Free Return to Kadenburg by T. E. Ridener

weird. Stop sniffing me,” Rutley
grunted, pushing his palms against Dimitri’s chest. The large wall of a man
wouldn’t budge, but why would he? He was a freaking werewolf. He felt the
muscles tensing beneath the male’s shirt and he froze, staring at him
quizzically. “Now what is it?” He asked.
    There was a pained expression on Dimitri’s face as he
pulled away, letting Rutley fall to the floor with a small oomph . His
eyes widened as he stared down at him, panting heavily. “Why do you smell like
him?”
    “What?” Rutley asked, rubbing at the side of his neck.
Damn, that was going to bruise. “What do you mean?”
    “Liam,” Dimitri stated as he raked his fingers through his
auburn hair. “Why do you smell like him?”
    “Dude, you are freaking crazy,” Rutley scowled as he
wiped the sweat from his forehead. “You’ve got some serious issues. I saved
your life and you repay me by choking me and then sn-”
    His voice drifted off as he pulled his hand away,
gazing at the light scar on his palm. For a fleeting moment, he was pulled
back into his early adolescence. He could remember how hot the sun was that
day, as he and Liam roamed the woods in search of nothing in particular.
    “Let’s become blood brothers,” Liam stated excitedly
as he pulled his pocket knife out.
    “What?” Rutley squeaked, turning around to
stare at his best friend.
    “Yeah!” Liam grinned. “Blood brothers, you
know? We cut ourselves and let our blood mix together. You get my blood and I
get yours. We can be brothers.”
    “That sounds sort of gross,” Rutley frowned
as he eyed the knife. “I don’t know…..”
    “Oh come on,” Liam rolled his eyes,
stepping closer to the shorter male as he held out his own hand and pressed the
tip of the blade against his palm. His brows knitted together in concentration
as he released a grunt of pain. The bright red blood bubbled to the surface as
he glanced in Rutley’s direction again. “You’re my best friend, Rut. I want
to be your blood brother.”
    Rutley’s nose crinkled as he stared at the
cut on his friend’s palm, but he wasn’t going to be a chicken about it. He’d
always wanted a brother, hadn’t he?
    “Okay, fine. But don’t make the cut too
deep,” he finally said, offering his hand to the other male as he squeezed his
eyes shut. “Do it quick.”
    Rutley’s head fell back against
the door as he stared at that tiny scar again. Sometimes he forgot it was even
there, but at the moment he was realizing exactly why he’d agreed to stay in
Kadenburg. He remembered why all of this was suddenly so important to him; and
why he had to save Lorcan.
    He blinked back the moisture collecting in his eyes as
he glanced up at Dimitri again. Any traces of the wolf were gone, and only a
man stood before him now; a very sad man that had seemingly lost everything.
Maybe it was in that moment that Rutley finally realized the connection Dimitri
had once shared with Liam, and it definitely made his heart ache in a way he
couldn’t explain.
    “Liam was my best friend,” Rutley finally said, in a
broken voice, after a few seconds of silence. “He was like a brother to me.”
    He watched as Dimitri’s face contorted in agony, and
the large male quickly turned away from him and lowered his head. Rutley had
no idea what was going through his mind, but he had to wonder if the wolf was
experiencing some sort of nostalgia.
    That was the thing about death. Even if the person was
long gone, their memories remained; haunting the people they’d grown to know
during their short time on this earth. In Rutley’s case, however, he was
grateful for every laugh and conversation he could remember. He regretted
leaving Kadenburg sometimes.
    Maybe Liam would still be alive if I’d been here, he frowned.
    It could’ve been minutes or hours that passed by as
Rutley kept his back pressed against the door, watching the wolf as he paced
back and forth on the other side of the bed. What he