"This is your last warning. Leave, human."
The deep voice filled my ears just when I landed on my hands and knees in the dust. I snapped my head around, however, all I caught was the sound of disappearing footsteps.
For a second I considered running after the culprit, but then I dismissed the foolish thought. Whoever it was, he or she was definitely a werewolf and I a mere human.
With a sigh in resignation I reached for my phone, which was lying on the ground a few inches away. Instead of a smooth black screen, it now sported a new ragged line that ran diagonally across the screen.
"Are you kidding me?"
I looked up at the ceiling and sank down onto my bottom. After everything I had been through, this felt like another push away from my family. How was I supposed to find them now?
"Was breaking my phone really necessary?" I glared up at the ceiling.
"Luna?"
I snapped my head to the top of the stairs, where a dark figure appeared a moment later. Even with the darkness I would have recognized his lanky figure anywhere.
"Larry?"
"What happened?" He jumped down all five steps and knelt next to me. "Did you fall? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." The words slipped off my tongue before I could even think about them.
The culprit, who had pushed me down the stairs, could have been anyone. Even Larry... Well, judging by his frantic movements to make sure I was okay, it probably wasn't Larry. But everyone else was a suspect. And the last thing I wanted was to make the person develop an even bigger grudge against me.
"I'm fine," I repeated and nudged his careful hands off my ankle.
"What are you doing here?" He rose back into a standing position and offered me his hand. "And on your own. You can't be outside your room on your own. You could get lost."
"No, I can't." I jumped up without his help and stuffed the now useless phone into the pocket off my jeans.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can't get lost."
"Of course, you can. The pack house is huge. Even I sometimes find myself lost, if I don't pay enough attention to where I'm going."
I had it on the tip of my tongue to tell him about my sense of direction, however, the whispering voice in the back of my head stopped me. Just as countless times before it told me there was no point. No one would believe whatever I said.
Still, I dug my nails into my palms and forced my lips to pull apart. "Two lefts, three rights and another left."
"What?" He blinked a couple of times.
"Two lefts, three rights and one left. Those are the turnings we need to take to reach the staircase leading back up onto the first floor."
"You're making that up."
I could already imagine the little voice laughing with an I told you so grin, however, I pushed it back down before that could happen.
"Count the turnings and we'll see."
Without waiting for his agreement, I ascended the five stairs and then began making my way down the dark hallway. Within my third step Larry caught up to me and together we made our way to the staircase.
"No way." He shook his head once we rounded the last left corner and reached the staircase.
"Do you want me to tell you how many and which turnings I need to take to reach my room?"
"No need."
We ascended the stairs and stopped at the top.
"Why does Alpha Braxton insist on having someone accompany you at all times? Clearly some of us could use you as our guide instead of the other way around."
"He doesn't know." I shook my head.
"Why haven't you told him the truth?"
"Told whom what?"
The familiar voice caused both Larry and me to freeze and then slowly turn around. Four steps away from us stood Jared with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Next to him stood a scowling Elena, who glared at me for a couple of heartbeats and then walked away without a backwards glance.
"What's going on?"
Only then I noticed that Jared's eyes were fixed on the lower part of my body. I followed his gaze and cringed at the layer of smudged dust that was covering my knees. I quickly hid my hands behind my back, however, the way Jared narrowed his eyes told me it was already too late. He had seen the similar dust smeared across my palms.
"What did you do to my mate?"
In an instant his blue eyes flickered into an eerie black and moved to Larry. The said guy's Adam's apple trembled just before he edged a couple of steps backwards. He positioned himself, so that he was now partly hidden behind me.
I didn't blame him. Jared's dark eyes made my every cell scream to run back down into the underground floor.
The said guy took a step closer toward the two of us and a second later I felt something pointy poke into my side. I glared at Larry who was still nudging me toward Jared with his bony elbow.
"I fell." I turned back toward Jared the second I caught onto Larry's silent message. "It's dark down there."
"Why were you down there in the first place?" Despite speaking to me, he kept his eyes focused on Larry. "Leave."
My eyes widened at the cold order. Because his first sentence was meant for me, I assumed so was the additional order. I shot a quick glance at Larry's trembling figure and then took my first step in the direction of my room.
"Not you. Him." Jared nodded at Larry. "Leave."
The lanky werewolf didn't need to be told twice. He moved faster than I had seen anyone move before. One moment he was still behind me and in the next there was nothing but his silent whisper echoing in my ears.
"Good luck," he had said.
"What were you doing down there?" Jared now focused his attention back to me.
At the darkness in his eyes I found my eyes snapping down to my feet and my lips glued shut. One cold look from him, and I was back to the timid creature he had freed from the cell.
Instead of the string of questions I expected, a loud sigh followed. It caused me to look back up and I found myself looking into his ordinary denim eyes.
"Don't do that. Don't swallow your words. Tell me what you want to say."
The voice in the back of my mind told me it was a trap, yet despite knowing the danger, I found my lips parting.
"I don't need a babysitter." The words were barely above a whisper, but I didn't care. "My sense of direction is almost perfect. I already know the layout of the entire pack house."
"What does this have to do with your injuries?" He nodded at my knees and the hands I was still keeping behind my back.
"It's why Larry was here. I went down there on my own, and he came to get me."
"You really think you won't get lost?"
I nodded, but also prepared myself for the snicker of disbelief I knew was about to follow. He wouldn't be the first or the last to laugh at my words.
"Okay then. From now on you're allowed to roam the pack house on your own. But you still need to have someone with you when you go outside."
"Really?"
"Yes." With two wide strides he diminished the distance between us and pried my right arm from behind my back. "Now, follow me."
He entwined his hand with my and tugged me forward before I could even finish processing the good news. Wordlessly I followed him as he led me down the hallway, straight through the front door and then into the northeast side of the forest.
A deep part of me knew I should have been focusing on the fact that he was leading me deeper and deeper into the forest. Instead, most of my attention was averted onto the warmth his hand was radiating into mine. Almost like a human comforter.
Fifteen minutes into our stroll we reached a wide forest clearing. Splashes of violet, yellow and white peeked from the different shades of green, while the soft rays of sunlight reflected from the most persistent drops of dew.
My breath hitched while I unconsciously moved forward. I could already imagine myself lying down in the middle of the shining diamonds and intoxicating flowers, but I held myself back. It would be a shame to crush the lovely sight for my own enjoyment.
"Stupid lack of a mate connection," Jared muttered underneath his breath.
"What?" I turned to him where he was standing at the edge of the forest.
"Nothing." He shook his head.
Instead of turning back to the beckoning nature, I kept my eyes on Jared. I was sure he had said something and despite not really knowing why, I wanted to know what he had said.
"It's nothing important." He sighed. "I just hate the fact that I can't hear what you're thinking."
"Right, the mind thing." I held back the shudder that threatened to run down my body. "I guess, I'm lucky I'm not a werewolf."
"That doesn't matter." He crossed the three steps of distance between us. "Werewolf or not, the moment I mark you we'll finally share a mind-link."
"Mark?" I remembered hearing the word from several whispered conversations, both from the make-shift camp and the pack house. But I still had no idea what it meant. "Is that another werewolf thing?"
"To mark means to bite your mate and claim them as yours." He stopped less than half a step in front of me.
"Bite?" I took an almost invisible step backwards.
"It lets other wolves know you're mine. When you're ready I'll bite you into the base of your neck, on the spot where it meets your shoulder. It's a werewolf tradition."
"Why?"
I couldn't fathom why Jared would want to bite me. It sounded wrong and painful.
"It's not as bad as it sounds."
Before I could edge another step away from him, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. I landed with my open palm plastered against his muscular chest and I had to fight all of my instincts not to allow my fingers to explore the warm muscles underneath his dark green shirt.
"Only the first moment of the marking is painful, then it becomes very pleasurable. Or so I'm told. It's an intimate experience for both mates and it strengthens their bond."
With each spoken word he leaned his head closer to mine, until the tip of his nose brushed against mine.
"You..." I forced my lips to open, despite how dry my mouth suddenly got. "You're not going to mark me right now, are you?"
"No." His lips crooked into a slow grin. "But I am going to kiss you."
Without giving me time to think, he hooked his thumb and index finger around my chin and brought his lips onto mine. The initial feather-like contact lasted for only a heartbeat. Then the kiss turned into a more thrall and intimate one as his lips began to move against mine.
I tightened my hand, which was still plastered against his chest, around his shirt. It assured me that I had at least something holding me up, because right now my knees felt like jelly.
Although I had played our first kiss over and over again inside my mind, it was nothing compared to the explosion of warmth and electricity happening all over my body.
He ended the kiss sooner than I would have liked. His eyes danced with a bright flame, and I found myself hoping that at least a bit of it was due to the kiss.
"Didn't you say you'd take two hours?" I asked to divert his attention away from my now flaming cheeks.
"I did." He moved his hand off my chin and cupped my cheek instead.
"It hasn't been two hours yet."
"I know." He lifted his other hand and cupped my cheek.
"What are you doing?"
For a second I wished that instead of the warmth his hands radiated, they would be ice-cold. At least that way he could help settle my blush and not make it even worse, like he was doing right now.
"I don't know." He continued to keep his hold on my face. "Why have I been avoiding you for so long? If I hadn't been this stubborn, I could have marked you days ago."
At the mention of the preposterous werewolf custom my muscles tightened. The last thing I wanted was for him to start thinking about biting me. Not while we were alone inside the forest, with no one that could hear my screams.
"Did you say I'd get to choose what we would do?"
"Of course."
The smile that crooked his lips almost made me regret what I was about to tell him. Almost.
"I want us to search for my family."
***
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Much love
- E