Chapter 41
I kept my eyes ahead as we walked through the forest, and my mind raced over what Carson had just said. I liked the guy more than I should admit. “I like him too,” Tala murmured in my head. While we were in the office, Tala wanted to know when I would talk to my mum, and then Carson asked. I got annoyed and took it out on him. When he grabbed me and stopped me from leaving, even pleading for me not to leave, my heart was in my mouth and nearly skipped a beat when he nearly kissed me. I wanted to kill Zain right there and then. Tala giggled. “I bet he would have tasted nice, too,” she murmured. I couldn’t let myself think like that. The way Carson held me made my stomach flutter, and my core ignite. Carson led me to the forest and to a path. We walked together in silence when he spoke again. “I wanted to apologize to you about what I asked in the office about your mum,” he said, making me look at him. His eyes lingered on me for a moment before he sighed. “You told me it was up to me when I see her,” I blurt out, making him look back at me as I came to a stop. Carson stopped and faced me as I continued. “I know I should, as I want answers and to know more about why she left,” I said as I looked away and tried to put the words I wanted out. “I’m scared that she wouldn’t give me the answers or that I might not like what she says.” I was saying this to Carson, but I also hoped Tala heard me. This was for them both. “I can understand,” he said, pulling me back from my thoughts and staring back at him. “I would be scared too.” My heart sank. “I lost my father,” I blurt out. “I haven’t seen her in eight years. I thought the woman abandoned me, and now I have to play happy families with her and her new family.” A lone tear escapes. “I know I am a broken record about this,” I muttered. “I hate being like this, but how am I supposed to ask her anything when I think she may lie to me?” Carson stared at me and furrowed his eyebrows at me. “You think she will lie to you?” he asked. He moved his hand into mine and gave me a gentle squeeze. “Leah, she would never lie to you,” he said. “I can come with you while you ask her all the questions you want.” I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that,” I murmured, as his hand reached up and cupped my face as he stared at me. “I want to,” he said. “I want to be there for you, whatever you need.” I looked at him as I searched for answers. Why would he want to help me? “Why would you?” I asked. “I mean we—” Carson moved toward me, closing the gap between us as my eyes widened. His scent invaded my senses, sending me into a gushing mess. I could hear Tala pant, I think she was, but it was hard to concentrate on what was happening in my head than what was happening in front of me. “We can get to know each other,” he whispered as his hand smoothed my cheek. “I like you, Leah. There is no denying that, and I want you to get to know me.” My eyes stared as he moved closer again, his lips parting. Oh god, he was going to kiss me. “I—” I said, but as his lips came closer, a snap came behind us, which made Carson move up. His hand left my face and dropped as he spun around, placing his hand on my arm. It was like he was keeping me in place. A low growl rumbled from somewhere, sending a shiver rippling over me. “Stay behind me,” Carson grunted as his grip on my arm tightened, which would leave a bruise. There was silence until someone appeared. “Ah, alpha,” someone rasped. I stilled. Alpha? What the hell was an alpha? “Stay still,” Tala mumbled in my head. “When I tell you to run, you run—no exceptions.” My stomach dropped. What the hell was going on? “Get off my land,” Carson growled as he loosened his grip on my hand. The voice laughed. “No can do, alpha,” another voice said. “We have come for the girl. So, how about you hand her over to us?” Carson tensed as I stilled. How the hell could they tell I was behind him? Carson’s entire body covered me. “They can smell you,” Tala muttered with a low growl. Smell me? I smell that bad. “No,” she grumbled. “Leah, concentrate, or you may get hurt.” My stomach dropped at her words. “Hand her over,” a man growled. Carson took a step forward as I looked at his back. His back muscles tensed. “Not happening,” he gritted out. “Back off, or you will get hurt.” Whoever was before him started laughing, but it wasn’t just two people now. There seemed to be more. “I don’t think you have a choice,” someone shouted. “You’re outnumbered.” My eyes darted to the side of me as a few men appeared and stared at me. “Leah, you need to—” Carson grits out, but something happens, and I am pushed backward, falling on my ass as I watch four huge men lunge at Carson. I scream, watching them attack him, but he fights them off. “Leah, RUN!” Tala screams in my head. My legs were like jelly as I tried to get up, but my body was frozen in fear. I looked up to see Carson being surrounded. Carson glared back at them, but when his eyes landed on me. “Run,” he mouthed. I moved up as a few men lunged at him again, but three men turned around and looked at me. A grin inched across one’s lips as he moved closer. Tala growls in my head. “Leah, you need to run!” she shouted. “They will hurt you, even kill you.” “Who the hell are they?” I asked as I moved up to my feet and moved backward, but the more I moved, the closer the men came. “Oh, look, the little human girl is scared,” one man said, looking at the other as his eyes flickered to another colour. “Maybe we should show her what scary is.” I moved back and let out a scream as one man moved, but someone grabbed his shoulder, threw him like a rag doll, and threw him into a tree. My eyes widened. Someone grabs the other man but looks at me as I meet their eyes—Carson. I was too stunned to move. “Leah, RUN,” he shouted with some power in the word, making the man he was holding shudder. I turn and run when I hear something snapping. I look over my shoulder; then my eyes widen when I see the man that Carson is holding change before my eyes. His whole body breaks as a loud howl escapes his whole body changes. I watch slowly as the man changes into a wolf and latches onto Carson’s arm. I stop and go to move toward them to help, when I watch in horror as Carson changes before my very eyes. In the blink of a second, he shifted into the biggest wolf I had ever seen. The wolf attacks the other one. Fear ripples through me as I turn back around and run. “Run,” Tala shouts, but I ignore her. I ran as fast as my legs could take me. What the hell? Wolves? They’re wolves? My mind couldn’t function. It was like it drew any logic to anything. “What the hell are they?” I whispered as I ran through the forest. “I will tell you later,” she said. “But you have one following you, and you need to get away from here.” Tala didn’t have to tell me twice. I didn’t want to stay here anymore.