GHOST FROM THE PAST

I needed air and space to think about everything the elders had dumped on me so I headed for the gardens behind the main house. The same gardens where I used to hide from everyone when things got overwhelming in my old life, except now they were supposedly mine and not just a place where the unwanted omega went to cry.

Lily caught up with me as I was pushing through the heavy wooden doors that led outside and she looked concerned in that big sister way that made my chest hurt.

"Iris, you look like you've seen a ghost," she said while falling into step beside me on the stone pathway. "What did the elders want?"

I almost laughed because technically I had seen a ghost earlier, just not the kind she was thinking about. Instead I just shrugged and kept walking toward the section with the white roses that had always been my favorite spot.

"They want to give me another Lykora," I said and tried to make it sound casual instead of like the world was ending. "For my protection apparently."

Lily stopped walking so suddenly that I had to backtrack to where she was standing with her mouth hanging open.

"Another one?" she squeaked. "But you already have two gorgeous men dedicated to your every need and now they want to add a third? Iris, some of us can barely get one decent guy to text us back."

I burst out laughing because she sounded so personally offended by my apparent man surplus. "It's not like I asked for them, Lily. And it's not about romance, it's about politics and protection and all that Luna stuff I still don't really understand."

"Still," she said and started walking again, "three Lykoras sounds like either the best problem ever or the most complicated thing in the history of complications."

We reached the rose garden and I settled onto the stone bench that sat perfectly positioned to catch the afternoon sun. Lily plopped down beside me and we sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes while I tried to figure out how to explain my situation without sounding completely insane.

"The new guy they want to add is some Alpha from the northern territories," I said finally. "Kieran Blackwater. Ever heard of him?"

Lily's face went pale and she grabbed my arm hard enough to leave marks. "Kieran Blackwater? Iris, he's like the boogeyman of the werewolf world. They say he once killed an entire pack of rogues with just his bare hands."

"Well that's reassuring," I muttered while wondering if the elders were trying to protect me or terrify potential threats into submission. "Maybe that's the point though. If I'm walking around with the werewolf equivalent of the Terminator then no one will want to mess with me."

"Or you'll spend the rest of your life scared of your own protector," Lily pointed out. "There's a difference between intimidating your enemies and traumatizing yourself."

She had a point but before I could respond I heard something that made my blood freeze in my veins. The sound of branches snapping under heavy feet, too many feet, moving through the forest that bordered the garden.

Lily heard it too because she went completely still beside me and her hand found mine automatically. We both knew that sound wasn't coming from anything friendly.

"Run," I whispered while slowly getting to my feet. "Go back to the house and get help."

"I'm not leaving you," she whispered back but I could hear the fear in her voice.

The bushes at the edge of the garden exploded outward and five men dressed in black combat gear burst through with weapons drawn. Their faces were covered by tactical masks and they moved with the kind of coordination that screamed professional military training.

So much for my peaceful afternoon in the roses.

"Luna Iris," the one in front called out and his voice was muffled by his mask. "Come with us and no one gets hurt."

I almost laughed because that was exactly the kind of thing people said right before they hurt everyone in sight. Instead I grabbed Lily's hand and started backing toward the house while scanning for any possible escape routes.

"I don't think so," I called back while trying to keep my voice steady. "But thanks for the offer."

The leader made some kind of hand signal and his team spread out to cut off our retreat. Apparently they weren't in the mood for negotiation.

Lily and I ran.

We made it exactly ten steps before two of them cut us off and we had to veer toward the maze section of the garden. I knew these paths by heart from my old life but running through them while people with guns chased you was a completely different experience than wandering through them while feeling sorry for yourself.

"This way," I gasped while pulling Lily toward the center of the maze where there was a small fountain with several different exit paths. "We can lose them in here."

Except we couldn't because apparently these guys had done their homework and knew the layout as well as I did. We reached the fountain just as two more masked figures stepped out from paths on either side of us.

We were trapped.

"Nowhere left to run, Luna," the leader said while approaching slowly like we were wild animals he didn't want to spook. "We don't want to hurt you but we will if you make this difficult."

I stepped in front of Lily because even if I couldn't fight these guys I could at least make sure they had to go through me first. My wolf Eira was stirring restlessly in my mind like she wanted to help but I had no idea how to shift or if I even could.

"What do you want?" I demanded while trying to buy time for someone to notice we were missing.

"You're coming with us," he said simply. "Orders from above."

"Whose orders?"

He didn't answer but raised his weapon and that's when I heard it. A roar that shook the ground under our feet and made birds explode from the trees in panic. It was the kind of sound that bypassed your brain and went straight to the part of you that remembered being prey animals on ancient plains.

A golden blur launched itself from the top of the maze wall and landed directly on top of the leader with enough force to drive him into the ground. The wolf was massive, easily twice the size of any normal wolf, with fur that gleamed like sunlight and eyes that burned with intelligent fury.

The other four men opened fire but the golden wolf was already moving, flowing between them like liquid violence. I grabbed Lily and pulled her behind the fountain while trying not to watch the carnage happening ten feet away from us.

It was over in less than thirty seconds.

When the sounds of fighting stopped I peeked around the fountain and saw five unconscious men scattered around the clearing like broken toys. The golden wolf stood in the center of them, breathing hard but apparently uninjured.

Then he looked at me.

Those golden eyes locked onto mine and I felt something shift in my chest, some recognition that went deeper than memory. The wolf padded toward us slowly, carefully, like he was afraid of scaring us.

When he was close enough to touch he sat back on his haunches and began to shift.

Bones lengthened, fur receded, and suddenly Elias Stormbane was crouched naked in front of me while staring at me like I was the moon goddess herself descended to earth just for him.

"Are you hurt?" he asked and his voice was rough with leftover wolf energy. His hands hovered near me like he wanted to touch but didn't dare.

I shook my head because words seemed impossible. This was the man who had rejected me, called me weak, told me I wasn't good enough to stand beside him. Now he was looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world and he couldn't quite believe I was real.

"Good," he said and relief flooded his voice. He turned to Lily, who was peeking around my shoulder with wide eyes. "Are you injured?"

"No," Lily squeaked. "Just terrified and questioning my life choices but physically fine."

Elias's mouth twitched like he wanted to smile but was too focused on scanning our surroundings for more threats. "We need to get you back to the house. There might be more of them."

He stood and I tried very hard not to notice that he was still completely naked and apparently even more muscular than I remembered. Someone really needed to give this man a towel or pants or something before I forgot how to think in complete sentences.

"Here," Lily said and shrugged out of her oversized cardigan to toss it at him. "Cover yourself before my sister passes out from blood loss to the brain."

"Lily!" I hissed while my face turned approximately the same color as the roses.

Elias caught the cardigan and wrapped it around his waist while his eyes never left my face. "Iris, I need you to stay close to me until we reach safety. Can you do that?"

I nodded because apparently my vocabulary had been reduced to head movements and squeaking sounds.

We made our way back through the garden with Elias leading and constantly scanning for threats. Every few steps he would look back at me like he was checking to make sure I hadn't vanished into thin air.

"So," Lily said in what she probably thought was a quiet voice, "is anyone going to explain why Luna Iris has a secret werewolf bodyguard who looks at her like she hung the moon personally?"

"He's not secret," I managed to croak out. "He's my.... healer."

"Your healer," Lily repeated slowly. "Right. And all healers transform into giant wolves and single-handedly defeat armed militias?"

"The good ones do," Elias said without turning around but I could hear the dry humor in his voice.

We reached the main house and he finally stopped long enough to face us properly. His golden eyes found mine again and that same intense expression crossed his face.

"Iris, I need you to understand something," he said seriously. "This wasn't random. Someone sent a professional team after you specifically. Until we know who and why, you're not safe."

I stared at him and tried to process everything that had just happened. In my old life this man had destroyed me without a second thought. Now he was risking his life to save mine and looking at me like I was something worth protecting.

The whole situation was giving me emotional whiplash and I needed about seventeen cups of coffee and a very long nap to even begin figuring out what it all meant.

"Thank you," I said finally because whatever complicated history we might have had, he had just saved my life and Lily's too.

His expression softened and he took a small step closer. "You never have to thank me for protecting you, Iris. Never."

And the way he said it, with such quiet conviction, made me think that maybe this version of Elias Stormbane was someone entirely different from the man who had broken my heart.

The question was whether I was brave enough to find out.