Chapter 28 – EMMA
EMMA
Bodhi’s broad back disappears into the darkness between the trees. Fumbling for the door handle, I’m ready to go after him until a gentle hand on my shoulder stops me.
“Don’t.” Her voice is soft but firm. She’s crouching beside the open car door, her expression full of sympathy. “He needs space right now. Chasing him will only make it worse.”
I’m torn. All I want is to go after him.
“He said I’m not safe with him. That’s insane.” It’s hard to fathom that he could feel anything other than proud. He saved me.
“I know.” She climbs into the driver’s seat Bodhi vacated, angling her body to face me. The resemblance is clear. Same dark eyes, chocolate brown hair, and tanned skin. And the very same serious expression. “But right now, his bear is... it’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t a shifter.”
A shifter. Is that what he said they’re called? It’s all a blur.
Through the windshield, I see Chase and Beau standing near the cabin’s entrance, their conversation hushed but urgent. I catch fragments on the still evening air.
“...never seen anything like it...”
“...completely lost control...”
I return to staring at the spot where Bodhi vanished into the shadows, willing him to reappear. But he doesn’t.
“Did they...” Natalie pauses delicately.
“Did anyone touch you… inappropriately?” The clinical way she asks tells me she’s done this before.
She seems to sense my surprise. “I’m a deputy.
Anything you tell me will be in the strictest confidence and won’t be repeated to my brother. You’re my greatest concern.”
Reassured, I sink back into the leather seats and close my eyes. He’s really not coming back.
“No,” I mumble. “Ashworth was going to, but Bodhi got there first.”
Relief flashes across her features as she takes my hands in hers. “Okay. That’s good.”
It is good. Yet I feel numb. Lost.
“Where did he go?” The question bursts out of me. “What if something happens to him? He got shot… he needs medical attention more than me.”
He got shot rescuing me, and now he’s just out there, bleeding to death, and dressed in nothing but combat trousers and a blanket.
“He’s fine,” she says carefully. “The wound will heal faster than you’d believe. One of the perks of being what we are. But he’s struggling with what he had to do to save you.”
She tips her head toward the porch of the cabin, where Beau and Chase stand over a mangled body, hands on their hips, trying to figure out what to do next.
“He thinks I’m afraid of him.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Are you?” Natalie asks gently.
I close my eyes, reaching deep down inside of me for that invisible string I feel stretching between us, the one that told me he was coming, and that everything would be okay.
“No,” I whisper. “I’m not. I lov…” The word dies on my lips.
I don’t need to finish.
Natalie nods. “Good. Because that was him protecting you. Nothing more, nothing less. He would never, ever hurt you.”
She’s right. I feel it in my heart.
“His what?”
A soft smile crosses her face. “Oh, honey. Did he not explain anything?”
Chase and Beau are walking back toward us now, their expressions troubled. Beau skids on something slippery, then grimaces as he wipes it from his shoe.
“Emma,” Natalie says, reclaiming my attention. “What Bodhi hasn’t told you is that bear shifters... when we find the right person, our mate, it’s not just attraction. It’s deeper than that.”
She pulls aside the neck of her top to reveal a mark on her shoulder.
“Mate? Like a soulmate?”
Did he call me that? I have a vague recollection of something whispered in the heat of that glorious moment. As well as the scrape of his teeth along my neck.
“You don’t need to worry about the details, but it means you’re meant to be together,” Natalie explains. “When a shifter finds their mate, it’s everything. That ache you’re feeling right now? That’s the mate bond. You don’t feel right apart.”
The strange pressure under my ribs suddenly makes sense.
“Then why does he think I’m not safe with him?” I press my hand against my sternum. It’s like a craving. I need him to come back, to be close to me. To hold me. How could he just leave?
Natalie exchanges a glance with Chase, who’s now standing behind her.
“When a shifter finds their mate,” she says slowly, choosing her words with care. “There’s an overwhelming urge to claim them. Mark them as theirs. It’s biological, primal. Usually, it’s something both parties want, and when they come together, it’s magical.”
Magical.
Chase rests a hand on her shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. She looks up at him with adoration, and it clicks. They’re mates. Destined to be together.
“Then why is he leaving?”
Natalie’s expression is full of sympathy as she searches for the right words.
“Because right now, after what’s just happened, with his bear so close to the surface and all that adrenaline and rage still in his system… he’s not sure he can take it slow. Give you the time you need to process all of this.”
Damn him. It’s hard to stay mad at him for leaving me when she puts it like that.
“He doesn’t trust himself right now.” Chase clarifies. “He’s an alpha bear who’s just gone feral protecting his own.”
I stare out at the trees where Bodhi disappeared. “He wouldn’t hurt me. Ever.”
“You know that. And I know that.” Natalie agrees. “But he won’t take that chance.”
Somewhere in that dark forest, the man who saved me thinks he’s helping me by staying away, when really, he’s breaking my heart.
I want him here with me. I want to feel his enormous arms wrapped around me and hear his deep voice telling me everything’s alright.
“He’s wrong,” I say. “He has to know he’s wrong. I need him.”
I sound pitiful, but I think I’m allowed to be. After everything, all the shit I’ve been through, I just want him here.
“He will. Eventually.” Beau approaches my side of the car. “But right now, he needs time to get his bear back under control.” Beau drags a hand down his face. “And he needs to pay Ben a visit.”
Taking a deep breath, I nod.
I can do that. Give him some time and space to gather himself.
“How much time? An hour?”
The silence stretches too long.
“We don’t know.” Chase admits. “But one of us will stay out here tonight and keep an eye on him from a distance. Make sure he’s not alone, even if he thinks he wants to be.”
Tonight? As in, all night? Oh.
Seeing my disappointment, Natalie’s expression turns serious. “You’re family now, Emma. We’ll take care of you. I’ll take you to Jake while they sort all this out, and Bodhi will find us there when he’s ready.”
“Maybe I can take some time before I see Jake…” Jake is my only living relative that I know of. And while I’m happy he’s alive, I’m still mad as hell at him for dragging me into this mess.
It’s complicated.
“Whatever you need, Emma. Nobody’s going to rush you into anything. Let’s just get you out of here.”
I nod, even as everything in me rebels at the idea of leaving Bodhi behind. But I’m exhausted, emotionally shattered, and still wearing a blood-stained red dress that I never want to see again.
Reading my mind, Natalie produces a soft lounge suit and Uggs. She sets them beside me on the seat and turns her back to block the window while I quickly change.
“What happens now?” I ask, finally feeling better now that I’m drowning in fluffy cotton and covered from head to toe.
“Now, we'll get you somewhere safe,” she says. “Unfortunately, that’s probably not home for now. But I’ll bring you somewhere you can get cleaned up, checked out and sleep. You need rest.”
I look back toward the cabin, where bodies are now being loaded into vehicles.
“Okay.”
“Is there anyone you need me to call for you? Family or friends?” she hesitates.
Blinking rapidly to force back the tears, I shake my head. There’s nobody. She hesitates for a second, then wraps me up in a long, comforting hug.
“Right. Let’s just go then.”
As we pull away from the cabin, I catch one last glimpse of the forest where Bodhi disappeared, praying he finds his way back to me.