Chapter 132

Helen POV

I woke up in a hammock bed, a warm breeze carrying the smell of fresh trees and warm soil brushing past me. I couldn’t help but sit up in fear, knowing that the last time I was awake, the Huntsman had just shot me with a dart.

Justin waltzed over nearby, coming to the edge of a pond where I rushed over to his side, throwing us both into the shallows in terrified precaution. He coughed a breath, both of us soaking wet now, but he look at me like I was crazy.

I was just trying to protect him!

“Whoa, Helen, what are you doing?”

I inhaled sharp, petrified. “We have to be careful, he could shoot us, Justin.”

He bit his lower lip and then sat up slow, helping me do the same until we were both on our knees in this fresh, clear water that was so cold it made my shirt cling to my body and gave me the chills.

“We’re not anywhere near the Huntsman, Luna.”

I tried to make sense of that claim, looking around in perilous realization. We were at the mouth of a beautiful lake, on a wooded shore with the tallest mountains I’d ever seen sprouted up behind us. It wasn’t like our home, like our pack.

Or like anywhere I’ve ever seen before.

Sitting back, I held my head up, feeling the warmth of the sun and the fresh air swirling through the breeze that swarmed my nostrils.

“It’s so nice out here,” I admitted in whisper.

My mate’s face softened and he looked kinder, more empathetic than he has been in months, and it made Joy purr inside of me. Even through it all, it still worried me that I had to find the pixies, dismember the Huntsman limb by limb, kill William and then smooth things over with my mate and his Beta.

But I guessed a short retreat wouldn’t hurt…

“How far are we from the pack?” I asked. I couldn’t smell the pack or any rouge scents anywhere, either. “It’s like there aren’t any wolves out here at all.”

He nodded slow. “I know, Luna. We’re not near our pack, or any pack for that matter. I took us away from there for a while so we could rest and relax before we had to deal with William and the Huntsman.”

I stood up quick. “We have to go back, then, right away! We can’t be far from the pack, Justin, what happens if they’re attacked like the pixies were, and oh no, Justin, the wolf that led them away to William, they had—it was—”

“I know about Ezequiel,” he grunted, pulling my hand and having me sit back down in the clear, shallow water of the lake. “Randy woke up before we left the pack lands. He’s going to handle him accordingly.”

My stomach ached. “What about Martha… will she still be able to—”

“She can stay,” he said gently, “her brother is going to be questioned by Randy and then he is going to rejected from the pack. It was a weird shift in his loyalty, didn’t make any sense as to why he would do that. Randy will figure it out.”

“What about the pixies?”

He leaned forward, using a bit of cold water in his cupped palm to wash off my cheek, slightly splattered with sand from my abrupt awakening and then trotting over to tackle my mate in confusion. His eyes are tender again, kinder than they have looked in a while.

“If I explain everything to you, will you agree to let it go, so you will relax?”

I nodded in agreement and he explained everything to me. The wizards would go after the Huntsman, they would rescue the pixies while Randy and Russo would after the pack. Justin said we were safe out here and I trusted he was right. He’s the Alpha, the powerful Last Lycan.

He will forever be the only man I can trust, even if he doesn’t trust me.

I abided by his request anyways, relaxing when he is done explaining his plans to me. I sunk my toes into the sand and hugged my legs to my chest, trying to calm my nerves that didn’t seem to want to cooperate.

Justin went about his previous task, cutting firewood while he meandered around the gorgeous lake, building a large unlit bonfire and occasionally catching a glimpse or two towards me.

I splashed around in the shallow water, adjusting the shirt I wear with some soaked, tight shorts underneath. I was able to see a few things hung up on a branch nearby on hangers, thankful that he packed other clothes cause I’ve already ruined mine.

I strip down until I’m naked and kissed by the sunshine, walking further into the clear water and being able to see my toes all the way against the bottom of the sandy bank. I dove under, swimming and twirling and floating—feeling weightless physically and mentally.

Coming back up for air, Justin was a few feet into the water, a worried look in his face washed away when I breached the surface.

Seeing him so anxiously look for me made it clear he still loved me and that his lack of trust wasn’t completely debilitating to our relationship.

“Come in,” I pleaded, knowing he wanted to but seeing such a harsh hesitation. “Please, Justin. Just for a little bit?”

He lingered on shore, taking a step forward before he stopped, shook his head, and went back to cutting his wood in peaceful, stern, silence. I accepted he was still standoffish, but if he wanted to take me on a vacation to relax, that meant he would have to relax too!

I swam to the shore and laid on my stomach in the shallow water, watching his every brute swing of the axe and easy break of the logs into splinters. His strength is beautiful and masculine, but the metal dexterity of my mate was unmatched to muscles and momentum.

He eventually looked over to see me laying naked on the bank, his eyes drifting down my bare back and my ass, splashed by the lake water.

Having sex with my mate has been normal for our entire bond, but obviously it has changed since Justin believed I stabbed him willingly. I didn’t want to go back home to that, to our ferocity and our desperate, dirty desire. I wanted something else.

Something more.

I wanted it right there in the shore of the lake, under the surface of the cool water, but Justin was so standoffish, it was clear he would go in without some pressuring.

I stood from the water, playing with the exterior, slick and wet surface of my body, making sure he caught sight of every curve and edge I had to offer.

Then I dove into the water, holding my breath as I swam to the very deepest depth and sat down in the sand, releasing air little by litter while my chest got tighter and tighter.

Desperate times versus desperate measures.

If Justin doesn’t want to be close to me now then I’d have to bring him into proximity. It worked too, because a little under sixty-seconds, Justin was in the bottom of the lake, pulling me off the sandy depth and launching us both to surface where we heaved for air.

“What the hell, Helen? Are you trying to drown?!”