Chapter 55: Chapter 55
Heather
"Until your light went out." He pressed his lips together for a second. "And I was outside your room in the infirmary as you transitioned back and forth for days on end. You didn’t stop changing forms until I finally broke into the room—"
I so didn’t want to hear about that. I slapped my hand over his mouth. He bit it softly, and I felt it all the way to my core. I rubbed my hand off on my jeans.
"I can’t undo what I did, but I can help you gain some control."
"You can?"
They’d told me that werewolves were stronger, but I couldn’t stifle a gasp when Brent picked me up as if I weighed nothing. He jumped onto a giant boulder.
He put me on my feet and sat. "Close your eyes."
I plopped in front of him and closed them.
"Take three deep inhales and exhales. Feel your body move. Feel the air come in, flowing down deep into your lungs, filling up your chest. Then follow it as it flows back out."
I recognized this from the yoga class.
"Focus on your hands...your feet...your arms...your legs...your chest. Feel the wolf deep inside of you. In the center of you, of who you are."
I opened my eyes after a few minutes. He was sitting there with his eyes closed. I felt bad about disturbing him, but then he opened one eye.
"Close them."
"Nothing’s happening."
"That’s because you’re not relaxing."
I grumbled about having a hard time relaxing on a hard rock, but he ignored me. I don’t know how long I sat there, before something clicked. I felt the rippling underneath the surface of my skin and gasped. "What is that?"
"You’ve nearly found her."
"Her?"
"The wolf."
"Shut up." I slapped his leg. "That sounds completely mental."
His golden gaze met mine. "She’s a part of you. Once you start acknowledging her, she’ll settle down and your moods won’t be so erratic. She needs to trust you as much as you need to trust her." He laughed. I must’ve looked as confused as I felt. "Close your eyes again. Go back. See her. Feel her. She’s there to protect you. To make you stronger."
I had thought of her as separate from me, but maybe she wasn’t. The only thing I knew for sure was that it was complicated.
I didn’t really know what I felt, but when I opened my eyes again, I was steadier.
"Better?" Brent said.
"Yeah. I think so?" I really hoped so. "Thank you."
"Anytime." He pointed up to the cave. "Still want to go take a look or head back?"
My stomach answered for me. I threw my hand over it. "Sorry. I think I might be hungry. I’ve got to get food fast or..." God. I just had a breakthrough and now I was going to ruin it. But I didn’t want to shift.
"Don’t worry. You won’t change. Unless you want to?"
I waved my hands wildly in the air. "Definitely not. I mean what if I get stuck as a wolf?"
He touched his forehead to mine as he laughed. "You won’t get stuck," he said when he caught his breath.
I shoved him. "I’m never telling you anything ever again."
He rubbed his thumb along my bottom lip. "That’s not true."
"Yes, it is. I won’t tell you anything when you do stuff like laugh at me."
His lips met mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself into his lap. When I felt his tongue, I opened my mouth and let him in.
When my stomach growled again, he pulled away. "Let’s get you some food." He gave me one last soft kiss. "I’d do anything for you, Heather. I know you don’t realize that now, but you will."
That thought made me grin, even if I wasn’t sure that it was true. He led us to a shorter part of the creek wall and started to climb. I’d never gone hiking without a clear-cut path before. It was fun, but hard. When we reached the top, rivers of sweat ran down the sides of my face. I lifted my shirt to wipe them away.
"Have a nice hike?" Mr. Langdon was standing there waiting for us.
I cleared my throat. I was supposed to be reading in his cabin. "Yeah. But I didn’t read—"
"It’s okay," Mr. Langdon cut me off. "Seems like it did you some good."
"I think so," I said.
Brent stepped between Mr. Langdon and me. "I’d like to ask permission to leave campus tomorrow with Heather. I’ll vouch for her."
Mr. Langdon crossed his arms. "Where? When? For how long?"
"To the bookstore. In the morning. Just a couple of hours."
Mr. Langdon nodded. "Sounds like a good idea for both of you. Permission granted."
Shock filled me. "Really? Brent can take me alone, but Xander and Adrian couldn’t take me to the movies?"
Mr. Langdon smiled. I’d forgotten that he was handsome. "Yes. Brent’s already proven that he can keep you under control."
Shit. He probably knew about what happened in the gym. I don’t think my face ever burned so much.
When Mr. Langdon left, I jumped up and down, tugging on Brent’s shirt. He laughed and put his arm around my shoulder.
"How did you know that I’d want to go to a bookstore?" I said.
"Who do you think set up your room?" He kissed my nose. My heart sped, wanting more. "Your mother gave me quite the lecture about keeping them in order."
I laughed at the image of her lecturing Brent. She could be a bad ass when she wanted to be.
As we started back to school, one dark cloud hung over my otherwise sunny day. What was I going to do about Leslie? Not to mention Xander and all the other guys. At least maybe they would leave me alone now.
And then there was the problem of Callista and her dad and the vampires.
I said a little prayer that everyone was still out having fun when I got back. But my luck had never been that good.
