I spend some time relaxing in the warm water, letting the heat soak away some of my aches. Then I notice how hairy I am. Wow, who knew I could grow so much hair in 6 weeks? I glance around for a razor, I can't walk around like this. I might be the reincarnation of a cavewoman but it's 2024, there's no need to live like my past self now. My search for a razor is unsuccessful and I huff in frustration. How the hell am I going to deal with this? I stare at the unwanted hair, wishing it would just disappear. Then I yelp in shock when it dissolves right in front of my eyes. “No way,” I gasp, running my hands over my now smooth legs in disbelief. I lift an arm to check my underarm and that hair is gone too. This is my favourite power to date. Never having to shave ever again? Awesome! Then I reach up to touch my head in a panic, a rush of relief washing over me when I feel my hair still there. My eyebrows and eyelashes are thankfully still intact too. I hear a brief shout before the bathroo
Chapter 51“Mine!” the words slip from my mouth and as if the wolf hears me it stops in its tracks. Turning its head its glowing blue eyes find mine immediately. I recognise it, it's Mason. He looks to have some kind of internal struggle as the light in its eyes dims before shining even brighter, and then he tears his eyes from mine and continues his path into the thick forest and out of sight. “Uh oh, someone's wolf just got a glimpse of one of their mates for the first time,” Theo says coming to stand beside us. “When you feel up to it we should all go for a run together, it will be good for our wolves to finally meet,” Luke says. “Not without Axel,” I shake my head. I'm not letting him miss our first run together. “I can come, I shifted,” Axel says quietly behind me. I turn in his arms to look up at him.“Axel, that's amazing. When did it happen?” I grin, so pleased for him. He looks down in shame before he answers.“The night you were hurt, I lost control,” he admits.“Hey,” I
Chapter 52Theo's room is decorated more modestly than the rest of the house, with plain blue walls and curtains. It's a typical teenage boy's bedroom apart from the huge bed that takes up almost the whole floor space. The bed is like the one we had at the apartment and I wonder if it's a standard bed in this realm. “She could have let us keep Sophie’s room,” Theo grumbles when he struggles to move around the bed. “This is fine,” I reassure him. I'm just grateful we have somewhere safe to stay together. “I'm going to do a perimeter run,” Axel says from behind me. I turn to him and I'm concerned with the change I can see in him. His face is no longer the sweet shy one, his expression is hard and fierce. His posture is tense and on high alert. It’s the kind of change you can only earn from trauma, and I did that to him. I wrap my arms around him and feel a little comfort when he holds me back and kisses the top of my head.“Come back to me,” I whisper to him, hoping he understands the
Chapter 53The phone rings twice before I hear Dot’s voice.“Luke, you better be calling with some good news because I'm going crazy here. She should be awake by now and the healers need…”“Hi, Dot,” I cut her off. I can't believe no one has told her I’m awake yet. “Josie?” she gasps.“Yes, it's me,” “Oh my goodness, Josie, it's so good to hear your voice! I've been so worried. How are you? When did you wake up?” she blurts and I can hear the emotion in her voice. “I’m good Dot, thanks to you. The doctor said I have no negative effects,” I tell her. “I'm so happy to hear that, I thought maybe I messed up and…” her words are cut off by a sob. “Dot, I’m fine. You saved me, I owe you my life,” I say with tears rolling down my face. I wish I could hug her right now, she has spent all these weeks thinking she had done something wrong. “They wouldn't let me see you, I've been going crazy here. Is Mason with you?” she asks.“I know, I called as soon as I found out. Mason is not here ri
Chapter 54“Looks like we are going for that run now,” I hear Theo sigh as I dart after Mason. I don't wait for the others, I lower my nose to the ground letting my wolf guide us with her instincts as she takes note of Mason's scent. “Hey, no shifting in the house,” I hear a startled female voice from downstairs and my wolf heads towards it. Theo’s mum, Maria, comes into view and I wish I could apologise to her as I run by her and out the door. “Sorry Mum, it's a bit of an emergency,” Theo calls from behind me. I can hear the footsteps of Axel, Theo and Luke as they run in human form behind me, trying to keep up. “Theo, put some bloody clothes on before you go outside,” I hear her chastise. “No time,” he shouts. Their footsteps come to a halt and I assume they've stopped to shift. I don't wait, instead I push forward in chase of my mate. He's so fast but I'm determined to catch him. When I break into the forest my wolf becomes more alert. This is her domain and I let her take full
Chapter 55The girl hangs from a tree branch with a rope around her neck, her long dark hair covers her face and she has the letter J carved into her abdomen. It's not hard to miss the message. She looks very similar to me and the J has to be for Josie. “Mason give me your phone,” I pat his pockets in search of it. He reaches around to his back pocket and hands it to me.“Call Deacon and tell him to lift the wards, we are porting out of here now,” he orders. “Okay,” I nod, not fully sure what he's on about but there's something I need to do first. I open the camera and start snapping pictures of the body.“What the fuck are you doing you psycho?” Mason snatches the phone from me. “I’m not done,” I try to take the phone back.“Yes, you are,” he growls, “I’m deleting that shit off my phone,” “Mason, how many people can we really trust right now?” I ask him. “None without screening them,” he frowns. “Then give me back the phone, there is evidence right in front of us and I can tell
Chapter 56Walking through the academy is much less embarrassing than expected, we only see a few students and they give us a wide birth. They're probably scared they might get mistaken for one of us if they get too close and then get assassinated. “Where are we staying?” I ask as we enter Ruby house.“Back in our apartment,” Luke smiles. “Is it safe?” I frown, I can't imagine having half the wall missing is the safest of places to stay. “Yes, all fixed and we have upgrades. Bulletproof glass, reinforced walls and a whole new security system,” he explains. “I need to call my mum and let her know we won't be returning, can I borrow someone's phone because I left mine,” Theo says as we arrive at our door. Mason hands him his phone and pushes open the door to our apartment. Beeping begins to sound out and he punches a code into a box on the wall, silencing the alarm. “I'm going to take a shower,” Luke says, leaning over to kiss my cheek before releasing my hand and heading into his
Chapter 57The next morning I wake up on top of Axel, Theo is snuggled in on one side and Luke is on the other. I'm not quite sure how this happened. I'm a little disappointed that Mason isn't here but I don't think group snuggling is his thing. I wonder if I could crawl into his bed with him for some one-on-one time. I gently extract myself from the bed, careful not to wake anyone and I creep out of my bedroom. I place my hand on Mason’s door handle and I'm about to open it when I hear a noise behind me. “What are you doing?” Theo whispers.“I want to cuddle with him,” I whisper back.“Fine, but I'm coming,” he sighs.“Come on then before he wakes up and gets grumpy,” “You are going to get us in so much trouble,” he laughs quietly. I push the door open slowly and freeze when Mason rolls onto his back. He is only wearing his boxers, his stunning tattoos on full display. Theo urges me forward when Mason’s breathing evens out and we each crawl into the bed on either side of him, we in