And then it happened. It all hits me at once, that dreaded feeling but tenfold. That feeling when a hole in the ground opens up and just swallows you whole. Guilt. What have I done? She didn’t make the Pack think I was a joke. It wasn’t her responsible for all the pranks. It was me all along.
‘There’s the nest,’ she says, not realising the bombshell she just dropped on my head.
Nina hovers over the nest. I climb next to her as fast as I can. She stretches her hands out to put the baby bird back in its nest.
‘Careful,’ I say, cupping my hands under hers. Nina looks up at me for a moment, and we lower our hands, gently placing the bird back in its nest.
‘There you go, little guy,’ I say and give it another gentle pat on the head.
The sun is setting, and the moon is rising. It’s a breathtaking sight. We sit next to each other and watch its beauty in silence, the comfortable silence. We lean back on our hands, and our pinkies touch, but neither of us moves our hand away. I want to apologise to her. As Josie suggested, I want to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness. Josie was right. I had been a complete dumbass.
‘We should get back to the Packhouse. We will get into trouble for being late home,’ she says.
Nodding, I climb down first, a third of the way Nina slips and falls. My hand wraps around her waist as she screams past me, and I pull her into the safety of my chest. Nina’s arms cling back around my waist as she shakes from the fright of falling. She looks up at me, and I gaze into her eyes. Slowly, our lips draw closer like a moth to a flame. As they are about to touch, the branch cracks from the weight of both of us and breaks. I wrap my arms around her and land on my back, taking the brunt of the fall.
‘Magnus! Are you okay?’
A few sharp pains bolt through my body as I sit up. I scrunch my face. ‘I’ll be fine,’ I say, clearly in pain.
‘No, you’re not fine, here let me help you,’ she says and puts my arm over her shoulder. ‘You should not have done that,’
‘Done what?’
‘Take the brunt of the fall, so I didn’t get hurt,’
‘It was nothing,’
‘Sure…’
We make it back to the Packhouse grounds. Leon and two of his warriors run towards us.
‘What happened, Magnus? Are you okay?’ he says, taking over from Nina, helping to carry my weight.
‘I’ll be fine. I just fell over, is all,’
Nina gives me a confused look but says nothing.
‘Well, we have all been worried sick about you two,’
‘Sorry, Dad,’
‘It’s okay, Sweetie. I’m glad you helped Magnus home. Go to the dinner table. We will be there in a minute.’
‘I’d rather just rest my back in my room rather than sit at the dinner table, Leon,’
‘Of course,’
‘At least in a couple of months, when you get your wolf on your eighteenth, you will heal quickly,’
‘That’s true,’ I smile, excited at the thought that I will soon have my first shift and get to meet my wolf. I’m extra excited because I have Alpha blood. My wolf will be pure black like my dad’s. However, my mother is a descendant of the Moon Goddess, so she has a pure white wolf.
‘But until then, you will heal at a normal human rate,’
‘Yeah, I know. Can you please have the cook bring my dinner up, Leon?’
‘Of course,’
Forty minutes later, there’s a knock at my door.
‘Come in,’
It’s Nina holding a plate of food.
‘I, um, wanted to come to check on you and thought I’d bring your dinner,’
‘Thanks,’ I say, taking the plate and cutlery.
‘I also wanted to say thanks for catching me from the fall.’
She stands in silence, waiting for my response. I want to apologise to her, but the only word that comes out is.
‘Anytime,’
She frowns.’ Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it then,’ she says and walks out the door. I’m such an idiot “Anytime.” That’s all I could say to her. I munch my meal down while I mentally scold myself. Maybe at school tomorrow I can make things right. There is another knock at my door.
‘Nina?’ I say.
‘No, it’s me, Josie,’
She walks in and sits in the chair beside my bed.
‘I heard you fell over and hurt yourself, but I didn’t believe Leon when he said that. My big brother and future Alpha hurt from a minor fall? No way, so I’m here to ask what actually happened.’
‘Josie… You were right about Nina. I’ve been such a jerk and don’t even know how to make it up to her. She will never forgive me.’
‘O.M.G Magnus, Are you okay? You must have hit your head. It’s a concussion, right? Maybe a fever?’ She says, placing her hand on my forehead. I whack it away.
‘No, Josie, I’m not sick, and I don’t have a concussion. After detention with Nina, we spent some time together. We climbed a tree, we talked, and I realised I had made a mistake cutting her off seven years ago. She slipped, and I caught her, then my branch broke. I purposely took the brunt of the fall, so she didn’t get hurt.’
Josie blinks rapidly, processing what I just told her. She grabs my shoulders and shakes me.
‘Tell her you’re sorry!’ she says right in my face.
‘I know Josie, I tried too, but I struggled to say what I wanted to say. I’m going to make it up to her at school tomorrow,’
‘Well, I should hope so, Magnus. It’s the least you can do,’
‘I know I owe it to her; do you think she will forgive me?’
‘As long as you don’t stuff it up with her again, I don’t see why not.’
‘Thank Josie,’ I smile.
‘Oh, Flint and I never mentioned you and Nina had detention either,’ she says, pretending to zip her mouth.
‘Thanks, I appreciate it,’
‘Well, I hope you will be well enough to go to school tomorrow to make things right again with Nina,’ she smiles.
‘Me too, see you in the morning,’ I smile and watch her leave the room.
Okay, so my checklist for tomorrow, beg Nina for forgiveness and restore our friendship. Too easy. Trying to fall asleep, I tossed and turned all night and had a bad feeling about school tomorrow.
