Page 111 of Spirit Trials

“Farrah, do you know what happened that day, after they took you?”

I watch my mother carefully. “They dragged you away from me.” Even though I love Rysden, the memories of that day fill me with bitterness. “Our village was destroyed. You had no home, no food, no way of making it through the winter.”

“That’s true,” my mother says calmly. “And that’s why they came back just an hour or so later.”

“What?” I ask in confusion.

“Your Rysden and Lox and Hector came back.”

“To do what?” I ask.

My mother studies my face a moment. “I’m sorry you’ve lived with this for so long, that you didn’t know.”

“Know what?” I feel like if she doesn’t give me some answers soon, I’m going to lose it.

“They helped us, Farrah. They hunted and brought in enough meat to last our entire village for the winter. They helped us clean up. They burned all the bodies of the enemy and helped us bury all our dead. They did as much as they could, and it was a lot for one day. They talked with our elders and gave them a planfor rebuilding and helped us start the process. They helped us so much, Farrah. Your Rysden was at the center of all of it. To this day, I still don’t know how they got as much accomplished as they did in one day.”

Chapter 56

I sit in the chair next to Rysden’s bed and wait for him to come back. It’s late, and I think I know what he’s busy doing. When he finally gets back, it’s late into the night. “How did the food drop go?” I ask softly.

“Good.” Rysden doesn’t even question the fact that I figured out what he was doing as he drops his fur on the bed. “I thought you’d be asleep.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

He faces me fully. “That sounds ominous.”

“It is.” I stand to my feet and take my time walking over to him. I may sway a little more than necessary as I make my way over to him. Watching his eyes trail over my body, it’s worth it. When I stand close to him, his hooded eyes meet mine. “Thanks for the shirt.”

“Anytime,” he says in a low voice.

“You helped my village.” It’s silent after that, and I mentally kick myself. I was going to get into it slowly, but that plan’s out the window. He nods. All of a sudden, all the words I’d planned to say to him vanish; and I’m left with just two simple words. “Thank you.” I wait a minute, and then it comes rushing out. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Why did you let me believe you were the bad guy?”

He shrugs. “Iamthe bad guy; I took you from your home.”

“Yeah, but you let me believe that you were going to hurt my mother and brother. You could have told me what you really did.”

“Would you have believed me?” That gives me pause. “That’s why I didn’t tell you.Ibarely knew what I was doing. All I knewwas that I was pretty sure I’d found the red-haired girl my mom told me about that was going to be an important part of my destiny. She failed to tell me that said girl would try to put an arrow in my heart multiple times, and that that same girl was my mate. I don’t think she ever expected a corporal wolf, that we would be soul mates.”

I shake my head. “That’s a lot.” I study his face in the light of the fire. “What are we doing here?”

He frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I've been sleeping in your bed each night. That’s highly inappropriate.”

“Does it look like I’m the kind of guy who cares what’s appropriate or not?”

My eyes scan his body, carved in muscle. “Nope. But I just want things to be...” Words fail me.

“Appropriate?” he fills in with a smirk.

I shake my head at him. “I don’t know.” And I really don’t.

“Hey.” My eyes meet his. “What’s bothering you, Love?”

“I just want this to be real.”

He stares into my eyes with that intensity of his. “It’s real.”