‘Hurry, we’re still a good way from home.’I nervously reply. Sasha takes off in a full run, running as fast as her legs will take us. She doesn’t dare look back, only forward. The sounds of the stranger’s paws pick up. They’re closing in.
‘Da…’ before I can finish calling my dad for help,we’re hit from behind and tackled to the ground. We tumble and roll with the strange wolf rolling with us. All I see is my chocolate-colored fur mixed with the beige fur of the strange wolf. When we stop tumbling, Sasha is quick to get on her feet. She takes a quick look but sees nothing.
Before she can run again, an excruciating pain comes from our tail. Sasha yelps. The strange wolf is biting our tail, and it hurts so damn bad. Without warning, it tosses us like a rag doll. We hit the ground… hard, knocking the wind out of us. We lay on our side and play possum. Maybe the strange wolf will think we are dead and leave us alone. Then the bastard stands over us, growling and snapping his teeth. Sasha and I are not fighters. We have trained our minimum requirement, but we have no fighting skills to speak of. Right now, if we don’t do something, we might just end up dead. My fight-or-flight instincts kick in. The wolf looks away from us for a moment and we seize the opportunity and latch on to its hind leg with our jaw. We chomp down hard, shaking our head and growling. If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get. The strange wolf whimpers and lets out a pain-filled howl. Then we notice the hind leg turns into a human leg. The wolf has shifted.
We look up to see my brother’s laughing face. Irritated, we chomp down harder, trying to inflict as much pain as we can for scaring us like that. He tries to push our head away from his leg, but we tighten our grip. When we release him, we shift into our human form. I take control. Kelsey is sitting there with a bloody ankle, laughing at me. I stand up and punch him in his stupid head as hard as I can.
“Asshole! You scared me!” I sit down next to him.
“Sister, your senses are dull. I tracked you for ten minutes before you sensed me.” Kelsey is still laughing and rubbing his ankle.
“Is it broken?” I look at his ankle.
“Nope, just a scratch. I’ll be healed up by the time we make it back home.” He nudges my shoulder. “Your teeth are freaking sharp, though.”
“How did you know I was out here?” I look at him and smile. I can’t stay angry at him. This is a game that we have played several times before.
“I heard dad tell the patrolling warriors your location, and I couldn’t resist harassing you.” He laughs.
“Asshat,” I shake my head.
“Want to talk about it?” He leans his shoulder into mine.
“Nope.” I shake my head.
“Sure about that?” He pushes his shoulder into me.
“What good will it do? I’ve messed up any chances I might have had with Darren, and for what? A cheating bastard… who made me a cheater just like him.” I lay back on the grass.
“He’s changed, I can promise you that,” he lays down next to me.
“He’s your best friend. Of course, you’ll take his side like you always have.” Tears fill my eyes. “Kelsey, can I tell you something, without you telling anyone else?”
“Of course.” Kelsey turns his head towards me.
“I had such a hard time when I moved to New York. Anxiety and depression took ahold of me. I almost came home because of it. Then I reached out for help. For the past two years, I’ve been seeing a therapist, and I’ve been working on me. Without my therapist, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today. I’ve made so much progress.” I inhale and slowly exhale.
“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I know that I haven’t always had your back and have been a real shitty brother. Kate, I’m truly sorry about that. I know I should have stopped Ian from hurting you. You should have been a priority over loyalty to Ian. I know that now. I can’t change the past or the way I have treated you, but I can assure you that moving forward I will be a better brother and protector to you.” He exhales looking up at the sky.
“You’re right, you have been a shitty brother.” I nod my head.
“Yeah, I deserve that.” Kelsey laughs. “There’s a lot you don’t know, and it’s not my place to tell you. Here’s the thing, if I didn’t think he was worthy of another chance with you, I would have never brought him to New York with me. Do you really think you’d be happy living the rest of your life with humans? If you thought Darren wastheguy, you wouldn’t hesitate to tell him about our kind. That and the fact that he’s not here with you speaks volumes.” He leans up on his elbow, facing me.
“I don’t know, Kelsey. I’m not too sure I can forgive him, much less trust him.” Looking into my brother’s eyes, I can tell he’s being sincere. He believes Ian has changed.
“Give him a chance, Kate. You deserve to be happy, and I think Ian can make you happy.” He smiles.
“Wow! When did you become so… sweet?” I laugh.
“You can thank Sonia for that. When she asked why my sister refused to talk with me, I explained everything to her. She scolded me for a month straight, telling me that I need to make things right with you because she wants our future pups to know their aunt.” He smiles and laughs.
“This isn’t weird at all, us lying here buck naked.” I say sarcastically, so the conversation doesn’t drift back to Ian.
“You’ve been around humans too long, little sister. This is just natural. Mom is mindlinking me now. We better get back before mom has a huge fit.” He stands, offering me a hand up. “You are my sister and I love you. I will have your back. You have my word on that.” He kisses my forehead before shifting to his wolf. I stand there watching him trot away, digesting the moment we just had. Did my brother just promise to have my back over his Beta? That’s huge. So much has happened since I’ve been gone. Looks like I’m not the only one who worked on themselves.
‘You coming?’He asks through our mindlink. I smile, realizing that my brother loves me, after all. Without answering him back, I shift and we run back home together, just a girl and her asshole big brother.
Chapter eight