Protector | Sequel to Protected

Long Story

Weeks pass.

On the first morning of the fourth week, I woke up, stretched, and yawned.

However, when I yawned, it wasn't a normal yawn. Confused, I stood up. Then I realized what was wrong: I was still in wolf form. My clothes sat a few feet away, and I had been curled up on the ground. Sleeping in human form was more comfortable, but I always forgot.

I shook, and bits of dirt flew out of my fur. I was probably filthy. Then, all of yesterdays' events came rushing back. Lucas calling himself a monster. Lucas rejecting me, rejecting himself. Lucas locking me out of the secret room.

I picked my clothes up and got ready to run again, but something fell out of the bundle: a notebook.

It was the notebook I had gotten off of the bookshelf yesterday, the one notebook he saved.

On the front, it said: Beauty, in Lucas's thick, scrawly handwriting.

I opened it up to a random page. It was the picture Josh had taken of Lucas and I before the wedding. I turned the page. The picture Riley had taken of Lucas and I at the engagement party, when we did the Lady and the Tramp thing with a jelly donut. Flipped to another page. There were six words, followed by a doodle of a girl petting a wolf.

My love

My life

My Maya, it said.

As I flipped through the pages, through the poems and the pictures, all of me, tears started to fall down my cheeks. I missed him.

But I couldn't miss him. He had refused to be with me anymore, and nothing I could say could change that. I threw the book away, but I couldn't leave it, so I shoved it back in the bundle of clothes, picked up the clothes again, and started running.

Soon, I reached the edge of the forest. I bounded across the road without looking, and a car screeched to a stop in front of me. Shocked, I froze and looked up, but I regained my cool before I could see the driver's face, and I ran into the woods on the other side of the road.

I hoped nobody reported me, or people might start wolf hunts again, like they did when they founded the town.

I stopped running after a few seconds, though. Because I heard someone in the trees behind me, crashing through the brush. I probably should have run, but I stayed where I was. Whoever was running was pretty determined.

A second later, the person crashed through the brush. 

Riley.

I transformed back and got dressed in the blink of an eye. Zay and Josh were right, I did get dressed fast.

"Maya!" Riley screamed, stumbling backwards.

"Shhh! Shhhh!" I said, looking around to make sure no one had heard her.

"You turned?" she asked, stunned.

I nodded, "Yes, I turned," I said.

"Who did this to you?" she asked desperately.

"Lucas. Long story. It was an accident," I said , "How did you find me?"

"That was Farkle and I's car you just almost crashed," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "And I knew normal wolves weren't that big, so I followed you."

"Where's Farkle?" I asked.

Just then, Farkle burst through the trees, in human form, his eyes wild and protective.

"Riley! Why didn't you wait for me? What if Maya... Maya? You're a wolf?" he spluttered.

"Long story, accident," Riley said to him.

Farkle huffed and buried his face in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked.

I sighed, "Even though it was an accident, Lucas feels guilty for changing me. He doesn't want to be with me anymore because he thinks he's only going to hurt me more. So I left," I said, as emotionlessly as possible. If I let myself start to cry, I knew the tears would never stop coming until I drowned in them.

"I'm sorry, Peaches," Riley said, hugging me tightly.

"What are you doing back from your honeymoon?" I asked, looking from her to Farkle.

They glanced at each other and smiled.

"We had an extended stay, but we wanted to come home," Farkle said, lacing his fingers with Riley's. Riley nodded in agreement. 

"You have to come home, Maya," Riley said.

"I can't. Are you insane?" I said immediately.

"Maya! You can't just leave us! You can leave Lucas if you want to, but are you really going to leave Zay and Josh? Farkle? Are you going to leave me, Maya?" she asked.

I sighed, "Of course not. I might visit, but I can't live in the same house as him," I said resignedly.

"Maya," Riley said, "I didn't want to have to do this, but I'm going to have to."

"Do what?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Come home!"

"No!"

"RING POWER!"

"DAMMIT!"