Forever Young

Chapter 26

I hit the ground hard, snarling as I struggled to right myself. Already, I was calling the wind towards me, ready to shove the red-eyed vampire away. 

But it wasn't red eyes that were staring down at me furiously. They were brown eyes- familiar brown eyes.

"Mato?" I gasped, my invisibility falling away. Even in his wolf form, I would have recognized my friend anywhere.

The growling stopped immediately, the wolf's eyes widening as he stared at me. For a few seconds, we just gazed at eachother, both of us completely still. And then the weight was lifted from me as Mato removed his massive paws from my chest, shifting to his human form. He was naked, but I hardly noticed as I scrambled back to my feet- he was here.

"Sticks!" He cried, pulling me into an embrace so tight it almost hurt. My hands stayed at my sides for a moment before I remembered exactly how a hug was supposed to work. I squeezed him back, burying my face in his shoulder.

If the feeling of my tears dripping on to him was a bother, he didn't say anything about it. He just held me tight, his hands shaking as if he were about to shift again. I was almost sure I felt tears falling on my own shoulder, too, but Mato kept me locked firmly in his embrace until they stopped dripping on to me.

"Where have you been?" He cried, finally pulling back to look at me. "You've been gone forever! Everyone is so worried. They'll trip when they see you're back!"

Already, though, I was shaking my head at him. "Mato, no! You can't tell anyone I was here. You have to pretend you never saw me. You weren't supposed to see me."

Mato blinked at me, his eyes wide. And then he scowled, pushing me away slightly. "What do you mean, I wasn't supposed to see you?" He demanded roughly. "You're at my Mom's house. Weren't you looking for me?"

I had hurt his feeling. This wasn't what I wanted. This was the exact reason me being here was meant to be a secret. "I wanted to make sure everyone was okay," I said gently. "But I can't stay. Mike is still looking for me probably. Me being here just puts a target of your head. And besides, I never really fit in here, anyway. I'll always be the girl from the forest."

"But we don't care about that," Mato pleaded with me. "We love the girl from the forest. Sticks, please, we'll figure it out. Just stay. Takoda needs you here- we all do."

I felt myself perk up at the mention of Koda. He was still alive! I knew it! I had known that the imprint pull couldn't have been as powerful as everyone led me to believe. Takoda had probably moved on with his life, and made new friends. He probably only thought about me in passing.

The thought made me sad, despite that being exactly what I wanted for Takoda.

"But he's okay," I whispered, mostly to myself. "That's what matters."

There were a few moments of silence as Mato bit his lip. Though so much time had passed, I remembered that look- it meant there was something he wanted to say, but wasn't sure he could. Finally, he mumbled, "Uh- Sticks, that's not really how an imprint works. He's bad. Real bad. He got sick a few days after you left, and it's gotten way worse the last few months. He has to stay with the Cullens full time, so Uncle Carlisle can watch his breathing."

I stood frozen where I was. He was sick- maybe even dying. And it was my fault.

But what could I do about it? Of course I couldn't just leave him to fade away. But, at the same time, I couldn't venture to the Cullen's house. If I went there, how would I get in undetected? Edward would hear my thoughts before I even reached the house. And what would I even do after I got in- try to sneak Koda out and bring him with me? I couldn't take him away from everyone. Especially Ani. But even if I tried to, the Cullens would for sure catch me and try to force me to stay.