Page 16 of The Hidden Guardian

I nod and stand very still.

He nudges his wolf nose in between me and the tree, pushing me forward and wrapping himself around me like a full-body pillow.

Immediately, warmth courses through me. His fur is soft, not as soft as the rabbit between my toes, but softer than I expected a terrifying wolf to feel like. Renall is all hard lines, growling language, and rough stares, but in-between that are soft touches and wiping my tears … this wolf is hard to figure out. I guess one thing that has been constant the past few days is that Renall has taken care of me and kept me safe and now warm. I don’t know if I can fully trust him. But what choice do I have when I’m untold miles from my home. Whatever the future holds, I’m pretty sure he’s on my side.

* * *

It feels like months, but it’s only a few days later when Renall finally mentions home. His home. We’ve been walking, and sometimes running, for days. On occasion, I swear we are going in circles—a rock, or a tree will look familiar to me. But it’s not like I can ask someone. No, my werewolf tour guide has still not magically learned my language. Although, Renall’s learning quite a few more words, and I’m starting to decipher certain growls.

Renall stops alongside a bush and grabs a few red berries. He hands them to me and nods. “Brrries.”

“Berries, yes, good job.” He uses any excuse to use his new vocabulary and see me smile. His growling language can’t quite pronounce things correctly. But he tries, and it helps fill the silence and the monotonous crunch of earth under our feet.

He grabs his canteen slung over his side that we made from a deer stomach and offers me some. “Grrater?”

“W–wwaaater,” I sound out, showing him how my mouth forms the W. It’s useless. We’ve tried pronouncing wolf and water before to no avail. But it gives us something to attempt to converse about. Renall tries, he really does, to make his mouth form words his language wasn’t made for speaking, but in the end, we mostly end up walking in silence.

“Renall, tell me about your home.” I’ve been antsy ever since he mentioned it this morning over a small fire where we roasted a fox.

He pauses as a shadow crosses his face.

And with not a word spoken between us, I realize that things are not what they seem.

ChapterEleven

RENALL

“Renall. Home.”

The two words I understand from Rawe-tum. Two words I never in a million years thought I would hear from the mouth of my true Guardian. Yet, here we are, less than a day away from Luna Cavern, and my feet are growing heavier and heavier with every step.

We pass the cliff where the pack likes to watch the full moon. We’ve arrived at the east entrance. The cave is right over the next hill and down the river into the lagoon. I glance back at Rawe-tum and she’s glancing out over the edge, her eyes taking everything in. Her golden hair glistens in the high sun. The sun has turned her shoulders, her forehead, and her cheeks very red with sunburn. It casts her hair in a reddish hue. Before running away, she wasn’t outdoors much, which is odd for a Guardian. I think what has me so on edge is that the Joining can’t come soon enough, I would like to know all about Rawe-tum. What makes her tick? What her powers are?

That’s another reason I hesitate to bring my Guardian into the cave. I don’t know what kind of situation I’m bringing her into. I didn’t exactly leave on good terms to find my Guardian mate. Well, that’s the understatement of the century.

What’s the worst that can happen? We are banished or killed?

Outside the cave we lose the power of the pack. If the hunters were to find us again, we’d be goners, especially with Rawe-tum being untrained in our ways and not understanding her Guardian powers. This is the only option at this point, for us to return to the pack and face the consequences together.

My feet still at the edge of the forest that ends abruptly falling into the lagoon below. I turn to face my Guardian. Rawe-tum meets my gaze. Her hair sticking to her forehead with sweat, “What?”

“Rome.” It’s the only word I know to explain to her that we’ve arrived.

“Home? We’re here?” Her face breaks into a toothy grin as her eyes wander across the view of the waterfall pooling into the green lagoon below us. “It’s beautiful.”

I don’t know what that means, but the awe in her eyes says it all. I wish I could freeze time and bottle up this image and her smile. She is the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. The bond between us tingling with the warmth of her relief, and possibly a twinge of happiness. It’s a drastic difference from her anxiety and sadness the past few days. I would risk certain death to keep her feeling this way.

Although I know the biggest test still stands before us. I reach my hand out for hers. Her hand is slick as she takes it without hesitation, but that smile has already disappeared. The smiles never linger long, her mind is always thinking of what she has lost. All I can do is to keep them frequent, no matter how short they last. With a single leap, we jump into the air and plummet into the clear waters of the lagoon.

ChapterTwelve

AUTUMN

The water is crisp and crystal clear. Our hands have come unclasped sometime in the fall, and just in time because I need them both to swim toward the surface and tread water. It’s deep, deeper than I expected looking down from above. The water’s so clear I can see all the way to the seaweed at the bottom and the fish swimming all around me. Rainbow fish skitter just past my fingers and begin tickling my legs. There’s more fish here than I would have expected in a lagoon of this size. Don’t get me wrong, it’s as wide as an Olympic swimming pool, but it’s not as large as the lake we saw a few days ago, and it’s definitely not as calm. The crashing of the waterfall has a nice peaceful thrumming sound that’s soothing. Renall bursts through the surface with a fish sticking out of his mouth again as he paddles to the shore.

He drops it onto the rocky shore, and it flops twice before another sight catches my attention. Renall’s glistening backside coming out of the lagoon. His tan muscles flex under the weight of him as he lifts himself up in one swift motion. With a shake of his head, his hair flips back and forth before he runs his fingers through it, smoothing it behind his head. His eyes meet mine and he smirks. That sixth sense in my gut feelsdifferentwhen I’m around him. It makes my skin flush and my heart pound in my chest.

I swim closer to him. “What will it be today, Renall, fish and chips for lunch? Fish fingers? Smoked bass? A little lemon garlic salmon?”

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