by Hope Ford
As soon as I see Mandala in the same room as Mona, I know she’s in trouble. I know she needs me and that’s the pain that I’m feeling. I struggle to get to my feet, run to my bike, spinning the tires in the middle of the road to go back the way I just came. I fly back across the hill to get to her, praying the whole way that I’m not too late.
As I’m riding, the connection to Mona goes quiet and I know then that there’s something seriously wrong.
I fly up my driveway and as soon as the house comes into view, I see Mandala carrying Mona to a truck, laying her in the back of it. She’s unconscious, but even from here I can hear her heart beating. It’s the only thing that keeps me going. I no sooner get off my bike than I shift into my grizzly bear, running straight for Mandala.
There may be two other men there, but my focus is on Mandala. He shifts before I get to him, his black bear big, even bigger than me, but I pounce on him, causing us both to fly across the gravel. We get to our feet, facing off. The other men have shifted and they start to join in, both of them moving toward me, but Mandala motions for them to stand down. I’m standing there on all fours, panting, wanting this over with so I can get to Mona.
Mandala paws the ground in front of him, and I know he plans on charging me. I brace for it, knowing the first move he takes, I’m going to meet him in the middle, knowing I can’t lose. Not now.
He takes off toward me a split second later and we meet in a bundle of fur, blood and growls. We fight and I tear at him, biting and clawing every part of him I can reach. He gives a good fight, but I know I’m getting the best of him. He’s older and obviously not in shape; he’s panting and even whimpering in pain. But I don’t give up. I won’t until he’s dead and I know he’ll never touch Mona again.
Just when I think it’s over, the other two step forward. Their nostrils flare and they walk around me in circles. One raises up on his back paws and the other one goes low. They torment me as I turn in circles, ready to fight them both. I’m injured, my own blood and Mandala’s blood coating my fur.
The more I circle around the closer they get. Finally, tired of waiting, I jump on one, the bigger one, wanting to meet him full force and hoping I can take him down before dealing with the other. I lunge at him, taking him backwards as I pull at his leathery skin with my teeth. He doesn’t go down without a fight. He uses his back paws to kick me off of him, and I land ten feet away. Before I can even get up, the other one is on top of me, ripping at my skin. I fight. I give it all I’ve got and when they’re tired of wasting their time, they both take me on at once. Exhausted, bloodied and beaten, I collapse right against the broken steps of my porch. They both then go and pick up Mandala, putting him into the truck.
They drive off with Mona in the back, and they’ve left me for dead.
My body is working to heal itself, but it’s not happening quick enough. I try over and over to get off the ground, to go after them. But I can’t. I can’t move. My head hangs to the side and all I can think is I’ve let her down. I let them take her. My Mona.
14
Mona
I come to in a strange room. I still myself, knowing I’m not alone, but also trying to wake myself up and get my bearings. I’m in human form and I’m lying on a dirty white sheet on a bed that I’ve never seen before.
I peek through my eyelids, trying to see the room around me. Mandala is sprawled out on a chair. He’s been in a fight and he’s weak. He’s so weak, I can’t help but think that I might be able to take him if I wait for the right moment. I lift my head and then it hits me. The smell is intense and I take a deep breath, filling my lungs. It’s the smell of Klaus’ blood on Mandala. Terror overcomes me, knowing for sure that Klaus is dead. That’s the only way I can explain it.
I want to cry out, I want to curl up in a ball and cry my eyes out, but a sudden movement from Mandala has me jerking up. He’s trying to get his strength up, no doubt to finish what he started with me. I can’t just lie here. I won’t let him do this to me again.
I sit up and run right for him, pushing him backwards, beating him with my fists. Blood is pouring from his nose and members of the Eaters come in and restrain me. It’s when I have two men holding me up and Mandala standing before me that I realize I’ve lost.
And even though it’s probably true, I won’t let them do it without a fight. I use my feet to kick out at Mandala, pushing him backwards again. He starts to charge me, but I let my body go limp, pulling the two men holding me together and they take the brunt of his charge. They release me when they’re hit and I roll across the ground to get away from them. As soon as I do, the room fills with five men and they’re all fighting. The New Laws have shown up and amongst them I see Ronan. When Klaus isn’t with them I lose all hope that he might still be alive.
The room is large but crowded and Eaters and New Law are attacking. The New Laws are outnumbered and the fight is not going in their favor. I knock out the man that is holding me and join the fight as soon as I break free.
Mandala, barely able to stand, comes for me. But when he does, Klaus steps in front of me. His back is to me and his skin is marred and covered in open wounds. I want to touch him, just to believe that it’s really him. But I don’t have a chance. He joins in the fight, taking one hit from Mandala before he knocks him out, kicking in his face over and over until there’s no doubt that he’s dead.
The rest of the fighting goes on around us, but at least now, New Law has the upper hand. We no sooner finish the fight than Klaus is pulling me out the door. We’re all beaten and bloody, but we’re still standing. As soon as we get outside, Deator is standing there. A pretty white bear is walking around, going from person to person, putting her paws on them like she’s healing them. She has a big man standing next to her, almost like he’s her protector. I watch in awe as she walks over to Klaus.
When she puts her paws on him, jealousy rages through me but I just stand there, watching as his broken body transforms.
He points to me. “Now her.”
She comes to me without question and when her healing paws touch me, a calm comes over me.
As soon as she’s done, I tell her, “Thank you,” and she walks away to someone else.
Klaus grabs on to my hand. “You okay?”
I nod my head at him. Right now I want to fall at his feet. I thought he had died and to see him standing here, his hand in mine, is overwhelming.
He pulls me forward until we’re standing right in front of Deator.
Klaus’ grip tightens on my hand. “I love Mona. If it means I’m out of the club, the family, then so be it.”
Deator starts to speak, but before he can, Ronan walks up beside us. “Before you say anything, Dad, she fought right beside us. She saved a few of the guys in there. She may be a wolf, but she’s New Law. She’s proven her worth already.”
A few of the other guys step forward, agreeing with him.
My heart starts racing. I look around at all the New Law standing there, ready to defend me to their president, the founder of their club. They’re like the family I’ve never had. A lone tear escapes my eye and I reach up to wipe it off my cheek.
Regardless of what Deator decides, nothing can take away this feeling right now.
Deator looks around at his men. He looks like it’s weighing heavily on his mind, but he clears his throat. He looks at me and then at Klaus. “Your mother already talked to me about this before I came here. We will bring it before the club, but we’ve both decided its way past time for me to stand down as the President. It will have to go to a vote, but I will back Ronan for the President and Klaus for the Vice. It will be up to you then about the wolf shifter.”
Klaus is shocked by his father’s words but tries to hide it. I’m sure he’s overcome with the fact that he’s getting his position back into the club. He juts his chin out, daring anyone to disagree with him. “She stays.”
Deator shrugs his shoulders and turns away from us.
Klaus squeezes my hand a
nd pulls me away from the crowd.
He doesn’t say anything as he sets me down on the back of his bike and drives us back to his house.
I hold on to him tightly and even when we get to his house, I still don’t want to let him go.
With my hands clenching around his stomach, he holds my hands there and we sit outside his cabin. Our bodies are breathing in and out in unison and even though we’re both dirty and bloody, I feel more alive than ever.
He peels my hands off him. “C’mon, honey, let’s get you inside and cleaned up.”
Reluctantly, I get off the bike and then follow him inside.
He opens the door and stands back to let me in. With his hand on my lower back, he leads me to the bathroom.
“Klaus,” I say to him as his eyes roam across my body.
His touch is so gentle, it’s almost as if he thinks I’m going to break. When he doesn’t answer me and continues to run his hands softly across my body, I grab him by the shoulders. “Klaus.”
He lifts his eyes to look at me, but looks away quickly. He goes over and turns the shower on, holding his hand under the nozzle to test the temperature.
He doesn’t talk to me, so I move toward him, crowding at his back, wanting to feel his heat against me.
I wrap my arms around him, my front pressed to his back, my hands curled into his muscled chest. “Talk to me, Klaus.”
He hangs his head and covers my hand with his on his chest. I feel his chest expand as he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
I walk around him, standing between him and the shower. He’s scaring me now, and I can’t just keep going like this.
When I’m to his front I wrap my arms around him, my chin resting on his chest. He looks almost lost with unshed tears in his eyes. “You’re scaring me. What is it?”
He rears back, putting me at arm’s length. “I lied to you, Mona. I promised you that Mandala would never hurt you again. I promised you I would be there for you. And I lied. I wasn’t there… I left you unprotected.” His voice breaks. “He had his hands on you. I let you down.”
I’m hurting more now seeing the way he’s torn up than from anything that Mandala could ever do to me. I lean up on my tiptoes and wrap my hands around the back of his neck. “You didn’t, though. You saved me more times than I can count now.”
He shakes his head, his hands covering my cheeks. “I didn’t though. And I know I should let you go. I know you deserve better than me, but I can’t, Mona. I can’t let you go. All I can do is promise you that I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
I know nothing I can say is going to take away his regret, the pain he’s feeling right now. So I kiss him. I clasp my lips to his, putting everything into that kiss. He may not realize it, but he’s saved me. He’s brought me from a life where I was just existing, trying to get by day to day. He’s showed me what the future could look like and I’m going to hold on to it and never let him go.
He’s stiff at first, but I persist, angling my face so I can deepen the kiss. Finally he opens to me, taking me in, and I put everything I have into that kiss. I want him to know exactly how I feel about him. I reach for the button of his jeans and he pulls back abruptly.
“Wait. The necklace,” he says, stopping me from unzipping his pants.
I push his hands away. “It’s okay. As long as I have you, I don’t need anything else.”
He digs into his pocket, pulling the necklace out and holding it out in his hand for me to see it.
I gasp. I didn’t see him get it and with all my worry for Klaus, I had completely forgotten about it.
He holds it under the spray of the water and then tells me to turn around. I put my back to him and he brings the necklace around my head, clasping it in the back. Brushing the hair off my shoulder, he whispers to me, “From now on, it’s not about my family or your family. It’s our family, Mona. The one we’re going to build together. You will always come first to me. I love you.”
His lips kiss my neck right below my earlobe, and my body trembles. Turning in his arms, I tell him I love him too.
He finishes undressing and we step into the shower. The hot spray feels good on my muscles, and I groan as Klaus slides his soapy hands down my body. “Relax, I’m going to take care of you.”
And he does just that.
Epilogue
Klaus
The Next Day
“Let’s go, sleepyhead.” I know she’s sore, but since the day she came back into my life, there’s something I’ve wanted to do with her and I’m not putting it off.
She groans, rolling onto her back. She’s naked, her curvy body completely bare for me to look at.
“Where are you going?” she mumbles to me.
I laugh. She’s definitely not a morning person. “You mean where are we going? Get up.”
I grab her arms and pull her until she’s sitting up. I sit down on the bed beside her and she tries to cover her bare belly. I pull her hands, lacing our fingers together and pull them away from her body. “Uh, uh, none of that. I like every one of your curves.”
I finally get a smile from her and I can’t resist leaning in to kiss her.
When she finally seems awake, I force myself to stand up. “C’mon, let’s go.”
She slides her legs off the bed and stands up, stretching her arms over her head, yawning.
She goes to the restroom and comes out looking refreshed. “Okay, where are we going?” she asks as she starts pulling on clothes.
I stop her. “Nope. No clothes.”
She looks at me questioningly, and I can’t hold back the excitement on my face.
“I want to run with you,” I tell her, hoping she doesn’t think it’s corny. But since she’s been here, I’ve dreamt of running with her, free across New Law territory. We are already connected, we proved that last night. But I want to experience this more than anything. I want to see her run, especially this first time, knowing she’s free from her past.
She smiles widely and without saying a thing, I can see from the look in her eyes she knows what this means to me. She reaches out, holding her palm up to me. “Let’s go.”
I grab on to it, squeezing it before pulling her outside and taking her for the run of our lives.
Epilogue 2
Ray
I hear the pounding before I see it. I’m on New Law territory so I know that I’m basically safe, but I still stand behind the trees. Only seconds go by and I see Klaus’ bear and Mona’s wolf running past me. They don’t notice me or if they did, they don’t act like it.
Once they’re past me, I keep trekking up the side of the mountain. I may be the secretary of the club, but I still do these expeditions sometimes. When there are things that need to be checked on and it gives me days away out in the wilderness, I volunteer.
And right now, I need this more than ever. There’s a shifting going on at New Law. The crew is questioning our leader, there are women joining as my brothers settle down. It’s a new day for New Law and it’s brought me a lot to think about. I can’t help but look at my brothers and wonder when I’ll meet the one, my mate. I’m getting older and the chances of that happening are getting slim.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I take off my pack and pull out my jacket. The farther up the mountain I get, the colder it gets. It was brought to the attention of the club that there is a missing hiker. She’s been missing for a few days and my first instinct is she’s already dead. However, the area she is reported to be lost in is an area where the New Law have deposited the remains of some of the Eaters that we’ve done away with over the years.
I’m traveling up the mountain to make sure the graveyard isn’t going to be disturbed.
The farther I go, the more sure I am that she hasn’t survived. With the wild animals, the climate, unless she’s a seasoned hiker, or really skilled in survival, I don’t see how she will be found alive.
As I get close to the gravesite, I can see that she’s
been on the trail. I track her movements and see from the dead carcass of an animal that she most likely had a close call on the way. At the opening to the graveyard, I look around. In the distance, I see a bright blue material beaming out at me. I walk over to it slowly, knowing for sure that I’m going to find her.
I unzip the tent. “Anybody in there?” I call out.
Peaking inside, I see her still body lying there, huddled in a bundle. I walk on my knees inside the small tent and stop beside her. With my hands on her neck, I can feel a faint pulse. She’s alive, but barely.
She’s the human, the missing hiker, there’s no doubt about it. I have to get her out of here before the searchers find the graveyard.
I lift her gently in my arms and she doesn’t make a sound. I should get out of here quickly. It’s already starting to snow at this elevation, but I can’t help stopping and appreciating the weight of her in my arms. I look down at her fair skin and her soft lips, which are almost blue. Her beauty hits me right in the chest, and I know if she was awake I would probably ask her if she’s crazy being out here like this. Whoever her partner was left her out here to die. He better hope I don’t get my hands on him.
I shake the thoughts from my head. I’m thinking crazy thoughts. There’s no reason to get possessive of the woman. She’s a human… and I’m a shifter.
Coming up next… Ray
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