Page 34 of Sweethearts and Savages
See, no anxiety at all. Guess I was going to have to be the worrywart for the both of us for now. “Are you sure? We’d be in your space.” If I’d learned one thing about Stacey in our time together this last month, it was that she really appreciated her space and quiet. She got overwhelmed by large crowds and stupid people. I couldn’t argue with that.
She hummed low. “Yes. I’ve thought it over. I don’t find your presence unbearable and I lo—” She cut herself off, her eyes flying to Enit.
“Love,” Enit whispered.
Stacey hummed. “Yes, I love you,” she said softly. “So I think that I would be okay with you two living in my apartment.”
I squeezed Enit tighter against my chest. “I’ll go where you go, Princess.”
Enit looked between us. “Yes.”
I beamed at them both. “Looks like we're going to be housemates. I better go pack up my drum set.”
I kissed Enit’s cheek, slapped Doc on the back and skipped out of the room. I grinned as I heard Doc’s frantic, “He’s kidding, right? Enit? He’s kidding?”
Ha. This was going to be amazing.
16
Enit
Even in my wolf form, my right paw was broken. I couldn’t run any faster than a lope and it was making my wolf insanely frustrated. Both the wolf and the human were happy to be roaming the woods outside the Academy though. With the threat that had been stalking my littermates gone, we were safe to roam around again. My parents had asked me to come home, but I’d managed to convince them that letting me stay in the Academy, where Stacey could do around the clock speech therapy with me, was the best course of action.
Well, Bohdie had convinced them. All I could do was think of complicated arguments and then say two words at a time. I whined, the frustration of the human permeating the wolf. I pushed it away, working on the meditation tricks that Bohdie had been doing with me. Breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth. Usually when I did this exercise, I was resting against Bohdie’s chest and I matched my breathing to the slow thumps of his heart.
As if I’d summoned him, a huge lion appeared like he was made of magic. Screw pulling a rabbit out of your hat, try pulling a lion from the Canadian wilderness and then I’ll be impressed.
He tilted his head as if askingAre you okay?
I lifted my paw, and he bent down, licking it with his giant tongue. Honestly, it was as big as my damn head, rough like it was coated in velcro, and my wolf wanted to hack a hairball or something. She didn’t enjoy the sensation. But human me was fascinated.
As a lion, Bohdie was absolutely massive. Ten feet long for sure, his golden mane was long and shaggy, and his teeth were as long as my paw. His paw was as big as my head. He was terrifying and my wolf wanted to run away screaming.
Then he’d roll onto his back, bat at a low-hanging tree branch like a damn tabby, and I’d be reminded that he was my sweet, playful Alpha.
He let out a low rumble, and the human me purred right back. His tail started to flick and he threw his head at the woods. Oh, we were going to play chasies. My wolf yipped with excitement.
He lay down on his belly, obviously giving me a headstart and I whirled around. I limped and loped my way further into the woods, stepping around fallen logs that I once would have hurdled.
It was good to be out of the infirmary. It was good that my siblings were basically whole again. I was happy about those things, I really was. But sometimes, when it was dark and moonless, I’d let the anger overtake me. Anger that I’d paid for Mouse’s choices, and she was out living it up with her new fated mates, while my partners had to baby me while I recovered. We’d barely had a chance to cement our new relationship before the accident. Suddenly, one had to do surgery on my brain and the other one had to help me shower, for fuck’s sake. It wasn’t fucking fair and I wanted to scream and rage.
This anger was new. It burned in my chest until I wanted to growl and snap in my wolf form. I’d sent Christopher away early on, because his hovering was worse than my parents. His anxiety just made my anger worse, until we were feeding off each other and all I could see was the sadness in his eyes at what he’d lost. His sweet Omega sister who wouldn’t have said boo.
Logically, I knew that I had changed. Something in me had broken, and it wasn’t just my Broca’s area, or whatever Stacey called the speechy part of my brain. It was hard to remember who I was before. I wasn’t her now and I don’t think I wanted to be her again. As long as my mates loved me, as long as I didn’t hurt them, I was okay. We’d adapt, recover, and move on with our lives, even if that might be years after my siblings had recovered.
In those same dark hours, I wondered if Bohdie and Stacey wished I was the old Enit too. The girl from before, the girl they fell in love with. I’d never be that sweet girl again; could they love this damaged creature who rose in her place?
In moments like these, playing under the noonday sun, I knew that Bohdie at least still wanted me. I could see it in his eyes, in his touches.
I could hear his happy chuffing and I picked up my pace. Luckily for me, he wasn’t much of a sprinter, preferring to prowl around. But his stride was… insane. Legit insane. Even at a lope, he ate up ground quicker than a human could sprint. And with my snowy white form, I wasn’t great at hiding unless it was snowing.
I looked at a small outcrop of rocks, and headed toward it. I could hide, and maybe pounce on him as he strode past. Then he’d take me back to my room and work on his tongue exercises.
I sighed, knowing that wasn’t true. He hadn’t done anything even remotely sexual. I may as well have a pineapple down there instead of a vagina. I knew he was worried that my head would explode or something if we had sex, but my body had healed. I wasnearlyone hundred percent physically, it was just my brain that was fucked. Hell, maybe he could bang me into the wall and it would fix it. Like banging a DVD player. You know… if people still had DVDs.
As I got behind the rocky outcrop, I realized it was already occupied. A man sat there, his face painted muddy brown. Hmm. I paused, my sore foot raised as the guy spun to look at me. He was kind of pretty. A knit cap pulled low over his ears, a scruffy beard accenting his jaw. Piercing eyes that were a color I couldn’t really name straight away.
Maybe he was a hunter. I sat down on my haunches, tilting my head at him.
