I don’t exactly have a lot of options here.
Before long, I can hear the soft thud of footsteps behind me. Whoever it is makes an effort to stay quiet, but I can feel them gaining on me. I try to pick up speed, but almost immediately, I catch my foot on a rock and stumble forward, rolling down the hill in a nasty fall.
“Fuck,” I grunt, looking at myself in dismay. I’m covered in little scratches and bruises, trembling from the shock ofslamming into the ground. Directly above me, I hear a twig snap as someone comes towards me.
With the sun behind them, I can’t get a good look at their face. I set my lips in a determined line and stick my chin out, ready to face another nightmare.
Paul, the elders, my parents—I don’t give a fuck. Come at me.
Then, the person above me comes into focus, the afternoon sun slanting across his face. It’s Brad, and he’s wearing an incredibly worried expression, his pale blue eyes full of fear and concern.
I watch him approach, feeling that lump in my throat swelling again, getting even bigger than before. My feelings swirl inside me, a complex bundle of resentment and relief. When he stops in front of me and looks down at my face, all I can see in his eyes is deep concern for me and happiness that he found me.
Don’t do it, Alisha…don’t let your guard down!
He smiles at me, and I know it’s already way too late. Like it or not, my shields are down, and he’s under my skin. Just like he was three years ago, the very first night we met.
Chapter 7 - Brad
I leave my boys standing in the dust cloud of my retreat as I slam my foot to the pedal and wrench the truck onto the dirt lane towards Eccles. I cover ground so fast, I’m actually surprised to come up on the town so suddenly, though I barely slow down the whole way out to the gardens.
Leaving my truck poorly parked in the lot, I charge through the main entrance, following the scents of Alisha and Grace. When I come to the covered garden and see Grace, but not Alisha, I turn tail and shift, not hearing a word of what Grace is yelling to me.
I have to find her!
There is a hollow, cold feeling in my guts, assuring me that Alisha is in terrible danger. I don’t know if it’s from the very real threat of her violent ex, or because of my own incompetence when I left her alone all those years ago.
Actually, it’s both.
Her scent is thin, but I’m able to track it. Soon, it gets stronger, and I know I’m closing in. When I crest a rise and see her ahead of me, a little whine of relief echoes in my throat. Pacing after her, I quickly close the distance, shifting just before I reach her, but not in time to catch her before she stumbles and falls.
I shift back to human, and Alisha looks up at me, her eyes filled with fear. Her face is starkly white, with pink spots of exertion glowing on each cheek. When she sees it’s me, her face softens, and I see her relax from head to foot. I know she’s relieved to see me, but it takes a few minutes for that thought to catch up with my panic.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I snap, grabbing her shoulders and hauling her to her feet. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Let go of me!” Alisha yells back, right in my face. “What the fuck areyoudoing?”
“Saving your ass!” I yell back. “All I’m trying to do is take care of you, and you’re making it pretty fucking hard!”
“I don’t need you! I can take care of myself.”
“It doesn’t look like it, from where I’m standing.”
“You’re standing too damn close, maybe that’s why!”
I make a conscious effort to let go of her and step back, but fear is still simmering deep in my guts, rising into my chest to manifest as anger.
“I want you to tell me exactly what you think you’re doing,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “I trusted you to stay at the garden, and Grace was looking after you. She’s very upset that you just disappeared.”
Alisha’s face flickers with an expression of shock, tinged with regret. “I didn’t even think of that…I thought she might be tired of me, or just humoring me for your sake. I didn’t expect her to really miss me.”
I shake my head. “Well, she was worried sick.”
“Did you see her on your way through? You talked to her?”
“She called me and told me you were gone. She was trying to tell me something when I came through, but I was in too much of a hurry.”
Alisha’s face hardens with suspicion. “She called you?”
