I’d expected to give it to her.
The spring break spent skiing in Vancouver with a couple of my friends was meant to be my last lads’ trip before I became an engaged man.
But then we stopped in Bear Mountain on the way to the ski town, and all those plans were upended when Niska bit me.
I immediately typed back:
Dearest Claudine,
I’m relieved to hear that you are thriving, and in Scotland, of all places. I truly look forward to hearing the story of how you came to be there and congratulating you on your upcoming nuptials. I will give you a time to speak as soon as I?—
“ZION! ZION, MAN! YOU THERE?”
I dropped the phone to the stone floor as the shout filled my head with an unexpected blast. The device’s screen shattered upon impact. This time there was no hiding my shock from Ravik—even with our maul bite still muted.
I would have thought the telepathic shout came from him were he not already leaping over the back of the sofa and rushing toward me with a concerned look on his face.
But no…
The long-dormant maul bite on my left arm lit up with sensation, alerting me to the identity of the person shouting directly into my mind after nearly thirty years of silence.
“What’s wrong?”Ravik’s panicked thoughts tumbled in with the question he’d pushed into my head. He feared I was having an aneurysm, that he was about to lose me, too, without warning, the same way we’d lost Niska.
Unlike me, he hadn’t confidently exchanged maul bites with Walker before Erik took that future from all of us.
“It’s not that.”I unmuted my side of our bonded connection to send Ravik a mental message over our maul bite for the first time since I decided this would be my final year in Bear Mountain, no matter what.“Walker. Walker Boone."
My hand went to the tingling scar on my left arm—the maul bite that had previously been dormant for three decades.“He’s here. And he's requesting—actually, shouting for—our help.”
“ZION? ZION?”The other voice boomed in my head once again.“IF YOU’RE THERE, COME QUICK!”
11/
stop crying
BELL
Nearly all my adult life.
That’s how long I’d spent trying to be small. Even after Dennis went to jail. I didn’t want to upset anyone. I didn’t want to inconvenience. I tried not to ask for too much. Or get in anyone’s way.
On the list of desires in my life, I would have put “Not Be a Bother” at the top.
But here I was, freaking out in Boone’s truck after he’d ended Dennis, driven me all the way to British Columbia, and even offered to escort me to Noelle’s door.
Stop crying. Stop crying. C’mon, Bell! Vacant Little Thing mode. Go! Go! Go!
It was the panic attack from that first morning, when Boone tried to touch me, all over again. But even worse this time. I couldn’t access my off switch. I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t… I couldn’t…
“Bell. I don’t know what to do. Tell me how to help you.” Boone sounded truly alarmed. Apparently, I’d finally managed to break the cool of the Hercules statue who’d taken everything else I’d thrown at him in stride.
I wanted so badly to answer that I was fine, to get myself together, apologize profusely, and finally go see my daughters—the whole point of surviving Dennis and taking this three-day trip. But the tears wouldn’t stop coming. I’d never felt so weak.
"Okay… Okay…" The cabin of Boone's truck filled with cold air when he suddenly jumped out of the truck.
One moment, I was spiraling into an abyss of panic, and the next, the passenger door was being wrenched open.
“I know you don’t want me to touch you, but Vik told Zion I need to get my arms around you. Help you regulate your heartbeat.”
