Page 65 of Leah

He laughed. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, I haven’t met a wolf like you yet.”

He pulled me into him tightly. “That’s good. Leah?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t meet a wolf.”

I looked at his solemn face, and I nearly fell into him again, right then and there. The armour around my heart weakened a little more as I nodded. “Okay. Carter?”

“Hmm?”

“Since we’re here and all, maybe you should sing.”

He shot me a heart-stopping half-smile that made me strangely nervous. “What do you want me to sing?”

I didn’t even have to think about it.

The first song I ever heard coming out of his mouth came to mind in a flash of a second. “‘Thank You’ by Led Zeppelin.”

His body went rigid, and a fleeting look of pain washed over his features before he let out a slow breath. “Okay, Angel. I can do that.”

I relaxed back into his hold, and he rested his chin on the top of my head and tenderly sang the song that drew me to him almost twelve years ago.

Nineteen

Leah

We spent a couple hours at the creek, and the time went by in a blink of an eye before we decided to head back. We were hungry, tired, and my ass was sore from that ground. I looked back over my shoulder once right before we left and, for a moment, I visualized a little boy sitting on that fallen tree, singing to a dazed little girl in a tattered dress.

I smiled softly, brokenly remembering the sad little kids we were.

I wanted to tell that little girl I was sorry for what was to come. When I caught Carter looking back, too, I wondered if he wanted to tell the little boy the same thing.

When we emerged from the bush, I stared around for a moment, confused. Carter had his hands on his hips, looking at the empty space in front of him with an equally empty expression.

For several seconds we didn’t say a word, and then, out of nowhere, Carter burst out laughing. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” he said with a shake of his head. “This is unreal.”

“Your car’s been stolen,” I stated the obvious.

“You’re telling me.”

“I warned you.”

“You did.”

“I’m right.”

“Always.”

“This is awkward.”

“Very. I mean, they were fucking fast.”

I nodded. “Very impressive criminals. Unless you left the key behind.”

He pulled out the key from his pocket. “Nah, they fully stole it the impressive way.”

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