Lenora’s face comes into view.
I see her mouth moving but all I hear is the humming.
Oh no!
She has a busted lip.
How did that happen?
I reach up and touch where it’s cracked open and bleeding.
There is a split second of purple light just as the world turns black.
I hear Bronx calling my name in the darkness.
He’s so far away.
I don’t know how I’ll ever get to where he is.
I call out his name so he knows where I am.
The more I call him, the closer he sounds.
“Kas, can you hear me? Are you there?” Lex calls out.
I reach out and I can feel her spirit.
“I’m here, Lex. Thank Goddess I found you!”
“Kas, it’s time to come out of this darkness. Bronx needs you to go to him. He’s scared. Come on, follow me. We’ll do this together. Call for him again so he can find us.” I start calling out his name louder until I can feel Bronx very close.
My eyes open and find I’m in his arms at the packhouse.
“Bronx? How did I get here? I was at the mall, then I got lost in darkness. I could hear you. Lex found me and led me back.” I try to put my thoughts in order.
“Oh Kas! Thank the Goddess. Why do you keep scaring me like that?” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear and presses his forehead against mine, then pulls back so he can look at me again.
“What happened?” I ask, confused.
“How did I get back here?”
Lenora and Ashley burst into the room crying and talking at the same time.
I reassure them I’m fine and they calm down.
Once they collect themselves, they explain everything that happened at the mall.
Ryan tried to attack me but Lenora was able to fight him off.
Mall security spooked him and he ran off.
Lenora didn’t come away unscathed, Ryan is an Alpha after all.
She had a broken wrist and lost three of her teeth in the fight.
She refused medical treatment and ran to find Ashley and me.
“Why didn’t you tell us you’re a healer?”
“What?” I sit up taller.
Now I’m confused and surprised.
“As soon as you touched me, I healed almost instantly. You didn’t pass out until you touched me. It was like it sucked all your energy out. Even my teeth pulled back into their sockets. There was a purple light coming from your fingertips and everything.” She explains with wide eyes.
“I didn’t know.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“I’ve never healed anyone in my life. I’ve burned a couple of people with my hands, but never on purpose.”
All three of them look at me like I have a second nose.
“Oh, right, I wanted to talk to you when we got back from the mall.” I say to Bronx seriously.
“I’ve never shifted before and Elexis keeps telling me she needs me to, so she can be at her full strength. She doesn’t seem to be able to tell me what that means, though.”
“Hold up, hold up. Can we rewind to where you burned people… with your hands?” Lenora asks, disbelieving what she just heard.
“Wait, you’ve been seventeen for almost three months and you’ve never shifted?”
Ashley asks at the same time.
I shake my head answering Ashley first.
“When I was at Silver Moon, we decided it was best for Lex to stay hidden, but I accidentally burned Ryan. That was before Lex fully woke up. I burned Sam the accountant, after she was awake. I mean, their wolves were able to heal them, but it happened.”
Lenora and Ashley look at me like I just told them I’m the queen of England.
“What? It was an accident. My hands started glowing purple and the next thing I know, they had burns. I couldn’t help it.” I justify to the wide eyed girls.
“Oh no no no. Don’t get it twisted. I burned Sam on purpose. He broke your nose!” Lex growls.
I decide it’s best not to announce that.
“The only other time I remember glowing is when Bronx hugged me for the first time, but it didn’t burn him. That time my whole body glowed, it made him glow too.” I continue to explain my unusual glowing power.
Now Bronx is looking at me the way the girls are.
He blinks a couple of times and clears his throat.
“I was glowing?” He looks wary.
He sets me down on the couch and starts pacing.
“In the morning, we all meet in my office and the six of us can make arrangements for Kas to shift safely. Lenora said your birthday was on Summer Solstice, so there have been a few full moons already. Depending on what we find, I don’t see why we can’t let you shift even if it isn’t a full moon like most new wolves do.” Bronx says with a smile.
“Thank you.” I smile back gratefully, feeling a sense of relief.
“Also, with your unique physical features and the powers your wolf seems to have, I think we need to do some research to figure out what is going on here before you shift. Clearly, you’re special, and not just because you’re my mate.” Bronx says with a smile as he squeezes my hand.
“I want to make sure we know what we’re getting into beforehand.
Make sure you and Lex are getting the support you need.
“Research?” My ears perk up.
“Do you have a library here?”
“Yeah, we have a pack library and I have a private library behind my office.” He says nonchalantly.
Like a private library comes with everyone’s home.
“Can-can I help with the research?” I ask sheepishly, trying to hide my excitement.
Bronx laughs.
“Baby with that twinkle in your eye, how could I possibly stop you?”
He looks up at Lenora and Ashley.
“Ladies, can you give us some privacy, please? I need to speak to my mate.”
They nod and quietly leave the room.
I get the feeling they already know what he wants to talk to me about.
He closes the door behind them, then comes back and sits next to me.
“Is everything alright, Bronx?”
“Yeah, Baby. I want to run something by you.” His tone is serious.
“Okay?” I furrow my brow as he takes my hands in his.
“Kas, I think it would be a good idea if you talked to a therapist about all the stuff you’ve been through… cause, honestly, it’s a lot. I want the best for you and I think having someone to talk to that can help you work through all those traumatic things would help you. Lots of my warriors see therapists for a lot less, there’s no shame in it.” I look him in the eye as I try to absorb his words.
“Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me about the things that you’ve been through. I’m happy to listen and I would be honored for you to trust me with any amount of it, but I can’t give you advice on how to deal with it like the doctors can. We have some of the best therapists in the northwest right here in our hospital. It’s your choice. I don’t want to pressure you to do anything you don’t want to do. I just want you to know your options.”
I think about it for a minute.
“Yeah. I think I would like that. I feel like a lot of the time, Lex takes on a lot of my burden. It’s not fair to her. Also, the passing out at the drop of a hat thing is getting kind of old.”
“Good. I’ll arrange your first appointment. You can work with the clinic to set up any additional appointments you want.” He smiles.
I can sense he feels relieved.
We sit quietly on the sofa for a few minutes holding hands.
I guess if we are being honest, now is a good time to talk to him about what’s on my mind.
“Bronx, there is something I want to tell you, ” I confess, “but please don’t be mad, okay? And if you think less of me or if you find that it’s too much for you and you want-me to leave, I will understand. Just say the word.”
“Baby, there’s nothing you could say that would make me think less of you.’ He looks at me with his eyebrows knit tightly.
“So, it’s about Ryan.” I feel the familiar lump of tears in my throat, I swallow it down.
I pull my hands out of his into my lap and look down at them.
“Well, a- a couple of days before you came to Silver Moon, he um, he attacked me.”
“What do you mean ‘attacked you’?” Bronx says with a growl in his voice, making me instinctively pull back.
This is it.
This is where he changes his mind and has me executed for being weak.