last Hope

The Wolf Named Molly

Lily

At that moment, I hear it in the back of my mind.

‘Mate.’ 

I question the quiet voice of what sounded like a female in my mind. ‘What?’ 

To my surprise, the mysterious voice responds. ‘He’s our mate.’

    I am dumbfounded at what the voice has just said, and start to question my sanity. 

    ‘Who are you?’ 

    ‘My name is Molly. I’m your wolf.’ I'm struck speechless at what she just said. 

    ‘I never knew that there was another consciousness when shifting.’ 

    ‘Of course, but you may want to talk to him first. I’ll explain later.’ I suddenly realize I've just been staring at him with him staring back at me the entire time that was going on. 

I break the stare down after a moment and go over to the water to look at my reflection, wanting to see what my wolf looks like. A regular adult wolf is usually about two and a half feet tall from their shoulder. However, an average fully grown female Were is between four and five feet depending on where they stand in a pack and same with the males only between five and six feet. It’s pretty rare for a male to be bigger than six feet unless they are an Alpha, then they are usually six to six and a half feet tall. She is fairly average for a newly shifted female Were, maybe a little bigger, standing at about four foot. However, she isn’t fully grown yet and won’t be until we find out where we stand in the pack. She is dark brown with red and blonde streaks, much like my hair as a human, but her eyes are different. Normally my eyes are brown and almost look red, but they're almost a yellow color right now. 

I look back at my savior after I take a couple of minutes to admire my wolf, he hasn’t moved an inch. I stare at him for a minute longer before I hear Molly talk to me again. ‘He’s the one.’ 

It surprised me to hear someone talking to me again, but when I realize it’s just her I take the extra clothes I brought with me behind a tree and shift back to my human form. When I come back out from behind the tree, the man I presume to be Luca and I just stare at each other again in a comfortable silence as we take in each other's scent. I finally break the silence after a minute of checking him out. 

“Luca?” Molly trembles slightly at his name and starts to jump around in my mind in excitement. 

I softly scold her. ‘Calm down.’ 

He looks confused as he asks, “How do you know my name?” 

Molly breaks through and we whimper. He looks even more confused at the sound but has a look of concern written in his features.

‘He doesn’t remember who you are.’ Molly says sadly. I look down at my bare feet, taking in what she just said. 

‘It’s been ten years, I don’t blame him for not remembering. Let’s just give him a chance.’ She nods her furry head in response and I continue to talk to Luca, trying to dodge his memory. 

 “We were friends when we were young, back before I moved away from the pack. It's been about ten years now.” 

He still looks confused for a moment before realization comes to his face and he tackles me into a bear hug, pretty much screaming my name. “Lily! I can’t believe your back. I heard we had a family of Were’s coming back to the pack, but I never thought it would be you or that I’d ever see you again, and you're my mate on top of that.”

Molly starts to purr and shiver at his touch and I don’t blame her. It causes tingles to spread like wildfire starting from everywhere our skin touches. A shiver goes up my spine at the sensation and I can’t help but melt in his strong arms. 

We both stand there embracing one another as I start to cry, happy that I have my best friend back. We stay like that for a long time before he lets go and pulls away to get a better look at me. Molly and I whimper, missing his warmth and comfort almost immediately. It doesn’t take long for him to notice the countless scars on the skin that my clothes don’t cover. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to bring a short sleeve shirt. I silently scold myself for not thinking this through. 

“Who did this to you?!” He lets out a low growl that vibrates deep in his chest and seems to shake the forest, and me along with it. 

It causes me to shudder and back away in fear, my scars almost throbbing in pain remembering the past and fearing for the worst. 

“It doesn’t matter.” I start to hide myself, feeling ashamed that I look like this and that I’m lying to him. 

“Yes it does, please tell me.” He says this with a softer tone and pulls me to his chest protectively when he sees me back away in fear trying to hide myself. 

No one has shown me this kind of affection in so long, I think to myself as I start crying again. Luca holds me tightly against his chest and comforts me as I let my tears fall freely. I feel safe as my fear melts away at his touch. 

“Can you hold me like this for a little longer?” I ask him, but it’s muffled from his chest and my crying. 

“OK baby, just try to calm down. I’m going to carry you to the packhouse.” As he says this he lifts me effortlessly into his arms bridal style with my arms around his neck and starts walking away from the lake. I bury my face in his neck and not long after fall asleep from the exhaustion of shifting and crying for what seemed like hours. 

Luca

I can’t believe she’s finally home. She’s asleep in my arms, no doubt worn out from shifting and all the crying. 

I hear my wolf, Leo, speak up. ‘She’s so beautiful.’

‘Ya, she is.’ 

When I find the bastard that did this to her I’m going to rip them to pieces, Leo and I think this at the same time as I hold her closer to me. 

‘She’s so light. It feels like she’s barely eaten anything in weeks.’ My wolf says this and I agree with him. 

I carry her back to the packhouse and take her up to my room. My parents are asleep right now with only a few lingering pack members up and the house is quiet. I take her up to bed with me, stripping down to my boxers, and lay with her. 

“I promise I'll protect you from now on,” I promise her sleeping body as I pull her as close to my chest as possible and kiss her forehead, starting to drift off myself, feeling happy to have my best friend and mate by my side.