“Red is not a warning. It’s a promise of things to come. When it glows brightly, disaster follows.”
Then he simply disappears back into the cave, and Glenn arches an eyebrow at me.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Glenn asks, and I shrug my shoulders.
“No idea. He’s always doing this shit.”
“So, what were you warned not to do, and why is what you did a bad thing?”
I meet his gaze and wet my lips, my heart thumping in my chest.
“The water is enchanted. It has healing properties.”
“So you said.”
“But if you consume it with another…even the smallest drop…”
I pause, and Glenn nods to encourage me to continue.
“It starts the bonding process. An uncontrollable thirst for the one you share it with. At least until after the next full moon.”
“The bonding process?”
“Well, that’s what they say, but I’m not sure I believe it. I’m assuming you still need to bite me. Just makes it easier, I guess.”
“And you risked it with me?” Glenn asks, and I swallow.
“You disappointed?”
He wets his lips and then pulls me in closer.
“No.”
I already feel a zing of something brewing in my system, something heady and strong.
Glenn, pieces of him. They’re infiltrating me, his bond trying to weave its way through my body and into my heart. It’s making me slightly overheated, my hole growing slick with each step forward.
“You okay?” Glenn asks, his hand moving into mine as we walk from the cave entrance back toward town.
“Yeah. Do you feel it?”
“Mhm,” he hums and then squeezes my hand.
“It will wear off eventually. Unless…”
He says nothing, just continues to hold me, our feet shuffling on the ground the only sound in the forest.
It’s quiet, almost eerily so.
“Where is everyone?” Glenn asks, and I turn my head side to side, trying to figure it out, but I don’t see anyone.
“Not sure, but maybe it’s best if we head back to Attie’s trailer, just in case something is going down.”
“What would be going down?”
“I don’t know? A rival pack headed our way? Maybe someone is in trouble?”
Glenn’s gaze suddenly fixes on the town hall. “They’re in there. I can hear them.”
