25

I padded carefully on my brown paws between the tall trees and, despite the fear in me, decided to follow this strange smell.
Curiosity drove me deeper and deeper into the forest and through the trees that were getting closer together, it got darker and darker around me, which somehow seemed creepy to me.
But I was born to get myself into shitty situations over and over again… so why stop now?
There was not a peep to be heard, no one to be seen, but this stench went through my bones…
What was that disgusting smell???
When I did hear voices in the distance, I tried to move more quietly across the forest floor until I stopped behind a tree and looked curiously in the direction from which I could hear the people.
But then there wasn’t just a black-haired young man with a brown pullover and a dark blue waistcoat standing there, but also Bene… The Bene that I had grown so fond of…
What was he doing here???
My heart was beating faster and faster with excitement, especially when I noticed the rifle in the hunter’s hand and, as if caught in a state of shock, I continued to watch the two of whom I didn’t know what they were up to here alone in the forest.
“I can’t do this anymore!”, I heard Bene curse, who was dressed completely in black and wanted to turn his back on the hunter, but the hunter held him back by the arm.
“Listen to me, everything will be fine,” the stranger said while stroking Bene’s cheek.
But these were not touches that arose spontaneously. The two were far too intimate for that, far too emotional… far too familiar…
They knew each other and that meant for me that someone from Silvan’s closest circle had something to do with the people who threatened us and tried to kill us.
I opened my eyes in disbelief and gasped in shock when I suddenly realized that I was actually obliged to tell Silvan…
But betray Bene? I couldn’t do that… or could I???
My eyes fell on the two of them just standing in front of each other and looking into each other’s eyes. But then their lips found each other and almost stormily Bene pushed the hunter against a tree to make out with him absolutely wildly.
That was definitely too much for me and really uncomfortable. I felt like a peeper and wanted to quickly pass them unnoticed to Silvan’s house, which was not far away…
if it wasn’t for that fucking branch cracking through my paw so loud the entire forest must have heard it.
Damned!!!!
As my eyes dropped from my paws to both of them, they both looked my way and before I could have another heart attack, I hastily turned and ran back to Devin’s house.
What was left for me???
Bene certainly wouldn’t let me betray him and the hunter wouldn’t hesitate for a second to put his gun to my head…
So I ran as fast as I could between the trees and bushes to finally stop for a moment when I got to the sports field.
I took a few deep breaths, looking at the blue sky and letting the sun shine on my face, until my heart and breathing had calmed down again and only then did I continue towards Devin.
Shortly before I turned into my street, I stretched my nose up and took in the smell of Silvan, who was apparently already looking for me.
Then I had the bitter memory of Devin’s gun and like a tarantula stung, I ran again, ignoring my ever faster beating heart.
With so much stress, how much longer would it survive?
I also ignored the black SUV in front of the door, against which Igor was leaning and staring at me completely dumbfounded when he saw me coming running.
Hadn’t he ever seen a wolf, or why was he staring so stupidly?
I ran to the front door and initially had the problem of not being able to open it as a wolf, but Igor made himself useful and pushed the handle down, which made my eyes immediately fall on Silvan and Devin, who were standing angrily in front of each other.
“Jade?”, It came partly questioningly, partly proudly from Silvan’s mouth, who looked at me fascinated from top to bottom.
Apparently he had never seen a wolf either.
I wanted to roll my eyes, but Silvan was pointing a gun at my brother, so I let out a menacing growl, which made him immediately raise an eyebrow and seem impressed by my demeanor.
Pride and appreciation reflected in his eyes, making my heart dance in love despite this shitty situation.
“You’re just beautiful,” he breathed, putting the gun away to continue to stare at me in amazement.
His gaze sent a pleasant shiver down my spine and I felt more beautiful than ever at the moment, until Devin suddenly tensed the situation again.
“Don’t look at her like she’s just meant to spread her legs for you, motherfucker!”, Devin growled, but Silvan didn’t let himself be provoked at all and just winked at me with a grin.
I knew he was thinking about last night and at that moment I was glad that as a wolf I couldn’t get red cheeks.
“In contrast to you, I’m allowed to look at her the same way. After all, I’m not her brother, you sick spat,” he then said and wanted to approach me, but Devin suddenly pushed him against the wooden table, so that Igor saw my brother immediately snapped and slapped him across the face, causing him to fall over like a sack of potatoes.
I could only watch, because changing back was bad.
Otherwise I would be standing naked between the three of them and then an escalation could hardly be prevented.
“That was too much,” Silvan yelled and drew the gun again to aim it at Devin, but without thinking, I stood between the two again and looked at Silvan warningly.
Sure, Devin’s behavior didn’t work at all and I would tell him that too, but putting a bullet in him for it didn’t work either.
I let Viola live, even though I’d love to point a gun at her.
Equal rights for all.
“Get out of the way,” said Silvan completely cold, which then suddenly scared me. I thought I had some influence over him, but have I ever been in a position to tell an alpha how to behave???
I could feel this abysmal hate he was feeling and knew he was ready to punish Devin, but heyoooo… he was my only family! He couldn’t do that to me.
I shook my head in the negative, but at that very moment, the conclusion dissolved and my eyes widened in panic while everything around me went silent.
He hadn’t really done that!
*****
“Go into your room and transform back,” Silvan instructed me in a cold voice and still frozen I didn’t move until he took a step towards me and crouched down in front of me.
Our eyes met, so close, but at that moment panic shot through me as the sound of the shot echoed in my head.
“Please just do as I tell you,” he whispered and then took a deep breath. “I have to get out of here, Jade. Otherwise I’ll really kill him.”
Confused, my irises darted across his face as a small smile formed.
“We’ll wait outside.”
He got up, turned away from me and when I turned around, the first thing I saw was the hole in the wall where my brother was sitting and looking at me in panic.
Despite everything, my heart was still beating faster than usual and the air only came into my lungs in spurts.
“And you really want to be with someone like that?” Devin asked softly, clutching his heart as if he hadn’t quite digested the shock just like me.
I couldn’t give him an answer and ran to my room, relieved and still upset, to then transform back and close the door for now.
And then she was gone. My strength, my courage and my fighting spirit… my wolf had taken everything with her, leaving me only fear.
Fear of having to make a final decision now, even though I had made my decision long ago.
Silvan was my life from now on, there was no doubt about it and yet it just hurt to get the realization that my brother could never be a part of my life again.
While tearfully putting on underwear and black leggings, my thoughts wandered to the future for a while…
I imagined having children who would hear stories about how horrible underlings were, and by extension their uncle. I imagined living my life without him and then quickly changed into a yellow sweater to get out of here.
That pain was eating away at me and when I got back to the living room and saw Devin standing in front of the front door looking down, I wished he had never kidnapped me.
He took away my wishful thinking, because where I had previously had the image of him happily hanging out at the sports field with Aleya, now this image of him standing broken and desperate at the door would burn in my mind.
“I just can’t understand you,” he explained in a broken voice, and then looked at me with huge disappointment, which made me even sadder.
“I can’t imagine life without him anymore,” I replied honestly, but tears also made their way down my cheeks at these words, because I admitted that I could live without my brother.
Devin said nothing more and avoided my gaze to come towards me, but instead of wishing me well in goodbye he just rammed his shoulder lightly and disappeared into the hallway behind me.
It just hurt…
I closed my eyes, took a last deep breath and then walked slowly to the front door, which I hesitantly opened.
My gaze fell on Silvan, who was leaning against the car and looking at me sympathetically. He probably felt my pain as much as I had felt his hate before.
“We can,” I said softly and wanted to get in the car immediately, but Silvan pulled me to his chest and held me tighter than ever. My whole body calmed down in his embrace and when he then gently stroked my back, I was finally able to stop crying, even though this pain would probably never go away completely.
“We’ll find a solution, but for now everything should calm down. I can … I’m not used to having to keep myself under control like this and he doesn’t make it easy either,” he then whispered in my ear and I looked up at him confused.
Did he really want to find a solution to not completely wiping my brother out of my life?
How wrong had I been about him from the start?
“Come on,” he pulled me out of my thoughts and politely held the passenger door open for me to give me his hand when we got in, and when he ran to the other side and Igor sat in the back, we drove off.
I just looked at my hands, which lay quietly in my lap, for the entire journey and thought about how everything had changed so suddenly.
Where I was actually always of the opinion that I knew how my life would turn out, everything had turned out differently now and although I was always convinced that Devin would protect me, Silvan was now the one with whom I felt safe and secure . More than anyone else.
My gaze fell to him as he casually steered the car with one hand and stared straight ahead. Once again I noticed what a great charisma he had, especially when the sun shone down on him.
He must have noticed my stare and glanced over at me before putting his hand on mine.
This is what falling in love must feel like…
But it was the Mateband that made it possible for me to still feel good after that shitty day.
And just from the gentle touch of his hand…
Exhausted, I closed my eyes for the rest of the ride, enjoying the feel of the sun on my face, until we pulled over and opened my lids again.
We were at home …
Silvan got out first and stretched while Igor seemed to be asleep, because a soft, barely audible snoring suddenly penetrated to the front of me.
I turned around curiously and indeed. He was fast asleep.
In such moments one notices one’s humanity quite conspicuously, because wolves would certainly not be able to fall asleep after so much action with adrenaline.
When I got out and wanted to go to Silvan, he suddenly had a thoughtful look and his mobile phone in his hand.
“What’s going on?” I asked confused and he just glanced at the front door and back at me.
“Bene should actually be here. But he isn’t and I can’t reach him either.”
fuck!! I had completely forgotten about that…
And would he now come out of the forest and smell like a hunter???
With him, Silvan would certainly not just shoot at the wall. I was grateful enough that he had spared my brother.
Nervous, almost in panic, I looked for a solution to the problem, because I certainly wouldn’t betray Bene until I had spoken to him myself first.
“Can we please go eat something?!” I then turned to Silvan, who thought about it for a moment and, luckily for me, nodded in agreement.
Back in the car I just wanted to get far away so as not to get directly into the next heated situation .