‘What? I don’t want anyone to whack their doors on my car.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Typical boy racer.’
He nudged me playfully and I just giggled back at him. ‘Thank you for bringing me here.’ We gazed at each other. I couldn’t get over how good looking he was. His wolf tattoo was in view and I could have sworn it moved.
‘I best get going to Natalie.’
Just as I was about to unbuckle my seatbelt and climb out the car, Ben pulled me into him and kissed me passionately. It was like he was worried about losing me and not seeing me again. The flutter of butterflies filled my stomach and it was like fireworks were exploding around us. As we kissed, I saw visions of a white wolf and a girl in a red coat walking along the base of a snow filled mountain. It was like I was in one of my dreams. I gently pulled away and, before Ben could say anything to me, I climbed out of the car and quickly headed into the hospital.
I sensed that Ben was watching me, feeling his eyes until I was inside and had turned a corner.
As I reached Natalie’s ward, I could see that the room she was in was guarded by security. The guard began to stop me from entering, but Natalie saw this and yelled at them to let me in immediately.
‘What’s with the security?’ I asked her, concerned.
‘They’re like me, werewolf hunters, so I’m being protected by the society who trained me up.’
I plonked myself down on the chair next to her bed. She looked so vibrant and healthy considering everything that had happened. Natalie reached for my hand.
‘Did you see Ben in here, earlier?’ I asked her, wondering if she remembered anything at all.
‘Not really, everything was a blur. Please Grace, you need to stay away from both Ben and Daniel. I am not strong enough to protect you. I have made the decision to leave after Dominic’s funeral. I’m going to work on training to become a better wolf hunter.’
Tears began to fill my eyes. Although I hadn’t known Natalie for long, we had become so close, so quickly. She noticed my eyes filling up.
‘Aw, Grace, I’m so sorry but I promise to keep in touch. My cousin will still be at her little coffee shop in town if you need to chat with anyone. I know she will take good care of you.’
I would miss Natalie so much, but not having her around worried me. She helped save my life and that was not something that could just go away.
Chapter 16.
I t had been a week since I’d visited Natalie in the hospital. She’d been discharged a couple of days later, the doctors putting it down to the stress of losing Dominic.
It had been a week and a half since Dominic and Florence visited my dream.
And I hadn’t spoken to my grandparents about the discovery of their connection to all of this.
I was sick of the dull grey clouds and the rain falling down. The funeral nearly had to be rescheduled, as surrounding areas were hit with flash flooding. The night before the funeral, I wished for the day to be beautiful, so Dominic could have a lovely send off. Then a miracle happened as the flooded areas dried up overnight.
Was it my wish being granted that had cause this miracle? Or had Grandma heard me wishing, and granted it herself?
Grandma made me a new red coat after I told her some lie that I thought someone had stolen it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was ripped by a werewolf who tried to take my innocence from me. I had been pretty careless agreeing to meet up with Daniel, especially after learning that he’d hurt Natalie. I would have to stop beating myself up about it. After all, on the plus side, I’d found out a lot about some of the weird things that had been happening to me, such as me being ill being down to Daniel’s controlling gifts and suddenly feeling ok again being down to Ben’s healing gifts.
I hadn’t seen Ben since he’d kissed me goodbye at the hospital. There were no messages or calls either. To try and keep as safe as possible, I stayed in my room, telling the college I was still ill. Luckily, they believed me, and Miss Hogg emailed me my assignments, even having lectures videoed for me. Being secluded at home with none of the recent distractions, I completely rested up and even caught up on all my college work. My favourite assignment was putting together my dance routine, ready for the winter show. This was an extra core unit to help towards my final grade at the end of my two years in college.
Dominic had a wonderful send off at his funeral. His older brothers, dad and grandad carried his coffin, followed by his mum, grandmother and Natalie. I just wanted to grab hold of Natalie and hold her. I thought about Dominic losing his life trying to protect me. From my dream I knew that he was not really ‘gone’ and that I would forever be in his debt. Ben walked in last, standing at the back of the room. I felt a sharp pang that he’d not spoken to me for over a week. The bastard.
He stared right in my direction and I turned away as tears welled up in my eyes. The opposite side where Ben was standing, Daniel hovered in the corner looking sheepish. How had he the audacity to show his face when he was the one who killed Dominic? Gran handed me a couple of tissues. As we were seated, I looked
