Chapter 24
***Ethan***
She glances at me nervously as I carry her up the stairs.
Her arms are around my neck, and I get a flashback to the night we met. Once
again, she’s in distress, and all I can think about is how good she smells and
how soft her body is. How am I going to keep my hands off her? Especially with
her being in the next room?
“I can walk,” she says.
“I know.”
“You carry me around as if I weigh nothing at all.”
“You do.”
I can lift the truck outside without breaking a sweat.
You, my love, are like a feather to me.
“Ethan… this is your bedroom,” she says as we enter
the room.
“It’s yours now.”
“I can’t—”
“It’s the only one with a bathroom. I figured you’d want
some privacy.”
“Oh.”
I set her down in the middle of the bed and fight the
intense urge I have to kiss her.
“Stay there. I have a surprise for you,” I tell her as I
place the plastic bag with her medication and supplies on the nightstand.
I walk over to the window and pull the drapes, blocking out
the sunlight; it’s late afternoon, but I need the room dark. She gasps and I
turn to see her staring up at the ceiling in awe.
“Ethan… it’s beautiful.”
She motions for me to join her and I lie next to her on the
bed, looking up at the glow-in-the-dark night sky I’ve created on the ceiling.
“It’s just like my old room.”
“I know.”
Oh, God. I made her cry again. Can’t I do anything right?
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not you. I remember Daddy working on my old room. He’s
gone, Ethan, and it’s all my fault.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It is. You warned me, and I didn’t listen.” Moving up on
her elbow, she looks over at me desperately. “But it wasn’t Sh… my wolf.”
I’m her wolf. Of course I am. I’m as much hers as she is
mine.
“Your wolf?”
“The one I told you about. He’s come back a few times, but it
wasn’t him. He was there, but he saved me. Him and some others.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Okay. There was a big black one. He showed up with about five
others, all mean-looking. Then two jumped out of the trees and attacked the
mean ones. I tried to run, but the black one pushed me. He was about to attack
me when Daddy…” She stops, taking a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears while
I try to keep my anger in check. “Daddy jumped in front of me. It was then that
my wolf showed up. The black one took off, and my wolf killed the others.”
“There weren’t any dead wolves in the backyard.”
“They did the weirdest thing, dragged them into the woods.”
“That is weird.”
I hate deceiving her like this, but I can’t exactly tell her
the truth. She falls back onto the pillows, staring up at the ceiling, a sort
of calm overtaking her.
“There’s a blue moon next month,” she says quietly.
“I know.” My wolf goes crazy whenever there’s a blue moon; the
strength of my powers doubles, and it’s like I can’t sit still. How am I going
to keep him away from her that night? “Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“You need to eat. I’m going to make you something.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know. I want to.”
I kiss her forehead and make my way downstairs to the
kitchen.