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“Whoa,” the blond-haired man said when I stumbled, reaching out to catch me but backing off when I recovered. I found my eyes taking in the broad breadth of his chest, those muscular arms, those narrow hips. He was pleasing, had an open, giving manner, and obviously had a bond with the other man. He was worth considering.
But it wasn’t him my mouth, my teeth ached for. I took slow, dragging steps towards the bigger man, his head cocking to the side as he watched me, frowns coming and going, his eyes shifting from deep brown to bright green as I did. His face transformed as I reached for him.
His expression was so alien, I had no idea how to unpack it initially. He caught me with those massive arms, stared into my eyes with ones that burned and saw everything. Had anyone looked at me like this? Like I was the most perfect thing in the world? Like he could see through the fucking roadmap of abuse that was my face to who I was beneath it? How? my human brain balked. How could this be possible? We haven’t spoken a word to each other.
“By the fucking Goddess…” the other man hissed. “Pete, mate, don’t—”
The other man didn’t get to intervene, as the larger man did something I would never have thought possible. He tilted his head away, baring that muscular column of a neck in a perfect picture of surrender. This moved him somehow. I could feel the tremble in his hands, the rapid pant of his breath as I moved closer. My lips peeled tentatively back from my teeth, something that had him breathing out, “Yes…yes…”
This is it. This is Sanctuary, I was told one last time before lashing out, digging my teeth into his rigid muscle and clamping down.
My mouth burned, poisonous saliva spilling from fuck knows where and onto his skin. His arms snapped around me, digging into ribs, muscles that were bruised and battered, but som
ehow, I leant into the pain. An explosion of energy washed over the both of us, the fiery burn of my venom spreading through our bodies, then tearing reality away.
I was seen then, perfectly and completely. All the many, many indignities I’d suffered were catalogued and mourned, all my pain weighed and added to a list of injustices to seek retribution for. My beautiful boy, from the moment he was born to the usually chirpy little nine-year-old he was now, was represented in a million flickering memories. Everything that made me who I was, was soaked up and held in the gentlest of embraces.
This is pack, the beast inside me said in her gentlest of tones.
But that wasn’t the strangest thing. I saw a great big pair of green eyes watching me, and with them came a tremendous feeling of love from beyond both of us. Of being held when you hurt, of being seen and cared for, and an immense feeling of empathy. I found my breath catching in my chest as it rolled over me, so intense, so complete was the feeling. You’ll hurt no more, she said, whoever the eyes belonged to. You’ll see.
I came to only briefly and felt the wind on my face, drying my tears almost as soon as they had formed.
“Protect the cub,” I said, my words little more than a slur before the smoke inside me swallowed me down.
4
We ran along a plain at dawn.
My paws slammed into the ground with each step, the powerful muscles in my haunches powering me forward. As did his. I looked over at the massive black wolf, the shine of his bright green eyes tugging me forward. We ran for the sheer joy of running, the sun rising and sending out rosy fingers of light as we went. Something lightened inside me as I felt the sun on my fur.
It’s time to wake up, a great voice said. You are home now.
5
I obeyed with a start, my eyes flicking open, then darting around the unfamiliar room.
Where the fuck am I? I thought, feeling my pulse pound and hearing a beeping machine keep pace with it. I glanced at it, the cords that kept me connected to it, and the obvious hospital bed I was lying in, if the glaring white sheets and metal framed gurney was anything to go by. Harsh artificial lights glared down on me, ones that made it clear I was not alone.
Curled up on my left side was Kade. He whimpered when I moved, but even when I lay still, the noises still came. He twitched in his sleep, his whine growing louder, more desperate. The snort of someone waking suddenly jerked my eyes beyond the bed.
The man from the car, I thought, seeing those brown eyes open blearily. My body coiled around Kade’s, covering his with mine, ready to strike.
He staggered over to the bed with the time old shuffle of a parent with an unsettled child, eyes three quarters closed, it taking for him to reach out, about to put a hand on Kade’s shoulder, before he noticed me. His eyes flicked open, hand and body freezing.
I watched him and he watched me, my eyes inexorably dragged over to the pink, still healing bite on his neck. I tasted that weird acidic bile again, and said, “Who are you?”
“I’m Peter. I need to get the doc—”
“No, where the hell are we? Why am I attached to all these machines?”
“This is Sanctuary.” He saw the confusion in my eyes, along with something else—fear. “It’s my hometown. This is the medical centre. You were hurt, really badly, Flick.”
I jerked back at that.
“How do you know my name?”
He swallowed, moving restively by the bed, an odd sight for a man so big.
