Back to You (Don't Forget Me Book 2)

by Sia Wales

  My mouth drops open in astonishment. At this, his brother emits a deep howl from his position next to the sofa by the fireplace.

  I turn sharply and inspect the huge beast, covered in that fur that somehow seems so soft, yet rough at the same time. I crane my neck to get a better look. He enraptures me in his wolf form, with that luxurious red fur. Drake is absolutely beautiful.

  He can feel my eyes on him and he turns to me, his mouth widening into what looks like a smile. Those terrible pointed teeth would be frightening, were it not for his long tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

  “Hey there,” I say.

  A friendly snort is my reply. I smile back at him. He walks over to me, ignoring Vuk, now naked with his back turned, watching his every move and gauging my reaction. When Drake gets to me, he lowers his back legs and his face to bring his nose to my head. He sniffs the dried tears in the corners of my eyes and searches my face anxiously.

  I stretch out a hand warily, my fingers trembling, and push them deep into the soft, warm fur on the sides of his face, stroking his neck, the space between his ears. I’d never dream of doing such a thing if he were in his human form.

  His bright eyes close for an instant, then he nuzzles his head deeper into my hand. A gurgling sound vibrates his chest. My fingers continue their journey, exploring his features, burying themselves in the luxurious softness. Suddenly Drake licks my face and rubs his cheek against mine.

  “Drake? That’s gross!” I yell, pulling back from him with a start.

  Vuk growls at his brother.

  “Why did he do that?” I ask Vuk curiously, lost in his delicious emerald eyes.

  “He’s just trying to say sorry for having involved you in all this. He wishes he could have avoided it,” he explains.

  Drake’s head points upward and he barks in agreement. I wipe my face with my sleeve and start laughing. Vuk look tense, confused, somehow disappointed. I realize that he was expecting me to react differently, perhaps to turn on my heels in fear or disgust. Drake makes that same laughter-like snorting sound.

  Our attention is turned by something coming from deep within the forest. It’s the sound of two echoing howls drifts through the still air. I’m guessing they were made from quite a distance. The huge red wolf leaps up, bounds to the door, and flies like the wind toward the woods, disappearing into the shadows of the trees in no time.

  “Where has he gone?” I ask, almost irritated as I wipe away the last traces of wolf saliva from my face.

  “He’ll be back soon. Our cousins Noah and Jeremy have just finished their watch, so he went to tell them to come here later on. You’ve been through enough today. Plus, he wanted to be sure that he was presentable now that he’s back in human form,” he says laughing, looking down at his own scuffed up, naked body.

  Drake reappears at the parlor door, wearing just a pair of shorts. He walks barefooted on the wooden floor.

  “Did you see that, Stella?” he enthuses. “It’s worked like a charm!” He grabs my hand and pulls me in for a bear hug that leaves me winded. Before I can open my mouth to protest, he has already let me go. The atmosphere in the room is light-hearted again, full of good cheer.

  “You’re the genius that came up with the plan.”

  “Teamwork! I can’t take all the credit for the experiment. And Stella…” He holds his breath, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?”

  “I had no idea. I really am sorry.” He takes a few steps backward, his hands raised. “It was all going to plan, but Vuk wasn’t reacting, so I had to do something. I didn’t want to get to the point where I was threatening to kiss you. It was just a ploy, I was just acting.”

  “I understood.”

  “I thought you were scared stiff!”

  “No problem,” I laugh off his worries. “Actually that little number tipped the scales. It convinced Vuk. It was a great move.”

  Drake’s smile widens and he throws an admiring glance at his brother.

  “Not even I could manage to transform that quickly. You thought I was going crazy and you morphed in about half a second!” he exclaims proudly.

  “Thanks, I think,” Vuk replies, a touch of reproach in his voice. He suddenly grabs a blanket and wraps it around himself. He rubs his left arm. “That hurts!” he complains. “And I even have to pay up for the bet I lost!”

  “Yep, ten dollars,” confirms Drake, looking at the long, deep cut on Vuk’s forearm. The blood is dripping between his fingers onto the floor.

  “Oh no, Vuk! You’re hurt!” My head is spinning at the sight of the wound, and it turns my stomach. I grab a clean tissue left on a shelf from the picnic and attempt to clean his wound.

  He steps back, shrugging his shoulders.

  “It’s nothing, Stella, don’t worry about it.” Vuk waves away the tissue I’m holding out for him.

  “I’m gonna go get dressed.”

  I turn to follow him.

  “No,” Vuk says. “You wait here in the parlor, I’ll just be a second.”

  “It’s nothing?” I cry out after him. “Drake almost reduced your arm to shreds!” But Vuk has already bounded up the creaking wooden staircase, two steps at a time. About three seconds later, Vuk is already back downstairs wearing a brown t-shirt and a pair of Diesel pants.

  “Maybe there are too many of us left in the room,” he winks at me. I elbow him with a fake annoyed expression, probably giving myself a bruise in the process. I wait for him to go on, but he says nothing.

  “I don’t mind if you stay,” I say, looking at Drake. But he makes his excuses and leaves us on our own for a bit.

  “I’ll be back in a while, kids.” Drake smiles, his hands raised in front of him as he backs out the room.

  Now that I have my old pal Vuk back, it’s hard for me to imagine him as the huge scary gray-haired werewolf he was just a few minutes ago. He’s just my cuddly, lovely best friend.

  He looks at me, his eyes brimming with love, but tinged with sadness.

  “Are you afraid of me?” he asks. I just stare deep into his eyes. My mind revisits the scene of my last trip to Wolfeboro, the fear I felt is so tangible even now that I bury my face in his chest. He wraps his arms around me tight, as if afraid of losing me.

  “You know, it would be safer if you weren’t my friend anymore. Maybe that would be for the best,” he thinks aloud, his intense emerald eyes questioning mine. The warmth in his voice literally takes my breath away. And the thought of losing him makes my blood run cold.

  I watch his reflection in the window, which has been left intact. He smiles soothingly, and then becomes serious again.

  “I really am a wreck, aren’t I?”

  I turn my eyes back to the flesh and bone Vuk.

  “No, but you do need some rest, Vuk.”

  My eyes are welling up with tears of terror. He tenderly strokes my chin.

  “Sooner or later I’ll get some rest, and today was a really long day, I’ve gotta admit. But yesterday the night shift was divided up between my brother and my cousins, so I managed to get a few hours of sleep.”

  “Oh, Vuk,” I sigh, “I was so worried in the forest! I should say sorry, too. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I just wanted to help you. I won’t allow you to take part in the…”

  He interrupts me and brings a finger to my lips.

  “Hush, little girl. I’m fine, never been better.” He buries his face in my hair. “We’re past the worst of it now,” he assures me. I’m not sure if he’s referring to Drake’s experiment.

  I inspect his wound, lightly running my fingers around the deep cut.

  “Now stop playing the big man, let me clean your wound.”

  With his hand under my chin, he raises my face to look at his. “First answer my question. Are you afraid of me?”

  I just stare blankly ahead like an idiot, trying to understand. “Afraid of you? Why should I be?”

  “Stella, I just…” He breaks off, before forcing
the words. “I just tried to rip you to shreds, for the second time. I would have devoured your face, don’t you see? In the end, I did recognize you, I think. But I don’t see how it couldn’t have affected you, how you couldn’t be scared.”

  I think about Drake’s body language as he backed out the room a few minutes ago. His hands were raised as if he were unsure about leaving us alone together, as if he were ready to dash back in need be. But I just shrug. It seems like a good response to me. Casual, carefree.

  “No, I’m not. But I was scared that you and Drake would hurt each other. I wanted to help, but what could I have done? It’s not easy being the only one without any special powers.”

  A wave of different emotions floods his face, somewhere between amusement and confusion. He knits his brow.

  “So you’re not afraid of me?”

  “Seriously?” I retort. “You think you’re so scary now, do you? Do you think I’d willingly run into the arms of a monster?” Yep, joking’s good. It stops my voice from shaking, from breaking. He rolls his eyes, but the kidding around has had its desired effect of lightening the atmosphere.

  “I dunno,” laughs Vuk, “I’ve learned to expect anything and everything from you. You sure are a weird one, kiddo.”

  “Anyway, next time I won’t just stay on the sidelines and watch you two tear each other to pieces!”

  “Next time? Planning to witness another wolf brawl soon?”

  “You never know with my luck!”

  He stifles a laugh and leads me into the kitchen. I put his arm under the faucet and turn on the water. When it hits his arm, it turns red. The smell of rust and salt is making me nauseous and my head begins to spin. When the wound seems almost to have disappeared, he turns off the flow and pats himself dry with a dishcloth.

  “If that had been me, I would have needed stiches for a cut to turn into that red scar,” I say, astounded. I take a clean cloth and wind it gently around his forearm. I can feel his grateful eyes boring into me.

  “Thank you,” he whispers, a smile breaking out on his reddened face. He begins to walk out the kitchen.

  “Hold on, let me check on it again.”

  “Don’t sweat it, little girl, I heal in a hurry.”

  “I’ll get pissed if you don’t let me see,” I retort severely. He slinks back obediently and unwraps the arm.

  I start with surprise; I turn his arm roughly from one side to the other. The only thing left of the gaping wound is a thin pink line.

  “Jeez, I didn’t realize you healed that quickly!”

  “I’m a werewolf, remember?” he smiles guardedly. I had heard about this super-fast healing power, but it’s another matter to actually watch the process live.

  “Can you give me a ride home?” I ask.

  “Of course,” he whispers in my ear.

  Drake walks into the kitchen, and we both turn to him. He acts like we’re not even there, and stares out the big floor-to-celling window, humming one of Vuk’s songs to himself. He probably thinks he’s walked in at the wrong moment.

  He looks at me, grinning broadly, sheer pleasure oozing out of every pore. I bet he’s glad to see me sharing a tender moment with his little brother. I smile back, glad that I’ve gotten to know the real Drake, the good Drake.

  Vuk looks distracted. He seems to be leaning his ears toward the window. My eyes search the landscape, trying to understand what he might have heard. It looks like a scene from a postcard––the banks of the lake are visible, and the forest of the White Mountains stretches out as far as the eye can see. The snow-covered peaks are closer and brighter than I imagined.

  “Well,” laughs Drake. “Time for humans to be getting home.”

  Vuk links arms with me and leads me to the front door, followed by Drake. I try to give him my most normal smile.

  “See you next time!”

  “Bye,” he nods politely. He seems reserved in the way he says it, almost as if he knows what to expect the next time he does see me.

  “Get in the car,” says Vuk hurriedly, as we hear the howls of a pack in the forest getting closer. The wolves are coming home. His cousins, I guess. And judging by the number of barks I can hear, there are more than just two of them. Maybe the other cousin, the one whose name they won’t mention, is among them.

  We jump into the pickup and Vuk puts the wheels in motion within seconds. As we’re heading down the drive, Vuk turns to me.

  “How are you doing?”

  “Fine,” I reply, my eyes flashing with pride, because it’s true, I really do feel fine. “I’ve seen worse than what I saw today.” I’m not scared of him and I want to drive that point home. He breaks into a kindly smile.

  “Not very credible, though, little girl.”

  I glower silently by the window, ignoring his comment.

  “But I mean it, I won’t let you go to the ceremony!” I snap, surprising myself with how hoarse my voice is. He fumes, obviously not agreeing with me, as he stares at the road ahead.

  “Vuk?” I try to clear my throat in silence.

  “What?” he says, trying to keep his tone measured.

  “Are you ok?” He doesn’t reply. “What is it?” I plead.

  “Getting into the cage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to die!” he roars, his breath almost coming out of his nostrils, he’s fuming so much. We look daggers at each other. I close my eyes, trying to block it all out, trying to ease the pain.

  “I hope so,” I mumble, and lean back against the headrest, suddenly exhausted. I sit motionless, fighting the urge to take him in my arms, to try to convince him not to fight, to comfort him. But I keep a hold of myself. I look around, but it’s too dark to make anything out except for the silhouette of a thousand trees as we head toward Medford in silence.

  Compromise

  Vuk suddenly breaks the silence.

  “It’s the right thing to do, Stella! The only way!” His eyes stare at me proudly, but with a trace of uncertainty.

  Oh hell! I grit my teeth, trying to come up with an earth-shattering reply. “It doesn’t seem like a very good solution to me,” is all I can manage to spit out.

  “Every little thing I do leads to you getting hurt,” Vuk sighs.

  “Stop talking bull,” I roll my eyes.

  “It’s true! But I don’t want to, I want to stop hurting you!” His voice breaks on the final words. My body is paralyzed, I feel numb from the neck down.

  “What are you saying?” I cry. I feel a suffocating knot forming in my throat.

  “Look, let’s cut it out!” Vuk smiles to eliminate any nastiness from his words. “I have to get back to take over from Drake and you have to get to work at Scott’s. So say whatever you wanna say, but just get it over with. But nothing you do say will change my mind, so you may as well just get used to it.” The intensity of the golden light flaring up in his eyes scares me. I take a deep breath; my throat is so dry I don’t even know if I’ll be able to utter a sound.

  “Sorry if I’m being clingy or selfish, but I care about you, can’t you understand?” I want to shout it out loud, but I can barely manage a whisper. As I look into his eyes, I’m overcome with the realization that my words have been spoken too late, much too late.

  “Do I have to spell it out for you how much I’d miss you? Can I tell you that, or do you want to decide what I say as well?” My voice is becoming increasingly high, hysterical. Vuk betrays no emotion, and just holds my gaze.

  “It’s pointless, Stella. I understand, but you can’t convince me not to do it.” His face is the picture of serenity, only his eyes flicker with misgivings.

  “This is my fault.” My voice is more unwavering now. He shakes his head slowly.

  “You can’t take the blame for it, it was my decision. I’ve made your life more difficult. I should have stepped aside much earlier on, but I didn’t, and you’ve ended up hurt because of me.” He breaks off, his eyes with a faraway look. “Plus…a good fight will be fun, let off some steam, you know?�
�� Vuk’s emerald eyes melt, a slight smile turns up the corner of his lips. I can’t believe he’s turning this whole thing into a joke.

  “Yeah, sure. This is just some fun!” I yell incredulously, the blood seeming to burn in me like acid as it rushes through my veins.

  “Say what you like, but you’re not the only one capable of making sacrifices!” The gold in his eyes turns to liquid again, they seem to burn into mine. “I’d never let you face a situation like this alone. Never.” His face is face contorted, his jaws wide apart. He seems barely human.

  I close my eyes, a wave of nausea rushing through me. His words swirl through my mind like a tornado.

  “Please don’t do it.”

  Vuk smiles tenderly at me, leaning over to plant a delicate kiss on my earlobe.

  “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” he reassures me in that placating tone of his.

  I search around for words to say, but settle back into an uneasy silence. He waits, patiently. I need to keep my wits about me, keep a rational head on my shoulders.

  “So what’s this all about?”

  “I just want to make myself useful. Now, the end!”

  The blood drains from my whole body at those words.

  “I mean,” he hurriedly adds, “that’s enough about this whole cage fight thing.” He smiles, but only his mouth is in movement, his emerald eyes are still unsettled.

  I try to find a sense to all this, but all I can see is darkness and I don’t know which way to turn. I must be in shock. And this silence is driving me even crazier.

  “That ceremony involves me and me only. I don’t want to see your ugly face anywhere near it!” I yell, the rage I want to transmit coming out as a heartfelt plea. When he does finally look at me, that golden in his eyes seems somehow frozen.

  “It’s too late for that,” he whispers slowly.

  I suddenly become aware that I recognize the song on the stereo. I find my head moving in time to the music, as if trying to eliminate all other thoughts from it. The evocative notes of Another Alternative fill the air, a soothing balm to the tense atmosphere. We both drift away on the closing bars of my song. I reach my fingers over to his arm to inspect what’s left of his wound. The pink, slightly raised scar has almost disappeared completely.