Chapter 126

Kadeem saw her drop in his mind's eye just before it happened, time wrapping around him like an Einsteinian puzzle.

With zero emotion and no conscious awareness of it, he reached out, catching Ardal’s wrist with a lightning fast reflex.

She dangled haphazardly in the air, but didn't cry out.

A brief, dark thought occurred to him. Did she want to fall?

Panic filled him and the normal force of time came hurtling back.

He wrapped one arm tight around the towering trunk of the tree to secure himself. With every ounce of strength in his body, he began to heave her back up, before she was close enough to grab her other hand without toppling forward himself, sending them both plummeting to the earth.

One of her hands started to slip. Barely breathing, his muscles burning as he strained against gravity. He continued to lift her until he could wrap both arms around her and pull her into his lap, pressing her small frame hard against him.

Every muscle was exhausted and shaky from the immense effort. He was drenched in sweat and Ardal’s hands were still slick with perspiration as he held them. They both panted heavily and she trembled from the surge of adrenaline.

She opened her mouth, he thought, to thank him for saving her life - but instead delivered an impassioned rebuke:

"If you had just let go of my hand," she yelled.

"Me," he burst out in disbelief. "You're blaming me?" Bile rose in the back of his throat. "Are you out of your mind? How about if you hadn't tried such a dumb stunt?!"

"I would have been fine," she said indignantly. Tears welled up her eyes. "You made me lose balance. I-" She stopped speaking and gulped back emotion.

Breath ragged with fatigue and now, fury, he gave her an incredulous look. It was nothing short of a miracle her skull wasn't splattered across the ground beneath him.

Both were still too tremulous and drained to move - and he was still too anxious to let her go - so they stayed frozen, wrapped up in each other - him livid, her, incomprehensibly sad.

She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Her lashes were wet and blackened with tears.

Kadeem's voice was hoarse when he answered, "I'm sorry, too."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Do you think we can climb out of here without killing ourselves? I want to get down."

She nodded hesitantly. "I'm a little shaky, but I think I can make it."

He inhaled deeply. "Let's go."

He tried to help her out of his lap, but his arms were like limp noodles.

"I've got this," she said, carefully reaching for the trunk of the tree.

He watched, on edge, while she slowly lowered herself onto the next branch below. Then she extended her hand out for him to take once she was steady. He weakly reached out to her. She caught his hand tight in hers.

Successively, they descended the tree together until she finally jumped onto the ground and he stepped off with what little energy he had left.

He let himself slump to the damp, mossy earth. She sat down next to him, their shoulders touching.

"Ardal," he said, his eyebrows creasing, "Why - why did you do that? Did you want to fall?"

She looked at him, blinking. "No." Her eyes shone with angry tears. "I just wanted to try walking across. The branch was stable. I could have balanced it - and I think I would have felt if it was getting too wobbly. I wasn't scared."

"Well, you should have been," he snapped, but then the corner of his mouth twitched upward slightly, hinting at a smile.

Her face softened. "You know, I didn't feel scared when I fell, either. The fear didn't hit me till after - when you got me back up into the tree with you."

She shrugged and looked away, "I trusted you. I knew you would never let anything happen to me."

Kadeem let out a huff and rolled his eyes. "Of course not," he grumbled. He picked up a stick from nearby and spun it in his hand.

He didn't want to tell her Ardal was a fool for having so much faith in him.

He sighed heavily, dragging his hand through his hair before rubbing his temples in frustration. "Holy shit," he yelled, before looking up into the heavens exasperatedly.

They began to laugh, the relief finally hitting, till they were hooting and hollering, red-faced with tears streaming down their cheeks.

"Do me a favor," he said, still laughing. "No more tightrope walking. Please."

Ardal's smile was wide and genuine. "I promise," she said.

She was sitting so close. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, but strands of it framed her face, and her brown eyes sparkled as she gazed at him tenderly.

Should he? Or shouldn't he? Bad timing, or good?

He hesitated for a long moment before closing the gap between them, pushing aside all feelings of doubt and fear.

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek and brought his lips to hers. Her mouth opened under his and a heated desire flooded through him.

She shifted closer until she was in his lap and they sunk into each other while he kissed her deeply.

Her lips were soft against his and she had twined her arms around his neck. A dizzying, delirious high nearly buckled him over - ensnaring him in a moment of pure happiness that rivaled anything else he'd ever experienced.

He paused only to breathe here and there, their fervent exchanges becoming more and more frenzied with every passing second.

The sound of a wolf's howl ripped through the night and Ardal withdrew reluctantly.

"Deem," she whispered, "There's another werewolf out here."

"Don't worry about it," he urged, leaning in to kiss her again.

The world outside this embrace held little importance if compared to the euphoria of being locked in her hold.

But then he heard it - a faint growl from somewhere near them. He pulled away abruptly, his body stiffening, and his senses alerting as he scanned the dark for the source of the noise.

His heart raced as he realized it was one of their kind - a familiar scent seeping through the wind towards them.

He grabbed Ardal's hand. "Let's take this as our cue," he whispered to her before they both stood cautiously.

Most werewolves were not too far from a dog-like version of themselves when they transformed. But some of them really did become monsters.

They crept away slowly when he caught the voice of somehow he knew. Still holding Ardal's hand, he turned.

"What is it," she asked.

His brow furrowed. "Layla," he breathed. "Something's not right."

He leaned into all his Were senses. There were other voices with her, along with an array of unfamiliar scents cloaking the air.

"Go home," he told Ardal. "I'll check on you as soon as I get back - no matter what your dad says about the late hour," he added with a wry smirk.

She shook her head vehemently. "I don't want to leave you. If something's wrong-"

"Exactly why you should go," he pleaded in a low voice.

She glared at him, her voice rising slightly, though she tried her best to keep it down. "I'm not some doe-eyed kid for you to protect."

His jaw dropped open to protest, but before he could even begin, she demanded sternly, "When are you going to trust me?"

He snapped his mouth shut before swearing at her. "Goddamn it, Ardal," he said, gritting his teeth. "Fuck you, do you know that?"

"Ah, but you like me a little," she whispered, catching his eye in a sidelong glance. They began to walk carefully together through the trees, Kadeem's sense ever vigilant for any sign of danger.

He softened somewhat, relenting after a few moments of uneasy silence, and pausing in his tracks. "A lot," he empathized.

She rolled her eyes and tried not to smile as they began making their way forward again.

"And to that point," he added, quietly, "I usually avoid involving girls I like in dangerous stuff in the woods - at least until the second date.

Aral arched an eyebrow. "Who said this was the first? Plus, we already shattered that rule when you caused me to fall-"

He cut her off with a menacing glare, but just she giggled under her breath.

He'd shut her up with more kissing once he verified Layla was okay.

Actually, Layla could wait - just for a minute. He succumbed to desire, pressing Ardal back against a tree with an intense kiss and wandering hands.

Layla's laughter reached their ears. Kadeem broke away from Ardal, then immediately relaxed when he processed it.

Layla was fine. The only danger, then, was getting caught out past curfew with a girl in the middle of the Texas thicket.

They began to hear nearby footsteps. Kadeem and Ardal froze together behind the tree.

"Tell me again why I should listen to you," a gravelly voice asked, as the footsteps got closer.

Kadeem and Ardal met each other's eyes and his heart hit the floor.

Ardal opened her mouth and he covered it quickly to block her from making a sound.

The voice belonged to Patrick, the Beta wolf.

Ardal's father.