*Bryson*
Finally!
The perfect opening.
The mystery rogue leader was completely in his head and distracted, and his hand or one of his minion's hands wasn't wrapped around my mate's neck any longer to force me to keep back. I was free to attack him.
And I wasn't holding anything back.
A growl ripped through my chest as I leaped through the air, prepared to take him down in an instant. My blood was boiling so hot from all of the stuff he did to Ada, that I couldn't even see straight.
There was nothing stopping me…including Ada.
She stepped forward at the last second, well more like stumbled forward in her weakened state, and stopped right in front of the masked rogue.
She was the only possible thing that could have broken through the red haze of fury that blinded me. As soon as I saw her every part of me repelled the idea of hurting her, and I tried to stop.
Tried, and failed.
Fear and pain bulldozed me at the same
*Bryson*I caught my breath and made it to Ada, who was still laying in her mother's arms. Her stillness terrified me and I found myself reaching out and grabbing onto her, bringing her to me.Ada's mother looked at me in confusion for a moment, but didn't object, for which I was eternally grateful. Ada's father stood back as well, nervously pacing. He looked nearly as worried as me."What's wrong?" I asked, my voice betraying the fear and panic I was feeling. "What happened?""I'm not sure," Ada's mother said, finally taking her eyes off of me to look back down at her daughter. "We were standing here watching you guys fight when all of a sudden she just collapsed. You have to realize though, she doesn't have a wolf yet. She's a lot weaker than a lot of people realize.""Yes, I know," I said with a small nod.I secured her in my arms and stood up from my knees, gripping her as close as possible to me. Her body was completely limp, making my
*Ada*I tried to lift my arms, but a weight pressed down upon me, making my body feel heavier than usual.The pressure began to build up against my chest, and I tried to take in quick gasps of air to combat an overwhelming feeling of breathlessness.My eyes opened and I couldn't tell the difference from when they were closed. Darkness surrounded me that was so deep not even a ray of light could penetrate it. My gasps of breath became more frequent as the anxiety within me grew.A strange sense of deja vu came over me, but I wasn't quite sure where to place it. When I tried to think and hold onto lucid thoughts, they seemed to just flow through my brain like water in a colander: slipping away before I even had the chance to organize and understand them.All I knew was that I wanted to escape the darkness…but no matter how I tried I couldn't get my body to work. Or maybe my body really was moving, but the darkness was so encompassing that it changed
*Bryson*I froze, completely shocked and clueless about what had just happened.It had been a day and a night already since I brought Ada to the infirmary, and I had forced myself to stay. I promised that I would stay until Ada could wake up and I could give her a proper goodbye.Apparently I had been in the wrong for assuming that Ada would be excited to see me.She had flinched away from my touch and screamed at me to let go of her. My hand stayed outreached, unsure of how to proceed. I wanted to respect her wishes, but my body and my wolf were begging for the endorphins and peace that her physical touch brought us.'She's afraid,' my wolf told me as I stayed frozen, trying to think what to do. 'I can feel it. She is afraid of us.'My feelings of angst grew at this observation from him.She was scared of me? How was that even possible?'Well, you did hurt her.'I growled internally at the reminder. I felt myself gettin
*Ada*My body felt like it was on fire, but in a much better way than the nightmare I had weeks ago. Instead of anguish and despair, I was feeling arousal and desire.How could I not feel that with Bryson standing in front of me?In fact, I had never felt this way with anyone before. Kissing men before had been pleasant for sure, but nothing like the kissing with Bryson. Part of me was starting to wonder if what I had done before was even considered kissing after experiencing what I just had with Bryson.Kissing Bryson was other-worldly…and yet, for some reason he had just stopped."I'm sorry," Bryson said, and I noticed his eyes were closed. "We need to take a break, or I am afraid that I won't be able to stop.""What if I don't want you to?" I asked.His eyes came back to life and burned into my own. Even the intensity of his gaze made my breathing pick up its pace and I felt other parts of me burning for attention as well. His eyes
*Bryson*My wolf howled and screamed inside of my mind, but I kept my jaw tightly clenched, preventing him from getting anything out or gaining control for even a moment.It was hard though when I was standing there, staring at the hurt on Ada's face that my words had caused. At least the hurt had finally stopped her arguing though. I didn't think it would be that hard to leave her, but she was fighting for me tooth and nail.And while part of me loved her devotion, the other part realized that this devotion could just spell more danger for her."Why would you say that?" Ada asked, her voice barely audible as she looked down.My chest tightened again, but I took another deep breath to gain control of my own emotions, my own anguish. There's no way I could justify my words, even if they were true."Get some rest," I said as gently as I could, allowing some of my own dejection into my tone. "I'll come back tomorrow."Ada didn't move or
*Bryson*Ada's wolf would cause endless calamity? Had I heard him right?"How?" I asked in a tight voice. "What's wrong with Ada? Or her wolf? Why do you say that?"As I expected, Ada's father was not interested in providing the information that I requested."The details don't matter," he said with a wave of his hand."But--""I was just telling you so that you will go back and do what's right," he interrupted me. "You don't need to ask questions: you need to leave."My wolf tried to growl again, but this time I kept control. He seemed to notice my internal struggle though."Some things are meant to stay in the past," he said a little softer.Then, before I had a chance to push for more questions he had turned and left, taking the dead body with him. I watched him walk away, still burning for answers, but I wouldn't leave Ada. I couldn't follow him.He knew that and used it to his advantage. Smart.I made m
*Bryson*My stepmom had been the one to poison me.Well…possibly. It still wasn't a sure thing, but the evidence was not pointing in her favor by any means. And even if she wasn't the one that poisoned me, I couldn't deny the fact that she had ordered those rogues to stop me.Even if it meant killing me."Ethan," I said, breaking out of my thoughts. "Head back to Grandmoon and scope out the Alpha mansion before I arrive there."My gaze fell back on the infirmary, despite my efforts to restrain myself, and I couldn't help but add, "And when you get there, secretly send some people back to protect this place."If I did leave her, I couldn't just leave her defenseless. Wait. What did I mean, 'if' I left her.I shook my head as if it would shake out the power that was drawing me to her. My wolf would never let that happen though, I was sure. It appeared that if I truly wanted to be free of her I would have to reject her.'DON'T YOU
*Ada*Bryson's breathing slowly calmed beneath me, and I realized that he had fallen asleep.Yet my fingers didn't stop their journey as they moved around, playing with the hair that I had been dying to touch since I had first laid eyes on him. Bryson didn't seem to mind my fingers though, and kept unconsciously moving even closer to me.My eyes took a quick sweep of his body, trying to check for any physical injuries or anything else that I needed to tend to. His knees looked a little scraped up, but they were nothing major. Definitely not something I would have to mend at the moment. Especially since his wolf would most likely be able to heal that in a matter of minutes, even without my aid.As I knelt there and stared at the man in front of me, the man that I had panicked seeing injured, I realized what I had been trying to push back. But what I was fighting wasn't ignorable any longer.I loved him. I loved Bryson. I wanted to be with him.