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Sunlight streamsthrough the leaves overhead and dapples my thighs. I peer down at my tired legs, inhaling the crisp scent of a summer morning. It’s strange how I can almost pretend I’m enjoying it. The sunlight. The leaves and the woods. All of it.
But I can’t. Not after everything I’ve been through. Things I can’t even process.
I let my head fall back against the tree behind me and close my eyes. A picture of my brother when he was around eight, and I was around six. We were running through the woods, the sunlight streaming beneath the leaves overhead.
“You’ll never be as strong as me,” he teased.
I laughed. “You’ll never be as fast as me.”
His mouth had curled into that familiar pout, and his auburn hair fell into his eyes the way it always did. “I’m older. I’m faster.”
“Want to bet?” I taunted.
He ginned, and then we started moving faster. As fast as two young shifters could move. So fast that the leaves and trees around us were a blur.
We didn’t even notice the forest getting darker. The leaves and branches overhead drawing closer, blacking out the sun. Nor that we had nearly reached The End, the place our people were taught to go to in a dire emergency until I smelled the blood.
“Simon!” I shouted. He was behind me, because I was faster than him, even then.
He smacked into my back. “What? I was catching up!”
I took a step forward, and the bleeding man came into view. He was old for a human, but I scented shifter on him, which meant he was even older. Not just shifter, but something else, meaning he was a mixed breed like us.
He looked up at us, tears in his eyes, slicing across his face. “I’m looking for the Blood Pack. Did I reach you?”
“Let’s go,” Simon said, tugging on my shirt.
But I couldn’t go. Some instinct said I couldn’t just leave the man. “Why are you looking for them?”
It was as if my words were an admission. He began to sob openly, in a way I’d never seen a grown-up do before. “I’ve been searching for so long for a place… a place I could be safe. Somewhere I wouldn’t constantly be attacked. Where my life wouldn’t be at risk, just because of what I am.” He sobbed harder. “I just want to garden and bake, and work with my hands. Is that too much to ask?”
Simon tugged my shirt harder. “We need to go. You know this isn’t safe.”
It broke all the rules talking to him. Rules that had been instilled in us from the time we could walk. The pack lands must stay secret. No talking to outsiders.
So why couldn’t I go?
Suddenly, my mom emerged from the woods, out of breath. The expression on her face was calm, like she was expecting this crazy scene, which told me she’dSeenthis moment already. Two other large shifters emerged from the woods behind her.
“It’s okay,” she told us. “You can go. We’ll handle this.”
Simon turned and started to walk away, but I hesitated. “Is he joining us, then?”
My mom’s careful mask slid into place. “Go back home. I’ll talk to you later.”
Her words felt wrong, twisting in my gut, and I shifted to stand in front of the man, blocking my mom and the two big shifters. “I won’t let you hurt him.”
To my surprise, my mom kneeled down. “Honey, he’s safe. We just need to help him now.”
“You promise?” My eyes held hers.
She smiled. “Promise.”
And I believed her. Turning to the injured man, I said, “You’ll be able to garden, bake, and work with your hands here.”
He smiled. “Thank you.” As I turned to go, he called after me. “I’m Franklin.”
I looked back and smiled, too. “Asha.”
