RED ( Twisted Forbidden Tales) Book Two

Tether Worm

Walden

I don’t know how long I sat on the bed. My thoughts were jumbled with nowhere to sort it out. Maybe I should get myself together first. After all, the meeting will start in an hour. Turning my head, I noticed a sheet of paper on the bedside table. Ria had left me instructions about how to use some of the things in her room. She would pick me up in an hour and leave some snacks for me to eat for now as well.

This whole base was weird and in some ways familiar. There was a lot I needed to learn about the Dark Woods, but that memory was bothering me. That sound the wheels made from that strange bed made me confused. I always thought my fear came from a carriage accident I encountered when I was a kid, but now I felt as if something was wrong. Christine had planted a false memory in my head.

It centered around my tenth birthday, which she didn't want me to remember. She was long dead now, so everything she did would come undone soon enough. How much more pain was I about to suffer from her even after her death? Who was that man? And what happened to me? I can’t think about it right now. The meeting had to come first.

After getting myself cleaned up and changed. I ate the set of snacks Ria left for me and dutifully waited for her in the room. Fifteen minutes before the hour was up. A knock sounded at the door and soon after, the door opened and Ria entered. An intense electrical surge flowed through me as we both stood there staring at each other.

Ria’s eyes drew me in again. I was swimming in the pools of the golden elixir. She had a grin on her face and humor sparkled in her eyes as I checked her out. Ria was definitely doing something to me and she knew it. I wanted to be her patient forever as she stood there in her white lab coat. Underneath it, she wore a gray turtle neck and black slacks. It wasn’t strange to me to know what kind of clothes these were.

The Forbidden Forest was back in medieval times but a small infestation on its borders leaked some of the changes from the Outskirts and the Dark woods there from time to time.

I didn't think I’d be into women with short hair, but it fit Ria perfectly. She had one golden blonde streak that ran right across the front that had fallen in front of her face. My hand itched to touch it and hers just to see if that tempting light brown skin of hers was really as smooth as it looked.

She bit her lip, as I looked her up and down. My thoughts skyrocketed to ex-rated as those full lips of hers unintentionally begged me to have a taste. I had to calm down, neither of us had time for this and she was there to patch me up quickly before the meeting. I turned around and sat back down on the bed slowly. I was a bit uncomfortable at the moment if you get my drift.

She walked the rest of the way, closing the door behind her. I really wished she had left it open. Her enticing cinnamon bun scent was stirring the wolf in me. Having a wolf now would take some getting used to, but I was at ease knowing I had people around me who would help me adjust.

It was then I noticed the small satchel bag in her hand. She sat down next to me and began taking a few things out of the bag. The smaller injuries had already healed in the shower, but the one on my back still ached.

Glad that my back was injured and not my front. I sat still as a statue while she treated me. The medicines she used on me were her own special ingredients. I knew this from the small part of Bo and her conversation on the way here to this place. It felt warm to touch her and soon she was done.

“Hah, got it!” she said, and then I felt her apply the bandage patch to the wound on my back with a small pat. I pulled my shirt back down and turned to face her. She had a small jar in her hand and there was something inside.

“What is….?” I looked at her in question. Did that just come out of my back?

“I’ll explain more later, but in the cliff note version, yes, this was inside you, not your back injury, it’s a tether worm which is Forbidden and may be connected to your strange memory,” Ria said quickly as she put the jar carefully inside her satchel, grabbed my hand and stood up.

“We got five minutes to get to the meeting and I think there is someone you definitely need to see,” she said as we headed out and down the hall.

I looked down at our interlocked hands and smiled. How could something as simple as this feel so right? I wouldn’t question fate wherever it was leading me after all my ambassador's journey had yet to begin.