“Tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears

Sick of all the insincere

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time, don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away.”

---

"Your parents have been calling us a lot frequently now." Ryder said suddenly, making me turn towards him in awe.

"What?"

"So your parents called the Alpha a few days ago, asking about your welfare," He sighed and shifted his torso towards me. "They wanted to talk to you, but we couldn't arrange that for... obvious reasons."

He paused, "Alpha tried to handle the situation by saying that you were gone for a field trip with school, but they aren't convinced. They are coming back to the pack tomorrow. It's good if we reach there before them, we don't want them to worry too much."

I kept silent and stared at space. A million thoughts were running in my head. My parents had no idea about what I've been through, where I'd been or whether I'd ever go home again.

It was funny to me.

Funny because when I used to be a kid, my parents never used to leave me alone. They never let me out of their sight, and one of them was always there to look after me.

For once in their life they left, and this is what I've done to myself.

For once I did agree with Ryder on the fact that they shouldn't know about this— otherwise, knowing my parents, they'll probably feel guilty about everything and take all the blame on themselves.

"You're right." I said.

Another wave of silence surrounded us before I decided to break it by asking a question that had been budging me for a while.

"How did you get here? Weren't you in Alaska?" I asked him, looking directly at his face as he sighed.

"To be honest, everyone's been asking me this same question because no one was able to contact me at the time I was there and everyone's curious to know how I knew that something wrong is happening."

"I just, I don't know okay." He said, in an exasperated tone.

"I just felt like you needed me. Not even the pack. Just you. And it was ferox just knew where to go and what to do. Infact, he was the one who guided our way to this rogue land. So, it's a mystery to me how this all happened and I myself am a bit confused. Everytime I think about it, I get a little more perplexed and the thought about this being related to something spiritual is just surreal—"

"He's your protector." A timid voiced said from behind us, interrupting Ryder's monologue.

We both turned around at the same time to see Alissa standing in front of the tent with her hands clasped together, shyly and a tiny frown on her face.

The wind made her clothes stick to her skin, making her bony, and fragile body even more evident. It pained my heart everytime I looked at her.

"He's your protector." She repeated her sentence, grabbing my attention.

We both stood up and walked upto her.

"What do you mean?" Ryder asked, voicing my thoughts.

Alissa sighed and motioned towards the tent. "Can we please go inside and talk? I feel cold here."

It wasn't even cold at this time of the year, but we didn't agree because she probably wasn't used to standing outside in the nature and bearing the wind anymore.

"Sure."

We went inside and sat on the bed that I had prepared for myself. I noticed that she had covered Patricia's body with a blanket and the sight made me breathless for a moment so I turned away before to avoid crying again.

"Did you ever wonder why I was kidnapped?" Alissa said in her soft voice and we both shook our heads.

Ryder probably didn't even know that Alissa was kidnapped just like I was.

"I was gifted," she said, her eyes drifting away towards the entrance of the tent from where you could peep outside. "I have the power of talking to the moon goddess."

My eyes widened as I let the information sink in. I was shocked indeed. It's not like everyday when you heard about someone knowing about how to talk to the moon goddess herself!

"How?" I asked in complete awe.

She smiled at me, dimples appearing on both sides of her cheeks.

"It's not something I have control over. It's just something I had in me as a kid, and as I grew up, the skill intensified. My pack used to use this power by asking me to ask the moon goddess about incoming attacks and future plans. It was going good. I was okay with my pack using my powers for their own good, till the day we found that our stupid Alpha had bragged about me in front of the other alphas at some meet."

"Basically he exposed that one of his pack members had this exceptional power making other alphas curious and greedy about me. Soon I started getting offers and alphas approached me, wanting to me a part of their pack. I refused. Everytime. But then..."

She choked mid sentence and gulped, her eyes filling with horrors of past and fears. I almost said something soothing to her, but Ryder held me back.

He probably did it because he wanted me to give this girl some time to compose herself.

It took her a few seconds before she started again. "Then K-Keith found out about me and his new aim was to find me and hold me hostage till I ask moon goddess about the location of his precious gem."

My jaw clenched and my fists curled in anger. He was a psychopath. I could clearly see how petrified she was of him and he did this all just for his fun and for his damn obsession over some gem that probably didn't even exist.

"When I refused to tell him anything, he chained me to silver and gave me poisons. All of the torture made my wolf to go away and ever since then, I wasn't able to contact with the moon goddess. Because it was wolf that was in touch with her the entire time. Keith refused to believe that I had lost my powers and he kept torturing me, wanting me to tell him something I had no idea about."

Almost same story as mine. She had been through the same horror, if not more than I had and I knew exactly how she would have felt.

"I had lost all hopes of ever getting my wolf back." She said, her voice slowly regaining a bit of cheerfulness.

"But then, when today I heard you two talking, I heard my wolf for the first time in years." She smiled, her eyes regaining a little shine and the dimples on her cheeks showed proudly how happy she was.

"It was a little weak at first, the bond with my wolf— but slowly, I can feel strengthening just like before." Her voice was filled with awe and giddiness, making me feel so glad for her.

"And then, she said that you two are protecters."

"What are protectors?" I asked her, confused as ever.

She looked surprised as though she had expected us to know already.

"You don't know what protectors are?" She asked, and we both again shook our heads.

She sighed. "I'll tell you. Protectors occur in pairs— can be 2 girls, 2 boys or one each— selected by moon goddess. Protectors are mutual. Which means that if you are his protecter, then you are his protecter too. Protectors were made by moon goddess for all those who don't have a tough life or a potentially tough life. You have a special connection with them. Just like you do with your mates— but this is a bit different. First of all, it's a lot more diluted which means that you won't really feel it till you know it's there.

Then protectors have a few peculiar features. Let me tell you about those. Number one is that protectors just know when someone is wrong with the other or when the other is about to get hurt. Number two, protecters, unlike mates are effective since a young age. Number three, protector s bond is very fragile because if they ever hurt you then the bond breaks. And by that I mean that if someone— that is your protector— who is meant to actually protect you from hurt ends up hurting you, then the bond snaps and you can feel it. And lastly, this bond is also amazing and special because it can be mended again if the person who had broken or violated it, does something to save the life of the other."

My mouth hung open due to the revelation and I could practically feel the shock radiating off of Ryder in waves right beside me.

It was like another chunk of my life's jigsaw puzzle was found and I had found where to put it.

Another part of life made sense to me.

I remembered how I had felt when Ryder had hurt me because of Cindy. When he had shouted at me and said insulting things. I had been so hurt. I remembered how I had also felt like my connection with him broke. I always knew that there was something that kept me bonded to him, something that I could never establish with my other friends and something he had broken that day.

I didn't know what it was, but now I did. It was our protecter bond.

He didn't come to know about my kidnap earlier because the bond was broken, but when the torture on me became too much, moon goddess signalled him herself and guided his wolf towards me.

He saved my life by fighting for me and he had indirectly prevented me from getting hurt.

Which meant that our bond will be reformed.

"Is it necessary that the bond with be established again?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Yes," she said. "It will be. Because the person has proven to be worthy of the title to the goddess. The bond reformation takes time, but it will happen."

"Do you think what she said was true?" Ryder asked as we walked out of the tent, leaving Alissa behind.

I nodded my head and replied with a yes. Explaining him about how I had felt before with the whole Cindy thing.

"Whoa," he whispered, "I didn't feel that. Meaning that you have always kept your job of being a protecter and have never hurt me, while I've always been shitty at it."

"You're not shitty!" I said, almost immediately, not even having to think.

I didn't know why I was all of the sudden defending him, but maybe the bond was working because I had started to feel warm towards him.

He smiled at me. "Thank you for believing that."

I nodded my head and dismissed him.

"You haven't forgiven me, have you?" He said with a sad smile, making my heart fill with guilt.

I opened my mouth to say something but he stopped me.

"No," he said. "Please don't say anything. I understand you. I don't want to force you into forgiving me."

"But all I want you to know is that I'm really very sorry for what I did. I always have respected your friendship and goddess knows what had gotten into me, when I insulted you and your care. For a person like me who's an orphan without siblings, you are the only family I have, and I can't afford to lose you. Call me selfish but I am ready to do all it takes you to forgive me. I am glad that the bond can be reformed and the goddess is giving me another chance. Because this time, I know I'll perform the responsibility the right way."

I smiled at his warm words and said, "I know."

"How are you so sure?" He asked, his eyes filled with no uncertainty, but nervousness.

"Because she chose you to send the message when I was in trouble and not even my mate. You are the one even she was sure would come to help me at all costs."

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