“Is there ever too much water under the bridge? Even if you hadn’t meant for there to be a flood, is it possible to come back from something so tragic? For my sake, because I’m being a tad selfish, I hope so. I have missed my friend so much and hadn’t even realized that, inside, I’d never really stopped mourning her loss.” ~Kara
Kara stood before the door to the suite Lizzy and Finn had been given. She had waited over two hours before making her way there. She had no idea what to say to her old friend, but Kara was desperate to make sure she was okay. She glimpsed shuffling out of the corner of her eye and was momentarily distracted. Kara turned to look at her mate.
“You didn’t have to follow me.” She turned to look at Nick. He was too hot for his own good, leaning a shoulder against the wall, his strong arms crossed in front of his chest, and his head tilted to the side. Keen wolf eyes stared at her. Nick wasn’t in the driver seat. This was his beast peering out at her.
“Where you go, I go,” the wolf said in a gruff voice.
Kara couldn’t help but smile at the severity in his tone. “That seems to be a common mantra among you wolves.”
“We will not intrude,” he continued. “But neither will we leave you unprotected.”
She held his gaze and then finally nodded. “Okay.” That was all the concession she would get. Kara was lucky he wasn’t attempting to go into the room with her so that he could sniff everything and make sure there was no one lurking behind a curtain or under a bed.
“Don’t give me any ideas,”Nick, the man this time instead of the wolf, said through their bond.
Kara inwardly sighed. She knew there was nothing she could say that would get Nick to leave his vigil on the wall. If he wanted to stand there like a statue, then that was his choice. She shivered suddenly when she felt fingers run down her spine. But Nick still stood a good ten feet from her, which meant that he was using the bond for more than just talking. “Behave,” she said softly, but knew his supernatural hearing wouldn’t have an issue detecting it.
“With you? Never.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his stubbornness; sometimes it was actually endearing. She turned her attention back to the matter at hand and, taking a deep breath, Kara raised her hand and knocked softly. A myriad of emotions swirled within her—joy, disbelief, lingering grief, and, underlying it all, bone-deep relief that Lizzy was alive after all these years.
Just as the door was opening a deep voice called out, “Liz, I told you not to answer the door without me.”
And then a voice Kara would know anywhere responded, “And I told you I don’t like being told what to do.”
When the door finally swung open there stood a tired but still lovely young woman with waist-length blonde hair and amber eyes. Lizzy froze at the sight of Kara, her lips parted in surprise.
“Kara?” Her voice was barely a whisper. The woman’s eyes tracked over Kara’s face like she couldn’t quite believe she was real.
“Hey, Lizzy.” Kara managed a tremulous smile, the old pain wrapping around her heart. “It’s been awhile,” she joked half-heartedly. Kara wasn’t sure how to act. The woman who stood before her wasn’t the girl she’d left behind years ago.
Lizzy let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob and yanked Kara into a fierce embrace. Kara clung back just as tightly, the years seeming to fall away between them. Lizzy still smelled the same, of orange blossoms and sunlight.
When they finally pulled back, eyes wet, Lizzy cupped Kara’s face in her hands wonderingly. “I can’t believe it’s really you. All this time…” Her voice cracked.
Large hands rested on Lizzy’s shoulders and Kara looked up to see a tall, ruggedly handsome man. “I don’t like it when you cry,” he said gently.
“These are good tears. There is a little ache in them,” Lizzy said, “but good, nonetheless.” She glanced over her shoulder to look up at the guy who must be Finn. “Could you give us some privacy?”
“No.” The word was said with no emotion.
“My mate is currently holding up the wall out here while looking like he’d rather be punching it,” Kara offered. “Maybe you two could punch each other instead. Develop a little bromance that you didn’t even know you needed.”
“Kara,” Nick’s voice held a warning, which she ignored.
“Nick.”
“Please, Finn,” Lizzy said in a very soft tone. “Kara would never hurt me.”
Finn still looked down at his mate as Lizzy turned to look back at Kara.
Like a child being put in time out, Finn sighed overdramatically, pressed a kiss to Lizzy’s head and then gently moved her aside. “I’ll be right outside the door.” Kara stepped to the side and leaned as the large man passed her. And as if on cue, Nick growled, clearly not enjoying that another male was so close to her, especially in her pregnant state.
“Welcome to the cool kids’ club,” Nick said. Finn simply grunted. Satisfied that they weren’t actually going to take her advice and beat each other up, Kara turned her attention back to her friend, who still hadn’t dropped her hands.
Kara covered Lizzy’s hands, that still rested on her cheeks, with her own, still barely able to accept that this was not a dream that would shatter and leave her bereft again. “I thought you died,” she choked out. “That day with your foster parents. You weren’t moving… You didn’t even appear to be breathing.”
Agony flashed across Lizzy’s face. “Theytriedto kill me. I don’t remember much. It’s still a blur. But when I woke up, somehow my wounds had healed. I was in a hospital with a new social worker. The doctors said I was a miracle. I was released from the hospital in a matter of days.” She exhaled shakily. “By then, you were long gone. They wouldn’t give me any information about you when I asked. Once I was on the streets, it was just about day-to-day survival.”
