was too busy tracking down the hunters and…”