Chapter 7 - Rachel
I came down the steps and headed toward the door.
“Where are you headed?” Sam asked.
“I’m going on a hike with Emma and Liv,” I said.
“I’ll walk you there,” Sam said, getting to his feet. “It’s a nice day out.”
I did my best not to roll my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
Sam frowned. “There’s a wraith on the loose along with who knows how many lesser demons,” he growled. “If I could stick you with a bodyguard twenty-four-seven, I would.”
My lips pursed, but one look at Sam told me that I wasn’t going to get any say in the matter. After an exhale of frustration, I gave a nod toward the door, and the two of us walked out together.
“This really isn’t necessary, you know,” I said after a few minutes.
This sort of behavior wasn’t uncommon from him, but I still didn’t understand it.
Ever since he had brought home the orchids, he had seemed to go out of his way to show he cared about me, that he wanted me safe.
This included going with me wherever I went.
“I told you,” he replied. “The wraith is out there, as are other creatures. I’m not going to be able to concentrate on my own things unless I know you’re safe.”
“You don’t need to protect me, Sam,” I said. “Ignoring the fact that I’m not a target for anyone, you have other, more important things to do.”
He stopped and turned to me. “You’re mine,” he said, in a way that seemed to make my entire insides flare with need. “And I’m not going to stop protecting you. There isn’t anything more important in my mind.”
Despite the heat rushing through me at his stare and the words, I forced myself not to fall for them.
“Years of us ignoring one another, of you barely giving me the time of day, and now you want to start being my protector?” I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’ve just started?”
I couldn’t answer right away. His words were so sincere that they couldn’t be a lie. It was a sweet thought that almost made me smile. But it didn’t make any sense to me, either. If he had felt that way, he should have told me. He shouldn’t have rejected me in the first place.
“Right, because you can’t concentrate on anything unless you know I’m safe,” I said with a flat expression.
“Believe me, if I could stop thinking about you, I would,” he said.
The words stabbed deep into my gut, harder than I would have expected. My fingers curled as my jaw tightened.
“Glad to know that’s where you stand,” I shot back.
Without another word, I turned on my heels and sped ahead. Why did I even bother with him?
His hand wrapped around my wrist, and he tugged me back until I was facing him.
Light shone on his sandy hair, making it look bronze, giving his skin a sun-kissed look.
He stared down at me with an intensity that made my heart thunder, and all I could think about was his eyes and how badly my wolf wanted to clear those few inches to press up against him, to feel those muscles beneath my fingers.
His next words jolted me back to reality.
“I never stop thinking about you, Rachel,” he murmured. “To the point where half my mind is always fixated on you in some way. To the point where, if I have to fight for my life, I’m still going to be worrying about you if I don’t know you’re safe. It’s distracting, to say the least.”
I could barely breathe as I stared at him, that electricity coursing through me as he held onto me. For a moment, nothing mattered but the two of us.
“That seems…Dangerous,” I said, the words barely getting out of my throat.
He gave a low chuckle. “Trust me, it is.” His thumb ran along my wrist, sending shivers up my spine. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like keeping you safe.”
This close, I could barely breathe. I bit my lip unconsciously, only realizing what I was doing when I saw his gaze flick down to my lips and the hunger flare in his eyes, but by then, it was too late.
We stayed like that for a moment, his touch electrifying me as we looked at one another, both fighting the urges rushing through us from the mating bond.
I knew without a doubt that if I stepped closer, filling that final gap and pressing my lips to his, I wouldn’t make that hike.
My breathing hitched, going ragged as I stared at him, trying to fight that need I had always felt for him, that need that had only grown more acute since the mating ceremony.
I fought it because even if I craved him, I wasn’t going to let myself fall into that trap, not after everything he had put me through.
I wasn’t going to open myself up to that.
Then he released my hand, and the spell was broken. Still reeling, I didn’t move when he leaned down, his lips almost brushing my ear.
“Say whatever you want,” he muttered. “The point is I’m going to keep protecting you, whether you want me to or not.”
***
“You’ve been quiet,” Emma said as we trudged along the trail. “Everything all right?”
The trail ran along a small river, the water trickling as it glided across rocks and curved and turned along its bed, following the centuries-old weathering that had formed it.
The water was lower than it should have been, however, and despite how close we were to the edge, our shoes remained bone-dry.
“Just thinking,” I muttered.
Behind me, Liv snorted in amusement. “She’s been ‘just thinking’ for days,” Liv called over me to Emma.
I shrugged, still trudging down the path without looking at either of them.
“What about?” Emma asked.
“Nothing in particular,” I said. I had kept my frustrations over Sam to myself, not even venting about it to Liv during work. It was my problem, and it was one that had been going on for years and that I didn’t want to share.
Unfortunately, Liv knew me well enough to answer for me, even if I hadn’t told her a single thing.
“My guess is it has something to do with a certain, shaggy-haired shifter who just so happens to be her mate,” Liv said.
I shot her a glare, and she gave me a wide-eyed, too-innocent look.
“Everything okay?” Emma asked, bringing my attention back around. We clambered up a slope, leaving the river and beginning to climb the trail between brush and cacti. “Something the matter?”
The last thing I was going to do was tell my brother’s mate about my history with Sam.
“He’s just…” I trailed off, trying to find a way to explain it.
“Presumptuous. He thinks that just because we’ve mated, he has some sort of right to me, and that he can just do whatever he wants without getting called out for it.
He’s labeled himself as my protector, despite us barely knowing one another. ”
Emma cracked a grin as she turned back to look at me. “Trust me. I’m just about the best person you could turn to for this,” she said. “You know how Elias can be sometimes.”
I burst into laughter. “Yeah, he’s always been like that. How do you handle it?”
Emma laughed. “I tell him that if he keeps it up, I’ll stop sleeping with him,” she joked. “That eased things quite a bit.”
Liv and I laughed, and some of the tension that had pierced through me eased. Emma’s head had swiveled back toward us as she walked a few feet ahead. So she didn’t see the several creatures running toward us.
“Emma,” I croaked, even as I couldn’t take my eyes off the creatures scurrying toward us.
Emma’s grin vanished as she turned, and her entire body went rigid as she caught sight of whatever monsters had appeared.
They cackled as they scurried forward, jumping in lurching movements as much as they were running.
Their skin was the color of ash, their ears pointed, their faces almost feline, their fingers too long.
When one of them grinned, I caught sight of bright-white, pointed teeth.
“What the hell are these things?” Liv asked, her voice high-pitched and petrified.
“They’re the demons Sam warned me about,” I said. Suddenly, his concern didn’t feel as absurd and unnecessary as I had thought.
“Run,” Emma said, but when we turned, more imps had materialized to block us. They had us surrounded.
A high-pitched cackling sound that grated my ears reverberated through the air as they stepped closer, flanking us and closing the gaps between them until there was no way we could escape.
My heart pounded as dread began to seep through me.
I didn’t know what they wanted, but something told me, as I watched them all, and the way they leered up at us, that they hadn’t stumbled across us by accident.
Emma didn’t say anything, though her eyes darted all around as she tried to keep track of each of the creatures. Slowly, she twisted the cap off her canteen.
One moment, there was nothing. Next, a burst of water whipped out, slamming into the nearest demon, shoving it backward. It let out an inhuman squeal as it flew back.
The next one jumped forward, and the water followed it, knocking the creature into another one that had been mid-leap. Emma’s eyes remained narrowed with concentration as she stared at our attackers, determination etched across her face.
“I’m not going to be able to beat them,” Emma muttered to us as her water continued to rush all over the place at her command. “We need to get away.”
We started doing just that, sprinting back the way we had come until we came to a bend, and the demons pinned us in on all sides.
In the middle of it all, my hands suddenly began to burn.
I glanced down. For a brief moment, in the light of the water swirling all around, I could have sworn I saw tendrils of flame flick from my fingertips.
A moment later, the light shifted, and the mirage was better.
“Elias is coming,” Emma said to us, pulling me back to the present.
“How do you—?”
But then I felt something through my mating bond.
Panic and anger, and then something soothing, as if Sam was trying to calm me down.
To my surprise, I found myself taking comfort in it.
Behind that soothing, though, I could sense a primal rage and a need to protect.
I could feel Sam’s fury, his desire to destroy whatever it was that was threatening me.
It didn’t matter what it was; he couldn’t tell through the mating bond.
All that mattered to him was that I was in danger, that I was afraid, and he would slaughter whatever it was that was making me feel this way.
The imps closed in, cackling as they closed the gap. Just as one lunged and wrapped its tiny claws around my wrist, a furious howl screamed out. Several massive wolves charged over the hill, along with other shifters in human form who were clutching heavy iron bars and blades.
The creature gripping me let out a horrified howl as something barreled into it.
Sam pinned the demon to the ground and plunged an iron blade into the imp over and over again with a furious snarl.
I felt Sam’s rage once more, that protective instinct he felt for me.
This thing had touched me, almost hurt me, and Sam was going to make it pay.
He actually did care about me. In his own, weird way.
Drake grabbed my arm and pulled me into motion once more. “Let’s go,” he said.
I turned back to look at Sam, my mate, who was swinging the iron knife toward one of the demons, slicing it across the creature’s throat. It hadn’t even fallen to the ground before another one had taken its place.
“Rachel, come on,” Drake repeated, pulling my arm.
Part of me wanted to argue. Sam was still back there, still fighting. I wanted to help him. I wanted to make sure he stayed safe. Leaving him felt wrong. What if he got hurt?
Through the mating bond, I felt that urgent tug once more, though this one seemed to be begging me to run the other way, to go with Drake. When I turned to find Sam, he wasn’t looking at me. He was still fighting one of the creatures. But I could tell that what I was feeling was coming from him.
I thought back to our conversation earlier today, even as it felt like a lifetime ago.
He had said he was always going to be thinking about me, even in a life-or-death situation.
I was distracting him. As much as I wanted to stay, if I did, a part of him was going to be worrying about me, and that meant he was more likely to be injured.
I wasn’t going to let that happen. As much as I wanted to stay, I wasn’t going to put him in more jeopardy.
I turned and followed Drake away from the fight.