Big Red and the Little Wolf

Chapter 18

Echo Pov

“I thought these woods were incredibly dangerous,” I stated as I stepped out of the truck.

The sharp sound of the driver’s door closing made me flinch. Kodi had driven us along a deserted road until he veered off to park along the edge of the woods. To say my nerves were on edge was an understatement. When Kodi admitted that he wanted to take me on a date, this was the last place I had expected for our date to be.

The woods didn’t scare me. I could take care of myself as a wolf. What I didn’t trust was that he had no idea of my wolven side. He could’ve taken me here to kill me without leaving a trace of evidence as some sort of vengeance. Surely, he blamed every one of my kind as responsible for his parents’ death. My blood ran cold as I considered him taking me to the exact site it occurred. At this rate, even the pub was starting to look more romantic.

Kodi walked around the front of the truck, now carrying a backpack slung around his shoulder. At the sight of it, I imagined what kind of silver weapons he had stowed away in there. I let my muscles relax as I got a whiff of deli meat. He brought lunch for us.

“They are, unless you have someone who knows them well enough to help you navigate them.”

“And how exactly did you become such a good navigator?” I asked. The question might have been a little too close to home, daring him to keep his role as a hunter from me. Though the way he spent his time in these woods was no secret to me, it wouldn’t have been as obvious to a normal girl from out of town.

He gently placed his hand on the small of my back, pausing to see if he could keep it there as a way to guide me forward. I let him. For once, it was tempting to let my guard down as we entered the woods together. Having my mate so near to me and attentive to my every movement had me feeling protected in a way I never had been before.

Throughout my friendship with Derek, he had always gone the extra mile to ensure my safety. But even then, he held the weight of the pack on his shoulders. Every decision he made had to reflect the best interest of the pack over his personal relationships. With Kodi, he prioritized me and made me his focus above all else. He may not have realized that the pull between us was the mate bond, but I had no doubt that he could feel it.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, you really think a few creatures with big sharp teeth are going to have me hiding in my own town?” Kodi chuckled as though belittling the wolves that ended his parents’ lives to a couple made them less frightening. “If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a lot of places to hang out around here. And I very well couldn’t hang out at the pub every night as a wee little lad.”

I joined him in laughter as I imagined him as a young boy with his feet dangling from the barstools.

“What were you like as a boy?”

We had only been walking through the forest for a handful of minutes before the terrain became difficult to walk on. Kodi switched his position with his hand on my back to hold my hand so that I could step around fallen branches and the thick roots on the forest floor without falling.

“I was courageous.”

I gave a little scoff in false disbelief. “Now, I would never have guessed that.”

He tilted his head down at my teasing, but I still caught a glimpse of a smile that met his eyes. “It was much to my detriment. I had little skill and experience, yet I thought I was invincible. I thought my parents were invincible to tell you the truth. But when they didn’t come home one day, that’s when I realized confidence would only get me so far and I would have to grow tougher skin to survive in this world.”

“That must’ve been so difficult to handle at your age.”

Kodi nodded. “It was, but there was some good to come out of it. For one, I’m not certain I would be the man I am today if I didn’t have to go through that. Also, I grew a lot closer to my uncle after they died. He’s taught me almost everything I know.”

“I like that you can find the good in what you went through. That’s an amazing trait to have.”

“What about your parents, if you don’t mind me asking?”

We had reached the point in the forest that began to slope upwards. Still holding onto Kodi’s hand, I used the other one to press against the tree as I stepped onto the first rock in a series that would lead us to a greater elevation.

I should have seen this question coming. Though it wasn’t my favorite topic, if he could open up with me about his parents’ death, it shouldn’t be a problem to share part of my story with him.

“I never knew my father. My parents were strangers that let go of their inhibitions one night and that was the last time they saw each other. My mom decided to raise me by herself after she found out she was pregnant.”

“So it was just the two of you?”

I nodded. “That’s the way it had been my entire life, at least until she kicked me out.”

Kodi’s expression turned startled. His usual tight control on veiling his emotions slipped at the mention of someone hurting me. It wasn’t uncommon to have difficulty maintaining a temper when it came to someone’s mate. “Why would she do that?”

As much as I didn’t want to lie to him, the hairs on the back of my neck rose at the notion I had revealed too much. He couldn’t know that my mom took the first chance she had to get rid of me as soon as I had turned. It was the first sign that revealed to her that I wasn’t fully human.

“Growing up, my mom and I had been the best of friends. She worked hard to keep us afloat and we did almost everything together,” I chose my words carefully as I considered what to tell him next. We made it to the end of the rocks, returning to even ground. Since Kodi stopped, I did the same as I finished the story. “When I became a teenager, she and I almost never saw eye to eye. The more she imposed restrictions on my life, the more I found ways to break the rules.”

I scoffed and looked away as the memories came back to me. It was true that she and I didn’t always get along, but I loved my mom. If I hadn’t turned into a monster, I wouldn’t have let anything separate us.

“Hey. Echo,” Kodi said gently as a way to bring me back from my thoughts that were too painful and real to say out loud. He cupped the hand that had been resting at my side and lifted it so he could put both of his hands around it. “It’s okay.”

“It’s stupid, really. I haven’t seen my mom in years all because of some fight about curfew.” I thought back to the night when I had turned for the first time. The way I screamed at the pain running through my bones. How my mom leaned over to comfort until my claws formed. Until she was forced to run. “We lived near a forest like this one. She always warned me that it was dangerous to stay out too late, but I didn’t want to listen. I don’t even remember a word we said, just that we kept screaming at each other louder and louder.

“I left the house so angry with her.” She had locked herself away in her bedroom as I hunched over onto all fours. Luckily, I hadn’t tried to hurt her in my new form. But after the fur sprouted everywhere, I broke the door off the hinges to run into the forest. “I was out of control. That night, I barely had any idea of the time or where I was. By the time I came back home, my mom told me to pack my bags because I didn’t live there anymore.”

I had woken up that morning in the backyard naked and shivering, still not sure what exactly had happened and why. By the time I had gotten dressed and found something to eat, my mom had come out of her room to tell me that I could not be a daughter of hers. She trembled with fear as she asked me to leave, unable to look at me throughout the entire exchange.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Echo.” He inched forward, hesitant before he stepped forward and pulled me into his arms.

Every part of me relaxed as I melted into his embrace. He was warm and made me feel safe in all the ways a mate was supposed to. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t a wolf, the mate bond was still very real between us.

“I didn’t mean to bring down the mood of our date,” I stated as we pulled away from each other.

A playful glint appeared in his eyes as a corner of his mouth lifted up. “You did no such thing. Our date is just getting started.”

“Oh really?”

“Come on.” He still held onto my hand as he moved forward, though I would have followed him anywhere. Kodi led me several meters further until the brush of the forest began to clear away. Kodi stopped when he found the spot he had been taking us to. I stepped around him to peer at what could have led him to bring me to the middle of the woods. I nearly gasped at the sight of the waterfall before us that trickled into a creek below.