Chapter 14

Eclipse's POV

I sat against a tree, studying her. She moved slowly as if she wanted to get away from me without me noticing. Everything about her body language screamed that she was uncomfortable. She looked into the fire for at least an hour, and when she finally smiled, I was more terrified than ever.

She looked up at me, silently looking at how I was sitting, probably asking herself what I was thinking. I slowly closed my eyes and turned my head, looking into the dark forest.

She silently inched her way closer and curled up against the tree I was leaning against. I could tell she was cold. Her tiny body couldn't keep much heat in, her refusing to eat any animals other than deer probably didn't help either.

I took my black zip up hoodie off and laid it over her. She looked up at me with those pitiful blue eyes that told me a gentle thank you without actually speaking.

She curled back into a ball, tucking her head into her knees. I shifted, I knew my wolf fur would keep me warm and help shield her from the cold breeze. She looked as if she was already asleep but tears silently streamed down her face. I gently set my chin down on the ground and watched everything around us. She was cold and relatively unprotected without me.

Sure she has a bunch of powers that are super cool, but she won't use them unless she's dying. After the brawl with Valerie, she's barely used her powers and barely trained.

I agree with her, people forget how strong you are when you don't show it. She despised being mean, her heart attacked her everytime she snapped. The falls apart behind the mask she wears. She's perfected the face smile. She deserves a medal for how well she can blink tears away in the middle of a conversation.

And I seem to be the only one who realizes.

She keeps so much hidden away, too scared to tell anyone because she desperately didn't want to be looked at any different. She didn't want to have her friends worrying about her. That's why she told me, she thought I was just a dog. Just a dog that seemed to understand everything she said.

I felt a overwhelming guilt drape over me like a thick blanket. I should've just lied and played stupid. I shouldn't have shifted back to human form after she took her power back.

She needed to know.

I hated lying to her but at one point I became the one thing keeping her upright. She started walking me to the beach so she could talk to me. She told me everything that bothered her, everything that everyone else did that upset her. Things about herself that she hates.

If I had shifted then who knows what would've happened.

She would've flipped out.

I looked down at her.

Or she would've curled into a ball and cried like she is now.

I looked off towards the ocean. I could barely see it through the treeline, but I could still see the moon reflecting on the waves.

She loved the ocean.

She used to.

She loved the stars.

She used to.

I looked back down at her shivering body. I couldn't tell if she was crying because she was sad or she was cold. I slowly stood up and laid next to her, I didn't lay so close as to touch her but close enough so my fur would cover part of her. I turned the opposite way of her so she wouldn't freak out.

I didn't want her to get sick from crying in the cold.

I felt the need to protect her like she was family. She is family. I hoped that she wouldn't freak out, that she wouldn't yell, that she wouldn't be creeped out for me trying to keep her warm.

I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have said anything at all. I probably ruined everything.

A branch cracking caught my attention and immediately caused me to stand up. Carla laid silently in a ball on the ground beside me. I looked in the direction of the cracked branch. My hair stood on edge to make myself look bigger and more scary. I rotated myself so my front paw was on the other side of Carla, shielding her under my leg.

She was still asleep.

Another branch snapped to my left on the other side of the fire. My head snapped in the direction of the sound. I further moved myself so I could easily protect Carla.

She shook violently from the cold at this point as the fire died down. The branches continued to snap in the dark forest. I wish I had night vision like actual wolves.

A tall, skinny guy walked into the clearing. I let out a deep growl at him as he pushed through the brush.

"Calm down," He softly spoke, "Is she sleeping?"

My whole body was standing over Carla to protect her. I recognized this guy as the same one who had been giving her nightmares.

I could feel Carla shaking against my front leg.

"Its cold out," the guy blankly stated, "She might freeze."

I snarled again.

"Calm down, I'm not here to torment her," he explained, "I'm here to talk to her. Someone told me she wanted to talk."

I didn't trust him. She was weak from the cold and even with his skinny stature, he could easily hurt her.

A growl erupted from beneath me and before I could react, Carla shifted into her lioness and let out a vicious roar. Her roar shook everything. It was the first time I'd heard her roar and it was the strongest thing I've ever heard.

She walked towards the man who refused to move. She took that to her advantage and grabbed his shirt in her teeth and dragged him towards the fire. She stood overtop of him as she dropped him onto the ground beside the fire. Carla placed her paw over his chest, seconds later he started screaming.

"Carla I'm here to talk, please cool down," he pleaded. He didnt sound as creepy as the last few times he's visited Carla.

His screams made my stomach feel sick.

She roared in his face. This one wasn't as surprising as the last one. Still terrifying but not as loud.

She stepped off of him and let him lay there for a second.

There was no blood.

He was screaming for no reason, she hadn't put a single scratch on him.

He started violently crying on the ground. Carla shifted down and just looked at him. I did the same.

"Carla-" I started. I stopped talking when she looked at me.

Her eyes were blue like always, but something changed. She had golden swirls around her pupils. They glowed in the darkness, a little spiderweb of gold glowing in the dark. She looked at me with the same intensity that she had looked at Valerie with.

"I am not weak," she boomed at me. It was enough that I immediately ducked my head down in submission to avoid her eye contact.

I looked over at the guy. He writhed back and forth on the ground, crying violently.

"What did you do to him?" I shyly asked in almost a whisper.

She walked over to him and touched his shoulder slightly before using her foot to roll him towards her. She crouched beside him, pulling him up by his shirt collar so he slightly dangled over the hot smoldering logs. I stood back in shock.

"I'm going home and you're coming with me," She growled at him. She created one of the portal things and walked through it, I walked after her. We walked into similar looking woods. She dragged the guy by his collar as she walked through the forest. The guy was crying violently as she dragged him. He didn't look like he could see what was around him, his eyes were clouded as if he was blind.

Carla walked furiously through the woods, she knew where she was going. Before long we made it to the cabin and walked up the steps. Carla kicked the door knob which caused it to shove inwards and the door swung open.