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I’m gonna ask Drago to take me back to the compound, OK?
Rafe locks eyes with me, the pain in them as clear as the stars above.Whatever you need, love.
“Will you take me back?” I ask the silent wolf behind me.
Drago stands, chuffing his agreement, and we walk, woman and wolf, disappearing into the inky depths of the woods.
Chapter17
Whose Horse Is That?!
After a mileof trekking naked through the woods, my poor feet are about to strike.
Drago notices and whines at my labored gait, rubbing his body against my legs, offering comfort and solidarity.
He knows why I don’t just shift and make it easier on myself without me needing to spell out that my fur doesn’t feel safe anymore.
Like putting on the same outfit…
Or hearing the same song that played when something awful happened.
I want as much distance from the thing that almost happened as I can get. Unfortunately, that means my feet aren’t doing so great.
We keep going. Raw, brokenhumanfeet be damned. The pain is an excellent distraction, anyway. Focusing on it is a much better alternative to my mind’s instinct to replay.
So I sink into sensations, the sharp sticks and jagged stones and gnarled roots digging, scraping, and cutting into the soles of my feet. I lose myself in it, falling into a sort of trance. Putting one foot in front of the other with no real awareness. I don’t know how long we hiked through the woods like that.
It’s only when I stumble on a tree root and Drago jumps in front of me, using his broad body to keep me from eating dirt, that I come out of my trance and into reality once again.
Blood and earth seep between my toes and my soles are so tender, so raw. It’s like the woods tried its best to flay them open. I try to take another step, but the moment I shift my weight, a bleat of pain rips from my throat and I fall against Drago’s wide neck.
I stay there, panting, shuddering with nausea, and happy to let him shoulder some of my weight.
It takes time to get my wits about me. For my heart to stop racing and my breath to unhitch. Long enough that I’m confronted with exactly how close I am to Drago. His scent wraps around me almost like a physical thing and I can’t help but let out a long sigh at the comfort it brings.
The column of muscles in his neck twitch at the sound, and Drago’s whole body stiffens. But it’s only a few moments before his body relaxes and he, too, lets out a long, chuffing sigh.
We stay like that for ages. Just me and him in the woods, broken and leaning on each other. At some point, hot tears prick the back of my eyes and I fist my hands deep in Drago’s ruff, trying to keep them at bay. He answers with a low rumble vibrating deep in his chest and the notion that he might be trying to soothe me breaks me clean open.
I let out a long, self-pitying wail into his neck.
I knew better than that.
I knewbetterthan that.
It was my fault.
If I hadn’t gone off alone to catch up with wolvesI didn’t know, none of this would have happened.
This was all my fault.
Drago whines.
How could I have been so stupid? So reckless?
He whines again, and at first I think it’s an attempt at commiseration, but the vocalization grows more insistent, sharper until he finally draws my full attention.
I gaze into those dark brown eyes, eyes Iknoware the real him, and he growls at me. Not half-way, either. It’s not a little snarl. Drago is growling at me like he would a threat.
